The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took a final vote last month on its plan to charge $15 for people to drive into the busiest parts of Manhattan. That doesn’t mean commuters — particular from New Jersey — have given up in a last-ditch fight to stop it.
As I wrote last week in The Wall Street Journal, New Jersey officials have filed one of several lawsuits challenging the plan in federal court. The suits were filed by Democrats and Republicans, business owners and even the union representing the city’s public-school teachers. Congestion pricing is planned to take effect in June, but the pending litigation prompted the MTA in February to stop advertising for new construction contracts that are set to be funded by the tolls.
The legal arguments mostly center on whether the federal government did a sufficient environmental review before allowing the MTA—which operates New York City’s subways, buses and commuter railroads—to proceed. If a judge determines further study is required, congestion pricing could be delayed for months.
But the moral argument is larger: a cri de coeur from commuters who say the city that is fueled by their economic contributions no longer wants them. They say it is particularly hurtful at a time when many office districts are strugglingin the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We view this as a slap in the face,” said Ed Day, a retired New York Police Department commander who drove to Manhattan from Rockland County, where he is now the top elected official and just filed a lawsuit against the MTA. “We have to drive in, by and large, in order to get to work.”
MTA officials have said that they have conducted an exhaustive environmental review and listened to thousands of public comments about congestion pricing, the majority of which were positive. Congestion pricing will help the flow of traffic in Manhattan, improve air quality and raise funding for $15 billion in mass transit improvements, according to MTA Chief Executive Janno Lieber.
“New York has more traffic than any place in the United States. Now we’re doing something about it,” he said after the board voted 11-1 last month to approve the toll schedule.
People in commuter areas have always objected to congestion pricing, but at least some were brought along in 2019 when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed it through the state Legislature. Now Cuomo is out of office, and questioning whether it’s the right time to implement his plan. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who comes from Buffalo, has been the highest-profile public champion.
I’m curious to see what happens when the tolls finally switch on, if they do, later this year.
STILL NO STATE BUDGET: It was due on March 31, but top state lawmakers say they’re still hashing out a deal on housing policy that (if it comes together) would increase tenant protection, loosen zoning regulations and reactivate a tax incentive for developers.
In the meantime, state lawmakers voted to make adultery legal and Hochul had a public chat with an astronaut.
I’ll be at the Capitol again this week to see if things come together.
THE QUESTION: Look at this photo. Where am I?
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald modeled West Egg after communities on the Great Neck peninsula.