For Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, news of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s stunning decision to pause the long-awaited congestion pricing plan in Manhattan came last Tuesday in a phone call from the governor in the final days of the 2024 legislative session.
Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, had heard rumblings of Hochul’s growing trepidation about congestion pricing, not long after the governor had touted the program in a speech to the Global Economic Summit in Ireland on May 20.
Then came the call, less than a month before the program was to begin.
“She called me the day before to say they were going to put a pause on it,” Stewart-Cousins said in an interview. “We knew there were concerns about the law that has been on the books since 2019. And we started hearing about it in 2008 when Mayor Bloomberg brought it to our attention.”
Among the plan’s most vocal opponents were unions representing public employees, such as police, fire, and school workers, who live in the suburbs, but commute by car daily to Manhattan.
Stewart-Cousins still wants less congestion, cleaner air, reliable funding
Stewart-Cousins was among the Lower Hudson Valley legislators who have since weighed in on Hochul’s June surprise. The state Senate leader is still intent on preserving what she called the three legs of the congestion pricing stool: less congestion in Manhattan’s central business district, cleaner city air, and a reliable funding stream to pay debt service for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital program.
Hochul announced the pause on June 5, shelving the $15 toll that commuters and lovers of New York’s cultural life who like to drive south of 60th Street in Manhattan would have had to pay starting June 30.
Hochul’s suggestion that the Legislature consider increased payroll taxes to plug the hole in the MTA’s capital program went nowhere in the legislative session’s final days. Don’t expect the state Senate to come rushing back to Albany any time soon.
Stewart-Cousins wants to ensure that all three elements of the congestion pricing plan survive. Finding consensus could take time.
“I and my members are always willing to come, but not just to deal with one issue out of three,” she said. “How are we going to mitigate the congestion? How are we going to mitigate the environmental impact and make sure we have a sustainable source of revenue for the MTA?”
Hochul to Legislature: use your ‘imagination’
Hochul insists she’s interested in combatting urban traffic congestion, and that she’s concerned about traffic in Queens and Brooklyn as well as in Manhattan. She said her administration’s support for electric cars would help address concerns with auto emissions.
On Monday, Hochul said that hitting motorists with a $15-toll would damage the city’s economy. She encouraged state leaders to use their “imagination” to find $1 billion for the MTA’s capital program.
“I committed that those projects will go forward,” said Hochul. “But to assume that the only funding source had to be congestion pricing shows a lack of imagination about understanding other opportunities to fund these projects.”
More: With congestion pricing paused, what’s MTA’s plan B to fund upgrades? Here’s what we know
Support for pause crosses political aisle
The response has varied by county, but not necessarily by party. Among political leaders hailing Hochul’s decision are Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski, D-Clarkstown, Assemblyman Christopher Eachus, R-New Windsor, and U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-Pearl River. All three represent parts of Rockland County, which has limited mass transit options to Manhattan, while Lawler’s district also includes all of Westchester north of White Plains.
Zebrowski was among the Hudson Valley Democrats, including Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, who provided quotes to Hochul’s press shop to include on her website in favor of her action.
“Governor Hochul is right to indefinitely halt congestion pricing,” said Zebrowski. “This is the wrong proposal at the wrong time for too many New Yorkers.”
Lawler, who has made affordability an issue in his reelection bid, wants to move beyond Hochul’s pause. He urged the state Legislature to repeal the 2019 law authorizing the program. To make up the annual shortfall for MTA debt service, Lawler proposed halting NYC funding for migrant programs, ending the state’s nascent public financing of political campaigns, and combatting “fare-beating” in the subways.
“Congestion pricing was a cash grab from suburban communities to fund the worst-run authority in America,” Lawler said. “Metro-North commuters shouldn’t be penalized through changes to the capital program, for its cancellation.”
Lawler’s opponent in November, former Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-Sleepy Hollow, also split with some Hudson Valley Democrats to back Hochul.
“I have been clear from day one that if New York is to implement congestion pricing, there must be exemptions for communities lacking adequate public transportation infrastructure, like my hometown of Rockland, which does not even have a one-seat train ride into the city,” said Jones. “I know this struggle personally as someone who has commuted from Rockland into Manhattan.”
Congestion pricing supporters want Hochul’s plan B
Even Hochul supporters were floored by Hochul’s last-minute reversal, which came as technicians put the finishing touches on a $500-million dollar camera system south of 60th Street to charge motorists’ EZ Pass account or send them a bill.
“Whether you support or oppose the program, the way she went about it was really poor,” said state Sen. Pete Harckham, D-Lewisboro, who chairs the state Senate Environmental Conservation Committee. “If you do something like that, you give people a heads up, and you have a plan. You don’t do it, and then ask us to pass a payroll tax on your way out the door.”
Harckham noted that some neighborhoods in Manhattan have high rates of asthma, caused in part by the city’s dirty air. The capital plan also has $1.5 billion for improvements to Metro-North, the commuter rail system that serves Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties.
“The ball is in her court,” said Harckham. “How do we make up the money? What are we going to do about emissions and public health impact?”
More: Hochul wants to delay congestion pricing days before start: What’s behind the about-face?
Assemblyman Steve Otis, D-Rye, said he was worried about the fate of the capital plan, while Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg, D-Ossining, continues to support congestion pricing.
While concerned with the $15-toll for each trip south of 60th Street, Assemblyman Chris Burdick, D-Bedford, said funding for the capital program was essential to update the regional mass transit network.
“We have an obligation to come up with the lost revenue,” said Burdick. ”There’s a commitment by the Legislature and the governor to do that. Where there is not an agreement is how that would be done.”
Assemblywoman MaryJane Shimsky, D-Hastings-on-Hudson, said she’s awaiting Hochul’s proposal.
“This is a policy that was established well before my election to the Assembly,” said Shimsky. “So if the Governor has alternate plans for financing the MTA’s much needed improvements, I look forward to seeing them.”
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David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY congestion pricing: Stewart-Cousins awaits Hochul plan for review
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