Hochul Tells Comptroller to ‘Get in Line’ Over Congestion Pricing Fight
By Mark Hallum July 25, 2024 2:42 pm
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Kathy Hochul has found herself in a mosh pit of litigation no matter what action she takes on congestion pricing, but the governor seems unfazed by her growing list of enemies.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander organized the filing of two new lawsuits against Hochul on Thursday aiming to prompt her to lift the pause she imposed on the tolling program in early June, 25 days before the toll-collecting cameras were scheduled to be activated.
The plaintiffs in the two lawsuits — which does not include Lander or his office — claim that Hochul violated the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Reform and Traffic Mobility Act of 2019, as well as Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, when she acted as the sole roadblock to congestion pricing going live.
However, the governor seems to be casually adding lawsuits to the pile of existing complaints she’s been hit with, both for and against the tolling program.
“Get in line,” a spokesperson for Hochul said in a statement. “There are now 11 separate congestion pricing lawsuits filed by groups trying to weaponize the judicial system to score political points, but Gov. Hochul remains focused on what matters: funding transit, reducing congestion, and protecting working New Yorkers.”
Lander was clearly taken aback by the statement from the governor’s office, which was read aloud by a reporter during a press conference he held in Lower Manhattan on Thursday announcing the litigation.
“What the lawsuits that are being filed today do is hold the state to the law, and I do think it’s important to understand that the core charge here is that the governor does not have the unilateral authority to cancel congestion pricing, it is the law,” Lander said. “That’s why these lawsuits are being filed. Believe me. We wish we did not have to go into court to force the implementation of laws that were passed by the legislature, signed by [former Gov. Andrew Cuomo] and apparently require [implementation].”
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber was asked about the litigation prior to Lander’s announcement but declined to comment, saying he was unaware of the specifics of the suits.
The plaintiffs of the suit pressing the governor to act in accordance to the 2019 law was The City Club of New York while the Riders Alliance, Sierra Club and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance were the petitioners of the filing calling on the Hochul to act in line with the state environmental laws.
Cuomo initiated the push for congestion pricing in Manhattan below 60th Street during a major transit crisis back in 2017. The program was later adopted by the state legislature in 2019 before federal approval was stalled by the Trump administration.
Once President Joe Biden took office, his U.S. Department of Transportation rubber-stamped the environmental review and the MTA proceeded to spend over $500 million installing the infrastructure to collect the fee from cars.
The tolling structure itself was crafted by a panel of appointees from the real estate industry and was expected to generate $15 billion for the MTA’s capital budget.
Since Hochul pulled the plug on the program, she’s faced a litany of criticism over the move, including from the real estate industry, and left many wondering how improvements to the city’s aging transit system will be funded in the future.
MTA officials have called the loss of the program “tragic,” and the agency later put transportation improvements on hold because of the loss of funds.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
