Joining the fury of fellow New Jersey politicians like Gov. Phil Murphy and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff), Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) released a statement today harshly criticizing New York City’s congestion pricing plan as unfair and costly to his constituents.
“Once again, New York is proposing that North Jerseyans get stuck with the short end of the stick,” said Pascrell, who represents parts of Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic Counties. “And as a member of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, I will not accept it.”
Pascrell called for a “full-scale” environmental study of the proposal, which would create a new toll for drivers who venture below 59th Street in Manhattan, with the collected revenue going towards New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA).
It’s not clear how such a study would differ from the one the MTA released last month, which found that the plan would reduce pollution and congestion in lower Manhattan while potentially having some adverse impact on areas outside the tolled zone.
New Jersey politicians have been staunchly opposed to the plan from the beginning, noting that New Jersey drivers already pay a significant toll to enter Manhattan at all. Murphy has echoed Pascrell’s call for further study of the plan’s environmental impact, while Gottheimer has gone further and urged more businesses to shun New York entirely and move their offices to New Jersey.
“I can think of one word that describes this kind of arrogant, misguided, unfair idea: Chutzpah,” Pascrell said today. “If New York does not make drastic changes to its plan and work with New Jersey, its neighbor across the Hudson River, this plan must be denied.”