Congestion Pricing Emerges as a Self-Defeating Choice for New York and for Governor Hochul

Imagine that you own a shop, and that your business is trending downhill. You’ve lost some customers to competitors, who are offering lower prices and better service, and you’ve been forced to lay off staff, making matters worse. What do you do?Would you start charging people a fee to walk into your store? Not likely. That would be crazy, an insult to your clientele and utterly self-defeating. Instead, you might try sprucing up your space, offering customers money-saving deals that show you really want them back, and possibly undertake a publicity blitz to show how hard you’re working to regain their loyalty.Making them pay, though, to walk through your door? No way. Yet that is what Governor Hochul wants to do in New York City. Under the bogus pretense of trying to ease the city’s endlessly snarled traffic, she wants (again) to lob yet another tax on the shrinking number of people who live in the Big Apple and who actually want to visit and do business in New York.Yes, she has trimmed the so-called congestion fee to $9 from $15, but the message remains clear to those with the effrontery to drive into Manhattan: We don’t need you, and we don’t want you. This, moreover, is just the latest in the catechism of Democratic assaults on New Yorkers and their guests.Residents have been buffeted by the country’s highest taxes, some of the worst schools in the nation, and regulations that make operating a small business in the city nearly impossible. In addition, we are the only metropolis in the world that requires buildings to undertake an every-five-year inspection of masonry, essentially dooming 20 percent of the city to be under scaffolding at any one time. This ridiculous sop to the building trades renders entire blocks dark, occasionally unsafe, and definitely unattractive. What used to be a beautiful city is no more. If those indignities were not enough, the city’s brilliant officials have instituted bail laws that make it difficult to lock up criminals, and “Raise the Age” laws that protect young offenders from prosecution.We now have juveniles conscripted by gangs to rob and terrorize tourists and residents alike. To make matters worse, since legalizing marijuana, the entire city reeks of it, including building sites. Call me crazy, but I imagine an honest tallying of workplace accidents would show a weed-fueled rise.Hundreds of our hotels are occupied by migrants, costing millions of dollars every day, reducing the availability of accommodation, and driving prices higher for travelers. The city has spent billions of dollars to pay for the dubious distinction known as being a “sanctuary city.” New Yorkers were okay with that virtue-signaling measure until it turned out that thousands of people in the country illegally took us up on it.The city needs money, for sure. Yet residents are also leaving for more welcoming destinations, where taxes are lower, schools are better, and it doesn’t cost $4,000 a month to rent a one-bedroom apartment. Instead of lobbing on another tax, why don’t our hapless officials consider cutting taxes?Any number of Manhattanites who have taken up residence in Palm Beach would, given the chance, flock back to the Big Apple. They miss their kids, Broadway, the museums, and the memories of living in New York when it was safe, clean, and prosperous. The Bloomberg years were not that long ago; they know recreating that city is simply a matter of political will.As for Manhattan’s traffic issues? Those can be solved in one week. Put 50 cops at 50 of the city’s worst intersections and start handing out $100 fines to anyone who “blocks the box,” causing gridlock. Crack down on the electric bikes ignoring traffic laws and endangering pedestrians and drivers alike. Get rid of the stupid parking lanes in the middle of broad avenues and confine deliveries to specific times when traffic is lightest, like between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. And what about supplying the MTA with much-needed funds? How about making people pay their fares? Half — half —of the people riding on city buses don’t bother to pay. Assign another 50 cops to ride buses and stop the cheating; in other words, enforce the law. Ms. Hochul “paused” her congestion pricing scheme last summer, realizing it was unpopular and could cost Democrats dearly in the November election. The GOP made strides anyway in Manhattan, actually winning one district for the first time in a decade. Residents reported they were fed up with high taxes and rampant crime in their district. President-elect Trump also gained 12 points state-wide compared to the 2020 election. If Ms. Hochul follows through with this new congestion pricing plan, she will see this year’s reddish wave become a full-on tsunami, washing her and her fellow Democrats out of power. We can only hope.

Congestion Pricing Emerges as a Self-Defeating Choice for New York and for Governor Hochul

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