Free Republic

Please explain to those of us in flyover country, what congestion parking tax is and why Trump and/or the federal government has anything to do with it.

WASHINGTON — A different kind of gridlock is headed to a key section of the nation’s capital. DC Councilman Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) on Sunday warned his constituents in the Navy Yard area to brace for “major congestion” starting Monday, when thousands of naval employees begin returning to in-person work there. “Requiring all in-person work without helping agencies plan = mess,” Allen wrote on X. “16,000+ employees all report in person. Expecting 8-10,000 cars, but have 4,473 parking spots. “Avoid area if you can.” Allen cited data from a memo he apparently received, though it’s not entirely clear from where...

That’s a buzz kill! Big Apple beer hounds may have to fork over 13% more for a brew as congestion pricing drives up costs for customers and businesses alike in some of Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods. Anheuser-Busch, whose brands include Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, Stella Artois and Corona, will raise keg prices by $5 across the board for customers throughout the NYC area, a company sales rep told The Post this week. “We’re building the cost of congestion pricing into delivery fees,” the rep said. And that means bars will likely have to charge an extra dollar per pint to offset the...

Be careful what you wish for. A vocal proponent of the state’s controversial congestion pricing plan who is nudging New Yorkers into the city’s troubled transit system was attacked at a Manhattan subway station over the weekend. Layla Law-Gisiko, president of the City Club of New York, which sued Gov. Kathy Hochul to implement the unpopular toll for motorists driving into Manhattan, said she was left bruised and battered after the Saturday afternoon attack at the 23rd Street station. “Today at around 3:30 PM, I entered the subway station at 23rd Street and 5th Avenue,” Law-Gisiko, 53, wrote in a...

A man was stabbed in a Bronx train station early Sunday, mere hours after congestion pricing went into effect, forcing more New Yorkers into the increasingly violent subway system. It was not immediately clear if the victim and suspect knew each other or what prompted the attack, police sources said. The 38-year-old man was sliced in the arm inside the Third Avenue and 138th Street No. 6 express station in Mott Haven just before 4 a.m., police sources told The Post. His attacker fled the station. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition, police said. The...

The MTA held a cheery celebration to unveil a new “Congestion Relief Zone” sign in Manhattan, just hours before drivers will feel the pain as the controversial toll goes into effect in the Big Apple. The agency’s CEO Janno Lieber seemed to have no concern for the many lawsuits and pleas from commuters aiming to stop the new $9 toll, as he personally unveiled a toll sign Saturday at one of the entry points to the zone at Broadway and W. 61st St. Video shared by the MTA on social media shows a small crowd of toll supporters and elected...

A New Jersey federal judge Friday shot down a last-ditch attempt to stop New York City’s controversial congestion toll from taking effect Sunday. Judge Leo Gordon clarified that his Monday ruling — finding that the toll plan didn’t sufficiently lay out a plan to mitigate the impacts the toll would have on New Jersey — would still allow the toll to start Jan. 5 at midnight. Gordon made his explanation at a last-minute hearing in Newark federal court, where lawyers for Gov. Phil Murphy argued that the plan shouldn’t be allowed to take effect until after measures are put in...

A political war on the Hudson erupted Monday over New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the MTA’s controversial $9 congestion toll. The MTA can now begin collecting the first-in-the-nation congestion fee on Sunday, Jan. 5, to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street — following a federal judge’s ruling in Newark. While Judge Leo Gordon said environmental mitigation concerns on the Jersey side of the Hudson have to be addressed, he chose not to issue a preliminary injunction to block implementation of the toll in his 72-page ruling. “The decision does not interfere with the program’s scheduled implementation this coming Sunday,...

She’s no longer the teacher’s’ pet. The head of the Big Apple’s most powerful teachers’ union flunked Gov. Kathy Hochul and “tone deaf” Democrats Thursday for socking working class New Yorkers with a $9 congestion toll — a week after the election where the party took a drubbing. “It’s not what I expected to see Democrats doing a week after the election. It’s insane! Stop screwing the working class!” United Federation of Teachers President Mike Mulgrew told The Post, saying he will continue to press his active lawsuit to stop the congestion pricing plan. Aside from Hochul, Mulgrew blamed Democrats...

Growing lines of container ships continued to line up outside major U.S. ports on Thursday as the biggest dockworker strike in nearly 50 years entered its third day. The choke points are threatening shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts and are anticipated to grow in coming days if no resolution is forthcoming. Reuters reports no negotiations were scheduled between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and employers, but the port owners, under pressure from the White House to hike their pay offer to land a deal, signaled they were open to new talks.

Gov. Kathy Hochul ditched the MTA congestion pricing plan indefinitely Wednesday — saying it’s not the right time as New Yorkers face a cost-of-living crisis. Hochul announced plans to delay the $15 toll’s June 30 start date, citing the “undue strain on already stressed New Yorkers” grappling with inflation. “Let’s be real: a $15 charge may not mean a lot to someone who has the means, but it can break the budget of a working- or middle-class household,” she said in a pre-taped video announcement. “It puts the squeeze on the very people who make this city go. “I cannot...

For a politician, nothing concentrates the mind like an upcoming election. New York Governor Kathy Hochul isn't up for reelection this year but she seems to remember the 2022 race in which Republicans flipped three House seats. This year she's trying to avoid that happening again. So this morning she suddenly announced she would do a 180 degree turn on New York's congestion pricing plan.“I have come to the difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers this time,” Hochul said in a pre-taped statement released to reporters...“Once the congestion pricing...

NYC congestion pricing plan shelved indefinitely The first-in-the-toll nation program was expected to be a financial windfall for the cash-strapped MTA. By Andrew Siff and Jennifer Millman The MTA announced Wednesday it will indefinitely pause its plans to implement a first-in-the-nation congestion pricing system amid concerns about current economic conditions in the city and the pace of midtown Manhattan’s recovery. News 4’s Romney Smith reports. What to Know The MTA is pushing "pause" indefinitely on New York City's first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan, according to an official briefed on the plans. The toll program, years in the making, had been set...

New York’s controversial congestion pricing toll has yet another high profile critic — Whoopi Goldberg. The 68-year-old joined the chorus of opponents when she ripped the contentious plan to hit drivers with a $15 toll to enter Midtown Manhattan during Gov. Kathy Hochul’s appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday. “This is a huge deal because I can afford it, don’t get me wrong, I can afford it, but a lot of my friends who drive in every day, who left here because they couldn’t afford to live here anymore, can’t,” Goldberg randomly said at the tail-end of the governor’s...

Hampton Jitney — the popular bus operator that shuttles New Yorkers to the Hamptons — warned that it may be forced to hike ticket prices when New York City’s imminent congestion pricing takes effect. Under the city’s tolling proposal, the private bus company will pay double in tolls to shuttle passengers from Manhattan to the Hamptons and Long Island’s North Fork, according to an email send to riders on Feb. 25 obtained by Bloomberg. “We are asking for help from our ridership,” Geoffrey Lynch, Hampton Jitney’s president, wrote in the email, which encouraged Hampton Jitney customers to voice support for...

Hudson Valley commuters ripped into the MTA’s congestion toll in a town hall in Ulster County Saturday, begging the Big Apple and Albany to put the controversial pricing plan on-hold. The event was sponsored by battleground congressional district Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), who regularly excoriates his fellow Democrats who are pushing for the Manhattan fares. “I think this is an absolutely unacceptable and ridiculous plan,” Ryan told the crowd crammed into a meeting room in the Castleton-on-Hudson Village Hall on Saturday. The proposed congestion pricing toll would charge drivers $15 a day to enter midtown Manhattan south of 60th Street....

New York City school teachers who commute from Staten Island and The Bronx to Manhattan are at a crossroads: Pay $2,700 more a year to commute by car, spend hours on public transportation — or change jobs. “The city doesn’t care about Staten Island,” special education teacher Paul Caminiti told The Post. He is one of five educators (four from Staten Island and one from New Jersey) in the United Federation of Teachers union who, along with Staten Island borough president Vito Fossella, are suing the MTA over its upcoming congestion pricing plan.

Drivers who evade the controversial $15 congestion pricing toll to enter Midtown Manhattan will be treated like criminals under legislation introduced by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Hochul included a “toll fraud” proposal in her $233 billion state budget plan. The measure would allow cops to charge drivers with Class A misdemeanor toll theft — defined as fraudulently attempting to obtain a credit, discount or exemption from tolls. Scammers who evade paying tolls valued at more than $1,000 could get slapped with a Class E felony and a Class D felony for pocketing tolls valued at more than $3,000.

New Yorkers can only dream about the thrill of the open road as a new survey reveals they spend more of their lives stuck in traffic than drivers anywhere in the US. **SNIP** New York has increased its unwanted lead since last year and the findings were released just hours after New York's Traffic Mobility Review Board released its congestion pricing plan that could see drivers slapped with extra fees of up to $36. Drivers of cars, SUVs and pickup trucks would be charged $15 a day to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. Small trucks would be charged $24, commercial...

Doctors say they're finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish Covid from allergies or the common cold, even as hospitalizations tick up. The illness' past hallmarks, such as a dry cough or the loss of sense of taste or smell, have become less common. Instead, doctors are observing milder disease, mostly concentrated in the upper respiratory tract.