Gov. Hochul made her case for congestion pricing directly to President Trump on Friday night in Washington — to no avail.
Trump told The Post's Michael Goodwin she failed to convince him.
“It was a very cordial meeting and she brought me a brochure with data about the effect of the new tax... It's something she thinks is good," the president told Goodwin. But, he said, "I don’t see how I can back off."
Per Goodwin, Trump also rattled off a punch of New York Post-style claims that supposedly prove the toll's got to go — including baseless assertions that the toll hurts the "guy [who] comes to fix your television" (who almost certainly will earn more money thanks to less traffic) and that "nobody wants to go" to Manhattan because of the toll (most people take the train to Manhattan, where businesses like Broadway are booming in the congestion pricing era).
Worst of all, Trump reportedly parroted to Hochul The Post's bogus claim that the MTA loses more money to fare and toll evasion that congestion pricing will raise — a claim the MTA slammed as "egregious and misleading" last month.
Appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Hochul described the meeting as not "adversarial."
"I wanted to take my case to him directly and let him see the benefits of this program, because our city is paralyzed with gridlock, and we had a path forward to be able to make the city move again, and it's working," the governor said. (Click here for the full transcript.)
"I wanted to just have that opportunity to convey that, but I don't know that we're very persuasive on that front, but that's okay. The people in my state need to know I'm willing to take the fight wherever I have to."
Back here in New York City, congestion pricing supporters rallied in Manhattan against Trump's illegal bid to kill the program. Clarence Eckerson of Streetfilms was there to document the raucous, energizing rally. Watch below on YouTube:
In other news:
- Eric Adams update: The federal judge in the mayor's corruption case has hired an outside counsel to advise him on whether to let the Trump administration drop the charges. (The City)
- The Post editorial board wants NYPD boss Jessica Tisch to run for mayor.
- ... while The Times profiled the potential mayor who apparently scares The Post the most: Public Advocates Jumaane Williams.
- Patch wants to hear from readers about whether it's "OK to be territorial about parking in front of your home."
- Orange County lawmakers have a bill to withdraw from the MTA. (Spectrum News 1)
- Former Gov. George Pataki hates congestion pricing, loves DOGE and doesn't think the MTA needs any more money. (NY Post)
- Meet new TWU Local 100 President John Chiarello. (Daily News)
- OMNY readers on buses keep falling over, and MTA has to spend $4.5 million to fix it. (Gothamist)
- Speaking of OMNY on buses, OMNY will come to Nassau County's NICE buses this year. (Newsday)
- Ridgewood elected officials are all over the map on congestion pricing. (QNS)
- Irony alert: The Times had a great story about how a proposed film production studio will supposedly inundate a small British town with cars — illustrated with a picture of the town ... already inundated with cars.
- Don't worry, the Queens bus network redesigning will finally happen this summer. (Gothamist)
- Think-tank conservatives hope Trump will "leverage congestion pricing, not kill it." (City Journal)
- WHO: "If road deaths were a virus, we’d call it a pandemic." (The Guardian)
