NEW YORK (AP) — New York City public transportation and environmental groups filed lawsuits against the governor on Thursday. Kathy Hochul‘s decision to block a plan to ease traffic and raise billions for the city’s ailing subway system by imposing a new toll on motorists in Manhattan.
The groups argue in two separate lawsuits before the state Supreme Court that the Democrat violated state law and the state Constitution by indefinitely halting the benefits, citing economic concerns.
The program, which would begin June 30, would charge drivers entering the Manhattan core a toll of about $15, depending on the type of vehicle. The fee is expected to generate about $1 billion annually for public transportation improvements.
The Riders Alliance, the Sierra Club and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance argued in their lawsuit that Hochul’s decision violated the part of the state constitution that guarantees New Yorkers the right to “clean air and water and a healthy environment.”
“The residents of New York City deserve to be able to breathe,” the lawsuit says.
In its lawsuit, the City Club of New York called Hochul’s decision “literally lawless” and “lacking any basis in the law as democratically adopted.”
It was noted that the toll had been approved by state lawmakers and signed into law by her predecessor, the former Democratic governor. Andrew Cuomoin 2019, after decades of advocacy and public debate.
“No matter how powerful a governor is, that governor has no legal authority — none — to order the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to discontinue congestion pricing,” the group said in the lawsuit.
Hochul, through a spokesperson, dismissed the lawsuits as political propaganda.
“Join us,” spokeswoman Maggie Halley said in an email. “There are now 11 separate congestion pricing lawsuits filed by groups seeking to use the legal system as a weapon to score political points, but Governor Hochul remains focused on what matters: funding public transit, reducing congestion, and protecting working New Yorkers.”
Groups ranging from a public teachers union to New Jersey residents and local truck drivers have filed lawsuits seeking to block the program ahead of its expected start date.
Hochul has maintained that her decision was motivated by economic concerns and conversations with ordinary New Yorkers.
She also proposed raising taxes on corporations to offset billions of dollars in lost revenue from public transit, but lawmakers rejected the proposal.
City Manager Brad Lander, who joined the groups in announcing the lawsuits on Thursday, said New Yorkers will face “increasing service restrictions, traffic congestion, air quality warnings and inaccessible stations” if the governor’s order stands.
Congestion pricing is a “win-win-win” for New Yorkers because it would generate much-needed revenue to make public transportation “faster, more reliable and more accessible,” while also reducing “costly traffic congestion, carbon emissions, fatal collisions and toxic air pollution,” said Betsy Plum, executive director of the Riders Alliance.
Before her sudden about-face, Hochul was a staunch supporter of the toll, even describing it as “transformative.”
The MTA had also already installed cameras, sensors and license plate readers for the program and signed a more than $500 million contract with a private vendor to operate the toll infrastructure.
