LEONARD GREENE: NYC congestion pricing is a lump of coal for cash-strapped

The lump of coal better known as congestion pricing is back on the table just in time for cash-strapped commuters who went deeper in debt to buy holiday gifts for their friends and loved ones.

Like a horror movie creature that just won’t die, this evil tax keeps getting resuscitated no matter how many stakes get driven through its heart.

And its resurrection comes at the worst possible moment — when commuters are getting their first credit card bills from all the iPads and PlayStations they purchased for Christmas.

“This is all about getting money for the MTA,” said Kathryn Freed, a former City Council member who opposes the plan. “It’s not about getting better transportation.”

Freed was among the sign-waving demonstrators protesting the congestion pricing plan Friday outside federal court in lower Manhattan.

That was where no fewer than four lawsuits challenging the plan were being heard by a federal judge who is being asked to issue a temporary injunction that would pump the brakes on this runaway train.

The lawsuits include ones filed by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew and by the Trucking Association of New York, a trade group representing delivery companies.

They argue that the toll is an added financial burden for commuters, hurts small businesses, and shifts traffic and pollution to other parts of the city and region.

Supporters say the controversial plan to charge drivers entering Manhattan below 60th St. would reduce traffic, improve air quality and fund improvements to New York City’s mass transit.

If there was anything that we learned from last month’s election it was that voters were concerned about what they had to spend every day, and that the price of milk and eggs mattered more to many people than issues like abortion and immigration.

Gov. Hochul almost acknowledged as much in June when she pressed pause on the plan just days before it was set to go into effect.

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She said at the time that the $15 toll would hurt everyday people too much.

“Let’s be real,” Hochul said at the time. “A $15 charge may not seem like a lot to someone who has the means, but it can break the budget of a hard-working middle-class household.”

So, what changed between then and now? Last time anybody checked, those same everyday people are hurting even more today.

But there were political concerns as well. According to one report, Democratic leaders approached the governor expressing concerns that the congestion pricing plan could impact close races in the U.S. House of Representatives.

So it went away.

And now it’s back.

Hochul says the new-and-improved version will only cost commuters $9, which, if you do the math, is still nine dollars more than anybody pays right now.

Why the rush? Hochul and supporters are hoping to implement the toll before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Trump, whose Midtown tower sits within the congestion pricing zone, has heavily criticized the plan, and has vowed to derail the toll once he is back in the White House.

“Congestion Pricing” is a disaster for NYC,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform in May.

“A massive business killer and tax on New Yorkers, and anyone going into Manhattan. I will TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in Office!!! Manhattan is looking for business, not looking to kill business.”

It is one of the few areas where Trump and most New Yorkers agree.

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