From NY Times:Updated, 4:20 p.m. | ALBANY — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s ambitious dream to remake New York City streets with an elaborate plan for congestion pricing died today in a private conference room on the third floor of the State Capitol.
It was there that Democratic members of the State Assembly, who control the chamber, held one final meeting to debate the merits of Mr. Bloomberg’s plan, ultimately voting — in secret — against the idea before Mr. Silver emerged to announce the outcome. The opposition was so overwhelming, said Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, that he would not hold an open vote of the full Assembly, though many Republicans were supportive of Mr. Bloomberg.
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Photo from NY Magazine
41 comments:
Nice move, eastern Queens.
You got your parking spots.
Oh, yes, you are downwind from Manhattan and all that auto pollution, too.
Nitwits.
Well, next year we will be prepared better and it will pass.
yeah! wooot! cars and traffic for everyone!! score.
Yes! As opposed to cars and traffic only for the outer boroughs. Why not share the pain? It's only fair.
"next year we will be prepared better and it will pass."
if there is a next year for it, then why was this rushed?
Shelly Silver- in the pockets of trial lawyers, unions and Cablevision.
So the people advocating the congestion pricing plan wish us to put our faith in the government and MTA. Sorry but the MTA has lied and misused funds before , this is one entity I don't trust. In a perfect world this plan might work but we don't live in a perfect world. We live where politicians make big promises and even bigger lies.
All right, so congestion pricing is dead. So how will a lack of money for mass transit improvements improve my commute AND YOUR commute? It's because of boneheads like you that my hour-long commute is now going to get even longer. You care only about yourselves, and not the community as a whole.
THANK GOD THIS DID NOT PASS.
All the Manhattanites are boo hooing. They lost their gated community.
There are other ways to solve congestion and the clean air issue. Limit the cabs in Manhattan.
Mayor Bloomber, this was a bad plan. You and Quinn and your $ could not buy out the souls in Albany who care about the people.
Watch out everyone. Bloombuck hates to lose!
"All right, so congestion pricing is dead. So how will a lack of money for mass transit improvements improve my commute AND YOUR commute? It's because of boneheads like you that my hour-long commute is now going to get even longer. You care only about yourselves, and not the community as a whole"
What a backwards and assinine statement. First, how will our commutes get longer if nothing is changing. Second, its Bloomberg and Manhattanite buddies who care only about themselves. All five boros are part of the community and all five have serious congestion issues. Bloomberg chose only to address manhattan. That was his failure. Had he not forgotten about the other four boros completely this might have passed.
Good News for the economy of New York.
$354 million is not going to fix our mass transit system, just like the constant raising of fares did not.
There are better ways.
"All right, so congestion pricing is dead. So how will a lack of money for mass transit improvements improve my commute AND YOUR commute? It's because of boneheads like you that my hour-long commute is now going to get even longer. You care only about yourselves, and not the community as a whole."
I don't understand how your commute will get longer.
I care about all my fellow NEW YORK CITY RESIDENTS that do not have easy access to public transportation and have to drive to work.
I also care about those that own houses near train stations that will be inundated with commuter vehicles taking up parking spots.
I care about the state of mass transit, but only when a better plan can be put into place. One that benefits the residents from all FIVE boroughs of NYC.
Now lets ride our bonehead "mayor" out on a rail back to bean town
where that whining
5'6"megalomaniac belongs!
Next time you think you know what's
best for us Mayor Midget,
try asking us instead of trying to impose you will on us like the
spoiled brat that you are!
We've got a lot of trees to absorb the pollution here in eastern Queens not like in Astoria Mr. B.S.
But I think we're down wind
from your incessant bitching.
John P. Gallagher, a spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg, said in a statement:
What we are witnessing today is one of the biggest cop-outs in New York’s history. After insisting on the formation of a commission to make recommendations for a bill, and then for the City Council to vote to endorse that bill, the Assembly needs to stand up and be counted. They owe it to the majority of New Yorkers who support this plan, the scores of environmental groups, public health organizations, business leaders, unions, and the public at large, to put this proposal to a public vote.
Gene Russianoff, a lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, a project of the New York Public Interest Research Group that advocates for bus and subway riders, expressed dismay at the Assembly’s announcement. He said in a statement:
The Straphangers Campaign is sorely disappointed that congestion pricing will not move forward at this time. But the serious problems remain and must be addressed: New York’s subways, buses and commuter rail are in desperate need of many billions of dollars in operating and repair funds. And we are drowning in traffic congestion, which undermines our economy, our health and the quality of our lives. Throughout the recent debate, the vast majority of state legislators made it clear that transit needs strong financial support if it is to well serve the city and downstate region. The Straphangers Campaign looks forward to working with state and local officials to secure the dollars needed to have a decent and affordable transit system.
I am sick of the elitists in Manhattan saying New Yorkers "lost" - we ARE New Yorkers and we outnumber YOU.
Michael O’Loughlin, director of the Campaign for New York’s Future, a coalition of groups that supported congestion pricing:
The fundamental facts remain the same: New York City faces a transit, traffic and air pollution crisis that will only grow more severe with the addition of another one million people. That is why 2:1 New Yorkers wanted congestion pricing for better transit.
The only thing that changed today is that the State Legislature passed up the chance for $354 million in federal transit funds to jump start our progress to better bus, subway and commuter trains, less traffic and cleaner air.
"First, how will our commutes get longer if nothing is changing?" THAT is a backwards and assinine statement. The population of the city is increasing almost yearly, and the MTA is short $9 billion as it is for the next capital plan. We'll see more crowded trains, and as the debt of the MTA increases, service will be cut back, too. That will only make it worse. We 're basically going to end up repeating the decline of the transit system in the late 1960s, and a smaller-scale version of the transit wreck of the 1970s... I agree, the MTA is a bunch of greedy, lying bastards, but we, THE PUBLIC, ought to keep the people whom we elect IN CHECK, and we ought to make sure they do what THE PUBLIC wants. Some of you are shining examples of the kind of people who complain and moan about the problems of NYC but DON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. YOU EXPECT OTHERS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, but YOU are too damn lazy to do something about it. GET REAL!
We realists remember the political lies that all the lotto proceeds were to be ADDED to the state education budget.
The actual results were that money was allocated in the education budget, Lotto proceeds were than directed towards that allocation, then, the liars used tax proceeds for the balance, and the money actually spent on education never increased. For all practical purposes, lotto proceeds were spent by the moronic lying spenders.
Exactly the same results were in store for spending to improve mass transit.
Proceeds from the congestion tax would be spent on everything except the MTA.
That's what liars do. That's what they have done for Social Security (remember the Lock Box?)
Liars should never be given any money.
Auto pollution goes up into the sky right away so unless you're not standing right by an exhuast pipe it isn't going to effect you at all.
So much for the pollution argument...
"a project of the New York Public Interest Research Group"
Do some research on the PIRGs. They are one of the most diabolical inventions of the 20th century. I happen to be in college when they came through. A single person, signed up for a class or two to become a student and then made the rounds to get the school to amend it's charter so that each student was charged $50 that was sent to MASSPIRG. After pulling this stunt off, that "student" disappeared. Likely she went on to her next school to do the same thing.
Getting rid of the PIRGs is almost impossible as one of the thing their money goes to is a bunch of lawyers and lobbyists.
BTW - getting cars out of Manhattan will not reduce Polution. With the prevailing winds, most pollution generated in Manhattan is long gone in 6 hrs. Typically over the Atlantic in the winter or the sound in the summer. Most of the CO2 in Manhattan comes from NJ. Every spring when all the flowers in the "Garden State" die, they give off their CO2 and it heads for Manhattan. (I will not even mention the industry in NJ)
good riddance
its a regressive tax
it taxes the less wealthy disportionately to the wealthy
The first poster....WHO IS WE?
You sound like nitwit!
There is no room for a million more people in New York. There is no room. It will drain our system in every which way.
Stop overdevelopment, limit the number of taxis, get rid of city government placards (the "I can park anywhere" placards) and you will see less traffic in the city.....the whole city!
Glad this congestion tax did not pass.
"There is no room for a million more people in NYC. There is no room." That is exactly what people were thinking 30 years ago.. And look, did another million fit? Oh, yeah...
There is a God after all! Goodness gracious we should now propose a congestion pricing initiative for Queens, it would work like this - to enter or leave LGA and JFK boundaries a tax surcharge of $5 would be imposed and used to provide electric trams to out-of- reach areas of Queens whom are not properly served by buses or trains. Yahoo - the little people of Queens win the big one!
"There is no room for a million more people in NYC. There is no room." That is exactly what people were thinking 30 years ago.. And look, did another million fit? Oh, yeah...
You are exactly right.
But I can tell you that 40 years ago the "official" population was the same as it is now (+/- a few percent).
The problem is the city is overrun by "unofficial" people.
Start by requiring proof of citizenship for kids in elementary school.
""There is no room for a million more people in NYC. There is no room." That is exactly what people were thinking 30 years ago.. And look, did another million fit? Oh, yeah..."
Actually, the 1961 zoning code was written to accommodate 30 million people by 2000.
Yes and after a 1/2 million we realized the 1961 zoning code sucked.
Congratulations, Queens. Your resolute fear of all forms of change have temporarily won the day. Though 97% of you would never have even paid this fee, 100% of you would have benefited from greater transit options and fewer cars on the LIE. You are Gods among men.
Your resolute fear of all forms of change have temporarily won the day. Though 97% of you would never have even paid this fee, 100% of you would have benefited from greater transit options and fewer cars on the LIE. You are Gods among men.
Our resolute fear of being taxed to death and receiving nothing in return is well founded. Those cars on the LIE would not simplt disappear in fact the number of commuters from LI would remain the same. Greater transit option you say, like adding 2 buses in my area is a trade off - it's a pittance in comparison to the 2ond Ave subway that will be completed 50 years after you and I are gone from this earth.
CP plan is touted as potentially reducing traffic by 6%. So if you have 10 cars now cruising about, you are removing less than 1 vehicule from the street. Why only the big bucks limo crowd can afford this CP regressive tax, we the middle class in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx will be picking up most of the cost. If Manhattanittes wish to be the exclusive users of Manhattan to the exclusion of all NYC residents, then you should absorb a residency charge to live there. Let's start at 5K a year for renters and double that for owners. The revenues from this would be used for public transit throughout NYC to reduce congestion over time - still on board preppie?
THE MONEY WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN USED TO IMPROVE PUBLIC TRANSIT!
Stop jerking us off!
I'm sure, however, most of it would have been squandered to build
the 2nd Ave. Subway so that
holders of the real estate in the surrounding area would benefit.
We, in Queens, would have gotten the shitty end of the stick!
We're glad the issue of congestion pricing is finally dead and buried.
Now let's drive a stake through
the political careers of
those pols that supported it!
Next year you'll be better prepared to pass wind as usual!
The whole issue IS DEAD fella....
along with your ideas for its resurrection!
Now go have another puff on your crack pipe!
We promise not to come in your mouth and that the added revenue would have been used to improve mass transit.
I'm going to remain anonymous but I'd like to say I voted against it but I couldn't care less if passed or failed after April 18th! It's not as if it's going to dent my wallet in a couple of more weeks. Gotta run. Golden Girls is on in two minutes.
AAAWWWWW is the MTA and Mayor Gloomberg dissapointed that they won't have any money to spend on fat cat lunches and percs?
In the grand scheme of things $354 million is not a lot of money to spend on mass transit especially when it's going to cost $100 million to get the plan up off the ground and with cost over-runs and such which is always the case in governmental projects this thing is going to cost nearly as much to get going as it's receiving from the feds.
This plan has absolutely no originality or imagination. Christ, if they got MSG and the Dolans to pay their fair share of the city tax burden then there would be more than enough $$$ to pay for lunch and percs, oopps i meant mass transit and congestion.
I'm going to remain anonymous but I'd like to say I voted against it but I couldn't care less if passed or failed after April 18th! It's not as if it's going to dent my wallet in a couple of more weeks. Gotta run. Golden Girls is on in two minutes.----------------------------------------------------------
Effin Pinky, you are really a douche bag, do you realize that?
Does anyone remember the elevated trains? I can't believe the city tore all of those down. Hey, they were antiquated, but if they were still around, my commute would be cut in half... AND there would be less crowded trains for everyone.
Nice move, eastern Queens.You got your parking spots.
CP - the dead cat bounce! Looky here Mr. I take taxis and Eastern Queens guy who drives into Manhattan periodically or through Manhattan for work - not because I like to, want to or commute there, I am forced to & otherwise report to a desk in Nassau. My answer to your perceived congestion problem is to reduce the limos, cab madallions and especially the Pedicabs and get into your many double body buses choking the streets 24 hours a day. Cut back the schedules of these buses so that that run once an hour till midnight like in Queens - it's especially invigorating in the winter or in bad neighborhoods - good for your cardiac issues, too. Embrace taking the subways, in Manhattan you are never more than a 10 minute walk - whereas in Queens some are never far as 2 bus lines away from a subway. We have 2 choices the 7 or Queens Blvd lines - good luck Baysiders or Rosedalers! The sidewake cafe you eat in does not seem to mind glomming sidewalk space so that you can sit al fresco and breath the fumes in - get a life!
DEAL WITH IT
CONGESTION PRICING WAS A BAD IDEA.
MOVE ON TO SOMETHING THAT IS NOT GOING TO HIT US IN THE POCKETS.
THANK GOD THIS TAX DID NOT PASS.
I'll bet they had to
shoot up Bloomberg with a mega dose of Thorezine to calm him down
from his hissy-fit tantrums!
Maybe the spoiled little putz
will finally learn his place!
Money can't buy you everything
or make you any taller than 5' 6"!
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