06/07/2024
🚨🚨🚨You've probably heard a lot about congestion pricing and the stakes of the governor's current attempt to cancel it.
Today is the last stand, with the legislature set to vote on stopgap funding the governor is pushing that would provide money for the MTA that is meant to come from congestion pricing. If this passes, congestion pricing is likely dead for good.
NOTE: 🚨This funding is just for a year, not permanent; and of course we need all the benefits of congestion pricing (reduced gridlock, faster buses / ambulances / fire trucks, cleaner air, fewer emissions, less noise, less traffic violence, better quality of life)—not just the MTA money.
Senator Gianaris is ostensibly opposed but was noncommittal to a reporter. Here's a tracker with contact information so you can demand they reject any revenue replacement scheme. Assuming no help from the GOP she needs 31 Senate votes and 75 from the Assembly. See full thread for more: https://twitter.com/2AvSagas/status/1798892068577902856
We're hearing that legislators are on the fence (which is crazy! this is an easy no!), so it would be amazing if you could take one minute to call your state senator's office and say you support congestion pricing and that you want them to vote no on this stopgap funding.
You can find yours here: https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator (The Senate is closer to no so that's where our focus is, but you can call your Assembly member too!: https://www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/search/)
If they say, "Well, we need the MTA to be funded," you can remind them: congestion pricing is the law, it will fully fund the MTA, and this bill is capitulation to Hochul's last-minute cancellation of a transformative policy we've waited years for. A no vote stands up against this odious approach and will force the governor to back down. Thank you!
News and Information from the New York State Assembly