NYC congestion toll's hit to non-drivers

 Residents in Manhattan’s congestion pricing zone may pay the new toll — even if they don’t drive.

Companies making deliveries or providing services in the central business district south of 60th Street are sending out notices that they will add the cost of the fee as a surcharge in their bills to customers.

Phone and data service company CompuVoip, which contracts with the New York City government, already let the city and other customers know of the new fee before the $9 toll went into effect Sunday.

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Congestion pricing scanners seen over 1st Ave. on the first day of the new toll in Manhattan on Jan. 5, 2025.Michael Nagle

“Dear Valued Customer: At CompuVoip, our core principle is to deliver exceptional value to our customers. While the costs of providing service calls have risen, we’ve absorbed these increases without passing them on to you—until now,” the firm said in a notice to the City Council.

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“Starting January 5th, New York State will implement congestion pricing in certain areas of Manhattan,” it went on. “As a result, we will need to introduce a `congestion pricing surcharge’ for customers located within the Congestion Pricing Zone. This surcharge will reflect our actual costs and will only apply to service calls in that area.”

The company said the surcharge will only be slapped on people and companies within the congestion zone — “and only while Congestion Pricing is in effect.”

Long Island-based firm Dream Events & Decor will also add the costs of the toll to provide catering and party events in Manhattan.  

The new toll will cost the firm about $20,000 a year, said Isabel Doerbecker, general manager and president of event operations.

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A sign warning drivers about the new toll on Lexington Ave. on Jan. 5, 2025.Michael Nagle

“That’s something we’re going to have to take additional account of,” Doerbecker said.

Doerbecker said she’s looking to cut back on her business’s trips to vendor-suppliers in Manhattan to buy tablecloths, cutlery and decorations. Instead, she’s looking for suppliers on Long Island and outside of the zone.

A Brooklyn-based air-conditioning and ventilation service firm, Mechanical East, alerted customers last spring that it would impose a surcharge for all work orders to compensate for the toll.

Opponents said the pass-along cost to customers is another reason why the first-in-the-nation congestion toll to feed the MTA’s coffers is a disaster in the making.

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A sign on Lexington Ave. for the entrance to the congestion pricing zone.Michael Nagle

“It’s no surprise to anyone with common sense that businesses operating within the CBD [Central Business District] will pass the Congestion Scam Tax onto consumers,” said Queens Councilman Robert Holden.

He called MTA chairman Janno Lieber as “King Lieber” and Gov. Kathy Hochul as “Tyrant Hochul” who “are pillaging taxpayers to fund the grift and mismanagement of the Miserable Transit Authority.”

Bronx Councilwoman Kristy Marmorato posted CompuVoip’s notice on her X account.

“AND SO IT BEGINS!” she wrote. “This Congestion pricing cash grab is going to affect our every day commute, infringe on accessibility & affordability, but NOW we are also seeing how this is going to INCREASE all costs in our daily lives.”

Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald Clavin, who has two pending lawsuits against congestion pricing in state and federal court, called the new $9 toll “Hochul inflation.”

“It’s just another tax. It’s going to drive up prices that are already high. Here comes Hochul inflation,” Clavin said.

https://nypost.com/2025/01/05/us-news/nyc-residents-slapped-with-congestion-pricing-surcharge-by-fed-up-companies-paying-new-toll-hochul-inflation/

US 'Quietly' Sent Heavy Weapons To Ukraine Well Before Invasion Started, Blinken Reveals

 The United States is currently dealing with conflicts in multiple hot spots from Eastern Europe to Gaza to dealing with a collapsed Syrian state and continued standoff with Iran over its nuclear program.

But the Biden administration regrets nothing - so says Biden's Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a major end of term interview given to the NY Times and published this weekend. Among the more interesting pieces of new information from the interview is Blinken's direct admission that Washington was covertly shipping heavy weapons to Ukraine even months before the Russian invasion of February 2022.

"We made sure that well before [Russia's 'special military operation'] happened, starting in September and then again in December, we quietly got a lot of weapons to Ukraine," he said in the interview published Saturday. "Things like Stingers, Javelins."

AFP/Getty Images

The Kremlin at the time cited such covert transfers, which were perhaps an 'open secret', as justification for the invasion based on 'demilitarizing' Ukraine and keeping NATO military infrastructure out. Moscow had issued many warnings over its 'red lines' in the weeks and months leading up to the war.

Below is the full section from the NY Times interview transcript where Blinken boasts of the pre-invasion transfers:

QUESTION:  You made two early strategic decisions on Ukraine.  The first – because of that fear of direct conflict – was to restrict Ukraine’s use of American weapons within Russia.  The second was to support Ukraine’s military offensive without a parallel diplomatic track to try and end the conflict.  How do you look back on those decisions now?

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  So first, if you look at the trajectory of the conflict, because we saw it coming, we were able to make sure that not only were we prepared, and allies and partners were prepared, but that Ukraine was prepared.  We made sure that well before the Russian aggression happened, starting in September – the Russian aggression happened in February.  Starting in September and then again in December, we quietly got a lot of weapons to Ukraine to make sure that they had in hand what they needed to defended themselves – things like Stingers, Javelins that they could use that were instrumental in preventing Russia from taking Kyiv, from rolling over the country, erasing it from the map, and indeed pushing the Russians back.

Blinken claims elsewhere in the interview that the Biden White House kept diplomacy going the whole time, and tried to engage Moscow, but explains that this basically involved keeping the Western allies and backers of Kiev unified and on the same track.

Interestingly when asked about whether its time to end the war, Biden's top diplomat basically dodged the question...

QUESTION:  Do you think it’s time to end the war, though?

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  These are decisions for Ukrainians to make.  They have to decide where their future is and how they want to get there.  Where the line is drawn on the map, at this point, I don’t think is fundamentally going to change very much.  The real question is:  Can we make sure that Ukraine is a position to move forward strongly?

QUESTION:  You mean use – that the areas that Russia controls you feel —

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  In —

QUESTION:  — will have to be ceded?

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Ceded is not the question.  The question is – the line as a practical matter in the foreseeable future is unlikely to move very much.  Ukraine’s claim on that territory will always be there.  And the question is:  Will they find ways – with the support of others – to regain territory that’s been lost?

Blinken in the above essentially gives his view that no... it is not time to end the war, despite the majority of the war-weary publics in Europe and the US thinking the opposite. There's some evidence that much or most of the common Ukrainian populace wants it to end as fast as possible as well.

Ultimately, with the world now on the brink of WW3, it's clear this White House regrets nothing, which even the title of the interview piece strongly suggests: Antony Blinken Insists He and Biden Made the Right Calls. But we think history will not look kindly.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-quietly-sent-heavy-weapons-ukraine-well-invasion-started-blinken-reveals

All US Military Bases Enact "Heightened Security Measures" After Terror Attacks

 VOA's Chief National Correspondent, Steve Herman, has released a new "Urgent Security Update" from the Department of Defense, indicating that, in response to the recent "terror attacks" in New Orleans and Las Vegas, all US military bases will implement "heightened security measures." 

“In response to recent terror attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, the Commander of U.S. Northern Command has directed all military installations to immediately implement heightened security measures.”
https://t.co/N9yPq0YR9N

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 5, 2025

Here's the full "Urgent Security Update": 

In response to recent terror attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, the Commander of US Northern Command has directed all military installations to immediately implement heightened security measures. These include:

• 100% ID checks
• Random inspections
• Suspension of the Trusted Traveler Program

The Trusted Traveler Program was a procedure that allowed DoD-affiliated sponsors to vouch for vehicle occupants to gain entry onto an installation.

Drivers should expect delays and random inspections at entry gates as we enhance the security posture of our installation to ensure our ability to project combat power when and where required.

This is a critical step in ensuring the security and readiness of our installations. Drivers should expect delays at entry gates due to increased inspections.

Herman provided a screenshot:

So, what exactly have federal investigators uncovered about the Cybertruck bomber and/or the ISIS-loving driver who killed 14 people in the Bourbon Street truck-ramming attack?

Something must have spooked the Pentagon—a threat the government has likely kept under wraps for many months, though we explained it days ago in the note titled "Former CIA Officer Warns: 1,000 Al-Qaeda Fighters In US For Next Homeland Attack."  

Frightening information to hear. Former CIA targeting officer Sarah Adams is warning of an IRGC U.S. Homeland attack in retaliation for Soleimani. She says 1,000 or more terrorists may already be here and discusses the “Invisible Bomb” undetectable to magnetometers and now… pic.twitter.com/tVGLhHGqZI

— Johnny St.Pete (@JohnMcCloy) December 28, 2024

We believe it's all related: "Terror Threat? NYC Now Deploys "Largest Military Presence In Subways Since 9/11 Aftermath."

This all reminds us of the days when the nation's terror threat level was a regular feature on nightly MSM news. 

Sigh. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/all-us-military-bases-enact-heightened-security-measures-after-terror-attacks

New Orleans attack a wake-up call for NYC — get serious about vehicle terror

 We’re nearly a decade into the age of Islamist terror via motor vehicle, beginning with the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice, France that killed 86 people.

New York should be hardening vulnerable public spaces. Instead, the city relies on temporary measures and good luck — leaving us little better prepared than New Orleans.

Last week’s New Year’s Bourbon Street attack, which killed 14 people, is the fault of one person: ISIS adherent Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas.

But vehicle terrorism is a fact of modern urban life. The New Orleans attack came two weeks after a Christmastime vehicle assault in Germany that killed five people.

We’ve had other such incidents here: In 2017, an ISIS terrorist driving a rented truck killed eight people on the Hudson River bike path on Halloween.

Earlier that year, a drug-crazed Memorial Day attacker (of hazy ideology — he got off due to insanity) killed a tourist when he plowed a car through Times Square.

Before terrorists started moving people down, we had the risk of truck bombs, like the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

Even without deadly intent, people in vehicles don’t mix with large pedestrian crowds. Just last year, an allegedly drunk driver killed four people at a July 4th barbecue downtown.

In 2001, two months after 9/11, a bad driver killed seven people on a sidewalk outside Macy’s.

No, we can’t prevent all terror attacks or other mass-casualty car and truck crashes.

But we can be smarter: We know terrorists like to target high-profile places, such as Times Square or Bourbon Street.

So in places where the city can’t practically shut down traffic — as former Mayor Rudy Giuliani did on Wall Street, permanently, after 9/11, and as Mayor Mike Bloomberg did in much of Times Square — it makes sense to separate trucks and cars from people.

That’s why everyone is asking the obvious question about New Orleans.

New Orleans knew that Bourbon Street was at risk, which is why it had previously deployed bollards to protect people strolling.

Why, then, with the bollards out of commission for replacement, did the city not block off the street and sidewalk with a garbage truck?

And why did the city, in its planned redesign of street bollards, not account for the fact that car and truck drivers could mount the sidewalk to go around them?

Seems like Big Easy ineptitude — but are we faring better?

Yes, after the 2017 Hudson River truck attack — but only after — New York installed steel bollards on the bike path.

But take a look at other high-profile targets, and New York — across two administrations, Bill de Blasio’s and Eric Adams’ — is acting like this problem might vanish overnight.

To protect walkers, 42nd Street sidewalks are littered with giant cement cubes, as is the walkway outside Trump Tower on 5th Avenue and 57th Street.

Huge cement blocks permanently constrict pedestrian access to the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park.

At Rockefeller Center, the NYPD protects Christmas-tree visitors by deploying temporary gate-like barriers on 49th and 50th Streets — barriers that impede the pedestrian traffic they are supposed to protect.

And the city’s stance is inconsistent.

On Fifth Avenue, to give walkers more room at Christmas, the city puts metal barriers out to create a pedestrian lane in the street — but those barriers aren’t going to protect anyone from a crash.

At some parades and events, the city guards marchers and spectators with parked sanitation trucks. But at others — street fairs and “summer streets” — only flimsy metal or wooden barriers stand in the way.

It’s past time for the city to acknowledge that the need to protect people on foot from people in cars and trucks isn’t lessening.  

Mayor Adams should direct a deputy to do a full-scale, street-by-street analysis.

Which avenues, streets and sidewalks, measured by pedestrian traffic and “famousness” visibility, need permanent changes, such as layers of retractable steel bollards or permanent, retractable anti-vehicle ramps embedded in the road?

Bollards and ramps can serve a dual purpose: During busy times of year, they could reserve some streets or lanes for walkers only, for all or part of the day, without cluttering pedestrian paths with chunks of cement.

Trump Tower, for example, is always going to be a terror risk, even after the soon-to-be-reinaugurated president is out of office.

A great candidate to carry out such an audit would be NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch.

She likes data. She understands terrorism. As former sanitation commissioner, she grasps truckers’ need to access the curb at predictable times of day for deliveries and pickups.

And she is hard-headed enough to realize that street management by cement block isn’t management.

Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.

https://nypost.com/2025/01/05/opinion/new-orleans-attack-tells-nyc-get-serious-about-vehicle-terror/