Staten Island electeds unite on defeating congestion pricing: ‘We want this thing dead’
Originally published in
Staten Island Advance
on
.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — From across both the aisle and the borough, Staten Island’s political representation celebrated the sudden stoppage of congestion pricing on Sunday.
Overlooking both the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and Battery Weed in Fort Wadsworth, the press conference featured State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (D-North Shore/South Brooklyn), Borough President Vito Fossella, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn), Councilmember Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore), Assemblymember Sam Pirozzolo (R-Mid-Island), along with representatives from Assemblymember Michael Tannousis (R-East Shore/South Brooklyn), Assemblymember Michael Reilly (R-South Shore), District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, and the United Federation of Teachers.
“This is not a Democrat or Republican issue, this is an issues that would negatively impact Staten Islanders,” said Scarcella-Spanton. “And that’s what we always do. We come together unified to say this is the wrong plan.”
Many of the legislators at the conference, including Fossella, Malliotakis, and Scarcella-Spanton, are part of a joint lawsuit with the United Federation of Teachers against congestion pricing.
“The MTA’s own environmental impact study showed that air pollution would get worse on the North Shore of Staten Island, where we already have extremely high rates of asthma and a high rate of cancer,” said Scarcella-Spanton. “We cannot in good faith support a policy that places one borough over another in terms of congestion and pollutants.”
