Racketeering..

 

New York City’s “congestion pricing” cash extraction scheme went into effect last week. Already, drivers are fuming.

Under this project, the Big Apple outsources the traditional job of picking the pockets of commuters to a set of robotic cameras. Anyone headed south of 60th Street must hand over $9 for the privilege of using roads already paved and maintained by the highest state and local tax burden in the union.

Lawmakers paid so little attention to the details in setting up this racket that locals trying to avoid the charge are being hit with bills. For instance, the escape from uptown New York to Queens on the Queensboro Bridge results in a $9 tax -- even when the same trip in the opposite direction is free.

This happens because the ramp headed toward Queens briefly dips into 59th Street, where a spy camera eagerly awaits. Locals near the tolling zone’s border face a similar dilemma. One-way street layouts can force them to momentarily step over the charging zone’s invisible line, even when both their origin and destination is outside the zone.