NEW YORK—After weeks of vowing to pursue legal action if congestion pricing in New York City did not go into effect by June 30 as scheduled, supporters of the policy have now filed two lawsuits against Gov. Kathy Hochul for having placed a pause on it.
The two lawsuits accuse the governor of flouting the 2019 MTA Reform and Traffic Mobility Act, impeding the curbing of greenhouse gas emissions, and violating citizens’ constitutional right to a healthy urban environment with fresh, breathable air.
Under the 2019 law, toll booths would have begun charging drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street fees of $15 as of June 30. This would raise money that supporters say is badly needed for maintaining the city’s public transportation system and prompt commuters to consider alternatives to driving into the city during the busiest hours.
But Gov. Hochul maintained that lower-income commuters could ill afford the $15 tolls. At a June 7 press conference in Albany, she stated, “Now is not the time to put it on the backs of hardworking New Yorkers who are still feeling the cost of inflation on their pocketbooks.”
The law firm Emery Celli Abady Brinckerhoff Ward & Maazel filed the first lawsuit, City Club of New York et al. v. Hochul, accusing the governor of overstepping her legal authority by refusing to allow the implementation of the 2019 MTA Reform and Traffic Mobility Act. One of the act’s provisions is the launch of congestion pricing under the auspices of the Central Business District Tolling Program (CBDTP).
“Whether one supports congestion pricing or opposes it, one thing is clear: the CBDTP reflects democracy at work, the give-and-take of policy and politics that results in the enactment of law—a law to which all must adhere,” the complaint states.
A nonprofit environmental organization, Earthjustice, filed the second lawsuit, Riders Alliance v. Hochul. In the nonprofit’s view, Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing violates the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a New York State statute mandating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by the year 2030. The lawsuit also charges Gov. Hochul with violating a 2021 amendment to the state constitution that calls for clean air.
“New York City is choking on cars. The city’s streets are clogged with some of the worst traffic in the world. The fumes emitted by the nearly one million vehicles that enter Manhattan’s Central Business District (‘CBD’) each day are making the City’s residents sick, harming the city’s economy and quality of life, and exacerbating the climate crisis,” the complaint states.
Gov. Hochul’s office did not respond by publication time to a request for comment.
