Saying no to East River bridge tolls

(QUEENS, NY) Senator Tony Avella was joined yesterday by Assemblyman David Weprin, the Queens Civic Congress, and the Queens Chamber of Commerce at a press conference announcing legislation Avella will be introducing in the State Senate that would prohibit the installation of tolls on any bridges controlled and operated by the City of New York, which include the East River bridges.

The imposition of tolls on the East River bridges, including the Willis Avenue, Third Avenue, Queensborough, Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn Bridges is not a revenue generating option that the residents of this city should be forced to endure. Such tolls would place an unfair burden upon Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Manhattan residents who would be forced to pay to travel between the Boroughs. Given the always increasing cost of living in the City and with constant bus and subways fare hikes, city residents are in no position to again face another huge increase in their daily living expenses.

Avella stated, “Despite the ever present need for additional revenue, the imposition of tolls on the East River Bridges is not an acceptable revenue generating option. Adding tolls to any of these bridges would have a devastating effect on working and middle class families and small businesses. Everyone agrees that we need to address traffic congestion problems throughout the city, but the first step has to be improving mass transit. That is why I will be introducing legislation to prohibit putting tolls on these bridges.”

Assemblyman David I. Weprin, (D-Fresh Meadows) stated. "I am proud to join my colleagues and the community to support Senator Avella's legislation which would ban tolls on the East River Bridges. The addition of tolls on the East River Bridges would take away much needed income from working families and local businesses. There are other ways we can raise revenue without financially burdening workers who have to commute to work to support their households."

“Any plan to impose tolls on the East River Bridges is merely another revenue generating plan, not a traffic-reducing plan. It should be the responsibility of the leaders of the city to find ways of increasing revenues without placing the fiscal burden upon those who can least afford it,” concluded Avella.

Bearak resigns as prez of Queen Civic Congress

From the Times Ledger:

Corey Bearak, the former campaign manager for state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows), said he resigned as president of the Queens Civic Congress last week in order to spend more time on his career and with his family, but Weprin’s former opponent contends community leaders irate over his decision to send out a campaign mailing with an image of a swastika prompted him to leave.

“There were people threatening to pull their civics from the congress unless Corey resigned,” said Bob Friedrich, who ran against Weprin on the Republican line in the special election last week. “I received numerous e-mails from numerous civic leaders telling me how offended they were by the piece. There were a lot of e-mails going back and forth demanding Corey’s resignation.”

Bearak, however, said he had planned for months to resign from the Queens Civic Congress, where he had served as president for more than two years. He had recently begun his third term at the organization.

Kew Gardens Hills Civic Association President Patricia Dolan is now the QCC’s president.