Borough President Letter to Governor Hohcul on Traffic Mobility Review Board

September 14, 2021 

Kathy Hochul 

Governor 

State of New York 

633 3^rd Avenue 

New York, NY 10017 

Dear Governor Hochul: 

We write to request you nominate the remaining members of the Traffic Mobility Review Board  (TMRB) and nominate at least one resident of Manhattan to the panel.  

As you are aware, legislation passed in 2019 that created the TMRB required at least one  representative from the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road regions, but not a representative  from Manhattan, even though congestion pricing will be implemented in the borough.  Congestion pricing has the potential to offer a great array of environmental, congestion-reducing,  and street-safety benefits to Manhattan. It also offers a great opportunity to improve the capacity,  reliability, and accessibility of our region’s transit system with the resulting toll funds.  

But there are still a litany of outstanding questions and Manhattanites deserve a seat at the table  and the ability to offer the kind of localized perspective that would only improve the finalized  program. Congestion pricing has been a success in the select few cities it has been instituted in,  including London, Milan, and Stockholm. In order to repeat these successes, we have to make  sure we get the details right, and that can and must be done not only with robust public  participation at the MTA’s upcoming congestion pricing public hearings but also with Manhattan  representation on the TMRB.  

Thank you for your attention to this matter.