16 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 28, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Eastern Queens vents over congestion pricing plan
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Eastern Queens residents made their
views known and off ered suggestions
about the controversial congestion pricing
plan during a town hall discussion in
Queens Village with state Senators John
Liu, Leroy Comrie and Councilman Barry
Grodenchik.
Speakers at the March 21 session
addressed concerns of the lack of concrete
details of the proposal and its impact if
implemented, and distrust in the MTA’s
handling of generated revenue from congestion
pricing, at Martin Van Buren
High School located at 230-17 Hillside
Ave. in Queens Village.
Liu and Comrie have expressed concern
about what they call a lack of details
from the MTA about congestion pricing.
Th ey have heard input from diff erent
stakeholders about the issue.
“Comrie and I have been pushing on
this issue and we said, ‘How can you
Gov. Cuomo expect us to vote in the
affi rmative on a plan that doesn’t tell us
anything?’” said Liu. “And we said we
are not going to support something that
doesn’t give us any information … the
last people you want to trust with a blank
check is the MTA.”
Th e generated funding from congestion
pricing would then be used to repair
the city’s transit system. But opponents
of the plan say they shouldn’t bear the
brunt of costs to repair the city’s subways
and buses.
“Th e people who should be paying
for the MTA and I know people are
going to be upset is people who are
using the MTA,” said Lourdes Hartrick,
of the Bellerose Commonwealth Civic
Association. “When I used to go on the
train in many years going down as a high
school student to Mary Bertram, I had to
take the train and pay for it. When you
have to get to work or school you pay
to where you go. Th at’s just the way it
is, and if we’re talking about congestion,
they should open up the closed streets in
Manhattan.”
Harold Moscowitz, who has been working
in midtown Manhattan since the age
of 19, argued that he needs his car to commute
every day to and from work in order
to provide for his family.
“I have a car. I need my car to make a
living … don’t stop me from making my
living,” said Harold Moscowitz. “Why do
I have to pay? Why am I the enemy? How
can you vote for this … how much is it
going to cost a day?”
Meanwhile, supporters say an improved
transit system would benefi t the borough
alleviating delays and traffi c congestion.
Sharmela Abraham, a Queens Village
resident and single mother of two children,
who has relied heavily on transportation
to get around, stressed the importance
of critical funding needed to repair
the transit system.
“I don’t have a car. I have to rely on the
buses and trains and it takes forever for
where I need to go,” said Abraham. “I went
to a job interview and missed it because I
was stuck. My kids travel to go to school
and three to four buses pass us by saying
‘not in service.’ It’s a transit desert and we
need something to be done about it.”
Although Tammy Osherov of Fresh
Meadows is in favor of the proposal, she
doesn’t trust the MTA with the streaming
revenue not knowing the details of where
the funding will be allocated.
“Th ey’re not reliable. Th ey’re not
accountable. But I can’t be in favor of
congestion pricing because I don’t trust
them,” said Osherov.
Pricing plan opponents from Qns. clash with union in Man.
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Sparks fl ew as advocates of congestion
pricing, most notably members of the
Transport Workers Union (TWU), chanted
to drown out the words of two Queens
lawmakers at an anti-congestion pricing
event in midtown Manhattan on Sunday.
What started as a press conference at
Tramway Plaza for eastern Queens civic
leaders to voice opposition to the proposed
toll on cars entering lower Manhattan
nearly ended in fi sticuff s among the participants
— and with the legislators being
followed back to their cars by the advancing
counter-protesters.
“You’re a failure, Weprin,” congestion
pricing supporters shouted at
Assemblyman David Weprin as he spoke.
Others called chanted “transit traitor” and
“vote them out!”
“What we should be shouting is ‘Fix
MTA,’” Weprin said between chants.
“Th is proposal – this proposal that the
governor proposed and put before us has
no specifi cs, there’s no amounts, there’s
no restriction on how much the tax will
go up, where the zone will be.”
Other eastern Queens lawmakers also
supported Weprin’s argument, saying that
they do not plan to vote on Governor
Andrew Cuomo’s congestion pricing proposal
for the lack of specifi cs in it, such
as pricing.
Under the plan, any cars entering
Manhattan below 60th Street would pay
a toll, including those vehicles entering
upon traditionally free East River bridges
such as the Queensboro Bridge. A proposal
from January 2018 called for an $11 toll
and cars and up to $25 for trucks entering
Manhattan’s central business district.
Transport Workers Union members
shouting over politicians. (Mark Hallum/
QNS)
Congestion pricing, which was rejected
by the legislature under the Bloomberg
administration, is projected to product
up to $15 billion for the MTA’s next
fi ve-year capital plan. Supporters say this
would help provide a necessary funding
stream to improve public transit, while
also reducing the number of cars traveling
into Manhattan.
Grodenchik, who said he is only defending
the majority of his constituents who
lack all rail options, claims he has the
TWU’s support when he ran for offi ce
and was shocked to be confronted in such
a way by the union.
“Th is is the very fi rst communication
I’ve had from the TWU in 3 1/2 years on
congestion pricing. Th ey have not mentioned
a word to me since then. Th ey have
all my phone numbers. I like them. I have
been an advocate of mass transit and they
have no better friend in the New York
City Council,” Grodenchik said. “Th is is
news to me. I don’t know what to say. I’m
speechless.”
Beefs between the union members and
the Queens representatives, including
Steve Behar, Grodenchik’s counsel, heated
up as one man angrily told two people to
get their signs out of his face. Profanities
were exchanged between the protesters
and counter-protesters.
According to one person close to the
situation, things turned especially heated
aft er one of the counter-protesters loudly
rang a cowbell in Behar’s ear and allegedly
went to push a Grodenchik staff er who
tried to protect the lawmaker as he was
interviewed by a reporter.
TWU Local 100 Vice President
Lynwood Whichard argued that congestion
pricing would, in fact, help to fi x the
MTA. He said it would force some drivers
off the road, increasing MTA ridership,
which has been in steep decline in
recent years.
“We feel like it’s probably the only way
we can look at getting the subway action
plan to move forward in a progressive
way. We think that a lot of these guys have
failed in their position and we support our
president in this endeavor,” Whichard
said, his voice cracking aft er at least a halfhour
of shouting. “Th ere are many entities
within the MTA umbrella … And funding
it will only helps us when it comes to
our environmental needs and operational
needs.”
Kevin Forrestall from the Queens Civic
Congress, however, believes that passing
congestion pricing would be its own worst
enemy, as more people would likely forego
driving into Manhattan altogether and
deprive the borough of business.
Photo: Mark Hallum/THE COURIER
Photo: Carlotta Mohamed/THE COURIER
City Councilman Barry Grodenchik and state Senators Leroy Comrie and John Liu at a congestion pricing forum on March 21 in Queens Village.
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