New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said on Thursday she appealed to President Trump as a New Yorker to try to convince him to drop his war against the congestion pricing initiative in his native city.
In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Hochul described her meeting with the president last Friday, when she advocated for the new system — which has reduced traffic in the city since it introduced a $9 charge for drivers entering certain parts of Manhattan last month. She also brought up the letter from the transportation secretary citing concerns about the system.
“I said, ‘Mr. President, you’re a New Yorker.’ First of all, the most offensive thing I found in the letter from [Transportation Sec.] Sean Duffy was citing New Jersey, saying they don’t like this program. I said, ‘Mr. President, we’re both New Yorkers. Why do we care what New Jersey thinks?’” Hochul said in the Thursday interview, recalling her conversation with the president.
The Democratic governor said she reminded the president of his deep roots in the city and touted the congestion pricing program as a “model” for reducing traffic, increasing revenue and improving quality of life “dramatically for everyone who lives in this district.”
“I’m trying to find a common ground here,” Hochul said. “I want him to understand that this is a city that he cares about, and he understands it more than any president since FDR — we haven’t had a New York president — but more than anyone, he’s got property here. He understands. We want to make sure that the city keeps moving.”
“So I was just trying to appeal to him as a New Yorker, and say, ‘This is good for New York,’” Hochul said.
Hochul and Trump met for more than an hour last Friday, two days after the Trump administration ordered a stop to the pricing program, which has been a source of controversy.
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” Trump wrote on social media last Wednesday, attaching a photo of his face, wearing a crown, on a TIME Magazine cover, with the New York skyline in the backdrop.
The toll remains in place as a legal battle plays out, but the Department of Transportation gave the city a deadline of March 21 to end the program.
Hochul, in the interview, said she would continue fighting for the program.
“It has had a profound impact on the lives of New Yorkers. We have to fight to keep it going, and that’s why I’ve taken it to the courts and I’ll take it wherever I can,” Hochul said.
“And they’re telling us, we have to have an orderly cessation by the end of March,” she continued. “I’m saying, I’m going to have to have an orderly resistance.”
