MTA hires civil rights lawyer for New Jersey congestion pricing lawsuit

The MTA is gearing up for a legal battle with New Jersey over congestion pricing — a battle that could jeopardize funding for several transit infrastructure projects, including on the LIRR, the transit agency’s chief said Wednesday.

Speaking at the monthly meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board, chairman and CEO Janno Lieber announced that the agency has hired civil rights attorney Roberta Kaplan to fight a federal lawsuit filed by New Jersey in July seeking to stop the MTA’s “Central Business District Tolling Program.” The plan will charge most vehicles up to $23 in new tolls for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan.

Kaplan is best known for her work in civil rights law, including her representation of author E. Jean Carroll in a recent lawsuit against former President Donald Trump that culminated in a $5 million verdict for defamation and sexual abuse.

Asked about the cost, MTA spokesman Michael Cortez said in a statement: “The Kaplan firm is being paid consistent with government discounted rates.”

Lieber said he believes the congestion pricing dispute “is a civil rights issue” because the tolling plan, if enacted, would help the vast majority of commuters to Manhattan — including those from New Jersey.

“Everything everybody seems to want to talk about are the 35,000 New Jerseyites that commute to the central business district by automobile and pay a ton for parking, versus the millions and millions of people who commute by mass transit and will benefit,” Lieber said. “They will benefit from this congestion pricing system that is going to not just give us better traffic and cleaner air and less traffic violence, but also better transit,” he added.

A spokesperson for the office of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier this month, Murphy, in a statement, called the congestion pricing plan “a fundamentally flawed and unjust scheme to balance the MTA's budget at the expense of hardworking New Jerseyans."

 "We will continue to fight this unfair tolling program on behalf of our commuters and residents,” Murphy said.

Revenue from the tolls would be committed to the MTA’s capital program, which funds infrastructure improvement, including on the LIRR, which stands to get 10% of the new toll dollars.

The MTA plans to launch the program in late spring and expects to generate about $1 billion in annual toll revenue, which would be used to back about $15 billion in bonds — or about a third of the MTA’s current $52 billion capital program.

But if the plan is delayed, so too could projects that would be funded with the new money, Lieber said. He would not speculate on specific projects that could be affected, but said the MTA must “start to make contingency plans.”

“Everything will have to be looked at if we’re $15 billion short in our capital program,” Lieber said.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.