Gov. Hochul is considering a reduced-cost toll for traffic jams that would exempt the city’s unionized workers, the Post’s Carl Campanile reports — After the November elections.
Granted, Hochul never said she was doing more than “suspending” tolls, but she did raise concerns for the city’s economy — not for the political calendar.
Yet it is clearly all policy.
First, starting with a lower toll than the $15 originally planned to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street does not guarantee that the price will not rise quickly.
This is certainly how Albany works: the legislature is always looking for new income, Never seeking to reduce taxes or fees.
And his new plan always leaves the MTA short of investment funds expected from the initial plan.
Moreover, the exemption granted to public sector workers turns the whole “anti-congestion” logic of tolls into a joke: from now on, “pricing” is nothing more than an additional burden on the private sector.
Hell, this is one more step toward turning New York into a two-class city: people in the private sector rarely get the usual public-sector benefits, like guaranteed pensions or post-retirement health coverage.
While failing to rein in the “public employee privilege” that contributes to the MTA’s financial woes: With a payroll of $7.8 billion, it spent a record $1.37 billion on overtime last year, for example.
Nor will Albany consider finding more money for the agency in the state’s bloated $240 billion (and growing) annual budget.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) is widely believed to have been the deciding voice in getting Hochul to suspend the tolls in the first place: Angering suburbanites so soon before the November election would strengthen Republicans in districts he wants to win back this year so he can become the biggest powerbroker in the country. majority chief.
Jeffries also probably thinks that when the tolls TO DO Anger will focus on Hochul, and voters will leave other Democrats out of the running by 2026.
The best way for voters to respond to their leaders’ contemptuous calculations is to vote for every Republican they can in November.