Something you learn from watching a few oral arguments over questions of federal procedure is that the action doesn't lie in the moments when the sparring attorneys read off of their briefs. Instead it comes in the moments when a judge interrupts them to ask questions and probe their arguments. These interruptions and probes give a sense of what a judge thinks about the quality of a lawyer's argument. And with that in mind, congestion pricing supporters may be able to rest easy after Wednesday's hearing on competing motions for summary judgement from the MTA and the U.S. DOT over the future of the traffic toll.
The argument before Judge Lewis Liman is simple: The MTA says that the federal Value Pricing Pilot Program — which not only allows congestion pricing, but a host of tolled federal highways across the country — allows only the MTA to end congestion pricing, while federal lawyers claim U.S. DOT has an unwritten, but still valid, right to unilaterally terminate congestion pricing.
Liman didn't interrupt MTA attorney Roberta Kaplan very much. But he did treat Department of Justice attorney Eric Hamilton like a Gleason's speed bag, immediately interrupting his opening remarks with a series of questions regarding whether the federal government is claiming that all of its contracts are "at-will," which is to say not contracts at all. (Streetsblog readers will recall the disgust with which noted legal scholar Roderick Hills greeted this argument previously.)
Liman also batted at Hamilton over whether there was any proof Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy followed proper administration procedure before he sent his February letter purporting to "terminate" congestion pricing. (Hamilton suggested all the secretary needed as proof he could end the program was that former New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy sent a letter complaining about the toll.)
And at one point, Liman told the federal attorney that his argument "sows the seeds of the destruction of the Value Pricing Pilot Program itself."
After court, MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber appreciated that Liman apparently understands the MTA's argument, namely, that President Trump is not a king.
"As the judge pointed out, the government's position is, they can rescind any agreement, any approval, at any time, if the president or the Secretary of Transportation wants, and that is scary" he said.
It is unclear when Liman will rule, especially since he gave each side until next Friday to supplement the court docket with any newly relevant information that has popped up since they filed their briefs.
In the press, the Times and amNY had a similar take as ours. The Post also covered it (albeit without any sketches at all). Gothamist pointed out, anew, that the tolls are working.
— Dave Colon
In other news:
- A-B-C, as easy as one, two, three! Welcome to the "Adams Budget Crisis," so named by Mayor Mamdani. In short, the prior mayor left the city in the poor house. Everyone covered it. (NYDN, NY Post, NY Times, amNY, Gothamist, The City)
- We told you that Andy Byford would make news today — and he didn't disappoint ... unless you wanted evidence that he's on top of stuff. We covered his comment that New York City would have to pay for some of the
PennTrump Station renovation. And amNY covered him admitting that he's not "up to speed" on the Gateway tunnel project that his boss, the president, is killing. - Transportation Alternatives put out its annual year-in-Vision-Zero report, which confirms that overall fatalities and crashes were down last year. (amNY)
- Scam taxi rides at an airport. Welcome to New York! (Gothamist)
- Reminder: Bike shops are important! (Leg Day)
- Other papers caught up to Streetsblog Empire State and covered Amtrak's Heisman move against Metro-North. (NYDN, NY Post)
- No one wants to be Gov. Hochul's running mate, which only ends up fueling the "Draft Dave Colon" rumors. (NY Post)
- The city wants to make Astoria Boulevard safer. Locals don't. (Queens Chronicle)
- The "parking wars" have started in Staten Island. But maybe the Staten Island Advance could stop suggesting that the places where drivers havef temporarily stored their cars is "their spot."
- Here are some drivers we'll definitely defend: Those racially targeted by cops. (NY Times)
- And here's a driver we definitely won't defend: He's trying to ram his car into the Chabad-Lubavich headquarters on Eastern Parkway! (X.com)
- Check out the hot tub snow machine. (WABC)
- Mum, there's a yummy vansicle in Queens. (NY Post)
- The ferry is still sidelined by ice. (amNY)
- Whew! Speed-camera tickets are legal! (amNY)
- And, finally, the Times's Janice Chung took one of the great sneckdown photos ever ... not that the car-loving Paper of Record even knew what it had here:
