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AAA Wants To Stop The Port Authority Toll Hikes
By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 15, 2011
Modified Sep 16, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 15, 2011
Modified Sep 16, 2011
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Those Port Authority toll hikes that got approved last month and are supposed to kick in on Sunday? The AAA is really eager to put the kibosh on them. What's their gripe? That some of the money form the hike will be going to "a speculative office development" also known as the World Trade Center.
"One of our primary missions is to make sure that any tolls and revenue and any user fees go back into transportation," said Marta Genovese, vice president of legal affairs for AAA told the AP. "But in this case, it's going into a speculative office development." Or, in other words, "it's an egregious example of the motorists getting ripped off," according to AAA New York spokesman Robert Sinclair.
The AAA claims the new toll hikes are in violation of a 1987 law that regulates bridge tolls. The law applies to bridges that carry interstate commerce over "any of the navigable waters of the United States" and requires that tolls be "just and reasonable." The DOT, which the AAA wrote regarding their concerns, says that they will respond directly to the organization and are keeping mum on their thoughts. So far the AAA has not asked for temporary restraining order against the the increase, but that is because they are "still trying to obtain a revised capital spending plan from the agency." So one could come soon. And if the DOT doesn't respond the way the AAA wants, they could also always sue the PA to try and block the increase after it kick in. Yet another reason to hop on those bikes!
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Garth Johnston
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