The United Federation of Teachers and Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella sued on Thursday to block congestion pricing in Manhattan, saying teachers and other public servants would be “forced to shoulder the burden of the MTA’s latest fundraising gambit.”
The lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court adds to the stack of legal challenges to the landmark tolling program, which was approved last month and is expected to go into effect as soon as the spring. But the new suit is the first to focus on the anticipated costs for government employees, who will not be exempt from a new $15 base fare should they drive to work within the toll zone south of 60th Street.
“Teachers, firefighters, police officers, EMS workers, sanitation workers and other public sector workers who are essential to the fabric of New York City would be forced to shoulder the burden of the MTA’s latest fundraising gambit; some are already considering changing jobs because of the proposed tolls,” the lawsuit reads.
The case forges an unlikely alliance between the city’s powerful teachers union and Fossella, a Republican opponent of congestion pricing who was among the first elected officials to threaten to sue over the program.
“Make no mistake: These workers will be intentionally punished under the proposed scheme at a time when so many are fleeing the city due to the high cost of living,” he said at a press conference with the teachers union Thursday morning.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber has compared any major changes to the tolling scheme — such as exempting large groups of people from congestion pricing — to a Jenga game.
“If you change one aspect … the whole thing starts to unravel or fall apart,” Lieber said last month. “It’s definitely a really complex calculus if you change anything.”
A 2013 analysis by the city’s Independent Budget Office found 81% of teachers in Staten Island live in that borough, meaning few of them stand to be affected by congestion…
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