August 22, 2007
Congestion Pricing Gets Its 17-Member Panel
As part of the deal to advance congestion pricing (and nab the $354 million the feds are offering), the city and state have announced their appointees to a panel to, ur, study congestion pricing and develop a recommendation. The Mayor, Governor, City Council, State Senate Majority Leader, and State Assembly Speaker each get to select three appointees, while the Senate minority leader and Assembly minority leader each select one.
Mayor Bloomberg said, "Today we are continuing to move forward and work with our partners in State government and in the Council to relieve congestion in New York City. Together, we’ll reduce traffic, improve New Yorkers’ health and strengthen the City’s economy.”
Here are the picks:
From Mayor Bloomberg:The Sun says that most of the members support Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing goals, though one extremely vocal opponent is Assemblyman Brodsky of Westchester. The NY Times spoke to Spitzer appointee Shaw, who was named the head of the commission and expressed support for congestion pricing, "The role that I think I’m being asked to do is to figure out how to use the commission to end up with a process where you deal with all the issues that people have out there to get to a solution that works for everybody."
Straphangers Campaign attorney Gene Russianoff, Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn, and civil rights attorney Elizabeth Yeampierre
From Governor Spitzer:
Extell EVP (and former Bloomberg deputy mayor) Marc Shaw, Port Authority executive director Anthony Shorris, and MTA executive director Lee Sander
From Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver:
Assemlyman Herman Farrell; Assemblywoman Vivian Cook, and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky
From Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno:
New York City Central Labor Council president Gary La-Barbera; SUNY chairman, Thomas Egan, Nassau County Council Chamber of Commerce head Richard Bivone
From City Council Speaker Christine Quinn:
Partnership for NYC president Kathryn Wylde, Drum Major Institute executive director Andrea Batista Schlesinger, and Reverend Edwin Reed.
From the Assembly's Republican minority:
Environmental Defense regional director Andy Darrell
From the Senate's Democratic minority:
Arverne By the Sea project director Gerard Romski
But the panel may have gotten off to a bad start: Staten Island politicians are upset that there were no appointees who lives or represent the borough. City Councilman James Oddo said, "Can you imagine Manhattan not being represented? Can you imagine the [former Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani administration creating a 17-member commission of whatever that didn't include a Staten Islander?"
You can read biographies of the New York City Traffic Mitigation Congestion Commission members here.
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never happen
why 17? why not an even number like 18? staten island oWned!
oh it will, the elite are obsessed with tracking them movement of every vehicle and person. This is just a surveillance equipment installation committee, that we the people will have to pay for under name of a 'fee', not another TAX. Get your paintball guns and sling shots out now. STOP THE BLOOMBERG SPY CAMERAS NOW!!!!
I have to agree with Oddo. Staten Islanders, more than most, have a somewhat legitimate reason to drive into Manhattan (have you ever tried commuting from anywhere on Staten Island that isn't serviced by express buses by public transportation? It's the ultimate nightmare. I'm talking up to 2 hours without traffic just to take the bus to the ferry from some neighborhoods - I'm looking at you Rossville.) We already pay a toll every time we leave the island whether it is to go in NJ or other parts of NYC - it's 100% unavoidable and has always been the case unlike EVERY other borough in New York - and it seems really unfair to pile on an additional charge on top of that. And before I get yelled at by everyone else on here, yes we have public transportation on Staten Island, but when you take a good look at it the lack of a subway is an extreme hinderance for us and one that is never going to be solved due to the island's geography, so cut us a break already.
Maybe Bloomberg should consider putting tolls on all the East River bridges. If he wants to cap liabilty to $8 a day as he says he does with the congestion pricing he can do it that way. Just have all your tolls add up to $8 whatever combination you use - excluding the Battery Tunnel since that has always been it's own thing anyway. Then the rest of the city would see what Staten Island has to put up with and I think it would be a lot more fair.
It *is* a fee. You're paying a fee for using a limited resource. Nobody is forcing you to.
I'm glad they put Gene Russianoff on the committee.
I would love if the surveillance theorists could further explain their position. Do you really think the government gives a damn about what you're doing in the course of your daily routine? On the other hand, if a certain car and/or license plate is susoected in a crime is it such an invasion to retask the cameras for finding that car? Presumably the system is going to ignore unrelated cars. Or do you really believe the cameras and computers are going to log your movements beyond entering and exiting the zone?
Criminals and even cheating spouses are getting burned by E-Z Pass records but hardly anyone is calling that a surveillance system.
I think congestion pricing could help, but if they want to avoid gridlock they should enforce stiff fines for blocking the box.
This is something every driver can personally help with, but unfortunately the behavior on the street is the exact opposite.
Sometimes I think there must be signs at the bridges & tunnels saying, "Welcome to the City of New York. Please drive like an asshole."
P.S. Why did Quinn put a reverend on the panel? What does he have to do with it? Does he have some special qualification I dont' know about?
Next thing she'll be putting an orthodox rabbi on a panel discussing sewage disposal.
#2 - are panels that vote ever even numbered? that would potentially result in a tie.
[8], from the linked bios:
Sounds like the fact that he's a Reverend is just coincidental.That is a great picture!
Thanks JMH. I'll Google next time before I ask the question. The 'Reverend' part threw me and I assumed political pandering (not exactly a leap in this town. Let's face it.).
But I'm still confused about how he's qualified. His expertise seems to lay in affordable housing. Is he supposed to represent the neighborhoods that opponents argue would become parking lots?
No tears for Staten Island here. You've already got much cheaper and much larger housing than in the city. Don't like the fees to enter Manhattan? Grow up, move out of your mom's house and find a place to live in the city.
I'm sure you'll have sympathy when you're priced out of whatever hole you're overpaying for in Washington Heights, #13.
6 - do you remember the incidents a couple of years back with police using these camera's to spy into peoples apartments and video clips of personal moments being leaked on the internet. having cameras at every corner does not prevent a crime, it will just show it transpiring and it is easily abused. i find it amusing that if bush had proposed this for nyc, people would be up in arms, but put in in the false guise of environmentalism and wala, its a great idea. what a joke, and we have to spend over 200 billion in our own tax dollars just for the privilege.
I don't think we need the subways to get more crowded. They are already over capacity and many people have no other choice.
#15, I agree with you that if Bush proposed it then NYCers would be more up in arms. Bush has zero credibility and most NYCers are hypocrits e.g. where was the outrage when the NSA was scanning everyone's email and phone calls during the Clinton years?
As for the cameras, spying into your bedroom is obviously a violation of your rights but it's also obviously the act of cops violating the law, not the policy of the department or the government. Had a cop seen something illegal in the bedroom and made an arrest the person would easily get the search thrown out. We live in the US and there are checks on the police power. The flip side is that you don't have any argument to privacy when you are out and about.
The camera may not prevent crime but they sure as hell make it easier to solve them.
And I don't think the cameras are going to cost $200 billion.
17 - you're right, i meant million. Bloomberg himself was complaining that the feds only gave 10 million for the camera infrastructure that will cost 200 million a couple of weeks ago. Remember its more than just the cameras themselves on every corner. its the installation, labor contracts, automated systems, etc. (this does not include the upkeep and the bureacracy to deal with the system) And in this day and age, it doesn't take much for your private information to be spread allover the place and the NYPD does not have the best track record.
I used to live in the building in the upper left corner of the photo. It's the southwest corner of 37th Street and 9th Avenue. Great building, but one of the worst intersections in the city -- always a nightmarish bottleneck of cars going to the Lincoln Tunnel, and a deathtrap for pedestrians.
#19, you are SOOOO right! I lived there too, and was hit by a livery cab.
Rather than focusing on charging an extra toll to come into the city, this picture illustrates the real problem with traffic in the city - no one is enforcing laws already in place. I can see a dozen cars blocking the intersection in the picture (nothing unusual about that, especially at this intersection!)
I would venture to say that the city would still make the revenue it needs from writing these summonses, and we could get a few extra cops on the street. Sounds like a win-win to me - and we didn't even alienate the Staten Islanders.
Let's figure out a way to solve the problem without throwing away millions of the tax dollars we worked so hard for.
Die congestion tax, die!
How long until there a congestion tax imposed on the subway during peak hours?
Um, GlennQ, people already pay $4 a day to use the subway. Why don't you want to pay for the resources you are using?