New Yorkers weigh in on potential Penn Station renaming

So tell me about this plan that Schumer is trying to block on the part of the Trump administration and I'm interested also to hear what commuters have been saying about this plan. Yeah, so it's part of a larger plan or the conversation rather I should say Robert, it's part of that larger plan and we've been hearing about it for a while. It's the plan to really revamp Penn Station, of course Penn Station is extremely busy, it is the busiest rail hub in the nation but also in the Western Hemisphere. So it's a significant project for an area where a lot of people move through. It's estimated some 600,000 passengers pass through the rail hub on a typical weekday. Now last year the federal government took over the projected $8 billion redesign of Penn Station. Yesterday, Senator Schumer vowed to block any legislation that would rename Penn after the president, after President Trump specifically. Now the comments from Schumer, they're coming after a letter from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy seeking congressional approval for funding for the Penn Station rehab and other major transportation priorities. The letter reportedly included a directive for Amtrak to rename Penn Station but it didn't specify what the name would be. Schumer though yesterday at a news conference said it's obvious, here's what he had to say. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to the leadership of three senate committees laying out the administration's priorities for the Penn Station rebuild. One of those priorities, hidden in a very small little bullet point, is to direct Amtrak to rename New York's Penn Station. The letter never says what the name would be, it doesn't have to, we know what it is. The administration wants Donald Trump's name on that station. Nobody in New York wants Penn Station named after Donald Trump. No one asked for it. And we do not have to guess the intentions of the Transportation Secretary. So Steph, what's that? So, um, Schumer's talking about, yeah. Go ahead, go ahead. Go ahead. I was just going to give you some more context here. So last year, the Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, he made it no secret that he would welcome seeing the president's name on Penn Station. So Schumer is talking about that interaction last year that happened, it was widely reported. And New York's Penn Station, it is named after the Pennsylvania Railroad that was the rail company that is no more, but that was responsible for basically putting Penn up. So you hear people say sometimes, like, maybe, I mean, it came up this morning in Good Day Too, why is Penn named, Pennsylvania Station is the actual name, why is it named Pennsylvania Station here in New York? Well, that's the reason. And as you know, Robert, we also talked to some people having them weigh in on their thoughts. But that's basically this whole conversation in a nutshell. So even though the administration has not explicitly said, hey, we want to rename this Trump Station, that's kind of, you don't have to read too much between the lines to realize that that's, that's the goal. That's what Schumer is saying. And so there's been some conversation about renaming Penn. The president has spoken on it, I'm paraphrasing here, he said it wasn't his idea to rename Penn. But again, the administration has not officially said exactly, Robert, this is what we would rename Penn. But Schumer is saying that it's obvious, and you heard what he had to say. I can also share with you what some commuters had to say. Yeah, let's, let's listen to what those commuters have to say. Not too many thoughts on it. I think we should keep it how it is, though, to be honest. You think it should remain Penn Station? Yeah, I think it should remain Penn Station. I think it should remain Penn Station. It is Pennsylvania Station, and it should always be Pennsylvania Station. Fair enough. Not entirely surprising, right, given that, given that the president is not all that popular in New York City, right? And what I was going to say is I think whether you're talking about renaming Penn Station or talking about anything that involves major change, I think people always tend to have some kind of resistance. I mean, you heard those two commuters. I mean, if it's Penn Station, just keep calling it Penn Station. So there's a bit of that, too. But again, I mean, we should be clear. The administration has not come out and said, we're going to name Penn or rename Penn after President Trump. And we should also be clear that in response to what Schumer said yesterday, there's been no response to that from the administration. So that's another piece of this that I've been including in the reporting today. Definitely a talker, though. Sure is. Hey, Steph, thanks for all the reporting this morning. Really appreciate you being with us. Of course.