Where does NYC congestion pricing stand?
MTA, feds are advancing toward an answer
BY MARK HALLUM
A new administration in the White
House means talks between the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
and the federal government have
found traction.
So what does that mean for New Yorkers
wondering when congestion pricing will
fi nally be implemented, providing more
cash for mass transit, cleaner air and fewer
cars in Manhattan?
According to MTA offi cials, there are no
set dates for when the state can go to town
tolling motorists commuting and traveling
through New York City, but the money
is there after the Feb. 18 board meeting
and the federal government is working to
provide the criteria needed for an environmental
review.
“What they conveyed was that they understood
that this had been sat on by the
prior administration, it had not been dealt
with timely or appropriately manner and
that they were going to give us, one a timely
response on the mechanics of which version
of the environmental review they wanted
Heavy traffic – and emissions – on Canal Street during PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
rush hour in late August 2020.
completed,” MTA Chief Development Offi
cer Janno Lieber said. “And two, that they
would work with us to facilitate our completion
of the submission of the data and their
review and action on the data.”
The infrastructure alone will cost the
agency up $500 million, something that
was approved by the MTA board in Thursday’s
meeting in which the fi nances seem
more stable than in prior months of the
pandemic, nearing its one-year anniversary.
“In this board meeting, we actually got
approved the money to go out and build
the infrastructure,” Lieber added. “So, we
are taking every step that makes us ready
to move quickly when the, the feds who
are now real partners in this do take their
action.”
Adopting congestion pricing has been
almost a four-year process, starting with
Governor Andrew Cuomo searching out
options for a dedicated revenue stream for
the agency which in 2017 and 2018 was
struggling yet again to bring it’s fi nances
and the subway system into a state of good
repair.
The state legislature approved a broad
proposal for congestion pricing for any
car or truck entering Manhattan below
60th Street, meaning that New York State
needed no further approvals, according to
MTA Chairman Pat Foye.
“There will be public hearings, the state
law that will authorize congestion pricing
did not create a need to have a state
separate state environmental process the
environmental process that will determine
this is the one that USDOT and FHWA
who specifi cally will determine and as
you know that’s advice and direction that
we’ve been waiting for well over a year and
a half,” Foye said.
Also approved by the board was a 7%
toll increase for motorists heading through
MTA bridges and tunnels with resident
discounts for those living in Queens and
Staten Island remain in place.
De Blasio, Meng slam anti-Asian hate in New York City
BY ARIAMA C. LONG
During his morning briefi ng Tuesday,
Mayor Bill de Blasio was
joined by Queens Congresswoman
Grace Meng to condemn the rise of anti-
Asian hate crimes and discrimination that
was fueled by the onset of the COVID-19
crisis and racist rhetoric from politicians.
“Every community suffered, but there’s
been a particular pain, a particular horrible
challenge faced by the Asian American
community,” said de Blasio. “Because on
top of all the suffering from the coronavirus
itself, on top of losing loved ones, losing
businesses, people have had to confront
horrible discrimination and hatred from
the very beginning.”
“These racist attacks have been outrageous
and unconscionable, disgusting, and
it must end,” said Meng, who introduced
legislation in March 2020 to denounce
anti-Asian sentiments.
“I also want to say thank you to so many
other communities of color who have stood
with us, and stood publicly against this sort
of discrimination,” added Meng.
Meng mentioned the Chinese Exclusion
Act of 1882, which former President
Chester A. Arthur signed into law to curb
the rise of Chinese immigrants to the U.S
U.S. Representative Grace Meng (D-NY) speaks during the third day of the Democratic
National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 27, 2016.
for ten years and declared them ineligible
for citizenship.
She said everything from that to the
U.S’s Japanese internment camps in the
1940s to former President Donald Trump’s
Muslim ban that targeted Muslims and
Southeast Asians, has been a sad refl ection
of the country’s history with attacking
minority groups.
Pre-pandemic, New York City and other
PHOTO BY REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR
states saw a wave of anti-semitic attacks,
and the U.S struggled to confront its long
history with over-policing and brutality
towards Black and Brown people right up
until George Floyd’s death at the hands of
Minneapolis cops last May.
Meng said before reported cases of
COVID-19 in the U.S there were outright
discrimination and boycotts of Asian
Americans and their businesses. “So
many Asian Americans lived in fear and
are afraid to leave their homes because they
don’t know what might happen to them,”
said Meng.
De Blasio said any restaurant or business
in the Asian American community that suffered
from discrimination deserves help,
and the city’s looking to direct tax breaks
and loan support towards them from the
stimulus.
De Blasio said the city is doling out harsh
fi nes to anyone who commits a hate crime
and is working closely with the task force to
hopefully prevent more physical incidents.
“The rise is happening in New York City,
but not just America, all over the world,”
said Deputy Inspector of the Asian Hate
Crimes Task Force Stewart Hsiao Loo,
who also captains the Manhattan South
Detective Bureau.
Two weeks ago, an elderly Filipino man
was slashed across his face with a box cutter
on a Manhattan-bound L train among
other recent slashings on the city’s subways.
Loo said that there have been 28
COVID-related incidents involving people
who are Asian, compared to 2019’s three
anti-Asian hate crimes. He said out of those
there have been 18 arrests in criminal
court. “Of course we’d like to have 28 out
of 28,” said Loo.
14 February 25, 2021 Schneps Media