New York Gov. Kathy Hochul halted a plan to charge most motorists $15 to enter the core of Manhattan, upending the nation's first "congestion pricing" system on Wednesday just weeks before it was set to launch.
Eyewitness News first broke the story about the delay, citing an official who said the implementation would not start on June 30 as originally planned.
The announcement delaying the June 30th launch dealt a stunning blow to a program, years in the making, that was intended to raise billions of dollars for New York's beleaguered subways and commuter rails while reducing emissions and gridlock on the city's streets.
"Do you like the Second Avenue subway?," Carlo Scissura, president of NY Building Congress, asked a crowd of supporters who shouted YES! "There will not be a phase two and 'fugetabout', as we say in Brooklyn, a phase three," he then said.
Saying Governor Hochul is only delaying transit projects and accessibility, advocates for congestion pricing accuse her of caving to political pressure if pushing back congestion pricing is meant to help fellow democrats in an election year.
"You know what it is that's making it hard for Democrats in this country? It is their lack of conviction. Republicans very clearly know who they are and what they want. And we don't. We cower at any pressure when we have good ideas, great policies that would actually excite progressive base. The young people," Antonio Reynoso, Brooklyn Borough President, said.
"She's capitulating to fear, to cynicism, to politics. Last time we did this in election year, 1999, New York City lost the commuter tax. We lost $19 billion that we can never get back. What are subway riders never going to get back when the system is not invested in?" Rachel Fauss of Reinvent Albany said.
A rally outside the governor's office was briefly interrupted, but the message was not derailed, as supporters called on her to think long-term of the benefits of unclogging the streets to improve the ways most commuters get here.
"And I actually own a car and I'm totally into this. I and I think it's absolutely wrong that Governor Hochul has supported this all along and at the nth hour has denied New York City the right to clean our air, better subways, so many more people have to gain by this than just people driving into the city," Andrea Peterson said.
"It's not just my neighborhood. It's a different city. It's a city where people transit riders subway uses, commuter rail users, bus users, people on foot, people on bikes are on an equal footing with people inside cars. That would have made a huge difference throughout the entire city emanating totally beyond the congestion zone," Charles Komanoff said.
They also urged the governor not to make, what they called a generational mistake.
"Fourteen years ago, Gov. Chris Christie canceled a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River," said Kate Sullivan of Regional Plan Association. "That tunnel might have been done by now. It would have generated jobs, construction jobs. It would have been a boost to our economy. It would have improved transit service for our region. And instead, we're here. The project to build a new rail tunnel is moving along, but it's still 14 years away."
There are so many questions advocates have about where the money the MTA has already budgeted will come from now, and how long this pause will last.
They say, if the fall election results in leadership either at the White House or in Congress that doesn't support this at all, what happens then?
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