The Hidden Cost of Congestion Pricing: Threatening NYC’s Food Lifeline
By Andrew Rigie, Leslie Gordon and Seth Gottlieb
As representatives of the Food Bank For NYC, the NYC Hospitality Alliance, and Baldor Specialty Foods, we represent critical parts of the city’s food supply chain — a network that serves millions of New Yorkers every day, whether they’re ordering a meal at a local restaurant, buying groceries at a local supermarket or bodega or relying on food relief.
While we understand and support the city’s goals of reducing traffic congestion, improving air quality, and funding public transportation, we are deeply concerned that the congestion pricing policy, set to take effect on Jan. 5, 2025, places an undue burden on essential food distributors, restaurants and hunger relief organizations.
We’re already operating in one of the most logistically complex and expensive cities in the world to deliver and serve food.
So, we implore you not to try and fund one essential service — public transportation — on the backs of another equally vital service, food distribution.