New York City’s latest initiative on congestion pricing for drivers has grabbed headlines lately. It seems to be working, both reducing traffic and raising badly needed funds for infrastructure repairs–$48.6 million in its first month, according to ABC News. But the initiative has also caught the eye of the Trump administration, which has rolled back federal approval and vowed to do whatever it can to end the program.
Congestion pricing was a priority for Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization founded by David Rockefeller, which allows business leaders to work more directly with the government and other civic groups to address broad social and economic problems in a “hands on” way.
The Partnership is also the new home for BC Law alumnus Alex Peña ’18. After working for the New York Senate, the Department of Transportation, law firms Hogan Lovells and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, he has returned to his hometown to serve as Executive Vice President at the organization.
Congestion pricing is just one example of the Partnership’s work and advocacy. “That was something that was in place well before me,” Peña explained. “It’s certainly something I’m advocating for now, and now that it’s in effect, to continue keeping it in place.” Peña pointed to the benefits of the new program such as creating a more accessible city, an economic environment that’s more predictable, and putting revenue generated from congestion pricing back into the transportation system to make public transportation even more accessible, manageable, and attractive.
Most of Peña’s job is engaging with state bodies and individuals at the governor’s and mayor’s offices, both at the state and city levels. Some of the work goes beyond the city as well, looking at how federal laws or a piece of legislation will impact the state on issues like immigration. “But it really starts with what the priorities are for the Partnership,” Peña noted. “How do we best elevate those priorities to, for example, the mayor’s office, the governor’s office, the state legislature, or Congress or the White House.”
The Partnership is a membership organization, as Peña described it. “We have around 300 companies working collaboratively to keep New York City as a global center of commerce, economic opportunity, upper mobility, and innovation,” he said. That number of companies collaborating may seem impossible, but it can be accomplished through finding a common goal. “We’re focused on areas like the economic environment, making sure that New York City is an affordable place to live and that it’s a safe place to live…To ensure that people stay in New York requires that they have services like transportation, infrastructure, and mental health care access, all of which fall into the priority buckets for the Partnership.”
Peña focuses on external relations—building bridges between the business community, state government, and other partners, whether they be actual individuals, civil organizations, or other nonprofits. “I can be working with city or state officials on policy issues, or collaborating with companies and organizations on a set of initiatives, like mental health, artificial intelligence, or tax law, for example,” Peña said. All of it is in the interest of advancing policies for the benefit the city, its workers, and its residents across the board.
As for the congestion pricing program, at least as of this writing it is still active since its implementation in January, despite President Trump’s recent efforts to end it—although its future lies in the hands of a potentially long legal battle.
Peña is not new to the field of transportation. He previously worked as Associate General Counsel for the US Department of Transportation and was responsible for advising officials on high priority decisions and dealing with the 500-plus attorneys “who handle everything from aviation to highway safety,” and transportation regulatory matters were also a focus of his work at Hogan Lovells.
The Partnership’s work in advocacy, government, and public policy are also nothing new to Peña. His involvement comes on the heels of a varied career path. “I’ve been in private practice, I’ve been in state government, I’ve worked on campaigns,” Peña said. In 2013, he began several years of work with the New York State Senate. “That was the job I held before BC Law,” Peña explained. He served as a staffer to the Senate Democratic conference leader, helping freshmen senators with legislative preparation and votes, helping them work through their priorities and how to set them out, helping them prepare for committee hearings, as well as communication strategy and community outreach.
Practicing law at a firm was not Peña’s goal when he entered law school. Rather, he wanted to figure out effective ways to serve his community and make an impact. “And that’s what I took from my three years there,” he said.
Peña pointed to a constitutional law class he took his third year, during the first Trump administration. The subject “was basically evolving week by week because we were living in the actual moment of the class. It was a fascinating thing,” Peña said. “I think it was just emblematic of what BC Law is, to put together a class that was reactive to the first term of the administration. It was an example of just how dynamic BC Law can be in providing experiences geared towards the student, particularly when the students care about or are interested in learning about what’s going on in the world and how lawyers can play a role in contributing towards improving it or, at the very minimum, understanding it.”
In his newest role, serving New York City and the broader New York state, Peña is working to do just that, thinking beyond the legal task at hand and asking broader questions like, “how can policy impact others?” and “how can we bridge relationships between public and private sectors?”