New York Balked, But It Can Still Lead on Congestion Pricing
The flip-flop on taxing vehicles driving into parts of Manhattan damages the city’s reputation for urban planning at a time of mounting challenges.
For the birds: E-ZPass readers and license plate-scanning cameras over Central Park West in Columbus Circle, New York.
Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg
Governor Kathy Hochul of New York is giving a masterclass in politics — both good and bad.
Her 11th-hour suspension of Manhattan’s congestion charge looks like it mostly came via another borough; namely Brooklyn, home to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ 8th congressional district. This has all the hallmarks of appeasing voters-on-wheels in several swing seats in the New York City suburbs that Jeffries hopes will flip to Democrats in November to help recapture the House. Little wonder that Mike Lawler, the Republican congressman for my swingy bit of the lower Hudson valley, didn’t welcome Hochul’s move but rather dismissed it as a “stunt.”