Tuesday’s Headlines: Rajkumar’s Citywide Bid Edition

Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar wants to be city Comptroller — but don't count on her to continue incumbent Brad Lander's pro-congestion pricing legal crusade if she wins.

“Brad Lander’s going to do what he’s going to do on this issue, my focus has been on more quality-of-life issues," Rajkumar told Ben Max on his "Max Politics" podcast released on Monday, after more or less endorsing Gov. Hochul's "indefinite pause" of the long-planned tolls. (Good transportation is, of course, a "quality-of-life" matter)

Rajkumar, who entered the Assembly two years after it passed congestion pricing, also called on her colleagues "to have a special session" to figure out next steps for the tolls, while putting her weight behind a "compromise" that included more exemptions for "certain classes of people."

"There are people who are strongly, strongly in favor of congestion pricing, saying that it will save our MTA. And there are other parts of the city, like my district, in the outer boroughs, where people really, really dislike congestion pricing. Both sides are correct," said Mayor Adams's ally.

She continued:

We do need to raise money for the MTA, but also, it’s not correct for us to burden working people with enormous tolls. I believe we need to go back to the drawing board and find a better solution. What I hear from New Yorkers is that they want the MTA to inspire more confidence, trust and transparency. They want to know how the MTA is using our hard-earned tax dollars. I believe we should start there. But I have major concerns about our subway system. It’s been in a fiscal crisis since the ‘70s. We used to have one of the most celebrated subway systems in the country, and now we are behind. We do need to find innovative ways to raise money for the MTA. I have called upon the legislature to have a special session where we can figure out what we’re going to know now that congestion pricing is paused.

Since Rajkumar wasn't in office in 2019 when congestion pricing passed, she may not be aware that her colleagues in Albany discusses these exact concerns back in 2019 when they approved congestion pricing. The legislature forced the MTA to undergo an audit, and its passage of congestion pricing actually put the transportation authority on its most solid financial footing in decades.

Hochul threw that all away — a move Rajkumar basically endorsed in the interview, even as less than 3 percent of her Queens constituents drive into the tolling zone for work, according to Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

Pressed by Max on Lander's lawsuit, Rajkumar changed the topic to e-bike batteries and operations, the latter of which she has tried to regulate at the state level by proposing mandatory licensing and insurance. Advocates for e-bike riders argue such rules would discourage uptake of the vehicles — and push delivery workers and commuters to cars.

The Assembly member, meanwhile, got in a car earlier this year with a whopping 10 speeding tickets in a 10-month period.

Listen to her full Max Politics interview here. The transportation content starts around minute 38.

Other potential contenders for the comptroller role, which Lander may or may not relinquish to run for mayor, include Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso among others.

In other news:

• Congestion pricing only the tip of the iceberg of Hochul's climate failures. (NY Focus)
• Don't let Hochul's antics bury the need to fix NYC's disastrous congestion. (Daily News)
• Another reason to fear the conservative Supreme Court courtesy of the speed demons of Staten Island. (S.I. Advance)
• Share your input to make biking more safe on 9W/Palsides Parkways. (NYMTC via Twitter)

• The aforementioned Manhattan Beep is transforming borough community boards into pro-housings bastions. (NY Times)
• "Street Wars" pays a visit to the 34th Avenue open street. (NY Times)
• An unlicensed driver killed a Manhattan scooter rider, whom the Daily News/NYPD victim-blamed for "speeding" and running a red.
• A bill to crack down on reckless parking lot "donut" drivers awaits Hochul's signature. (QNS)
• A key Fordham Road bus improvement opponent is among Adams donors. (Emma Fitzsimmons via Twitter)
• And, finally, our own Jesse Coburn was on the Jersey Angle podcast talking about how he basically singlehandedly changed the law in the Garden State to rein in the scourge of ghost cars.