NYC Congestion Charge Fails

by Edward Niedermeyer

April 8th, 2008 8:11 PM

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The New York state legislature has shot down NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed $8 congestion charge on vehicles entering Manhattan. Wired News reports that the proposal which was to be a career-capper for Bloomberg was doomed by heavy-handed tactics by the Mayor's office. En route to telling state legislators that "You're either for this historic change in New York or you're against it," Bloomberg's transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan was pulled over by state police for speeding and improperly using her lights and sirens. This obviously affected how representatives received the proposal. "When [she] was coming up here telling me I can't drive," said Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, "she was busy being driven in a city-owned car by a chauffeur, speeding, getting a ticket with her lights and sirens on." Bloomberg called the rejection "a special kind of cowardice," which, in an ironic twist, is almost exactly what opponents called the revenue-building measure when justified by global carbon emission levels.

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4 of 13 comments

Quasimondo on Apr 08, 2008

And then we can have it along Queens Boulevard too. And maybe turn the Van Wyck Expressway into a toll road since that's always a virtual parking lot.

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Safe as milk on Apr 08, 2008
whatdoiknow1: This plan failed simply because it was a rather short-sighted plan that did not take into account the effect it would have had on the rest of the city. there's a lot of truth to what you wrote but for those of us who live in manhattan the defeat of the bill is definitely a bummer. it failed because bloomberg sucks at building a consensus for his ideas. it passed the city council where he can bully people but upstate they didn't even bother bringing it to a vote. basically, albany flipped him the bird. still i applaud him for trying. something has to be done. (namely: politically connected city workers make up a majority of car commuters and a significant fraction of total drivers) This statment is totally wrong! NYC administative offices and other building are spread out throughout NYC. The total of City workers that work in lower Manhattan is not large enough to make it a REAL issue. it may not be a real issue but in my downtown neighborhood about 25% of all parking is taken by city workers using those annoying placards.

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Golden2husky on Apr 09, 2008

The parking spots are hogged by the cops, and to a lesser extent, the fire department. The police park with impunity; leaving their equipment on the dash if they don't have a pass. Traffic enforcement ignores them, while piling on the third ticket to the FedEx truck that was forced to double park. Again, if something seems illogical, just follow the money trail and it will all make sense.

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Brownie on Apr 09, 2008
And then we can have it along Queens Boulevard too. And maybe turn the Van Wyck Expressway into a toll road since that’s always a virtual parking lot. Another excellent idea. I would also add the Flushing Chinatown, Yankee Stadium, and make entire length of Canal Street subject to double-charges (if technically feasible, which it probably isn't).

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