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