A fake story about congestion pricing supposedly set to be implemented in the Hamptons over Labor Day weekend hit all too close to home, with some upset readers flooding the governor's office with angry calls.
Sarcastic Dan's latest paper He also suggested that they would charge based on the value of the vehicles, even going so far as to say that cars worth more than $250,000 would get in for free because “we love having the super-super-super-rich people here.”
Some readers didn't get the joke.
“They believe it,” Vicki Schneps, publisher of Dan's Papers, told The Post on Sunday, adding that she has received dozens of calls to her office. “They're asking, 'Is this really true?'”
She said some readers were outraged, calling the satirical piece “fake news.”
“We don't publish fake news, we publish satire,” Schneps countered, adding that people should know the article was clearly “too much.”
The furore came after Gov. Kathy Hawkle famously killed plans in June to implement real congestion pricing in New York City, arguing it would be too much of a burden on cash-strapped New Yorkers.
Hamptons founder Dan Lattiner's Long Island story in the Aug. 29 issue claimed a fee would be charged for vehicles entering the upscale seaside community between late Thursday night and midnight Tuesday night, and was described as “satirical.”
“At that point, officials will decide whether to reopen the road to cars over Columbus Day weekend, when traffic will again make it nearly impossible to get there,” the article said. “The decision has already been made to reopen it in the summer of 2025.”
The Hamptons' fake fees vary depending on the value of the vehicle, with a “low-value car like an old Toyota Corolla” paying just $5, while a car worth $60,000 would be forced to pay $50.
According to the article, cars worth up to $100,000 will have to pay $200, while cars worth between $100,000 and $250,000 will have to pay $999.
According to the article, owners of high-value cars can make “voluntary donations” and “pay by check, cash, stocks, Bitcoin or money order – all tax-deductible.”
“You might notice drones buzzing above entrances to the Hamptons, taking photos of license plates to bring this plan to life,” the article states.
The joke article states that the revenue will go to the state Department of Transportation and “will not be used to build more roads, but to install speed bumps every 100 yards on all existing roads.”
The parody alleges that Hawkle has been secretly developing a local plan for congestion pricing since he announced a $2.5 million project to restore Ditch Plans Beach in Montauk last month, and that traffic in the Hamptons allegedly caused Hawkle to miss his flight to Albany and shut down state government for three hours.
The bogus scheme included penalties for violators, including 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine for firing a weapon at a drone, as well as making road rage the death penalty and stating that any vehicle making a left turn at an intersection in the Hamptons would be impounded “and then crushed in a junkyard.”
What many readers likely missed was the note at the end of the article.
“Please don't panic everyone. This is a joke. Of course,” it read.
