Opposition to New York’s coming congestion pricing continues to snowball — and rightly so.
The United Federation of Teachers and Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella are suing to stop the scheme to raise MTA revenue by taxing drivers entering Midtown Manhattan south of 60th Street, and a real gorilla just joined in: the Municipal Labor Committee , a coalition of unions repping nearly 400,000 city government workers.
“The congestion toll is just another crazy thing in the city,” said MLC chief Harry Nespoli.
Dead right: By most accounts, it won’t even actually reduce congestion.
(Reversing the de Blasio policy of lowering speed limits everywhere, and reprogramming traffic lights to slow everything down, would likely do better at that.)
Yes, the MTA faces huge fiscal problems.
But solving them by punishing average New Yorkers simply for driving is insane, especially since the annual toll for a daily commuter could near $4,000.