UES Eateries Accused Of Racism For Not Delivering To Harlem
Citibank To Charge All Accounts That Drop Below $1,500
Bronx Teacher Suspended For Assigning Story On Masturbation
GoCaGa, BoHo, iTri, And Other New Neighborhood Names
L.I. Pet Abuse Suspect Ran "Animal Concentration Camp"
The Daily News has an exclusive with Jan Gehl, the Danish architect the Department of Transportation would like to hire to help reduce congestion in the city. It's a nice introduction to Gehl, who has worked on congestion-reducing projects in London and Copenhagen, but it also seems like the perfect article to fire up passions. Gehl said, "...we can do is to reduce the number of parking spots. I would raise the price for parking right away." Street parkers, commence the freaking out! Some more Gehl quotes:
"There are so many places in this city where people are treated very badly on the sidewalk, where the congestion is unpleasant. ... The balance is not very good here....This comes as Mayor Bloomberg is in Washington DC to beg for congestion pricing support. Bloomberg invited congestion pricing skeptic Assemly Leader Sheldon Silver to DC, but Silver isn't there. (His office says he was only invited on Sunday!) Yesterday, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky released his report criticizing the congestion pricing proposal that's currently in Albany, finding the plan unfair and the city's mass transit options unprepared."I question whether it is smart to have all this parking on the avenues which could instead be used for trees, benches and cafes.
"We could take all of the pedestrians out of Times Square or we could take some or most of the traffic out - whatever. I think that should be the strategy for reducing the vehicular traffic in this dense city."
Of course, that has spurred more reports: Transportation Alternatives released a study with these three points:
New study finds that arguments against pricing are elitist and flawed and that congestion pricing greatly benefits low and middle-income New Yorkers because:The other thing that congestion pricing proponents point out is that there are plans to expand bus service. The Drum Major Institute issued a memo explaining why congestion pricing is good (and smacks down Brodsky for "fundamentally misunderstand[ing] the aims of congestion pricing") for the "middle and aspiring middle class" and Assemblyman Rory Lancman offered a congestion pricing alternative.- The supermajority of New Yorkers—especially middle and low income New Yorkers—are transit riders.
- Congestion pricing is by far the most effective way to improve travel for New York's transit-reliant majority.
- In addition to better-quality and lower-cost transit, congestion pricing will return economic, health and quality of life benefits to small businesses and lower-income New Yorkers, who are disproportionately impacted by high volumes of traffic and pollution.
Mayor Bloomberg's hope is that the Legislature can pass the congestion pricing proposal next week, in order to qualify for $500 million in federal funds. Mayor Bloomberg is also emphasizing congestion pricing's other benefits, "Anybody that tells you that it doesn't matter that our children continue to breathe bad air - 'Don't worry about it. We'll fix the problem some day in some other ways' - shame on them."
Photograph of Times Square by Betty Blade on Flickr
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
If you look at old photos of NYC, once of the striking things is the lack of cars clogging up the shoulders of the roads. Now, in NYC, land is a very scarce resource that people pay lots for. So, if you think about it, it does seem incredibly stupid that some (i.e., car parkers) get to use that valuable resource for free. Is parkgni cars the best use for this land? Think of all the acres of land tied up in parking cars that could be put to so much better use for all NYers. Imagine trees and parks and cafes lining all (or more) of the avenues. That'd be pretty sweet.
Congestion pricing is by far the most effective way to improve travel for New York's transit-reliant majority.
By packing even more people into the subways?
Thats an interesting statement #1 has. Just think of all the things that can go in the space it takes for all the cars that park on a single block alone. If NYC really wants to maintain its status as the top metropolitan center in the world, it would be nice to give it a facelift every couple of decades.
I think that the proposed rule about having to pay to drive out of the congestion zone is ridiculous. It is completely unfair to those (like me) who live in the zone and are forced to keep a car there for work. I'm by no means wealthy, and already have to pay for parking and tolls. For non-residents, I'm fine with congestion pricing, but if the plan, in its current incarnation, gets voted on, I hope it gets stopped in its tracks.
To [4]: If work is forcing you to have a car then they should pay for the congestion pricing fees. The fundamental point of congestion pricing that many people seem to miss is that there is a cost to everyone in the city that is associated with congestion. It isn't "fair" that people are forced to breathe poor quality air because of all the people driving into/around the city either. Plus since time is money, all the people sitting in traffic during the day are burning lost productivity dollars as well as gas.
I was in Vancouver for the first time this weekend. While Vancouver is lacking in, umm, nearly everything, it makes up for in fresh air. The freshest air I've ever inhaled. It was remarkable. It was so nice.
Politicians, please put it in. If it sucks, take it out. Please just try it, and let's see what it's like. We don't want our home, NYC, to become like LA.
#4, if you are paying for parking and complaining about it, you are simply lazy. There is plenty of free street parking, and available in Manhattan (in el barrio, for one example). Stop being so lazy.
"who live in the zone and are forced to keep a car there for work"
So if work REQUIRES a car then work should pay the fee. If they don't really require the car, then get rid of it.
It seems like a good idea; as long as companies who have trucks driving in the area pay for the fees and not have the drivers do so out of their own pockets.
I drive in NYC all the time, and I think anyone who elects to drive in midtown during peak hours when there is plenty of mass transit should probably have to pay a little something.
Use the taxes from the congestion pricing to finance the subways.
I mean, despite its absolutely terrible state of repair, the NYC Subway is arguably the best mass transit system on in the world, and has helped to make NYC one of the cleanest cities on earth. Imagine how nice it'd be if we had a ton of money to sink into it?
The 2nd Avenue Subway WILL get built, and hopefully with the blessing of congestion pricing, the downtown portions of it will actually get some attention, and possibly be built concurrently with the portions on the UES. (If that doesn't happen, congestion pricing will completely destroy that part of town, given that the subways don't go anywhere near it)
Use the taxes from the congestion pricing to finance the subways.
Yep, and tolls on the Thruway were only used to pay off the bonds to build it. Funny, they've been paid off about five years now.
I agree with #11, the thruways have been paid off - let them deteriorate. And it's time to re-combine some neighborhoods in the Bronx by removing the cross bronx expressway... Time to bring back the third ave el, which was a huge loss to the bronx. And bring back the street cars, too.
Ford and selfish drivers, only concerned about themselves, sure did ruin a lot of our city.
Congestion pricing is the latest waste of time broo-ha-ha bullshit for politicians to distract us from the fact that they are doing anything to represent our interests as global citizens and stewards of modern capitalism. The right to get in your car and go where you want and need to go is so quitessentially americana. Just because London does it, carries no weight with New Yorkers ever since the 18th century. It will balkanize NY'ers. It definitely will not play in the heartland. And, I might add, that the media deluge regarding ecology and carbon "footprints" (as if the debacle of global warming was the fault of everyday people) is just one of the final insults in the dumbing down of the american people. Examining the fake "globalization" of american interests would be a better track to take. Give me f**king break! Maybe my grandchildren will live in a more intelligent world and in an america worthy of its founding principles.
Pave The Earth!!!! I will drive my Humvee anywhere I damned well please!
1.1 Why pave the earth?
There are several advantages of a paved Earth over a non-paved Earth, the only really important one is the ease of driving though. Today roads are narrow, you have to turn, and most governments frown at ground travel over Mach1. With endless blacktop in every direction, there will be no restriction to your movement, and rocket powered hypercars will whiz in all directions. We will be able to amuse ourselves with endless driving at incredible speeds while drinking beer and eating wonderfully juicy burgers.
1.3 What about traffic?
Traffic will not be a problem due to the simple fact that most people will be slaving away beneath the surface in what has come to be called the parking garage. These people will be needed to staff the hydroponic farms, raise cows, brew beer and fix potholes. Most of the world's population will work for the good of the drivers. Altruism at its best. There will also be no regulation of traffic. Governments are outmoded and should be phased out. We know what to do. Why should someone else tell us what to do when we already know the proper course of action? pave, Pave, PAVE. That's what I always say.
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/1380/selena/pave.html
I truly don't believe the 'right' to drive a car wherever you like is 'Quintessentially American', it's quintessentially selfish. The fact is Manhattan just has way too many cars, and way too many people, and the numbers are just getting larger and larger year after year. Anything that gets more cars off the road gets a thumbs up from me.
Besides, who in their right mind would WANT to drive into midtown on a weekday, during the day? That has to be one of least pleasant experiences I can think of. Take the subway, and with the money you save on tolls and the congestion pricing tax, just hire yourself a dominatrix of you're that much of a masochist.
15 - no one is forcing you to drive anywhere, but it doesn't give you the right to dictate to anyone else. They've paid for the roads with their tax dollars and are entitled to drive on them. this nanny state bull is out of control in NYC. All you losers will protest if the republicans, cops, etc try to force something upon you and cry it impedes your freedoms, but are perfectly willing to do the same to someone else. I don't even own a car and I am glad to see this die, its nothing but another way suck more tax dollars into a bloated and wasteful gov't/MTA. Its also a way to smokescreen putting cameras into every corner of the city for surveillance. if its so important to get people out of their cars, put all the wated $$$ you already suck from out paychecks into mass transit now, not a promise to do it later, because we all know that will never happen -- then once there is a viable alternative that is clean, uncrowded and safe we can talk about fees, but i think if we got to that point there would be no need to put a fee on driving, it would take care of itself.
bloomberg has destroyed whatever chance he had at continuing in politics with this whiny push. his rally in the west village with sharpton put the nail in the coffin... at that point i lost all respect for the man.
Congestion pricing supporters are always bending over backwards to make it seem like nobody will be affected by it.
Tell them that it's unfair to put a price on city streets and they'll tell you that either A) lower and middle income people don't drive to Manhattan, or B) that they don't own cars in the first place (a lie).
Tell them that businesses with delivery trucks will be affected and they'll tell you no, the businesses will shift to evening deliveries and therefore won't pay $21/day.
Tell them that CP is really another tax and they'll say no, it's not a tax because people will change their transportation habits and won't actually wind up paying the $8/day.
And after reciting all the reasons why people will be spared from paying, they'll tell you that it's going to raise hundreds of millions to help the transit system EVEN THOUGH THEY WANT YOU TO BELIEVE THAT NOBODY WILL PAY BECAUSE THE CHARGE WILL MAKE EVERYONE LEAVE THEIR CARS AT HOME.
So if nobody's going to pay and everyone's going to start taking mass transit, where's the money going to come from? SOMEONE is going to pay.
The fact is the streets will remain crowded with wealthy people for whom $8/day is meaningless, with trucks from businesses that will pass along the congestion pricing charge to consumers, and with people who have no other way of getting into the City and just have to shell out the cash.
And if congestion pricing really is effective at reducing traffic substantially, won't that just lure into their cars thousands of wealthy Westchester and Long Island residents who now use public transit because it's faster and easier?
I think everyone agrees that we need to find some way to reduce traffic -- let's find a way that affects everyone equally.
Hey where's all that money from the cigarette tax?
[18] You are wrong.
Knew it wouldn't work !