I had to give this its own post because it is so laughable. Crain’s reports that a town on Long Island has sued state and federal transit officials to block the MTA’s congestion pricing program, arguing that its residents are too scared to ride the subway.

From Crain’s: “The lawsuit argues that Hempstead residents and town employees ‘do not have a reasonable mass transit alternative,’ despite having a Long Island Rail Road station in the heart of town. Hempstead officials take particular issue with the MTA’s push for commuters to use the city’s subway for trips within Manhattan below 60th Street, pointing to safety concerns underground.” (There are actually three LIRR stations in Hempstead: Hempstead, West Hempstead, and Hempstead Gardens.)

As proof, the lawsuit offers that Governor Hochul had to send in the National Guard, which she did in March to help the NYPD with bag checks and weapon searches.

The Hempstead town supervisor, the story says, claimed that congestion pricing will “come at the expense of hardworking Nassau residents who are just trying to get to work” and that it has no benefit for LI residents, but the MTA countered that the $1 billion that congestion pricing is set to generate can also go to the LIRR.

“LIRR President Rob Free chastised Hempstead officials for the lawsuit as well as for past opposition to commuter rail upgrades, such as the third track expansion project that ultimately increased service reliability on the LIRR. ‘I would say this is an investment in Long Island’s future,’ Free said in a statement to Crain’s.”