New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s efforts to extract a $750,000 fee from the New York City Marathon organizers on Thursday, following considerable indignation over the maneuver.
“I’ve directed the MTA to fix this mess and allow the marathon to move forward as it always has,” Hochul said in a statement. “The marathon is an iconic symbol of New York City’s tenacity and resilience that unites communities across the five boroughs each fall”, she added.
Hochul decided to obstruct the MTA’s newest plan one day after it became known that the transportation agency and the marathon organizers had been at odds for several months over closing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge during the competition.
As first reported by the New York Times, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority demanded that the event organizers, the New York Road Runners, pay $750,000 annually to offset the loss of toll income caused by closing the bridge to traffic during the marathon. If the group refused to accept any sort of payment, the MTA threatened to limit the race to only one level of the bridge.
The race’s organizers warn that if it is restricted to only one level of the bridge, fewer participants may be permitted. Another option would be to lengthen the race, which would require more runners to run in the dark and block the local streets and bridge for a longer amount of time. The bridge’s two levels have been utilized by the marathoners since 1988, and it is anticipated that over 50,000 runners will participate in November.
The New York Road Runners acknowledged Hochul’s comments and expressed gratitude for “her support of the TCS New York City Marathon.”
The governor has mandated that the MTA go back to the terms of its initial agreement with New York Road Runners, in which the latter must pay $150,000 to cover the cost of staffing and security measures necessary to block the bridge.
She has also urged the nonprofit to keep looking for more sources of income, such as purchasing advertisements for buses and trains.
