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New Yorkers opposing congestion pricing have begged a federal judge to block the $9 toll, arguing it would cause “irreparable harm” — and claiming Gov. Kathy Hochul shoved the “unevaluated” scheme through before President Biden leaves office.
The group New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax — one of several engaged in litigation to fight the central business tolling scheme — filed for an injunction on Monday, claiming that Hochul is breaking the law by ignoring the impact the tax will have on small businesses, jobs and other socioeconomic factors.
“The governor paused the program because of the financial impact — that this would be too much of a burden,” the group’s lawyer, Jack Lester, told The Post. “The governor is aware of the impacts but refuses to follow the law which would allow these to be taken into consideration.”
Hochul suddenly reversed course last month on her indefinite “pause” of the program, which is now set to go into effect on Jan. 5 — meaning the issue “now becomes an emergency,” Lester said.
The city “could be facing a financial catastrophe,” he said, with working New Yorkers like nurses, teachers and civil servants facing the $9 fee to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street, and small business owners in the tolling zone bearing the brunt of its broader impacts.
Hochul’s pause of the program — just weeks before it was set to start over the summer with a $15 toll — should have given the governor enough time to seek more public testimony “and implement rules that considered and minimized any unnecessary impacts,” the new filing reads.
“The failure to do so and the rush to implement Congestion Pricing in the waning days of the outgoing federal administration compels the issuance of injunctive relief,” it states.
The request for Judge Lewis Liman to step in was filed as part of a lawsuit by the group — including Lower East Side residents and business leaders — first filed in Manhattan federal court in January that claimed the first-in-the-nation tolling scheme dodged proper environmental reviews, particularly when it came to socioeconomic impacts.
The suit seeks what the plaintiffs deem to be a proper socioeconomic review of the plan, and for Hochul to carve-out exemptions for “the lifeblood of the city,” Lester said, including civil servants, first responders, teachers and others.
Liman has scheduled a hearing on Dec. 20 to hear arguments from New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing and two other groups seeking a preliminary injunction, the Trucking Association of New York and the United Federation of Teachers.
The UFT this week also filed a motion in their own lawsuit, seeking summary judgement while making similar claims that the revised toll still fails to meet environmental assessment standards required by federal law.
They are among several lawsuits seeking to pump the brakes on congestion pricing still weaving their way through federal and state courts.
A filing by the MTA in response, which appears to address the myriad of different federal suits, says that the congestion pricing opponents failed to state a claim sufficient for a preliminary injunction, and rejected the UFT’s assertion that the toll will negatively impact the environment.
A spokesperson for Hochul said that nearly 90% of commuters into Manhattan take transit, and that the Governor has provided relief by lowering the toll.
“Critics of our more affordable plan have still failed to offer any of their own meaningful solutions for reducing gridlock, improving emergency vehicle response times, and strengthening the transit system that is so vital to New York’s economic future,” Hochul spokesperson Sam Spokony told The Post.
Officials have long said that they conducted extensive and proper environmental reviews, citing thousands of pages and a decade-long process leading up to the toll.
The US attorneys representing the federal Department of Transportation declined to comment. Lawyers representing the MTA did not reply to a request for comment Tuesday.
More than 10 other suits are still in play — and most, but not all, seek to cancel the toll.
A pair of suits aiming to force the toll’s implementation have agreed to drop their suit — if Hochul actually turns on the cameras come Jan. 5.
