New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she would pause the planned June 30 implementation of a congestion pricing plan, reportedly due to concerns about backlash at voting booths.
The stated goal of congestion pricing in the Big Apple is to become greener by improving air quality and reducing traffic, but Hochul is more concerned that what is billed as an environmental policy could hurt Democrats in close elections. of this year.
“My commitment to a greener, more sustainable future is unwavering,” Hochul said at a news conference Wednesday, criticizing those who “question my motives.”
A source familiar with the matter previously told Politico that Hochul is responding to concerns raised by House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is running to turn the House blue again. in November.
The GOP managed to regain a slim majority in the House two years ago, largely due to several key Republican congressional victories in New York.
The nation's first congestion pricing plan came as New York City transit ridership plummeted due to public safety concerns. He had received severe backlash from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, former President Donald Trump and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
FILE – Traffic enters lower Manhattan after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, in New York. New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, indefinitely delayed implementation of a plan to charge motorists large tolls to enter downtown Manhattan, just weeks before the first “pricing” system was launched. due to congestion” in the country. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
In a bid to seize power in the U.S. House of Representatives once again, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to Politico, said senior Hochul officials and Jeffries staff recently began floating the idea of delaying the congestion plan, which was projected to generate $1 billion in revenue per year for the public transportation system.
The move sparked preemptive criticism from activists.
“Accelerating congestion pricing would be a massive betrayal of several million transit riders,” Danny Pearlstein, director of policy and communications for the Riders Alliance, which has spent years pushing for congestion pricing, told the New York Times. “It would also mean following the example of people like Phil Murphy, Andrew Cuomo and Donald Trump.”
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber warned in an interview with WABC-TV last month that “there is no Plan B” to raise the billions of dollars in funding that the authority transportation needs for construction priorities, including expanding subway stations. affordable and buy clean electric buses, if a judge rules against congestion pricing in one of at least eight federal lawsuits challenging the proposed program.
To fill the void of a potentially rejected congestion program, Hochul is considering a new tax on businesses in New York City, where taxpayers already shoulder some of the highest taxes in the country, the Times reported. The new business tax would need approval from the state legislature.
Under the transit authority's plan, trucks would be subject to a fee of $24 or $36 per trip, depending on their size. By contrast, most private passenger car drivers should expect to pay about $15, with lower rates for motorcycles and nighttime city entries, under the proposal finalized in March.
The latest lawsuit filed by the New York Truckers Association last week argues that the higher rates unfairly and unconstitutionally target the trucking industry, which will be forced to shoulder the increased costs as truck operators Trucks have no flexibility in their routes or driving schedules. resulting in price increases on countless goods.
Cuomo, who resigned during a sexual harassment scandal, had urged months ago to delay congestion pricing.
In a March op-ed, he said that “a lot has changed since 2019, when we passed congestion pricing, and while it is the right public policy, we need to seriously consider whether now is the right time to enact it.”
“New York City has not yet recovered from COVID; office occupancy is still only 48.9%. For many, traveling to the city is no longer a necessity, and for some it is an unwanted hardship” Cuomo wrote for the New York Times. Mail. What impact will an additional $15 entry fee have on New York City's recovery right now, when the immigration crisis, crime, homelessness, quality of life, and taxes are pressing issues? “More importantly, the policy's success depends on people's confidence that public transport, which is still running 29% below pre-pandemic ridership levels, is a safe alternative.”
Cuomo criticized progressives' call to defund the police and its impact on public safety in the metro, and also expressed the need to remove “dangerous mentally ill homeless people” from the system.
Cuomo's former deputy Melissa DeRosa slammed Hochul, writing in an X post that there had been a “legitimate political reason” for months to delay congestion pricing, but that the governor had “doubled down.”
“This is exactly why @GovKathyHochul is so wildly unpopular,” DeRosa wrote Wednesday. “There is, and has been for months, a legitimate political reason to delay the CP out of genuine concern about the fragile recovery of New York's economy. It is the right policy at the wrong time.”
“Instead, like an ostrich, she and @MTA doubled down,” he added. “Now this will be seen as exactly what it (and she) is: transparently political.”
In May, a Manhattan federal court judge heard arguments in lawsuits brought by unionized public school teachers, politicians and other New Yorkers.
In New Jersey, a federal court judge also heard arguments in legal challenges brought by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich and others. Many of those lawsuits argue that the tolling plan was approved by federal transportation officials without adequate scrutiny and that the court should order transit officials to conduct a more comprehensive environmental study before implementing the plan.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
