As Cuomo Exits, Will Congestion Pricing Still Come to New York City?
The New York Times
Gov. Andrew Cuomo leaves behind unfinished transportation projects, including a plan to charge fees to drive in Manhattan.
New York City’s aging subway system was supposed to receive hundreds of millions of dollars for upgrades this year — a windfall that had been badly needed even before the coronavirus pandemic decimated the system’s ridership and finances. But the fate of a congestion pricing plan to help pay for the work has been clouded by the fall of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, whose resignation threw the leadership of the country’s largest transit agency, and its agenda, into doubt. It was Mr. Cuomo who in 2019, after years of resistance, pushed New York to become the first American city to embrace congestion pricing — the imposition of fees on drivers entering the busiest parts of Manhattan, from 60th Street to the Battery. The plan, which was expected to bring in a billion dollars a year to finance public transportation in the New York area, was seen both as a bold challenge to the nation’s entrenched car culture and a way to build a 21st-century transit network.
Bored troops are standing watch, shelters have emptied from McAllen, Texas, to Tucson, Ariz., and border patrols speed through miles of frontier, finding no one in sight.
Spending that the White House does not like is being labeled fraudulent. At the same time, President Trump is rolling back anticorruption efforts and ethical standards for himself and allies like Elon Musk.
The remains of Edwin Echevarria, 65, were found floating in the East River on Feb. 5. His roommate, Christian Millet, 23, has been charged with second degree murder.
Even as they praise the president’s unilateral actions to slash federal spending, G.O.P. lawmakers have quietly moved to seek carve outs or exemptions for their own constituents.
The mayor discussed options to run for re-election in the Republican contest as recently as Monday. Asked for comment, he said he was running as a Democrat.
A lawsuit appears to be the first challenge to the constitutionality of an executive order barring trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports teams.
The comptroller’s office, which first noticed the missing money, said that the federal agency had unilaterally taken the funds from the city’s accounts.
The executive order would ban citizenship for children born in the United States to foreign workers on visas that often lead to permanent residency.
The Trump administration’s order to drop the charges against Mayor Eric Adams was the most pronounced example of the president using his power to determine the city’s future.
President Trump had already pardoned his adviser in a similar federal case, which accused him of skimming money from donations to build a southern border barrier.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for companies that operate in the United States to pay foreign government officials to secure or keep business deals.
Representative Dan Goldman’s support may help Mr. Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn, to emerge from a pack of progressive Democrats.
The new tone of the department, current and former officials say, appears to promise a campaign of intimidation against career employees viewed as insufficiently loyal.