MTA boss: Pricing plan ‘won’t fi x it all’
Congestion toll revenue will help improve subways & buses, but Foye says more aid needed
BY MARK HALLUM
MTA President Patrick
Foye briefed the press on
April 1 on details regarding
congestion pricing that he
argued would have benefits
beyond better mass transit.
Foye, whose appointment
was formally announced on
April 1, did not have details
on pricing or specific points
of tolling, but offered a clearer
image of how drivers will pay
to access Manhattan below
60th Street known as the
Central Business District.
“Central Business District
tolling is a transformative
initiative that will support
critical investments in
our transit system, reduce
pollution and emissions while
improving air quality,” Foye
said. “Make no mistake, this
won’t fix all our problems.
We still have a rapidly aging
system and growing structural
deficit on the operating side.
We still have to reduce our
costs, increase our efficiency
and reform the MTA.”
According to Foye, people
making $60,000 per year or less
will be less impacted through
a refundable credit, and use
A 7 train arriving on a recent snowy day in Long Island City. File photo
of the highways in Manhattan
will be exempt from the toll.
This means motorists heading
uptown will be able to avoid
the cost.
Tolling will start no earlier
than Jan. 1, 2020, Foye said,
once members of the Traffic
Mobility Review Board pieces
together recommendations for
the full implementation.
While congestion pricing
is expected to raise $15 billion
for the next five-year capital
plan to start in 2020, Foye said
$7 billion from the federal
government and revenue from
other taxes will bring the MTA
$32 billion total.
The next capital plan is to
be announced in October and
that leaves the agency just
short of New York City Transit
President Andy Byford’s $40
billion Fast Forward plan.
“To be at the $32 billion level
is frankly an extraordinary
achievement. It’s really
almost hard to overstate the
importance of what happened
in Albany early this morning,”
Foye said. “Getting congestion
pricing after fits and starts and
frankly years, over a decade
of failure is an incredible
achievement by the governor
and Legislature.”
Then-Mayor Michael
Bloomberg first attempted to
implement congestion pricing
in 2009, but the plan was shot
down in Albany.
Many of the outer
borough elected officials still
hold opposition claiming
congestion pricing would only
cripple commerce and close
off residents of Queens from
services and amenities only
available in Manhattan.
But Lior Rachmany, the
CEO of Dumbo Moving, took
a counter-intuitive stance in
favor of congestion pricing
claiming it would open up
streets, allowing for better
logistical management, fewer
tickets and less time spent at
meters.
“If passed, we think this
will lessen the accidents
our drivers, and others, get
in and the tickets that they
receive. This will also allow
us to complete our jobs faster
and allow us to plan and map
out the logistics of each move
more efficiently,” Rachmany
told TimesLedger. “Most non-
New Yorkers are unaware of
the actual traffic experience
in the city, as NYC is a
unique metropolitan area and
not as restricted as European
cities – the taxi and ride
share services are essentially
unlimited here. We have the
oldest subway system in the
world and will reap incredible
benefits from its renovation.”
111th Council warns about continued identity theft scams
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Identity theft and scams
are on the rise in the
111th Precinct and police
are warning residents to
stay vigilant.
At the April 2 Community
Council meeting at the Baysidebased
precinct, Captain John
Hall reported that these and
other grand larceny crimes
had increased from 65 in 2018
to 93 in 2019. Thirty-four of
the crimes were reported as
identity theft.
“This is a problem that
expands well beyond our
precinct but that’s one of the
things we’re facing right now,”
Hall said.
The precinct captain said
that the incidents occurred
when people opened new
credit card accounts or when
scammers obtained a person’s
credit card information and
made purchases. A resident
at the meeting said that she
noticed suspicious activity on
her Macy’s American Express
credit card, which Hall
confirmed was the second
incident of its kind that day.
“Our detectives will be
investigating that. When
there is usage we do look for
video and hopefully it will
help us make inroads on this,”
Hall said.
He told meeting attendees to
report identity theft and credit
card fraud to both the precinct
and credit card companies,
who would reimburse funds
incurred as a result of fraud.
Hall added that both
phone and internet scams
had risen from this time last
year. Residents reported 17
grand larceny scams this year
versus nine at this time last
year according to crime data.
“Everybody gets phone
calls every day. I get a ton
of phone calls every day
saying, ‘This is the Social
Security Administration.’
Unfortunately, not everybody
follows us on Twitter so they
don’t necessarily know the
scams they could fall prey to,”
Hall said.
In addition to the social
security scam, Hall said that
scammers call individuals
pretending to be the IRS or
in other cases, a relative
asking for bail money. He said
that internet scams include
“broken computer scams”
where scammers require
that people pay platforms like
Facebook a certain amount
of money to “unhack” an
account.
“In no case, will you ever
have to pay a government
agency with Google Play
cards or gift cards of any sort.
Sometimes they ask people
to wire money, which seems
a little bit more legitimate
than a Google Play gift card,”
said Hall.
The captain advised
those at the meeting to warn
vulnerable populations,
especially the elderly, about
the various scams that exist.
Reach reporter Jenna
Bagcal by e-mail at jbagcal@
qns.com.
4 TIMESLEDGER, APR. 5-11, 2019 QNS.COM
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