Governor Hochul: “My job is not to make it harder or more expensive for New Yorkers to live in our state – working hard, make ends meet, raise their families. As I said in my remarks two days ago, New Yorkers tell me they're just not ready right now for congestion pricing.”
Hochul: “Bottom line is this is simply about protecting working- and middle-class New Yorkers. So, as I talked about before I made the decision to put congestion pricing on pause, now, I will be very clear: the MTA will be taking necessary action to reflect a pause in this program. And the leaders and I have a shared interest and responsibility to ensure that the MTA and its capital program is fully funded.”
Good to see you all. You look a little tired. It's been a long week, right? You miss me? It's been two days. Pretend it's the Budget. Remember the Budget? I go for months without talking to you. So, here I am. You got me again. I know you wanted to come around because you're anxiously awaiting information on our shark drone update program to do our surveillance this summer to protect you.
No, that's not it. Wrong topic. I know you have a lot of questions, but first, I want to say as we're wrapping up the legislative session, I want to thank the Legislature for their hard work and dedication and partnership that have allowed us to deliver some incredible, incredible accomplishments for New Yorkers during this session.
You know, think about just today. We've had many, many, many conversations and sessions about the social media bills that we passed – and I look forward to signing – that'll protect New York families and mostly our children from these addictive algorithms. And just reminded by this is a nation leading achievement that I believe will be replicated all over America. We're so very proud of that.
We've also taken major steps to address the issues of high cost of living and affordability here in our state. Let's start with housing. As we know, no governor has succeeded in the last 50 years to significantly address the housing crisis. No one even took it on. It was very challenging, but I think you know I'm not afraid of a challenge. And it took us, yes, two years to do it – starts out putting out the idea and then the execution. So, a lot of effort, and sometimes we find that issues are not immediately popular, but it's still up to the leaders to push through the noise and have significant accomplishments. So, in that case, we went after it for a second year. And guess what? We got it done. It's almost $2 billion in new incentives to jumpstart new housing production.
Also, new reforms in New York City that were long overdue to help kickstart housing and historic tenant protections. And we took on housing because it's vital that we make New York State a place people can actually afford to live. And that gets me back to what we're talking about, making New York more affordable for regular people, not less affordable. So, that's why we doubled the tuition assistance program, first time in decades. We eliminated copays on insulin. And New York is the first state in the nation to guarantee paid prenatal care for our moms and their babies. And also, to protect New Yorkers from medical debt. So, as you know, the focus on affordability didn't just start with this session. Since I took office, we raised the minimum wage, and for the first time in history, tied it to inflation, which is why it went up again in January. And we committed billions of dollars to affordable childcare for working parents. And I held the line on hardworking New Yorkers on income taxes.
So, let's talk about congestion pricing. Now my job is not to make it harder or more expensive for New Yorkers to live in our state – working hard, make ends meet, raise their families. As I said in my remarks two days ago, New Yorkers tell me they're just not ready right now for congestion pricing. And the closer we got to the June 30th implementation date, I heard from more and more anxious New Yorkers that this would be a real hardship for them. Working- and middle-class families who can't afford an additional $15 a day toll when they're simply trying to go to their jobs. I'm talking about teachers and first responders, our firefighters, police, the small business owners, the bodega shops, the theater workers, the laborers and the small business owners who are desperately afraid they'll either lose their customers who may come in from places like New Jersey and outside Manhattan, who are also worried about the cost being having to be pushed out of their own customers when the cost goes up from their deliveries.
So, bottom line is this is simply about protecting working- and middle-class New Yorkers. So, as I talked about before I made the decision to put congestion pricing on pause, now, I will be very clear: the MTA will be taking necessary action to reflect a pause in this program. And the leaders and I have a shared interest and responsibility to ensure that the MTA and its capital program is fully funded. And I've made it clear. After many, many conversations, I am prepared to continue working with them from this moment on – just got off the phone – to continue to avoid any disruption in the MTA Capital Plan.
It's really simple to me. Leaders have to be willing to do what's right, regardless of the political headwinds, and stand up for the voices that are not being heard. So, yes, I put congestion pricing on pause. Because, when it comes down to it, I'll always stand on the side of hardworking New Yorkers.
No comments:
Post a Comment