By Eric Wolf Schoen
Hard to believe it was almost 40 years ago when in the midst of a fiscal crisis in New York City, the headline in the NY Daily News read, ‘FORD TO NYC: DROP DEAD.’ Then President Gerald Ford refused to bailout New York City in the midst of a fiscal crisis stating he would veto any bill calling for “a federal bail-out of New York City.”
It was announced late last week that the date Congestion pricing will begin in New York City is June 30, 2024. Drive your car below 60th Street in Manhattan and you will be hit with a $15 fee. Better yet let’s call it a fine. There are numerous lawsuits seeking to stop this from occurring. The State of New Jersey filed one of them. We will look at the cost of a ride from New Brunswick, New Jersey to 42nd Street by car that a friend of mine makes five days a week in few short moments.
As far as I am concerned, Congestion Pricing adopted by the MTA after approval by the New York State Assembly and Senate and the Governor is just like President Ford saying to a cash strapped New York City ‘DROP DEAD!’ Congestion pricing will make you think twice about making that trip to New York City to enjoy all that the greatest city on Earth has to offer.
We hear ridiculous statements like that made by MTA boss Janno Lieber that ‘As congestion pricing starts at midnight on the morning of June 30, the first users will only be charged the nighttime fare of $3.75. Drivers will not have to pay the $15 fee until 9 a.m. Sunday morning.’ People like Lieber think folks in this region are stupid. I hate to inform you pal but we are not.
Let’s take a look at the tolls my friend from New Brunswick, New Jersey will face every time he enters Manhattan below 60th Street. He drives a passenger car. New Brunswick, New Jersey on the New Jersey Turnpike to George Washington Bridge. $11. Crossing the George Washington Bridge is another $16. That’s $27 dollars. Add the $15 Congestion pricing fee and you are talking about $42 to drive into Manhattan. That’s a lot of money, and he hasn’t even had a bagel with a schmear to eat.
Remember friends that the money Mr. Lieber and gang collect from the Congestion Pricing program will not be spent fixing the roads we travel on. The Congestion Pricing dollars will be spent on trying to improve mass transit in New York City. My friend will see no repairs to the potholes that cause flat tires on his car. The uneven roads that destroy the alignment on his car will remain the same.
Some call the MTA the Money Taking Agency. There is no accountability at the MTA. It’s just give us more money, give us more money. Add a tax dedicated to the MTA and all our problems will be solved. And they never are.
Why doesn’t my friend take mass transit to New York City? He’s tired of the New York subways filled with homeless people urinating in the seat next to his on the subway. He doesn’t want to throw up because of the smell of marijuana that seems to accompany everyone riding on the subway. At press time the White House is proposing relaxing the marijuana rules. Just what we need in the country right now. He might see a cop on the train, but quite often he does not. He feels unsafe riding the subways. He is not going to risk his life or the life of his family riding on the subway. Do you blame him?
Legislators usually vote for things to benefit their districts. Why any suburban legislator would vote for Congestion Pricing boggles my mind. Suburban legislators can easily stop this Congestion Pricing. Why are they not doing this and support it? These are the questions that you must ask your legislators at public meetings,
via email and on the phone prior to” Election Day.
There is little congestion on the streets of Manhattan after 5:30 p.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday. So why charge motorists this fee after 6:00 pm to 7 a.m the next day. And why charge this fee on weekends. What do people do after 6 p.m. and on weekends? Visit Manhattan to see a Broadway Show, enjoy a fine dinner in a New York City restaurant, visit the Christmas Tree and Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall and a myriad other things.
Add a congestion pricing fee to high gas prices, high ticket prices, expensive parking, baby sitters, etc. and people are going to skip the visit to the Big Apple. Or certainly go a lot less. This will hurt the economy of New York City and hurt the great many businesses who not only rely on foreign tourists but count on visitors to New York City from the suburbs to patronize their establishments.
The haphazard way this toll is being introduced? No one knows all the exemptions and new ones come out everyday. The MTA puts all the cameras and equipment up. They try to make it hard for any judicial body to turn the program off. New details come out about the program everyday. Because the MTA is ready for your money and has a plan to spend it only they know the details of.
The Governor and State Legislators and New York City elected officials are simply saying ‘Drop Dead’ to the people who elected them to office. They don’t care that you haven’t gotten a raise in years. They don’t care that people will not visit museums and other cultural institutions, the latest Broadway shows, concerts, parks because the costs of driving into Manhattan are simply to dam high!
And watch consumer prices for everything from apples to oranges skyrocket. Trucks pay an even higher fee when entering the congestion zone, and manufacturers are certainly going to pass those costs on to the consumer.
People in Westchester need to get on the phone and tell your legislators Congestion Pricing will do nothing for the suburbs. If we don’t stop it many good hard working people are going to lose their jobs. And sadly, New York City will become emptier than it was during the pandemic. Certain areas of the city that were once bustling have storefronts that have sat empty since the beginning of the pandemic and will remain empty.
Residents of Westchester it is in your hands. Don’t let your elected official say ‘Drop Dead’ to you as President Ford said to New Yorkers almost 40 years ago!
ANTISEMITISM AND DESTRUCTION OF CAMPUS PROPERTY MUST STOP
Let’s be very clear. If it were not for the Jewish Community in New York and around this country, students today would not have a Columbia University or New York University or many of the schools where outside agitators are stirring up students as we speak. Students should kiss the ground they walk on in appreciation of the contributions Jews made to make their institutions learning palaces.
When students and outsiders destroy buildings they should be expelled immediately from the institutions they attend. And University Officials need to get rowdy, destructive students off campus property using the police department whether it be NYPD or other departments in this country.
Parents of college students must know that after all the money they spent on their children at prestigious institutions of higher education that everything can be lost if the student breaks the law and is part of the out of control mobs we see on television.
Don’t cancel graduation ceremonies school officials. The students who act like they are supposed to should not be deprived of the pomp and circumstance they worked so hard for.
Columbia University waited way to long to corral those destroying school property. For public safety the police should have been called in much earlier. The sad thing is many of the protestors could not find Israel or the Middle East for that matter on a map!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com, or friend him on Facebook Eric Schoen…just look for him in the picture with Joan Rivers
