Long before she became the champ in traffic price, Gov. Hochul spent a toll in upstate New York for 10 years.
From Hamburg town perches to council time, Hochul claimed he had demolished the paid booths on the NYS Thruway, fighting to oppose paid hikes, placing “a heavy burden on the community and businesses.”
In 1998, Hochur, a member of the Town Board, Buffalo News OP-ED “Strangle” cities, and as a “root” that has a “cool effect” on business.
“Buffalo citizens and their first and second suburban citizens should not be punished for every time they leave the boundary by paying tolls to drive to work, going to the mall, visiting downtown attractions, or taking their kids to play hockey,” Hochul wrote.
Hochul argued in a cynical prophecy that shows how critics are currently explaining how they grasp the cash of their own crowd-pricing cash for the MTA, “This is the time for an unselected entity that spends more than $40 million just to collect victims and more than $40 million to stop nickel and dimming.”
She said the 35 cent throughway toll, which was initially accused of paying off the bond and was expected to expire in 1996, was a “nail in the co” for businessmen.
The same idiom is adopted by taxi industry leaders and restaurant owners in explaining busy pricing in NYC.
In 2003, as deputy county clerk, Hochul persuaded his boss, then-county clerk David Swartz, to persuade her toll lobby.
She took part in the “Penny's Protest” when Thruway authorities jacked a toll of up to 75 cents two years later. Niagara Falls Reporter.
By 2007, some tolls had been successfully removed, and Hochul, newly elected as Erie County Clerk, boasted to her. Website About “advocacy” of pet projects for nine years.
“When we take on a new challenge representing you and Erie County residents, we want to build that we have been able to… remove the toll,” she said.
In 2012, as a member of the Congress, Hochul pivoted on another toll crusade and wrote to the then Gov. Andrew Cuomo opposes a 45% toll increase for truck drivers. “If implemented, this will seriously hinder economic activity in our region,” she argued.
She said drivers will need to avoid the throughway altogether or hand over additional costs to customers, just as NYC area businesses from funeral homes to event planners have been forced to hand over new crowd fees to customers once the program is launched.
A few months later, Hochul boasted in a press release that she had been dubbed “Torsu's Pioneer” By Buffalo News.
Her Encyclopedia Britannica Entry also includes her “Crusades” against highway tolls The early part of her political career.
The New Yorkers denounced Hochul for changing the tune and supporting NYC fees. This charged $9 for a car below 60th Avenue at its peak, up to $21.60. This week, she and MTA chairman Janno Lieber vowed to violate an order from President Trump to shut down the program.
Susan Lee, the New Yorker group president of the congestion price tax, has accused Hochul of reversal of “hypocritical.”
“In the West of New Yorker [couldn’t] I have room [Thruway] Toll, what do you think she can afford a daily New Yorker? [congestion pricing] Toll? “Lee told the Post.
Lee said that while Hochul may have defended the working class at the time, her support for crowd pricing was a clear ploy before her reelection campaign to curry favors from the left who support the expensive program.
“She needs to get votes from that segment of the population, so she doesn't care about the true impact of this regression tax on New Yorkers every day,” added Lee.
Queens Councillor Robert Holden agreed that Hochul's decision was “purely political.”
“Kathy Hochul has always been a flip-floping politician with no true principles or certainly no sincerity,” Holden told the Post.
“She knows that the traffic fraud tax is bad for New York. She has been recognized before. But, as always, her decisions are purely political and not based on what is right for people,” he added.
A spokesman for Hochul defended support for congestion prices, saying it “meets the unique needs of New York City.”
“New York City was the worst traffic jam in the world until Governor Hochul took bold action to help commuters,” the spokesman said, “It can reduce congestion, reduce pollution, improve drive times, invest in public transport, and bring direct traffic to small and local businesses.
