Congestion pricing plan gets Biden approval
BY MARK HALLUM
Advocates for the state’s plan to
toll drivers going into Manhattan
fi nally got a break from the Biden
administration.
After years since the proposal to charge
vehicles entering Manhattan’s central business
district was proposed in 2018 and
adopted by the state legislature in 2019,
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has
given the MTA the criteria it will need in a
study to approve the plan.
Stonewalling from the Trump administration
has stalled the plan which President
Joe Biden and his cabinet have committed
to moving forward since before taking the
oath of offi ce in January, a promise which
Governor Andrew Cuomo said they made
good on Tuesday morning.
“Congestion pricing is an internationally
proven method to reduce traffi c congestion,
enhance the availability and reliability of
public transportation, and improve our air
quality, and it will play a critical role as
New York and the nation begin to recover
from the pandemic and build back stronger
and better than before,” Cuomo said. “This
advancement is also another step forward
in generating the $15 billion the state needs
to fund the MTA’s fi ve-year $51.5 billion
Tolling into Manhattan makes slow steps toward becoming a reality.
capital plan, which will transform the accessibility,
reliability and convenience of the
system for users of all ages and abilities.”
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Chairman Pat Foye issued a statement
concurring with the governor about the
needs that congestion pricing will fulfi ll,
but explaining that the federal guidance on
the precise questions the study will need to
answer is what has really put congestion
pricing on hold.
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
“With this guidance on an environmental
assessment now in hand, the MTA is
ready to hit the ground running to implement
the Central Business District Tolling
Program,” Foye said. “We are already working
on preliminary design for the roadway
toll system and infrastructure, and we look
forward to working with our colleagues at
the Federal Highway Administration to
conduct the review and broad public outreach
so that we can move forward with
the remainder of the program as soon as
possible.”
Early proposals for congestion pricing
put recommended prices of $11 for cars,
ut a study from Cornell University in June
found that $20 toll for entering Manhattan
below 60th Street has been studied by
groups who say it could reduce air pollution
by 40% in New York City.
“Riders welcome the Biden administration’s
prompt decision to order an environmental
assessment of congestion pricing.
This accelerated public review will expedite
essential new revenue to make New York’s
subway system reliable and accessible,”
Riders Alliance Executive Director Betsy
Plum said. “Governor Cuomo must now
complete the assessment as quickly as
possible so the MTA can start congestion
pricing with no new special interest exemptions
in 2022.”
But the proposal has been a point of
contention for many outer-borough elected
offi cials who say their districts will be negatively
impacted by the policy, even though
relatively few New Yorkers would bear the
brunt of what many have called a regressive
tax on drivers. Some have expressed skepticism
in the MTA’s ability to be transparent
and responsible in the way it will spend
the money.
Police reform bills signed into law by de Blasio
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Several long-sought police reforms in
New York City are now law.
Mayor Bill de Blasio signed on
March 31 four reform bills that the City
Council approved on March 25. Included
among the approved bills was the prohibition
of qualifi ed immunity for police offi -
cers in New York City — the fi rst American
city to do so, according to City Council
Speaker Corey Johnson.
The legislators also approved a resolution
supporting an amended version of a
police reform plan that the de Blasio Administration
submitted earlier this month.
Johnson acknowledged that the plan wasn’t
everything some lawmakers wanted, but
that the legislature was up against the clock
— as an April 1 mandate from Governor
Andrew Cuomo loomed.
Last summer, Cuomo issued an executive
order requiring all localities in the Empire
State to pass a police reform plan by April
1 of this year — lest they risk losing state
funding in the new budget.
Among the police reform bills the City
Council approved included Intro. 2212-A,
sponsored by Bronx Councilwoman Vanessa
Gibson, which clarifi es the authority
Several NYPD reform bills were approved in the City Council
on March 25, 2021.
of the Civilian Complaint Review Board
to investigate complaints of racial profi ling
and bias-based policing, as submitted by
members of the public. The legislation also
empowers the CCRB to investigate the past
professional conduct of any NYPD member
found to have engaged in bias.
Another bill — Intro. 2220-A, sponsored
by Brooklyn Councilman Stephen
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
Levin — ends qualifi ed immunity for police
offi cers, which Johnson said has been
“rooted in our nation’s systemic racism.”
Qualifi ed immunity gives police offi
cers exemptions from civil lawsuits even
if they have violated a plaintiff’s constitutional
rights. If police are able to show
that there is no past case dealing with the
specifi c misconduct at issue, then they will
generally be entitled to qualifi ed immunity.
The legislation passed in the City Council
effectively ends this for cases involving
unreasonable searches and seizures and
cases involving excessive force (whether it
involved a search or seizure or otherwise).
A third bill — Intro. 2224-A, sponsored
by Queens Councilman Adrienne Adams
— mandates that the NYPD issue a quarterly
report on all vehicle stops that offi cers
make. The department would also need to
provide data on the number of summonses
issued, arrests made and vehicles seized,
and document incidents involving search or
use of force. They must also break the data
down by various demographics, including
race, age and ethnicity of drivers stopped.
Finally, the Council also approved
legislation supported by Manhattan
Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez (Intro.
2224-A) establishing a crash investigation
and analysis unit with the Department of
Transportation. This will shift the liability
for serious crash investigations away from
the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad,
though police will continue to conduct
criminal investigations.
12 April 1, 2021 Schneps Media