STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island’s elected officials on Saturday took aim at a new ad running on borough-bound express buses, which says that congestion pricing would reduce the time it takes ambulances to respond to emergencies.
“If, by the MTA’s own estimation, traffic will get worse on Staten Island, wouldn’t response times get worse here as well?” a joint statement from Borough President Vito Fossella, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, Sens. Andrew Lanza and Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, Assemblymen Michael Tannousis, Michael Reilly, Sam Pirozzolo and Charles Fall, and Councilmembers David Carr, Joseph Borelli and Kamillah Hanks said.
“The people of Staten Island know and have been fighting the proposed congestion pricing plan for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons is that the MTA’s own study predicts that traffic will get worse on Staten Island, if congestion pricing is implemented. That is why it was so insulting to island commuters who had to watch the latest misleading advertisement from the MTA regarding ambulance and EMT response times,” the statement said.
A recent report by the Advance/SILive.com said that there are growing concerns about EMS staffing levels on Staten Island, putting more stress on the current EMS units — resulting in longer response times due to the distance they have to drive.
“We know that as traffic worsens, the time it takes for ambulances to help Staten Islanders will get longer, and people are going to suffer because of it,” the joint statement said.
“[The MTA cares] only for the people of Manhattan’s Central Business District, and not for those outside of it, especially the people of Staten Island,” the statement added.
The joint statement comes on the heels of a press conference Friday at Borough Hall slamming the congestion pricing plan because it doesn’t serve the interests of North Shore residents.
“This is an undue burden to our communities — to the Black and brown communities, to the…
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