Gov. Hochul Called Out For Switch On Congestion Pricing: ‘As Recently As 3 Weeks Ago’ You Praised It

6 months ago

On Friday, Gov Kathy Hochul (D-NY) answered reporter questions on the congestion pricing pause during a press briefing.

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Transcript

00:00Governor, you, uh, as recently as three weeks ago, we're praising congestion pricing and

00:07six months ago, we're talking, I mean, in, in, in similar terms to what you were just

00:11talking about in terms of leaders needing to stand up the headwinds, you were saying

00:15those things about congestion pricing.

00:18So given all that, given the financial stress that this has put the MTA under, why was the

00:26decision made now rather than long ago to do this?

00:32And why dump it in the legislators, legislator's lap two days before they leave Albemarle?

00:36Well, you want to get to while they're still in session number one instead of after June

00:4030th.

00:41But let me just step back to the premise of your question.

00:45Leaders sometimes need to listen more.

00:47And I realized that as this state got closer and I'm out there in the community all the

00:52time, you know, the neighborhood diner I go to the three, four days a week when I

00:57live in New York, the people that own the restaurants and the business, they tell me

01:02what's on their minds.

01:04And I cannot tell you the anxiety level that is continuing to go up and up and up.

01:09It wasn't out there before, but I as the governor have this ability to have a real pulse on

01:16what New Yorkers are thinking.

01:17I've always had that 30 years of elect official.

01:20So I absorb that.

01:21And I say, can I really go forward right now when we thought that inflation would be lower?

01:27We thought that people would feel more secure about going on the subways.

01:30Yes.

01:31Yes, we're coming back, but we can't afford a setback.

01:37That's what I'm talking about.

01:38So I wanted to make sure that I let people know that I'm putting this on a temporary

01:42pause because I'm hearing from everyday New Yorkers who are just not ready for this.

01:48And that's what that's my lodestar.

01:49I'll always do what's best for New Yorkers.

Gov. Hochul Called Out For Switch On Congestion Pricing: ‘As Recently As 3 Weeks Ago’ You Praised It

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