Even discounted, congestion fee is too high | Letters

This concerns the renewed attempt by New York City to impose a peak-hour congestion fee for driving into midtown Manhattan, but at a lower price than before.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul apparently decided that instead of arresting mass-transit fare beaters — who cost the subways and buses almost $800 million a year — she’ll penalize law-abiding drivers.
Good news, Hochul, a Democrat, said. Congestion pricing won’t be $15 to drive into Midtown. Now it’ll be only $9. I imagine that price is just for now. She had put off switching on the fee last June, probably because elections were coming up.
I live in New Jersey near Staten Island. This midtown fee will hurt restaurants, theaters and tourism. Deliveries will cost more. Small businesses will have another reason to go elsewhere.
I give tours in New York City, and I already lose income because of its unique sky-high costs. One client from South Carolina said he didn’t expect to pay $70 to park overnight. He loved my tour, but I got no tip. “Sorry. Your city took it all,” he said.
A woman from Tennessee canceled on me when I said that picking her up at her Kennedy International Airport hotel, then driving around Harlem, which she and her sister always wanted to visit, would cost me $50 in gas and tolls. In addition to crossing the Verrazano and Goethals bridges, I would have had to drive round-trip on the Triboro, now the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. I tried explaining this. She still thought I was ripping her off.
I myself have more incentive to ditch the dysfunctional City of New York. My wife was thinking of Georgia. I did Army duty at Fort Gordon near Augusta 10 years ago. Oops, because the site was named for a Confederate lieutenant, it’s called Fort Eisenhower now.
Adam Sternglass, Elizabeth
Not buying Hochul’s discount story
New Jersey commuters, motorists and taxpayers beware. Since 2019, the party line in New York has been that it would require a $15 congestion fee for driving into midtown Manhattan.
This idea is that this would raise $15 billion to help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) $51 billion, five-year capital plan. Now, five years later, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul claims that the same $15 billion could be raised with a $9 toll. She proudly boasts that this 40% reduction in price will save commuters and taxpayers a significant amount of money.
How does she justify the change in math over five years? No details were provided to explain this at Hochul’s press conference on the topic. The MTA Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, periodically raise bridge and tunnel tolls.
It will be the same with congestion pricing, until it reaches the originally proposed $15 fee. So much for truth in advertising.
Larry Penner, Great Neck, N.Y.
The writer is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously served as director of the Federal Transit Administration’s regional Office of Operations and Program Management.
With such big savings, we’ll go bankrupt
After a convenient delay until after the elections, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had the audacity to suggest that she would save money for automobile commuters by imposing a new congestion pricing fee ($9) that adds up to $2,250 a year, instead of the previously proposed $15, or $3,750 for 250 trips annually.
The fee will support transit services that most of these commuters will never use.
Using Hochul’s approach to budgetary savings would bankrupt most households.
William T. Fidurski, Clark
Why can’t Trump be president from jail?
You can’t miss the signal coming from Judge Juan Merchan’s decision to postpone sentencing and, possibly undo Donald Trump’s conviction by a jury which found him guilty of 34 felonies in the New York “hush money” trial.
In an earlier sentencing delay, the judge wanted to avoid impacting the election. Now that Trump has won a return to the presidency, the judge seems to be asking prosecutors to give Trump a get-out-of-jail free card as an inauguration present. Never mind that this is a state case and, therefore, is not bound by federal policy that prevents a sitting president from being charged with a crime.
So much work by so many may be thrown into a dumpster by Merchan, who agreed to make no decisions until Nov. 19. Imagine the anger that would be felt by all the brave jurors who performed their duty at great risk to their personal safety, if the case were thrown out.
I believe this country could survive a president who was jailed during his tenure. Israel is moving to resume Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial while he is in office, which possibly could send him to jail.
In America, apparently, only presidential losers are sentenced for their crimes.
Thomas Bonito, Essex Fells
All post-election eyes on the climate
Like many others, I voted in the recent election. When I did, climate change was at the forefront of my mind. I’m sure everyone has noticed the unseasonable warmth this fall, as well as the current drought.
I’m writing to urge that all people, especially those currently in office and those soon to be ushered in, focus on combating the climate crisis. This will preserve our weather, our homes, and our economy from the ravages like the recent destructive hurricanes we’ve seen.
All climate action matters now. Let’s preserve and care for the beautiful, natural world that we live in, as well as our way of life. For those just elected, please consider how climate action will lead to a beautiful future, not just for this elective term, but for generations to come.
Rebecca Thompson, High Bridge
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com
The Star-Ledger/NJ.com encourages submissions of opinion. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.