Queens pols file lawsuit against congestion pricing plan
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Community members and Queens elected officials rallied outside City Hall on Thursday after filing a class action lawsuit against the MTA’s congestion pricing plan. Photo via Bob Holden/Twitter
By Ryan Schwach
Queens members of the City Council’s Common Sense Caucus and Queens Assemblymember David Weprin rallied in support of a new lawsuit filed against the plan to bring congestion pricing to Manhattan.
The electeds are also co-plaintiffs on the case which calls for an Environmental Impact Study into the congestion pricing plan, which, once implemented, will require most drivers entering lower or midtown Manhattan to pay a toll.
Those who spoke against the plan on Thursday claimed that congestion pricing will divert traffic into other areas, creating pollution elsewhere. They also railed against what they said is an unfair tax against members of the outer boroughs, where many communities do not have public transportation options.
“I represent a district in Eastern Queens which is often referred to as a transit desert, where many individuals do not have a subway in walking distance in some cases, miles to the nearest subway,” said Weprin, who has been a critic of congestion pricing since it was first floated as an option to help fund the MTA.
Weprin, who represents a large section of Central Queens from Hollis Hills and Oakland Gardens down to Richmond Hill, said that members of his community won’t be helped by congestion pricing.
“Public transit options are not available for many parts of New York City, including Eastern Queens – a trip into Manhattan requires taking multiple bus and subway lines,” he said. “There are even fewer options available to senior citizens, the sick and the disabled community as the MTA, by its own admission, is largely ADA inaccessible.”
“If congestion pricing is imposed on New York residents and the business community of Queens will suffer,” he added.
Common Sense Caucus member and Queens representative Bob Holden called congestion pricing a “scam tax.”
“Imagine another tax to penalize us for where we live,” he said. ”It's insane that we have to pay to move around the city and pay ridiculous costs.”
Holden and the other plaintiffs of the case, including Queens Councilmember Joann Ariola, argued that an EIS would at least help determine a way of implementing congestion pricing without harming other communities.
“Why isn't there an Environmental Impact Study? It's going to push obvious pollution around other neighborhoods,” he said. “Why not? Because they might not like the results, the MTA, they wouldn't like the results.”
This lawsuit, mainly spearheaded by members of the Lower East Side community in Manhattan, is not the first court case filed to question or stop congestion pricing.
On top of a lawsuit from the governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, there was a lawsuit from lawmakers in Staten Island and the city teacher’s union, the United Federation of Teachers, against the plan.
