Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday praised Gov. Kathy Hochul for reinstating the city's hated congestion pricing plan and insisted the Big Apple is safe from potential blowback by President-elect Donald Trump. .
“When you become a leader, you make difficult decisions,” Adams said of Hochul's reinstatement of the highly unpopular new commuter tax. President Trump has already vowed to “abolish” the system in his first week in the White House.
Under the plan, which the Democratic governor announced he would suspend before the November election and then put back on the table just a week later, starting next year there would be a $9 toll for cars entering below 60th Street in Manhattan. will be imposed.
Tolls will jump to $12 by 2028, and the original plan of $15 after 2031.
President Trump also disparaged the plan, calling it a “business killer.”
Republican New Yorkers and Hochul have been at loggerheads over a variety of issues over the years.
Still, the two had a warm phone conversation after Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election.
During the phone conversation, the Polish side mentioned the city's aging transportation infrastructure, and President Trump expressed interest in working with Hochul on repairing Pennsylvania Station and the subway, according to people familiar with the matter.
He has publicly claimed to have the utmost respect for the Democratic Party.
Hochul has the power to pardon Trump, who was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a 2016 hush-money repayment.
Despite the apparent disagreement between Mr. Hochul and Mr. Trump over congestion pricing, Mr. Adams on Tuesday said there would be no repeat of the tensions and weakness that plagued the president-elect's first administration and then-President Trump. insisted. Andrew Cuomo.
“We weren't communicating before. We were fighting and we weren't working together,” Adams said.
“When I said, 'Let's lower the temperature and let's work together for New York City,' there was suddenly a different energy.”
Hochul's campaign declined to comment when asked by the Post whether the governor feared some kind of retaliation from President Trump over his decision to pursue congestion pricing.
Instead, Hochul representative Avi Small referred the Post to the governor's comments during a Crain's New York Business and Partnership for New York City fireside chat Tuesday morning.
“I'm an elected official. I've worked with people across the aisle,” she said when asked about her call with President Trump.
Hochul said they discussed Penn Station being an “eyesore” and confirmed that President Trump agreed that these “infrastructure projects cannot be ignored.”
Neither the Trump nor Cuomo campaigns responded to The Post's requests for comment Tuesday.
