They're in the zone and they're focused.
Manhattan community councils representing every neighborhood south of 60th Street have banded together to demand that Governor Hockle revoke the moratorium on congestion pricing.
In a citizens' movement similar to the Avengers battling Loki, members of Manhattan Community Boards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 reached out to one another in an attempt to speak with one voice in support of tolling the Governor for his gridlocked city. Members of each board decided the best thing they could do was draft a letter expressing their disappointment and anger over the Governor's shocking decision and get it signed by all boards in the Central Business District.
The letter states that Governor Hawke's sudden change of policy puts millions of dollars in transportation improvements at risk, not to mention benefits to residents and tourists in Midtown and Lower Manhattan, and urges the governor to move forward with the plan by June 30, as required by state law.
“[A]”After years of planning, hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, and promises to the vast majority of New Yorkers, commuters and visitors who benefit from this program, the decision to indefinitely suspend the program is unjustified and must be immediately reversed,” the letter said.
Resolutions in support of the letter were passed by the full board of CBs 5 and 6 this week, as well as by CB3’s Transportation, Public Safety, Health and Environment Committee ahead of the full board meeting on June 25.
CB2's Executive Committee and CB4's Transportation Planning Committee are scheduled to vote on the letter on June 18.
One organizer said there was unanimous agreement that the governor's orders are bad policy and bad governance.
“People felt that the way this decision was made last week was not democratic, systematic, scientific or technocratic,” lamented Tristan Haas, chairman of Midtown's CB5 Transportation and Environmental Committee.
Community boards across the city sometimes take positions on citywide issues, such as the growing number of boards supporting universal daylighting, but it's unusual for six boards to take positions like this.
“Over time, there have been occasional issues where one committee would voice support and then another would voice support,” Haas said, “but this kind of cooperation between committees is not something that happens often, it's very rare. It's hard enough to gather diverse voices on one community board and consolidate them into a position that reflects the consensus of that board, and then to scale that to six community boards is certainly even harder. And I think this recent decision shows how much it erodes people's confidence in the power and ability of our government to do big things effectively.”
Gov. Hokell's office declined to comment.
