A $15 toll plan meant to reduce traffic in Manhattan below 60th Street that has become a political headache for Democrats in New York will be halted indefinitely, Gov.
Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.
Hochul in a videotaped message said she would ask top officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to “pause” the implementation of the plan, known as congestion pricing, a reversal of her public support for it.
The whiplash move by the governor, first reported Tuesday evening by POLITICO, comes as New York City has struggled to regain lost office workers and tourism following the Covid-19 pandemic — a problem that Hochul believes could be made worse by the tolls.
“Since day one, I’ve fought alongside countless Hudson Valley families against this unfair, uninformed, and unacceptable congestion pricing plan,” said Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat in a battleground Hudson Valley seat who had called for exemptions to the tolls. “Today, I’m proud to say we’ve stopped congestion pricing in its tracks.”
Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, one of New Jersey’s most vocal critics of the plan, celebrated it is a victory Wednesday for drivers and the environment.
“We know what the effects would have been — not just on people’s wallets. I’m talking about the traffic that would have increased and of course all the pollution that would have plumed into northern New Jersey and the outer boroughs,” he told reporters.
“Now our job is to get back to making sure we do what New Jersey and New York do so well, work together.”
.Here are the top political news stories for today.
@ChowderRichieDemocrat2yrs2Y
The level of political malpractice here just astounds me:
-A congestion pricing delay outrages advocates while failing to please detractors
-The nakedly political reason for the delay makes it easy to attack Democrats from both sides of the issue
-Hochul's alternative revenue idea (raising the payroll tax again) hurts workers and the economy, and will be unpopular
-If she wanted to do this, why didn't she ask for it in the budget, when she had leverage?
One other thing: Announcements that congestion pricing is about to start have been all over variable message signs on freeways in the NYC suburbs for weeks. If you’re not gonna go through with it, why did you rile up car commuters with lots of messages saying you would?
New York State & the MTA have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lawsuits, environmental studies, even the construction of the gantries.
All to be thrown away before a single cent is collected?
Transit funding, reducing emissions and easing congestion - involve trade-offs, and congestion pricing is *the* proven policy that accomplishes all three. For Hochul to say she still cares about any or all of these after today defies belief.
@Ind3pendentSparrow2yrs2Y
Pulling the rug out from under the MTA's capital plan, which must be funded, with two days left in the legislative session is just a breathtakingly irresponsible move. Again, this whole thing defies belief. NYS politics is a gift that keeps on giving.341K
@GloomyMooseLibertarian2yrs2Y
MTA is a bottomless pit of theft. Throwing more money at it is like throwing more money at a drug addict and hoping for better outcomes.
Very different from funding TfL, which very efficiently and economically operates a vastly superior transit system.
@MuesliPatPatriot2yrs2Y
Until the day after election day.
Wake up, New York. They don't care about you!
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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