I’m on the Congestion Toll Border — and It’s Worsening Our Air Quality!

In spite of numerous ongoing lawsuits and months of indecision, Governor Hochul has boldly pressed forward with her unpopular congestion pricing initiative this Sunday, vowing on X, “Less gridlock. Cleaner air.”

But for whom?

The strongest opposition to Hochul’s new taxation strategy is emerging from New Jersey and the outer boroughs, yet many residents in my neighborhood of Manhattan are also expressing discontent.

Working-class families like mine, raising children in Manhattan’s congested Lenox Hill in the East 60s, have spent years resisting threats to our quality of life.

However, on Jan. 5, Manhattan was arbitrarily divided by a line separating us from the region south of 60th Street, dubbed the “Congestion Relief Zone” — an idyllic place where car emissions will reportedly no longer pose a health risk.

Our neighborhood just north of this line seems unworthy of such protection, even though the consequences for us will be significant.

Though the MTA’s official environmental review barely addresses it, logic and experience suggest that our local streets will soon be flooded with cars endlessly circling in search of elusive parking, compounded by unprecedented traffic congestion as southbound drivers make a last-ditch attempt to access the FDR Drive and sidestep the new toll.

The overall result will be a notable decline in air quality in our area — yet our local Manhattan politicians offer nary a word of concern, merely echoing Hochul’s optimistic claims of reduced gridlock and cleaner air.

When I reached out to state Senator Liz Krueger’s office regarding potential mitigation strategies for the anticipated increase in traffic in our neighborhood, I was informed that no mitigation actions were being planned for Manhattan whatsoever.

No air quality assessments, no asthma clinics, no noise abatement, no HEPA filtration systems for schools near the border, no tree planting efforts… nothing for the vulnerable seniors and children residing just outside the Congestion Relief Zone, an area already besieged by persistent construction and traffic bottlenecks.

Instead, I was met with the optimistic assertion that New York would emulate London, where traffic has reportedly decreased outside of such zones.

In the interim, residents here find themselves as overlooked subjects in an experiment, with our well-being and that of our children sacrificed for the illusory benefits of congestion pricing.

There is no clearer illustration of our representatives’ disingenuous concerns for clean air and the health of our youth than 24 Sycamores Park.

This small, hardened playground situated beneath the FDR Drive between 60th and 61st Streets, merely fenced off from the 61st Street FDR off-ramp, symbolizes the poor civic choices made — it stands to absorb the brunt of Hochul’s ambitious initiative.

Named after the resilient native trees that can withstand urban pollution, this patch of land was once deep in the East River until it was filled in during the 1930s.

For years, it remained vacant until the city’s Parks Department took charge and built one of only two playgrounds in our locale with facilities for children under five.

Yet unlike the park’s sycamore trees, our children’s lungs lack that same resilience.

At the very edge of Manhattan lies one of the few places where children from working-class families, like mine, who cannot access luxury building amenities or weekend retreats upstate, can play — navigating the sinkholes that occasionally emerge, a reminder of the land’s unstable history.

This small park, located mere feet from the FDR, already surrounds our children with the noise of ceaseless honking and exhaust from thousands of cars — not just from the elevated roadway, but also from York Avenue and, depending on wind direction, from the Queensboro Bridge above.

Now, with congestion pricing, these threats could intensify dramatically.

When I inquired with my City Councilmember, Julie Menin, about protective measures for these children deprived of the advantages of residing in the “Congestion Relief Zone,” her staff could only shrug — while Menin herself proudly mentioned a deal she had struck to allocate $4.3 million to improve the playground equipment and basketball court at 24 Sycamores.

Yes, she is actually investing funds to encourage more children to potentially harm their developing lungs here.

The dire environmental consequences of congestion pricing on families in neighboring areas like Lenox Hill have been hauntingly overlooked.

Hochul maintains that her plan will result in less gridlock and cleaner air.

Just not for us.

Yasmina Palumbo is a Manhattan public-school parent and co-founder of Lenox Hill Families Advocating for Children to Thrive. X: @LenoxHillFACT