Hochul "paused congestion pricing because it doesn’t poll well. It didn’t poll well before it was instituted in London or Stockholm, either, where it has been solving gridlock, increasing bus ridership and reducing asthma rates. Opinion shifted in those cities after residents saw the benefits."
Here's a list of other laws that I'm pretty sure didn't poll well before implmentation:
-Seat belt laws
-Emission/car inspection laws
-basically every tax increase that doesn't just target the very rich
Some shit is just the right thing to do and will probably be approved of in the long run.
I still remember the outrage in my hometown as a kid when they finally got around to fully banning smoking in restaurants and bowling alleys there...and yet no one would dream of going back to that now
This is a bit of a category error. The polls Hochul and House leadership are responding to are not among NYC residents who will benefit, they’re among suburbanites who don’t want to pay NYC taxes in the first place.
Yeah, iirc the polls in general went up in London a few months after it was instated, not only for city residents. People realize that they never actually drive in, or suddenly there's less traffic, the tolls are not actually $15 every minute of the day, etc.
This is part of the point I was making: policy is being driven by people who are not going to see the biggest benefits, who may be opposed just on vibes, or who (as Doug says in another thread) might not even care that much about this particular issue.
The Civil Rights acts "didn't poll well." Neither did women voting. You don't do what's right for ALL your people only when you get a majority of public opinion.
one of the wildest things about the options here is that there appears to be no option for "It will have no effect, I will travel into Manhattan just as before and NOT pay the fee because I take the fucking train like over 90% of commuters"
bsky.app/profile/saba...
On Mar. 21, the NYT reported that 60% of public comments with MTA were "positive", and then on Apr. 22, Siena polling reported 25%-63% opposition to the congestion pricing plan and they freaked w/o considering the quality & crosstabs
scri.siena.edu/wp-content/u...www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/n...
The cops who all commute into the city are likely the ones applying the pressure, because of course why would they give a shit about benefiting the community they serve?
Bring back New York leadership of old? Like who, lying deadbeat ass hat Rudy. New York's past success would seem more like an accident than a result of leadership.
