Chinatown Civic Leader Blasts Congestion Pricing, Latest to Join Suit to Try to Halt It

The leader of an ad hoc group in Chinatown is the latest to blast congestion pricing, calling it a “money grab” by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She claims it will hit low-income people and senior citizens particularly hard, and last month, the group she heads joined a lawsuit trying to derail the toll.

Susan Lee, president of New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax, joined with others last month who have filed a lawsuit against the MTA seeking to halt the toll, which the agency wants to start collecting by late spring.

”We see it as a ploy for the MTA as a money grab,” Susan Lee said. “They disguise it as an environmental issue, but at the end of the day, they are estimated to draw $1 billion in revenue.”

“At what cost in our society are we protecting the environment, and how much benefit are we getting?,” asked Susan Lee.

One of those who echoed the same sentiment as Susan Lee and reviewed the 4,000-page documentation of the congestion pricing tax is retired Supreme Court Justice Kathryn Freed.

The city says the congestion pricing toll will cut auto emissions by 20 percent and generate up to $1 billion to be used by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to improve mass transit.

In both women’s assessments, they believe that the tax was rushed, limited, and predict it will increase pollution as individuals abandon their vehicles in other areas of the region outside the zone.

“I live next to the FDR Drive near Grand Street. I got involved in this thing about congestion pricing [when] I testified back in August of 2022 at the hearings because I read through their environmental assessment before they submitted it to NYDEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation), especially the area that they made the decisions, [sic] the impact of the neighborhood. I couldn’t help but notice that the area between Brooklyn Bridge and 10th St., next to the FDR Drive, everyone in that point had seven alternatives; every alternative shows that there would be an increase in pollution and congestion,” Freed said.

“Every one of them was at least five percent or greater, and in three of them, they showed traffic on the downtown side increases as much as between 19 percent and 26 percent,” Freed added.

“People are going to ditch their cars to catch the subway in a densely populated area, so of course, you’re going to have more pollution,” Freed said. “If you walk around Chinatown, it’s honestly frightening how many storefronts have closed. I just think this is going to kill that whole area.”

Susan Lee foresees the fee disproportionately affecting low-income individuals, potentially restricting their mobility options solely to buses and trains. Such limitations, particularly during emergencies, could pose significant challenges, especially to elderly residents in Chinatown and elsewhere who rely on car-driving friends and relatives to get them places.

”In our lawsuit, we are demanding an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), not just environment as in pollution, and whatnot, but economic loss throughout the community as well as equity because there are seniors who are in our district in Chinatown; there’s a lot of seniors who rely on their family to drive them to their doctors’ appointments,” Susan Lee said.

Public and private commuter buses are exempt from charges, according to the recommendations that the Traffic Mobility Board put forth.

The proposals are now in the public comment period.

Susan Lee also calls out the congestion tax for burdening parents of those who drive their children to nonresident-friendly schools like prep schools and those for the special needs children or the American Sign Language School on E. 23rd St.

The Traffic Mobility Board’s proposals, subject to a public review period, called for a $15 congestion pricing fee on daytime tolls for cars entering Manhattan south of 61st Street from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Support came from many political leaders, including Borough President Mark Levine and most of the community boards in Manhattan.

Freed’s concerns extend to other tourist destinations such as Broadway, the Lower East Side, and Times Square, suggesting that the implementation of a congestion pricing tax could trigger “an economic shift in lower Manhattan,” potentially exacerbating issues already impacted by inflation, the influx of migrants, vacant buildings, and the construction of the world’s tallest jailhouse in Chinatown.

She feels the neighborhood stands as the most vulnerable link in this scenario.

During off-peak hours, 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., $15 fee is to $3.75 for cars under the proposed tolls. Other fees vary: Ride-share vehicles pay $2.50 per ride, taxis pay $1.25, small trucks pay $24, and motorcycles pay $7 per rider.

Susan Lee, along with her GoFundMe organizer, Irving Lee (no relation), a former MTA train operator, is shifting the focus away from solely environmental ramifications. They highlight what they perceive as a deliberate effort to impose financial strain on driving residents, potentially curtailing their quality of life and restricting viable options.

New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax, which initiated a GoFundMe campaign on December 9, 2023, has joined a class-action lawsuit led by Jack Lester filed against the MTA on January 18. The lawsuit argues that the city agency did not adequately address congestion in its proposed tax.

As of now, New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax has raised more than $36,000 of its initial $100,000 goal.

Irving Lee had argued against congestion pricing going back to an April 4, 2019 letter to community board 1..

The campaign formed by the Lees was launched partly to be independent of CB1s 13 members.

The class action the group joined in January includes Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free, led by Joshua Bienstock, an associate professor at New York Tech.

Families for BPC, which filed a separate federal law suit in Nov. 23 and is represented by Steptoe LLP, started its own GoFundMe on Dec. 4, 2023, claiming its demand for transparency on the legislation was ignored by presiding Community Boards and the City Council. Families For BPC, as of reporting, has raised $13,155 of its $50,000 goal.