Thursday’s Headlines: Rate Evasion Edition

Gov. Hochul spent much of this year pushing Uber’s scheme to deregulate auto insurance at expense of crash victims, allegedly in the name of reducing costs to everyday drivers. But she didn’t touch one arguable force-multiplier for New York insurance costs — local drivers who register their cars out-of-state to save money.

Streetsblog previously reported that the cost of New York drivers who register their cars to false addresses has soared under Gov. Hochul to more than $50 million per year, but Hochul did nothing to address that issue — until Mayor Mamdani asked New Yorkers with high-dollar homes that could qualify them for the new pied-à-terre tax to prove the city is their primary residence.

Now the governor’s office “is actively looking into any potential tax fraud revealed through the rollout of NYC’s pied-à-terre tax,” the City Reporter’s Andrew Giambrone shared on BlueSky on Wednesday afternoon (and in a story that ran early Thursday).

Streetsblog will have more to say on this topic in the coming days. Needless to say, the number of local cars with out-of-state plates has been a longtime interest of ours.

In other news:

• Politicians take note: For the anti-e-vehicle crowd, it’s registration or bust. (NY Post)
• The City Council put out a confusing report evaluating the effectiveness of different Vision Zero treatments. (amNY)
• A fire suspected to have been caused by a lithium-ion battery killed one person and injured 14 others in the Bronx on Wednesday. (Daily News)
• The MTA is putting its old MetroCard vending machines up for auction. (NBC4)
• Housing foreclosures are surging in the Bronx. (The City Reporter)
• The amNY editorial board made some rhetorical concessions, but still called for e-bike licensing and registration.
• Say goodbye to the MTA’s Museum of Sex bus ads. (5 Towns Central)
• End of an era: The parking garage on Union Street near Grand Army Plaza is getting replaced with housing. (Crain’s)