NY Governor’s “Congestion Toll” Endangers Commuters
As of last Sunday, commuters driving into New York City will have to pay a daily $9 congestion toll. The toll signed into law last November by Governor Kathy Hochul was enacted to reduce traffic in Manhattan and raise $15 billion for mass transit according to of the New York Post. The toll was supposed to take effect last June, but Hochul postponed it to protect fellow New York democrats running for Congressional seats from backlash by angry commuters. Commuters who have to go into the city to work are being forced to abandon their cars and ride on a public transit system which is demonstrably unsafe.
On December 22, a 57-year-old woman was napping on a train at the Coney Island station when an illegal alien set her on fire. There were other people on the train but nobody helped as she burned to death. That same day a man was stabbed death on a train in Queens. On New Year’s Eve, a 45-year-old man was looking at his phone on a platform at the 18th Street Station when a 23-year-old habitual felon pushed him in front of a train. The victim survived with severe injuries. On New Year’s Day, two men were stabbed in separate incidents at subway stations in Manhattan.
A few days before the woman was burned to death on the subway, Governor Hochul had issued a statement boasting that through her efforts, safety on the subways had improved. Nobody believes this. One commuter, a 42-year-old IT specialist, is afraid to ride the subway after he was knocked unconscious while reading a book on the subway five years ago. He told The Post that he may no longer have an option due to the Congestion Toll.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a primary enabler of both subway and street crime in the city. The Soros-bankrolled progressive refuses to prosecute most arrestees and is a proud sanctuary-city supporter. As a result, the city is flooded with illegal alien criminals who are released back to the streets every time they are arrested, until they kill someone. One of Bragg’s own deputies was attacked and robbed in her own apartment in late November by an illegal alien, still free after previous arrests for assault, grand larceny, robbery, retail theft, and transit-related incidents. Police believe that the suspect is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
While voters nationally issued an undeniable statement last November that they were fed up with criminal-coddling politicians, Hochul and Bragg clearly didn’t get the message. Eventually, I am hopeful that they will be forced to listen.
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