What Made New York Great? Leadership. Where Is It Now?
The New York Times
The city was built on bold ideas. Suddenly Gov. Kathy Hochul paused a game-changing plan to fight congestion. Can we still do big things in a polarized moment?
Have we lost the ability to do big things?
It’s a question after Gov. Kathy Hochul suddenly put an “indefinite pause” on a plan to institute congestion pricing for driving in a large swath of Manhattan, an idea dating back some six decades to the Lindsay era.
The governor, at a news conference on Friday, denied that she flip-flopped because Democratic leaders had been whispering in her ear about the plan’s unpopularity in suburban counties like Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, which could be pivotal in deciding who will control the House of Representatives.
But back in December, at a rally promoting congestion pricing, she had said: “From time to time, leaders are called upon to envision a better future, be bold in the implementation and execution, and be undaunted by the opposition.”
“This is when we demonstrate leadership,” she declared at the time.
New York has been suffering a leadership crisis for a while now.
