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Chamber joins Let's Fix NYC Transit Coalition to demand Albany fix transit crisis ahead of budget deadline

Thursday, March 22, 2018

New York – Today, 83 diverse organizations across New York City joined an unprecedented coalition of regional stakeholders – including transportation advocates, labor unions, business groups, and environmental leaders – to demand Albany leaders address our region’s dire transit crisis and pass the Fix NYC plan as part of this year’s state budget, expected to be finalized by April 1st.

“Our unlikely coalition reflects just how deeply the Fix NYC Plan resonates across the region,” said Alex Matthiessen, director of the Move NY Campaign. “Support is strong, broad, and unwavering. It is time Albany listened up and paid heed to the demands of New Yorkers for a solution to this traffic and transit crisis. The Fix NYC Plan must be included in the budget.”

Released by the Fix NYC Advisory Panel – a group of government officials and community and business leaders convened by Governor Cuomo – the plan outlines a comprehensive congestion pricing plan that will address our region’s traffic and transit crises. If enacted, the proposal would streamline funds to the city’s subway system, cut traffic congestion, improve air quality, and fill transit gaps for New Yorkers in the outer boroughs.

Editorial boards from across the spectrum and throughout the region– including The New York Times and the New York Post – have editorialized in support of congestion pricing as the best way to address the City and region’s transportation crisis.

Earlier this month, the Let’s FixNYC campaign launched a month-long advocacy and public education campaign to pressure Albany and NYC policymakers to act immediately and implement a comprehensive congestion pricing plan.

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A copy of the letter can be found here:

March 21, 2018

 

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York

The Honorable John Flanagan, Majority Leader, New York State Senate

The Honorable Carl Heastie, Speaker, New York State Assembly

Re: Our Region’s Traffic and Transit Crises

 

Dear Governor Cuomo, Majority Leader Flanagan, and Speaker Heastie,

As you finalize your budget negotiations for this session, our diverse array of shared constituencies – transportation experts, environmental advocates, labor leaders, and business groups – call on you to seize this opportunity to address New York City’s traffic and transportation crises. New Yorkers continue to suffer daily from our deteriorating and underfunded transit infrastructure. Our congested roads cost the region $20 billion each year in lost economic productivity and job creation. New Yorkers simply cannot afford to wait for next year’s budget session to see action on a serious plan to fix our subways and tame the region’s traffic.

Luckily, a plan to fix our city’s transit system already exists. The Fix NYC panel’s recommendations, released this January, present the most realistic and effective measures

for easing traffic and funding the MTA. One key panel recommendation – beginning immediately to install the infrastructure to create a zone pricing cordon around Manhattan’s Central Business District – will signal the state’s seriousness about addressing these crises head-on.

The Fix NYC Transit coalition stands united in support of the panel’s proposal. We all know that New Yorkers deserve better than crippling traffic and unreliable public transit. We urge you to deliver for them during this budget session.

Sincerely yours,

Alliance of Union Contractors

Amalgamated Transit Union

American Council of Engineering Companies of New York

Bike New York

Black Car Association

Blue Marble Project

Boerum Hill Association

Brooklyn Brewery

Brooklyn Community Board 6

Brooklyn MC

Carrol Gardens Neighborhood Association

CDM Smith

Center for an Urban Future

Citizens Budget Commission

City Island Civic Association

Cobble Hill Association

Community Voices Heard

Dumbo Moving

El Puente

Environmental Advocates of New York

Environmental Defense Fund

Environmental Entrepreneurs

Greenpoint Church

Hotel Trades Council

HNTB Corporation

Hudson Square Connection

Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc.

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

Jackson Heights Green Alliance

LULAC Queens Council 23055

Make Queens Safer

Manhattan Chamber of Commerce

Manhattan Young Democrats

Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance

Mothers on the Move

Move NY

Natural Resources Defense Council

Neighborhoods Allied for Good Growth

New Harlem East Merchants Association

New York Building Congress

New York City Environmental Justice Alliance

Partnership for New York City

New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council

New York Metropolitan Trucking Association

North Brooklyn Development Corporation

Nos Quedamos

nyccaraccident.net

NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign

Park Slope Civic Council

Park Slope Neighbors

Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA

Pratt Center for Community Development

Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council

Real Estate Board of New York

Regional Plan Association

Riders Alliance

Right of Way

RXR Realty

Sam Schwartz Engineering D.P.C.

SEIU 32BJ

Shorewalkers

Smart Sign

Staten Island Economic Development Corporation

Streets PAC

Streetsblog

Sustainable South Bronx

The Black Car Fund

The Bucks Business Network

The Bx Arts Factory

The Municipal Art Society of New York City

TransCore

Transit Workers Union Local 106

Transport Workers Union Local 100

Transportation Alternatives

Tri-State Transportation Campaign

Two Trees NY

UPROSE

Virtuous Bicycle

WE ACT

Weidlinger

Working Families

Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice

ZomoHealth