New York, NY – Last week, with a landmark proposal at a delicate juncture, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s transportation commissioner raced to Albany as part of an all-out effort to persuade state lawmakers to approve a measure to charge drivers entering the busiest sections of Manhattan.
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In Albany, the commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, expressed the mayor’s sentiments, saying: “You are either for this historic change in New York or you’re against it. And if you’re against it, you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.”
Ms. Sadik-Khan’s remarks were widely noted by Albany lawmakers, with some viewing her tone as condescending. So when it was revealed that the state police had pulled her over for speeding and improperly using her lights and sirens on her way to the Capitol, it only underscored what the legislators saw as the Bloomberg administration’s imperious attitude.
“When Commissioner Sadik-Khan was coming up here telling me I can’t drive, she was busy being driven in a city-owned car by a chauffeur, speeding, getting a ticket with her lights and sirens on,” said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a Bronx Democrat and an ardent foe of the program. The proposal was “rotten to the core,” said Mr. Dinowitz, who was handing out copies of a Daily News article about Ms. Sadik-Khan’s citations to fellow legislators. [nytimes]
this is such baloney. congestion pricing would have been a huge tax on us. we have been promised improvements in MTA for years. remember when they said the MTA had a surplus? HA!!!!
Where did that money go? Where are the imrovements? Where are the improvements to the roads after paying tolls for years and years.
Get real folks, the CP plan was out and out thievery from those of us that would have been in the ”taxed” area. It would have done zilch for pollution. The trucks and busses idling for long periodds of time are really healthy…NOT.
As I said, it was just another big pack of baloney.
I am grateful that Silver and the Assembly and the Senate(it was not him alone) blew it off
“So without congestion pricing, are you guys going to help find money for the $17 billion hole in the MTA budget?”
Let’s see: CP was supposed to bring in … $380mm, according to Wikipedia, and the US govt was supposed to kick in … $354mm (lots of sources). So, the whole tax, b/c that’s what CP is, a tax, would bring in less than a billion. And that’s supposed to help close a hole 23 times as large?
Let’s face facts: CP is just another tax, another way that city/state leaders can take money from us, keep a commission for themselves, and great political clout by “generously” giving most of it back to us!
Why shouldn’t MTA riders (such as myself; I don’t own a car) not pay the cost of their ride? Directly? At the fare box? By disguising the true cost of the system, they are doing the riders no favor.
A tax on a small group, like NYC car drivers, reminds me of Ben Franklin’s aphorism: “Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.”
Ridership is four fold from 6 years ago, and rates have been raised, and we were promised improvements. Where are the improvements?? We can’t trust the gov’t to deliver on there promises. Besides there were no promise to use the money for MTA, only vague ties.
Almost none of those transit improvements will help us here in the Bronx, where all but one of the subway lines into Manhattan are at or above capacity, as are the Metro North lines. A few more express bus lines, as proposed by the mayor, will not solve either the congestion going into Manhattan or the gridlock we face going across the Bronx every day that is equally as bad as that in Manhattan. What *WOULD* help would be to build the cross harbor freight tunnel that would get some of the trucks off the Cross Bronx Expressway, reducing congestion and improving air quality, but the Mayor opposes that!
So without congestion pricing, are you guys going to help find money for the $17 billion hole in the MTA budget? Without saddling riders with more fare increases, and without adding to the mountains of debt?
What other plan do you have where the wealthy pay for transit improvements that overwhelmingly benefit the poor and middle-class?
Let me know when you have an answer.