De Blasio takes swipe at Hochul for not doing ‘anything’ on NYC congestion pricing as gubernatorial race looms

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took a swipe at Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday for not doing “anything” to move the needle on the city’s long-stalled congestion pricing plan since taking office more than four months ago.

De Blasio, who is likely to launch a 2022 primary challenge against Hochul after he leaves office Saturday, made the thinly veiled jab at the governor while noting he did his part in July by recommending an appointment to the Transit Mobility Review Board, an entity tasked with laying the groundwork for the congestion pricing initiative.

“The state, the MTA have not named anyone. They haven’t done anything yet. We are running out of time — 2021 is almost over,” de Blasio said in a virtual briefing from City Hall. “So I am appealing, again, as I’ve done before to this state of New York, to the MTA: Name the members of the board, let’s get going, let’s start to make decisions.”

De Blasio, who began supporting congestion pricing in 2019 after years of opposition, even had London Mayor Sadiq Khan make an appearance on his briefing to tout the advantages of the traffic tolling system being implemented in his city years ago.

“If New York does this, you’ll be setting other cities around the country on a similar path, and you’ll be showing bold leadership,” Khan said. “Climate change and air quality are the two biggest challenges over the next decades. Wouldn’t it be exciting for New York to be leading the race in addressing these problems?”

State legislators in Albany approved a congestion pricing plan in 2019 to slap tolls on motorists entering Manhattan below 60th St.

The program is meant to discourage car traffic, reducing fossil fuel emissions and clearing up Manhattan’s notorious gridlock while also raising billions of dollars from tolling that could be pumped into improving and expanding the city’s public transit systems.

However, even though the state Legislature approved the plan nearly three years ago, the Transit Mobility Review Board has not held its first meeting to set toll prices and consider which drivers, if any, should be exempt.

Before that meeting can be convened, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is effectively controlled by the governor, must name picks to the six-member board — and Hochul has yet to make moves on that front.

But John McCarthy, an MTA spokesman, said de Blasio is playing coy by not acknowledging that his administration agreed that appointments should not be made until the federal government wraps up its environmental review of the congestion pricing plan.

The federal review is expected to conclude by December 2022, McCarthy added, meaning there could be a long road ahead before congestion pricing kicks off in Manhattan.

“As the mayor is well aware, the process is unfolding smoothly and exactly on the schedule that the city of New York agreed to,” McCarthy said.

Hochul, who was sworn in on Aug. 25 after Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, is reviewing picks for the board while waiting on the feds to finish up, her spokeswoman, Hazel Crampton-Hays, said.

“We are working to make appointments while we await the completion of the federal environmental review,” Crampton-Hays said.

Still, de Blasio claimed he couldn’t wrap his head around the delay, previewing a line of attack he would likely employ if he mounts a gubernatorial bid against Hochul next year.

“Congestion pricing will lead to a $15 billion investment in mass transit, a staggering figure that’s going to have a profound impact,” de Blasio said. “Congestion pricing will reduce congestion in the city greatly and will make it a healthier, greener city, help us address asthma and so many other health challenges.

“It’s time, so what are we waiting for?”

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