Looking at screens all day can lead to tired eyes. An ophthalmologist shares tips on how to prevent digital eye strain from screen time. This article originally appeared in NewYork-Presbyterian Health Matters By Dorothy Cucci Bronx Voice November 12, 2025 BRONX LOCAL NEWS - Itchy, irritated eyes. Headaches. Blurry vision. Constantly looking at screens, whether it’s a computer, phone, or TV, can cause an uncomfortable but benign condition called digital eye strain, also known as computer vision syndrome. The average American employee spends seven hours a day on the computer either in the office or at home, according to the American Optometric Association. Since most of us can’t avoid screens completely, how can we protect our eyes and feel more comfortable? “Screens are here to stay, so I don’t want my patients to feel anxious and think they have to cut out screens completely,” says Dr. Lisa Park , an ophthalmologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Universit...
Bronx Local News: Mayor, NYC Council Clash on Rent Vouchers
Adams Vetoes Anti Rent-Hike Law, Widening Council Battle Over Vouchers
Members vow override vote on bill that would ensure City FHEPS households pay no more than 30% of rent, as mayor pushes higher charges for some and continues a court battle over expanded eligibility.
Adams and social service officials had said the new rule was needed to help control rapidly rising costs of the voucher program — which hit $1.25 billion spent in the year that ended June 30 — and ensure it will last into the future.
CityFHEPS, first established by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2018 to help get families out of or avoid homeless shelters, now serves more than 60,000 households.
When it came into effect in September, the rule was poised to impact about 3,100 families in the first year, about 5% of CityFHEPS recipients, according to DSS.
In a veto letter to the City Clerk, Adams touted his administration’s work on housing stability and affordability, pointing out that CityFHEPS grew to become the second-largest rental subsidy program in the country after NYCHA’s Section 8.
“This bill would undermine the careful balance we have struck between protecting vulnerable households and ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the CityFHEPS program,” Adams wrote.
He added that the bill would impose a “hard cap of 30%” on all households, including those that may have the ability to contribute more.
In a statement, Council spokesperson Julia Agos said the mayor’s veto shows he is “abandoning good governance.”
“At a time when New Yorkers are clearly calling on our leaders to tackle affordability, income inequality, and deliver basic services they rely on, it is embarrassing that Mayor Adams would use his final days in office to stand in the way of what the city needs,” she said.
The Council passed the bill in October with a veto-proof majority of 42 to 7. Council leadership plans to override the mayor’s veto, which it can do within 30 days.
The rental hike from 30% to 40% for CityPHEPS recipients was meant to help “households in gradually transitioning off” the voucher, according to the rule language.
But advocates for low-income New Yorkers contended the hike would only further burden families, making it harder for them to become self-sufficient. By a widely used definition, rent-burdened households are those that spend more than 30% of their income on rent. A coalition of tenant and real estate groups opposed the rule.
Oksana Mironova, a housing policy analyst with the Community Service Society, said the Council should “absolutely” override the veto, calling the rule “completely nonsensical and punitive.”
“It’s the city mandating they have to be rent-burdened, which is cruel,” she said, adding that any expected cost savings would be counteracted by people qualifying for emergency rental assistance, which is also provided by the city.
In a statement urging the Council to override Adams’ veto, the Legal Aid Society said the CityFHEPS program “offer[s] a vital lifeline” to struggling New Yorkers, and warned that if the veto is allowed to stand — meaning the rent hike goes through — it would “undoubtedly lead to an increase in evictions and homelessness citywide.”
When the Council first passed the bill, social services providers and advocates applauded.
Christine Quinn, President & CEO of the shelter and supportive housing provider Win (and a former City Council speaker), called the bill’s passage “a monumental victory for New York’s most vulnerable.”
In an interview with THE CITY on Monday, Quinn railed against the mayor’s veto.
“Homelessness is one of the most vexing problems in this city and one of the most defining problems of Eric Adams’ administration, and literally, as he is walking out the door, he continues to spit in the face of homeless people,” Quinn said. “Homelessness — when it isn’t addressed aggressively and isn’t addressed with subsidies — is a cyclical experience. That is what vouchers are combating.”
Adams’ veto memo also argued that the City Council does not have the authority to legislate social services policy — the same argument the administration makes as it continues a protracted court battle over laws the Council passed in 2023 expanding eligibility for the vouchers.
The Council sued after the Adams administration stonewalled the expansion, and won on appeal this summer after initially losing the case. The mayor, who will leave office at the end of the year, is trying one more time to have his case heard at the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, budget watchdogs say the growth in spending on CityFHEPS is not sustainable, and that the city needs to find financially feasible solutions.
“The city cannot voucher its way out of the housing affordability crisis,” said Ana Champeny, vice president of research at Citizens Budget Commission. “Vouchers, part of a multi-pronged strategy, need to be affordable for the city budget.”
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