The Chicken Littles and plutocratic populists at the New York Post continued their flood-the-zone coverage of congestion pricing, following (or fueling) plenty of hysteria on social media in the now two days since the tolls were switched on.
What's an advocate/journalist/New Yorker sick of a life hemmed in by cars supposed to do? Well, our own Dave Colon offered his own version of the Hippocratic oath: First, do no panicking.
But Colon is like Budda in a Knicks jersey; I don't have his saucy, devil-may-care, this-too-shall-pass Dalai Lama calm. I pick up the Post and every page is a 150-decibel megaphone decrying a simple toll that will raise money for the subway and reduce the congestion that is choking our city's air and productivity.
Here was the Post's rundown for Monday only:
- Despite the fact that real estate richie Andrew Heiberger was mocked relentlessly on Twitter on Sunday, the Post decided to make him and other wealthy people poster children for the toll's alleged inequities. Heiberger famously said on Sunday that he hates the toll because he gets charged when he drives 18 blocks to see his kids.
- The paper did a story and an editorial about subway crime — that's legit, we did a story, too, as did amNY and Gothamist — but the Post's main interest in subway crime right now is disengenuous because the paper pretends that the $9 congestion toll is "forcing" people into an unsafe system. The system may or may not be unsafe — but it should be made safe whether there is congestion pricing or not, not because it will allegedly be flooded with formerly entitled drivers.
- Speaking of those entitled drivers, the Post said that New York City is now the most-expensive place to drive into. Of course, the paper ignored that the high fees make sense: New York City is also the most congested area of the country and the portion of the country that is best served by transit, taxis, and even a gorgeous bike lane along the Hudson.
- The E-Z Pass website was slow on Monday, which is a bad look, admittedly, but not evidence of a conspiracy. It's evidence that a lot of people wanted to visit the site.
- The paper even reported that funeral homes will pass along the $9 toll to their "grieving" customers — again, as if $9 is going to matter on a $1,000 funeral. I didn't mind the story so much, but I rue the fact that reporter Carl Campanile (who knows better!) missed a chance to do a lede like, "Only the dead know Brooklyn, but every corpse has to pay the toll" or "One thing that's certain in death — taxes and the congestion toll." Or something like that.
- The paper also linked Citi Bike's recent price hike (which we reported a week ago) to yet another way that Lyft is making "a killing" off congestion pricing. Oh, so the Post admits that Citi Bike is an important, well-used form of transportation then? (Gothamist also covered the price hike.)
- The paper also apparently just woke up to realize for the first time that the MTA's next renovation and repair program isn't funded by congestion pricing and needs a funding stream of its own. (Seriously, was this paper asleep for the past six months?) The paper also did a second story on the MTA's need for funding.
- Billing it as an "exclusive" (what?!), the paper looked at ways drivers are cheating the system by covering or defacing their plates (something I know more than a little about).
None of these quoted the millions of transit riders who benefit from congestion pricing. Certainly there are some Post readers who ride the bus, no?
In a traditional tabloid war, you'd expect the Daily News to either try to one-up the Post's toxic coverage or balance it with different coverage. Alas, the fading tabloid didn't even post a toll story on Monday. But others did:
- Fox News picked up where the Post left off, letting Andrew Cuomo condemn the congestion toll that he passed into law in the first place.
- Gothamist did the story we mentioned yesterday — how Council Member Vickie Paladino is apparently advocating vandalism against the toll cameras.
- The pro-driving Upper East Site talked to drivers who are angry.
- The Times rode around with a cab driver for a story that offered really no insight into anything.
- The usually car-loving Times also biked around with Kathy Park Price, a strong supporter of congestion pricing who said all the right things.
- The Times also did a news-free piece about whether President Trump will undo the toll somehow, a news-free piece about how the MTA will use the $15 billion in funding from congestion pricing and a breezy news-free piece about the first day.
- amNY did the funding piece, too.
- The City did a broad overview.
- NY1 linked congestion pricing to Gov. Hochul's failed re-election bid. Oops. Sorry, we got ahead of ourselves.
And in other news:
