 Borough President Vito Fossella and his fellow elected officials illustrated how congestion pricing will negatively impact low-income minority North Shore neighborhoods while benefiting wealthier neighborhoods in Manhattan during a press conference on the steps outside of Borough Hall.
“If anyone wanted to deliberately create a plan that wealthy white residents would breathe cleaner air while low-income minority residents would be left in more toxic air pollution, then this congestion program would meet those goals,” said Borough President Fossella. The city designated four North Shore Zip codes as "environmental justice areas,” stretching from St. George to Mariners Harbor, which already experience high rates of asthma and asthma-related hospitalizations among adults and youth. Meanwhile, none of the 12 Zip codes comprising the Central Business District in Manhattan were deemed as “environmental justice areas.” Borough President Fossella compared the racial and economic disparities of the Staten Island and Manhattan Zip codes. Half of the population in the North Shore neighborhoods are black and Hispanic with an average household income of $62,000 while those in the Central Business District are 62% white with an average household income of $300,000. The current congestion pricing plan, which is scheduled to go into effect this spring, would charge drivers $15 for every day they enter the Manhattan Central Business District between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. This would be in addition to normal parking charges and to other current tolls on bridges and tunnels. The congestion pricing fee would be reduced -- though not eliminated -- on nights and weekends. In January, Borough President Fossella and United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew announced the filing of a federal lawsuit to block the implementation of congestion pricing. Also joining the lawsuit were seven individual plaintiffs, including teachers who work at schools in Manhattan and commute to work because there are no convenient means of public transportation available to them. Since then, most of Staten Island’s elected official officials have signed on as plaintiffs and the Municipal Labor Committee, which represents 400,000 workers, have backed the lawsuit. Comments are closed.
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