NYC mayor loses big on traffic fee plan

[flashl]

Source: YN

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to charge drivers extra tolls to enter Manhattan's most congested neighborhoods earned him invitations to speak at such gatherings as the U.N. climate conference and raised his profile as he considered a presidential run.

But the plan died Monday when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in Albany announced his chamber wouldn't take up the proposal because of strong opposition within the conference dominated by New York City Democrats.

The traffic fee proposal, known as congestion pricing, called for cars to pay $8, and trucks $21, to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays. Opponents argued it was an unfair tax on middle-class commuters who drive to work for lack of mass transit options in their neighborhoods.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters had said the administration hoped congestion pricing in New York could serve as a model for other cities nationwide. Charging drivers fees in congested city centers is a concept that has gained popularity around the world but has yet to be tried on a major scale in a large U.S. city.

YN

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080408/ap_on_re_us/traffic_fee;_ylt=AiabUiqBzbRciNuA3IPiJFtvzwcF

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One down, eight to go. When did the climate debate start using 'supply and demand' as an argument?

Bush Urban Partners Powerpoint Presentation: http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/speeches/upwebcast82007/updivwebcast82007.ppt


Congestion Pricing - Bringing Supply and Demand into Alignment

• Failure to properly price travel on highways is a root cause of congestion
  
  
  
  • The price of highway travel (gas taxes, registration fees, etc.) bears little or no relationship to the cost of congestion
    
  • Unlike other public utilities, the public expectation is that the "service" is free or does not change with changes in demand
    
  
  
• Allocating transportation services via pricing is more efficient than allocating by delay
  

Urban Partnership Agreements - Congestion Pricing

Integrated "4T" Strategy



• TOLLING (pricing) - Key Element
  
  
  
  • Direct user (customer) charge based on use of facility; varies based on level of congestion
    
  • Toll collection via electronic means (no booths) (Toll booth on EVERY Corner or metered driving)
  
  
• Transit
  
• Telecommuting/Travel Demand Management
  
• Technology

Path to the Urban Partners

Time Line June 2007: USDOT Announces Nine PUPs

• Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City, Miami
  
• San Diego, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta
  

[HamdenRice]

1. Manhattan would eventually charge a fee to outer borough NYers even by subway

There was a paranoid feeling that I for one empathized with that this was the first step toward turning Manhattan into a Disneyland that you would have to pay to enter. Fine for Blooomberg's rich friends who live there, not so good if you live in Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx.

The high fee for cars was the edge to charging for anyone coming in, even by subway.

[DinahMoeHum]

6. Now that part SUCKS, big time.

Subways are part of mass transit, right? Bloomberg is trying to persuade people to travel through NYC by mass transit instead of private cars and trucks, right? Why penalize people for doing the right thing by charging them for travelling by subway? What, the increase in Metrocard prices isn't good enough for him?

Bloomberg wears an asshat when it comes to relating to and working with everyday people. This isn't the first time, either - ask any NYC'er about his performance during the transport workers strike a couple of years back.

:evilfrown:

[aquart]

2. Whatever did Bloomberg do to piss Silver off?

While I admit congestion is outrageous, Bloomberg's plan was nothing more than a rich man's attempt to clear the roads for the limousines. Between 6am and 6pm five days a weeks? Does he realize what that would do to weekend traffic (which has never been all that delightful)? Every truck in the country would deliver on Saturday.

NYC would be better employed in activating the bypass of Manhattan road project they previously rejected. Many vehicles on our roads don't actually need to be in Manhattan, but they don't have a good way to avoid it. The other boroughs squelched the plan for fear of the pollution, I was told. But the congestion pricing plan places that right back on the table. Because if they can't come here, they are going to wander the boroughs.

Bloomberg gets these grandiose ideas, makes these marvelous corporate decisions...then finds out that Albany is a much nastier bunch than any board of directors. He's a smart man, but he wanted a football stadium in Manhattan, like an idiot. He's a genius businessman, but he wanted to bring the Olympics to a traumatized city that didn't want the target on its back, like an idiot. Now it's congestion pricing. All of these plans benefited rich people and screwed the rest of us. And I LIKE the guy. I'd want to have a beer with him.

[HamdenRice]

7. I agree with a lot here!

The great irony of Bloomberg the politician is that he actually appears to be a very nice man -- especially in contrast to, and after suffering through, 8 years of that maniacally evil Giuliani. But Bloomberg has an absolute blind spot the size of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island when it comes to his trying to imagine how the other half lives(more like the other 99.9% who aren't billionaires live).

The politics of this was simple: There are about a million and a half people who live in Manhattan, many of whom liked the idea, and about six and a half million people who live in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island most of whom didn't like the idea. Silver isn't stupid, and he was under pressure from outer borough Assembly members.

The bait for the outer boroughs was that a big chunk of the federal money that would be made available would be spent on outer borough mass transit.

Anyone who would believe that shit, however -- I have a bridge with a congestion pricing toll to sell you. Every time the city has promised that some windfall would be used for outer borough mass transit, that has not materialized. Whatever their real intentions were, it looked like a transparent, self-evident lie from the perspective of Brooklyn or Queens.

Lastly, there was one other element. There was some historical aspect of the Brooklyn Bridge -- either constitutional, or perhaps in the original agreement to build it, or in the original agreement of Brooklyn to merge with Manhattan to create Greater New York (I forget which) -- by which it was promised that the Brooklyn Bridge would be free forever. In fact, there is a tradition that there could be no "East River tolls" ever, and that includes the Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensborough bridges.

Congestion pricing was a whelch on one of the founding promises of Greater New York, and people just weren't buying it.

[aquart]

8. I never knew about the Brooklyn Bridge promise.

How dare they welsh.

[DRoseDARs]

3. Didn't you start a thread on this yesterday?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3257324

Edit: I work graveyard, so days bleed together at night for me. Anyway, since this is new news from Monday, not Sunday when you started the other thread, I guess it counts. :shrug:

[flashl]

4. Yes,

that thread's title 'Proposed 'Congestion Pricing' Fees Hit Political Gridlock in Capitol' and today's thread subject matter is: Plan died

[Book Lover]

5. Good (nm)

[Traction311]

9. Good

All tolls should be struck down. If you live in America, you should be able to freely travel anywhere in the country for free.

[robcon]

10. Sheldon Silver is an autocrat. No vote. No debate. It will not get past him.

NY politics are anti-democratic, and Sheldon Silver (D-assembly) and Joe Bruno (R-senate) are why.