John Liu Says He Supports Congestion Pricing (and so does the Doorman).Ah, the pressures of running for citywide office...
Meanwhile, some of his colleagues are questioning the idea:
Fewer cars, but more parking?
“I envision idling, and more congestion, and more pollution in the air, because there aren’t places for these cars to go.” - Councilwoman Jessica Lappin
The request for city garages was seconded yesterday by Queens Councilwoman Helen Sears, who noted that her Jackson Heights neighborhood only has one and it’s “the most densely populated district in the entire city.”
Photo from NYC Council
27 comments:
We are already paying... it's just a question of how. Do you want more asthma, cancer, heart disease, excessive traffic noise, $13 billion in lost economic output per year, global warming and terrorist funding? Or do you actually want to do something to reduce all this? If you want to do anything about traffic, you must use the carrot AND the stick. Whining and calling congestion pricing a "tax" won't get us anywhere.
Got news for you, pal. We will be suffering more asthma, cancer and heart disease whether this plan is put in effect or not. It's called the Cross Harbor Tunnel Project, which will take tens of thousands of trucks off of the streets of NYC as a whole and dump them in Queens. And congestion pricing doesn't take anything away from terrorist funding. Is this the next buzzword to be used in an attempt to get this boondoggle through?
Where are the people going to park if all the parking lots and garages are being knocked down and replaced with condos?
The whole plan is crap. The 7 train and E & V trains run in 2 minute intervals as it is. You can't add more trains. Period. They are at capacity now, yet we want more people to ride them. You can't stuff 5 pounds of sausage into a 1 pound bag!
How does John Liu get to work in the morning? Let me guess...he drives!
Maybe they should reduce the price of the subway, remove the homeless people that use it as a toilet and clean it up. Then maybe more people would ride it.
What incentive do I have to leave my car at home? Municipal lots/garages combined with the price of the subway cost just about the same as the early bird special at my midtown garage.
I hear you, Phil. And public transportation is unreliable - always breaking down, late, etc.
Maybe the city should work on the horrendous problem it has with its traffic lights being out of sync and then they will see congestion improve.
So the city wants to force more of us onto public transportation, like London. Will we also suffer higher casualties in multiple suicide bombings, like London?
Looks that way:
1 in 4 Muslims say bombers OK
Whatever became of the idea of Consent of the Governed?
Who are the citizen taxpayers who are clamoring for this additional tax increase? Where do they live? Where do they work? (Do they even work?) What are the demographics?
Who actually believes that if this tax is implemented, that it will remain $8? The tax/spenders already have big plans for the money (it will never be used for improving mass transit), so very rapidly the tax will rise to $12, then $15, then $25 (as it rose in London).
Go to the bank on this: All the aliens about to be naturalized will be needing things that you will be expected to provide.
How much of this have you - the governed - consented to?
What are you going to do? Complain? To whom? Will you be more persistent than the big spenders?
While we on the topic, don't forget the idea to roof over train yards and build so thousands of people can live and work above a potential terrorist threat.
Everyone knows this.
But the only thing the hold important is that they can honor those IOUs from the developers.
John Liu's character could be so aptly described by borrowing from a line delivered by actor Marlon Brando in the1950s movie "One Eyed Jacks"......
"A SCUM SUCKING PIG ...."!
(And a relative ??? of convict Tommy Huang!
That would make 2 crooks in the family. (Johnny's daddy....Joey Liu is a crook.....in the Great Eastern Bank job) !
Alice (Liu) Huang.....Tommy's wife....and John have family ties ????? H-m-m-m-m!
The "Tommy & Johnny" cartoon show !!!!
Judging from the comments here, I guess Queens really IS lost. Enjoy the 19th Century folks..... If you folks were in charge we'd still be dying in droves from polio, TB and consumption.
Actually, if this were the 19th century we wouldn't be part of NYC and life would probably be a lot better. In addition, we would have stagecoaches as public transportation which probably were twice as fast as the NYC public bus system we are plagued with now.
I support the idea of reducing traffic. But I can't support congestion pricing, as it only affects people who can't afford to pay.
We shouldn't parcel out use of the city's streets according to who can afford to pay more. This plan will keep the lower and middle classes off the street while leaving the Donald Trumps and Mike Bloombergs of the world unscathed. There has to be a better way.
To collect these fees, wouldn't the city need to set up toll booths on every street, avenue and bridge / tunnel exit to collect the cash? How much will that cost? Won't we need a new city agency to run the toll collections? What will the air quality be like near the collections areas where cars will undoubtedly back up every day, spewing fumes into the air?
Have you thought through any of these things, Johnny? Or did this just seem like a good bandwagon to jump on for some publicity?
While I am not entirely opposed to the idea, I am against the principle of the fare being charged only going into Manhattan. It should be collected in each direction, so the price can be cut in half.
If it is a reasonable amount, people will find a way to justify the cost if we need to drive. I think the idea should dissuade the non-essential traffic during peak times.
The problem isn't the newcomers to the City - full disclosure, I'm a first generation Asian-American New Yorker - but instead the new New Yorkers who are generally white, well-educated, and want Manhattan to be their playground, damned everyone else. Get over the racial and immigrant hang ups and face the facts -- it's rich, generally non-ethnic people that drive the agenda and continue to crap on the rest of us.
I have to disagree with you slightly. It's people with money, regardless of their ethnicity, that crap on the people below them. Get a successful & wealthy immigrant and he'll soon start crapping on his countrymen.
The city can make a fortune on Congestion Pricing right in Johnny Liu's own backyard. As chair of the City Council's Transportation Committee, he has done nothing to reduce the the traffic congestion in Flushing. I was headed there yesterday and gave up. It's impossible to get to this "Destination of Choice".
The city should use Flushing as a test: Tax every car west of 149th Street between 32 ave and Sanford. Tax them double for double parking. Triple for parking illeaglly.
PS: Does anyone, excuse the expression, WALK anymore?
Thats an interesting photo of Johnny boy - all grown up behind the podium. Wedding ring proudly displayed. This must be a photo commissioned by The Parkside Group.
"New Yorkers who are generally white, well-educated, and want Manhattan to be their playground, damned everyone else. Get over the racial and immigrant hang ups and face the facts -- it's rich, generally non-ethnic people that drive the agenda and continue to crap on the rest of us."
Those that are crapping on everyone seem to be well represented ethnically. Take a look at all our development buddies and elected officials.
Someone needs to get a photo of him and Alice Huang side-by-side. Striking resemblance.
Johnny Liu seems to be running a close second to C.M. "Pinky" Gallagher in our "popularity" contest, judging by the number of comments being posted!
Isn't it great to be so well loved by your constituents?
The Huang/Liu family has screwed our borough royally!
It's about time that somebody exposed the Liu/Huang family ties!
What does Toby( the troll) Stavisky have to say on this matter?
Leonard probably "played ball" with them for years!
He always talked a "good game" against Tommy Huang but never accomplished squat !
And CB#7 sat for years on their thumbs! Enjoy the harvest folks!
"So shall ye sow.....so shall ye reap"!
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