Praising, even faintly, Gov. Hochul’s purported “indefinite pause” on congestion pricing is like praising the inventors of New Coke for deciding to pull it from the shelves.
Hochul spent her tenure lamely trying to sell the scheme at press conferences at which she spouted climate change bromides that appeal to the activist class. Never was there substantial public support for the plan and, incredibly, it did not dawn upon our political establishment that imposing a huge toll upon an already highly-taxed populace would face concerted opposition.
Congestion pricing would be a tough sell even for talented politicians. Nonetheless, having passed it into law, to build public support, the governor and the mayor could have unveiled a concrete plan for the reform of the distrusted MTA, demonstrating ways in which the agency would reduce its operating expenses in return for the new revenue source.
They could have appeared with the five district attorneys and announced an aggressive plan to crackdown on the many fare beaters that cost the system millions per year. Instead, they allowed MTA officials to dismiss the concerns of the plan’s opponents.
It was obvious for some time that congestion pricing had become a political debacle. Yet it is the law and the MTA has, literally, banked upon its $1 billion annual revenue stream. The statute that governs congestion pricing requires the MTA (technically, the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority) to implement the plan.
Hochul has no power to impose a “pause.” She can only lawfully secure a delay if the Legislature amends or repeals the statute or if the MTA board votes to move the program’s effective date. The MTA may change the date, but, under current law, it must fix another for the commencement of the program.
The fact that Hochul, apparently under pressure from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (who has the audacity to claim he is “neutral” on the subject), suffered a moment of political panic does not unmake the law, nor does the governor have in hand the billions in funding needed to replace the congestion tolls that the state made a cornerstone of the MTA’s finances.
The Legislature instantly rejected Hochul’s preposterous idea that the state should replace the revenue with a new tax on city businesses. She followed the tax plan with an insane proposal for the issuance of an “IOU” to the MTA in the amount of a billion dollars. As of this writing, she has not offered to sell the Brooklyn Bridge.
The sheer incompetence and recklessness of the entire cast of characters is shocking, even by the low standards of New York governance.
The governor and the Legislature cook up schemes in closed negotiations that they pass into law in the middle of the night. When they realize they lack public buy-in, they resort to ridiculous sloganeering instead of sensible policy explanations. They eventually apprehend the problem, but refuse to alter course, insisting it is all wonderful and damning their opponents. Finally, they face the impending political consequences and panic.
Such has been the pattern with bail reform, the legalization of marijuana and now congestion pricing.
Special dishonorable mention among the players goes to the mayor. He has been wholly absent from the public discourse on one of the most consequential policy decisions in the city’s modern history. He has only offered bizarre praise for the governor’s disastrous “pause.”
The governor, of course, easily wins the least valuable official award. Her apparent inability to realize that a policy on the scale of congestion pricing cannot be “paused” on her say so demonstrates a complete unfitness for office. Regardless of one’s position on congestion pricing (I am not a supporter), it is a plan enacted by law, under the auspices of the MTA, and on which billions of dollars and scores of major capital projects depend.
Hochul has neither the legal nor the practical ability to unwind the plan. The notion that she attempted to do so in order to avoid a second round of blame for costing the Democrats control of Congress ought to be a firing offense.
The pathetic mishandling of congestion pricing has terribly undermined the cause of the transit system. It is the clearest instance yet of the ongoing crisis of competence that plagues our city and state governments. The MTA used to employ the slogan “Going your way.” It is time for New York to go in another direction.
Browne is a lawyer.
