To the Editor,
Practically every other week, transit “advocate and historian” Larry Penner has a letter published about congestion pricing, the delay in implementation, and its status as a “political hot potato.” I totally agree with the author on this.
But what is his purpose in stating the problem again and again? Has it accomplished anything, other than providing temporary relief to the author’s insatiable desire to see his name in print? Has it moved congestion pricing any further along to completion? Has it aided the MTA’s budget gap?
While I happen to feel that something needs to be done about the horrendous New York City traffic, it simply escapes me why the author — who has taken decidedly Libertarian stances on issues in the past — is in favor of another tax to help plug the MTA budget gap.
Since the author knows that it is unlikely that congestion pricing will fly at any point in the near future, why doesn’t he propose solutions, as he has in other opinion pieces? I don’t agree with everything the author proposes, but at least they’re proposals; Not reiterating the problem ad nauseum, ad forever, which solves nothing.
Or better yet, if the author feels so strongly, why doesn’t he run for office? Senate, Assembly and congressional offices are up for grabs in 2022. My job does not allow me to run for paid partisan office, but I can run for an unpaid party position. I just became district leader, judicial delegate and treasurer for the political party I’m in. I’ve been nagging the chairperson to begin a countywide letter-writing blitz. I’m not deluding myself into believing I’m setting the political world on fire. I’m doing something aside from pounding out opinion pieces from my keyboard and complaining, which solves nothing. Has the author even run for office in his political party?
Nat Weiner
