UFT, Staten Island BP sue to halt congestion pricing plan | Claim the toll would unfairly burden workers

The United Federation of Teachers, joined by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, has filed suit to try and stop the MTA’s congestion pricing plan, which the union argues would impose a disproportionate financial burden on public-sector workers and “inflict environmental and economic damage” on outer borough residents and neighborhoods.

The plan, which is expected to take effect this spring, will establish a $15 toll for most drivers entering Manhattan’s Central Business District between 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekends. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, claims that the federal government and the MTA reached its congestion pricing plan “only after a rushed and hurried process” that violated federal law by failing to prepare an adequate environmental review of the pricing plan.

The union also criticized the fact that city workers have not been exempted from paying the $15 toll; the Traffic Mobility Review Board based that decision on the fact that public workers aren't exempted from existing tolls.

Seven educators are plaintiffs in the lawsuit; several elected officials including Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton and Assemblymen Michael Tannousis and David Weprin have also joined the suit, Fossella’s office said Monday.

“We’re looking for exemptions in the legislature, we’re looking for exemptions for our NYPD, for the Red Cross, which was left out, for SI residents — but the exemptions never go far enough. This is not fair for anybody living in New York City,” Scarcella-Spanton said at last week’s press conference.

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