NY POST
July 25, 2024
Photos (left):
James Messerschmidt,Christopher Sadowski, & Robert Miller
BY: CARL CAMPANILE, CRAIG MC CARTHY, MATT TROUTMAN
"Powerful congestion pricing supporters plan to sue Gov. Kathy Hochul over her 11th-hour pause of the first-in-the-nation tolls, according to two lawsuit drafts obtained by The Post Wednesday.
The two lawsuits — which sources said will be filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court — will mark the first legal challenges to Hochul’s decision that scrapped the plans just days before $15 tolls were to be imposed on drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street.
One suit will be filed by the Riders Alliance and Sierra Club, while The City Club of New York will pursue the other, the drafts show.
Both lawsuits by the nonprofits contend Hochul broke the law when she unilaterally announced the indefinite pause in June.
'As powerful as a governor is, this Governor has no legal authority—none—to ‘direct’ the MTA to ‘pause’ the (Central Business District Tolling Program), much less to directly use her powers as the State’s chief executive to do so,' the City Club lawsuit states..."