New York City's congestion pricing will hurt Chinatown businesses: Critics

Metro

by carl campanile

The nation's first controversial $15 congestion charge for entering Manhattan's business district south of 60th Street will hurt Chinatown's tourist-dependent economy, critics said Thursday. argued.

Chinatown activist Susan Lee, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the MTA seeking a toll garnishment, said her downtown neighborhood is still recovering from the coronavirus outbreak amid protests against congestion pricing. He said there is.

“Congestion tolls will be a huge blow to our economy and a huge blow to our economic recovery,” Lee, president of New Yorkers Against Congestion Tolls, said at a news conference on Mott Street.

“Chinatown has suffered tremendously over the past 20 years,” she said, also referencing the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The area is known for its many Chinese and Southeast Asian restaurants serving dumplings, pork buns, and noodles, as well as its sidewalks lined with souvenir shops, bubble tea shops, and food markets selling fish, herbs, and spices. Masu.

“This is a 200-year-old community. They're trying to force it into existence,” said Kathryn Freed, a former Lower East Sider judge and former City Council member.

“It's a money grab. It's smoke and mirrors,” Freed said.

The MTA announced last week that the toll would go into effect starting June 30, despite ongoing litigation.

Thursday's protests appeared to be a last-gasp appeal to stem the seemingly inevitable toll.

“This casualty will hurt businesses that have been closed during the pandemic. It's insane,” said Queens Borough Councilman Robert Holden.

He said businesses that have to pay higher fees for deliveries will pass those costs on to consumers.

“Everything will cost more. How stupid,” Holden said.

Holden also argued that the MTA is not a good steward, pointing to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue due to bus and subway fare violations.

But for all the anger directed at the MTA, transit officials are simply following orders from New York City's elected leaders.

The congestion pricing program became a reality in 2019 through state legislation supported by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

His successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, a proponent of raising congestion fees, said the new fees would generate $1 billion in revenue for mass transit agencies while curbing traffic and air pollution in Manhattan.

But politically, congestion pricing is a loser in the court of public opinion with voters. A Siena College poll released last week found that nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers across political lines oppose the fee structure, while only 25% support it.

MTA officials have defended future victims of gridlock, dismissing “pro-transit” opponents who won't get their way in court.

“We are responding to their traffic advocacy case in court, where a 4,000-page environmental assessment found that congestion relief would reduce traffic, make our streets safer, clean our air, and provide access to most people. “This will prove to be an effective way to increase investment in public transportation,” the MTA's chief policy officer said. Foreign Secretary John McCarthy said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the MTA on Monday approved discounts to make public transit options more attractive while implementing congestion pricing.

Increase the frequency of six popular express bus routes from Brooklyn and Staten Island to the busy areas of Manhattan, and offer a 10% discount on the price of a monthly rail pass to ride the Long Island Railroad and Metro-North in New York City. . Stop.

Both programs are designed to appeal to people in suburban boroughs who might consider switching from driving to transit to Manhattan's central business district, officials said.