an 11th Hour decision to Halt New York City's congestion pricing plan is putting the region into a tail spin Governor Murphy and others on this side of the river cheered the call made by New York Governor Kathy Hochul while environmental and transportation groups called it a slap in the face many told Ted Goldberg today they see it as a critically missed opportunity to cut down on gas emissions New York's shocking decision to stop congestion prices has inspired relief I'm grateful that Governor Hochul pulled back on congestion pricing I think that's a game changer for New Jersey and also rage it was a shameless spineless and politically motivated decision Kathy Hochul announced that congestion pricing is on an indefinite pause so people driving to Midtown Manhattan won't be looking at $15 charges that were supposed to start at the end of June Hochul said there would be too many unintended consequences for New York families their budgets and the city's economic recovery given these Financial pressures I cannot add another burden to working in Middle Class New Yorkers or create another obstacle to our continued recovery that argument doesn't really pass the sniff test for me personally some advocates for transportation think politics played a bigger role than economics congestion pricing has been a polarizing topic since Albany first approved it back in 2019.

You could have said that a year ago you could have said that 3 years ago um you know much of the country is still in recovery mode from the covid pandemic nothing's changed in the last year or month and in fact congestion in in the city is just as bad, in fact worse than it was pre pandemic the MTA said congestion pricing would raise a billion dollars a year for much needed improvements others argued it would merely divert traffic to the George Washington Bridge far enough North to avoid the tax now we're not going to face that additional traffic um you know the 400,000 cars that come across the bridge that was going to increase and and and create safety hazards additional pollution environmental issues so so we're not going to see that that would have put an enormous burden on our commuters and it would not have eliminated pollution it would have displaced it from Manhattan into Hudson and Bergen counties the gwb is in the district represented by Congressman Josh Gottheimer he says New York appears to have done right by hardworking Jersey families the congestion tax would have caused more traffic and cancer-causing pollution for families in northern Jersey but Advocates worry how the MTA can make necessary repairs without that billion dollar windfall each year more than 80% of New Jersey commuters use MTA Subways and buses in New York so if if New York is not moving forward congestion pricing not only will it mean that traffic will get worse as opposed to better it means that underfunding is going to hurt New Jersey Transit Riders who get into New York and need a way to get around since congestion pricing is on an indefinite pause people for and against it are in wait and see mode if she had said that um I'm not supporting it and this will not happen then I probably would have been doing cartwheels and jumping jacks we're hoping that she's actually going to pull a Murphy the governor vetoed um a an increase in Turnpike tolls right before the last election uh only to reverse his decision once the election was over this doesn't end the lawsuits against New York those are still playing out in court while people wait for NJ Spotlight news I'm Ted Goldberg [Music]