As we’ve been discussing for days, Governor Hochul will announce her post-election freeze on congestion pricing today in Manhattan – peaking at $9.

Gothamist broke what was left of this story yesterday afternoon and everyone followed, including The City, Crain’s, the Daily News, The Post (which reported that the governor wanted to go as low as $7) and amNY (which had the best lead: “It’s rush hour for congestion pricing”). But one thing we haven’t heard enough is that the pause and the resulting lawsuits, demagoguery and grief were a crisis of Hochul’s own making.

The Times used language like: “The last-minute attempt to save the toll plan…” to suggest that Hochul stored congestion pricing from the defeatist jaws of Donald Trump. But that adjective – “last-minute” – only exists because of Hochul’s original verb.

Frankly, we were surprised that the Paper of Record was simply willing to tell the truth about Hochul’s naked political game — and, frankly, how poorly she played it. According to the Times (emphasis mine): “She has consistently insisted she was holding up the plan because she believed a $15 toll was too high, but many speculated that she also believed the toll could hurt Democrats in the November elections.”

Many speculated? In fact, there is no speculation involved, because if Hochul really believed the $15 toll was “too high,” she could (and should have) proposed $9 on June 5 when she announced her pause. She didn’t have to wait until after the election, especially when Janno Lieber held a large rubber stamp in his hand, waiting for ink orders.

Late Wednesday, major advocacy groups — including Riders Alliance, Transportation Alternatives and Reinvent Albany — praised the governor for indeed initiating the congestion charge, but we’re not yet making sculptural busts of the 57th governor. She has created this crisis, causing the MTA to lose (as of last night) $375 million in revenue while adding nearly a million. tons of carbon dioxide in the air. And New Yorkers lost nearly 5.5 million hours of traffic, which wouldn’t have happened if the $15 toll had been implemented properly.

Worse, Hochul has removed the political insulation of congestion pricing. Instead of getting it properly implemented, she has now shown that driver nagging is a winning strategy. The idea that she, or her successors, will one day increase the toll is laughable. There will be arguments about this toll from now on until Elon Musk invents free teleportation (which he will only give to the Russians anyway).

But yes, today is going to be a good day. Hochul will announce that congestion charging will start (albeit six months late and very seriously jeopardized by the incoming president). New York City will be a better place (albeit with more traffic than it would have had). There will be fewer traffic deaths and less pollution (again, more than we all wanted). And there will be a nice funding stream for transit (although narrower).

Mission accomplished, albeit by a very flawed general.

Other news:

• First of all, don’t miss Sophia Lebowitz’s look at Instacart’s shopping bag, which could be called “Insta-exploitation.”
• There was a forest fire in Inwood Hill Park. (NY message)
• How corrupt is this government? Even the Post reports on it!
• And the city has been reporting on it all along. Here’s the latest.
• The voice of the Long Island Rail Road has gone silent. Van Ritshie has passed away. (amNY)
• Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke to Hell Gate about free buses and other issues.