In his “Transit projects wait on congestion pricing,” Larry Penner, the author does not tell the entire story. The story he himself has told many times in his other opinion pieces.
Congestion pricing is a political hot potato no politician wishes to be burned by. Mr. Penner has often – and correctly – stated that each politician will have his/her own particular group he/she wishes to be exempt. Mr. Penner is now placing the blame for congestion pricing not moving forward on Governor Hochul. He conveniently ignores the fact that congestion pricing first failed in 2008 under then NYC Mayor Bloomberg. He conveniently ignores it failed to move forward when Andrew Cuomo was governor.
Even assuming for the sake of argument Hochul made her five appointments, the final vote is with the state legislature. No state senator or assemblyperson wishes to put through a de facto tax increase during an election year. Mr. Penner conveniently ignores this.
Mr. Penner states MTA CEO Janno Lieber has been strangely silent on what he perceives to be Hochul’s inertia on the issue. What is strange about it? Hochul is Lieber’s boss. She is running for Governor for the first time. Would it not be career suicide to criticize his boss publicly?
Good, bad, or indifferent, congestion pricing does not appear to be happening any time soon. Rather than holding his never ending “wine and cheese” party over it, why doesn’t the author propose other ways for the MTA to generate revenue? I know what I know and I know what I don’t know. I don’t know where the MTA’s capital budget came from before. I do know it came from somewhere other than congestion pricing.
The author claims he has been writing about how safety and ADA expansion takes priority over system expansion. Yet the author has advocated – on these very pages – to explore the possibility of a Down Flushing Intermodal Bus Terminal. To the tune of hundreds of millions – if not billions – of dollars. To keep a few commuters from getting hot in summer, cold in the winter, and wet in the rain. The author has advocated – on these pages – for reopening the Gimbels Passageway/Hilton Corridor connecting 34th Street to 42nd St. Where a woman in 1991 was brutally robbed and raped. He has been advocating this since 2014, and whereas projects the author is against have rising price tags every year, the price of reopening the passageway has remained miraculously remained constant. The author in “Mass Transit” magazine has proposed extending the #6 train from Pelham Bay Park into Co-op City, ignoring the overwhelming logistics of placing a subway inside a massive, sprawling complex like Co-op City.

Nat Weiner
Bronx