The highway robber barons have unveiled another heavy-handed tolling scheme being foisted upon the motoring public. This elaborate plan is being orchestrated by former NYC Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz (Gridlock Sam) and a well-heeled organization called Move-NY, which lists the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations among its financial backers. Vehicle owners may remember being peddled a false narrative years ago that existing bridge tolls would be removed once the bonds that paid for them were satisfied. Move-NY is betting we can be hoodwinked again. It’s a wake-up call to all vehicle owners asleep at the wheel.
Imposing $16 round-trip tolls on the East River Crossings that have remained free for more than 100 years is a cost burden that families simply cannot afford. As president of Glen Oaks Village, New York’s largest garden apartment co-op, I speak with families and seniors every day who travel into Manhattan for medical care or a doctor’s appointment and cannot afford this budget-busting expense.
The tolling shakedown doesn’t stop at the bridges and tunnels. An invisible toll booth using license-plate reading scanners will be erected along 60th Street in Manhattan, from the FDR Drive on the east, to the Hudson River on the west. Every time you cross this invisible line it will cost you a hefty $8 – until, of course, the toll is raised again. Travel into Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge to get to work or a doctor’s appointment, you’re hit with your first $8 toll. Head north and cross 60th Street for lunch or to pick someone up and you’re hit with your second $8 toll. Reverse direction and cross 60th Street as you head downtown to your doctor’s appointment or simply to visit a friend or relative in the hospital and you’re hit with your third $8 toll. And if that’s not enough, when you leave Manhattan, crossing the 59th Street Bridge on your way home, you’re slammed with a final $8 toll, bringing your single-day total to $32.00. Easy to see how this adds up quickly for those with multiple medical appointments or without the same transit options of others.
Inexplicably, the latest supporter of this toll fiasco is Mark Weprin, a councilman from Eastern Queens, which has no subways and no weekend or late night bus service. He recently said, “This is a proposal his constituents can get behind” Not quite. I urge Mr. Weprin to listen to the civics of his own district, including the Queens Civic Congress, an umbrella group of more than 100 civic associations that strongly oppose this confiscatory tolling scheme. His brother, Assemblyman lateDavid Weprin, along with state Sen. Tony Avella, are leading the charge to quash this toll plan.
The proponents of this shakedown promise to lower tolls on some of the city’s less-traveled bridges. Sadly, we all know that those lowered tolls will soon rise again and ultimately exceed their pre-existing levels. Only then, we will be stuck with high tolls and NO free East River crossings.
We have been sold this same snake oil before. First it was the $15 NYC Auto Use Tax imposed on every vehicle registered in the city to fund local transportation. Then it rose to $25 and was renamed the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District Supplemental Registration Fee. We were told this would create the sustainable revenue stream needed by the MTA. When this was not enough, the MTA Sales Tax Surcharge – an add-on to the city’s already high sales tax, was imposed. We were told that this would create the sustainable revenue stream needed by the MTA. When this was not enough, the MTA Payroll Mobility Tax on self-employed individuals was imposed to finally create the sustainable revenue stream needed by the MTA. When this was not enough, a 50 cent Taxi Surcharge on every yellow cab ride was imposed to create the sustainable revenue stream needed by the MTA. Now, once again, we are being told it is not enough and if we could only toll the Free East River Crossings, we could create the illusory revenue stream that the Auto Use Tax, Supplemental Registration Fee, MTA Sales Tax Add-on, MTA Payroll Mobility Tax and the 50 cent Taxi Surcharge, all failed to do.
Enough is enough. The taxpayers of this region are tapped out and do not have any more to give. But we can stop this rapacious congestion toll tax grab if enough New Yorkers get mad enough to call or email their city and state elected representatives and tell them to Keep Our East River Bridges Toll-Free! Do it now before Move-NY begins using its hefty war chest to silence your voice.
Bob Friedrich is President of Glen Oaks Village, a Civic Leader and former City Council Candidate.
