NEW YORK (PIX11) -- Congestion pricing is facing yet another hurdle after the Staten Island Borough President and the United Federation of Teachers announced a lawsuit Thursday, hoping to delay the plan until a proper Environmental Impact Statement is done.
"This is simply a money grab because they're going to raise the money off the working and middle class of this city," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. "Those are the folks who are going to pay for this program and we're sick of this."
Mulgrew sounded off at a press briefing about the plan, which is set to toll drivers $15 a day to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. He joined Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella to announce a new lawsuit which is the latest roadblock in the program that they believe would have a domino effect on residents living in other parts of the city.
"The MTA's own study shows that traffic will not be reduced," Fossella said. "It will only be shifted, and it will be shifted to places right here in Staten Island. It also shows that the air quality may improve in the central business district, but it will get much worse on Staten Island."
The lawsuit claims federal, state, and city agencies, including the city's Department of Transportation, rushed the approval process for the plan.
Plaintiffs feel the plan puts the needs of the MTA above New York and New Jersey commuters, as the MTA is set to make at least a billion dollars a year off the program.
The suit also claims an initial environmental assessment ignored potential negative impacts, a concern echoed by New Jersey Congressmember Josh Gottheimer who announced a new study where he uncovered a list of impacts on drivers, including hidden fees.
"New York can declare any day it wants a gridlock alert day," said Congressmember Gottheimer. "Think of it as surge pricing. That lets the MTA charge a driver heading into the congestion zone 25 percent extra on top of those fees."
Safiya Williams is a Staten Island resident who commutes to Manhattan every day for physical therapy and said the plan will hit New Yorkers hard who are already struggling.
"We already low-income," Williams said. "They're not raising the paying prices for anything but the price of everything else going up so the impact that, that would have on the whole community as a collective is that we would become poorer than we already are."
In that lawsuit, Mulgrew and Fossella are asking the Federal Highway Administration to prepare a full and proper environmental study, and if not, they want the court to stop the program from moving forward.
PIX11 News reached out to the city’s DOT for comment regarding the lawsuit and was referred to city hall. A spokesperson for city hall said that while Mayor Eric Adams is in support of congestion pricing, he has made it clear that the impacts of the plan must also be studied.
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