The union representing thousands of firefighters in the New York City Fire Department is pressing the city to waive congestion charges for emergency responders.
The new congestion charge goes into effect on Sunday and will pay car drivers $9 to enter below 60th Street in Manhattan from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Claim. During off-peak hours, the price drops to $2.25.
“Deal with the aftermath.”
Fees are expected to be as follows increase over time. Car drivers will be levied $12 by 2028 and $15 by 2031.
FDNY union argues firefighter fees must be waived or the city risks slowing down emergency response times, which could be the difference between “life and death” I was warned that there would be. new york post Reported.
Unions say firefighters are likely to leave their cars at home to avoid paying high fees, which could impact response times when called to locations outside their jurisdiction. He claimed that there was.
At a news conference Sunday, New York State Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro addressed the union's concerns about congestion pricing.
“All we were looking for was an exemption for personnel to bring vehicles into the zone,” Ansbro said. “These vehicles are used regularly to transport firefighters to one fire station or to another. “They are being used extensively, there is a shortage in some places, and we need the vehicles we need.” they are somewhere else. ”
The union explained that situations like this occur approximately 200 times each day across New York City. According to the union, about 2,000 firefighters are on duty in the city at any given time, and most of them bring their own vehicles to work.
Firefighters would be forced to carry 85 pounds of bulky equipment on public transportation or prefer to have higher-ups ride in FDNY vehicles, the union argued.
They further argued that relying on FDNY vehicles could cost taxpayers millions of dollars. In addition, the union claimed that congestion charges could result in $1.8 million in additional overtime pay.
They also argued that congestion charges would create additional traffic in areas surrounding the zone as drivers try to avoid the zone to avoid fines.
“We have a lot of members who are saying, 'Maybe they didn't want us to bring our cars into the city, so please take care of what happens next,'” Ansbro said.
“This is not just a logistical problem, this is a public health crisis brewing,” he added.
Ansbro argued that congestion charges are an “unfair tax burden” on the city's firefighters and residents.
Jim Brosi, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, explained that the union is not calling for “a fire department-wide exemption.”
“We didn't ask for exemptions for the civil service as a whole. We asked the people who work here to make sure they don't retire, don't transfer, don't lose institutional knowledge, in very specific ways. “I asked for it,” he said.
This was announced by the office of Mayor Eric Adams (Democratic Party). Noisy“Ensuring public safety is a top priority for the Adams Administration. We do not anticipate any negative impact on the department's ability to respond to emergencies.”
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