We have serious concerns about the proposed congestion pricing plan. Few disagree with the goal of improving traffic flow in Manhattan, lessening its impact on the environment, and improving public transit, but those who live and work and keep private automobiles within the congestion zone—many of them less than wealthy, including tenants in rental buildings, shareholders in cooperative apartment buildings, owners of condominiums and private homes, and the doormen, mechanics, porters and more who work for them—will be unfairly impacted. 

New York City’s Congestion Pricing Zone was passed into law by the State Legislature in 2019 and has now received all the required approvals and the process of setting up the program is about to get underway.  State law prevents New York City (and any other localities) and the City Council from determining how congestion pricing will be implemented. That goes for everything from the amount of the fees to the shape and positioning of the cameras that will monitor entrance points into the zone—which includes all of Manhattan south of 60th Street.  

To create the rules around implementation, the State Legislature created the Traffic Mobility Review Board (TMRB). On Wednesday, July 19, the TMRB will address the new zoning laws for the first time.  However, there is no opportunity for public comment at this meeting. This petition is our preliminary comment.

Manhattan has suffered greatly in the last few years. Post-COVID, many residents have still not returned to the city, rents are rising, cooperative apartment values are depressed, and the addition of congestion pricing to the cost of living in Manhattan in a stagflationary environment will only add more negative pressure, both to real estate values and to the image of our borough. Nearly every block below 60th Street has one or more vacant storefronts. The increased costs of congestion pricing will continue to negatively impact commercial real estate, too, which will lead to decreased amenities for the people of this area and lower tax revenues.  

Meantime, the cost of living here—already great—will inevitably rise. Additionally, small businesses will likely be hurt. London’s congestion pricing plan—often cited as the model for New York City’s proposed program—gives a 90% deduction to people living within the zone, and does not charge taxis or minicabs. As the New York rules are currently written, there are no exemptions, caps or discounts for residents earning over $60,000 a year, so even if they don’t have (or get rid of) their private vehicles, taxis and for-hire cars will cost more. For many elderly and handicapped residents, public transportation is not a viable option.

Living in the congestion zone will mean financial hardship for those who do not own cars, as well. Any time a repair person, a contractor, or a delivery truck enters Manhattan, they will be charged a fee that will almost certainly be passed on to residents of the zone. If you take taxis or for-hire vehicles you will be charged extra every time you cross into the zone. If your doctor is above 60th Street, a visit will cost more. If you want to go to lunch or dinner or a movie or store above 60th Street, it will cost more. Inevitably, people will be forced to move, real estate values may fall, and lower Manhattan will be made a less, not more, attractive place to live.  

The admirable goal of lessening congestion should not create an unfair and discriminatory burden on taxpayers who live below 60th Street. So, as decisions about congestion pricing are now upon us, the undersigned, residents of the Manhattan congestion zone, almost of all of them voters who did not ask for or vote to be charged for our basic right of access to our homes, urgently call for an exemption from all congestion zone charges.