April 7, 2008
BREAKING: Silver Says Congestion Pricing is Dead
Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver announced the State Assembly is rejecting congestion pricing. The controversial plan, a pet project of Mayor Bloomberg's, was approved by the City Council last week and had support from Governor David Paterson and State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, making the Assembly's support the final, critical step to ensure $354 million in federal funds (which would have been directed towards the MTA's projects).
Bloomberg had been very vocal about wanting the Assembly to at least vote on the plan, but many Assembly members, especially Democrats, felt the Mayor had been alienating him with his reported donations to the State GOP and his war of words.
Per the Observer, Assembly member David Weprin told reporters, "Shelly just came out of our conference and said our conference does not have the support to bring this to the floor. I want to be clear that the conference was overwhelmingly against it" versus just Silver blocking the measure. Weprin also said Bloomberg should be commended for keeping the issue alive, “If it wasn’t for this mayor, it would have been dead a year ago. It’s because of the mayor it had any life at all.” That's hollow praise!
In 2005, Silver killed the Mayor's West Side Stadium plan.
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Secession?
You guys could call yourselves New York City-State
I have no dog in this fight, besides being poor but this is getting interesting.
what is it about bloomberg's pet projects that rubs people the wrong way?
that that $354mil is just a smokescreen, there are plenty of ways the city can get money from the Fed but they don't because of this administration.
More Food stamp money from the Fed is one example.
proving once again, he just doesn't care or just doesn't care about the poor or working poor.
The 2nd Ave. Subway: A Line for the 22nd Century
Time to secede. New York City....... the 51st State?
why the f*ck should anyone outside the city have a say in the matter
silver is a scumbag
I totally agree, Matty and Ace.
This city, the world's greatest, will never get its fair shake as long as it is outnumbered by small-minded provincial political hacks whose foresight is as short as their courage.
Commuters get a great deal - most freeloaders do - and they fought like hell to protect it. So now they will continue to reap the benefits of having a job in NYC without contributing anything back (unless you count the blocked crosswalks and CO2 emissions).
And while I'm ranting, has there ever been a more inept politician than Mike Bloomberg?
This is a disgrace. Who in their right mind thinks this is a tax or retrogressive act against the poor? Are people that stupid---fewer cars and trucks is a good thing.
This Silver guy is not a savior he's an ass.
Tis time to part!
Unbelievably short sighted.
Alright naysayers you've won. So...fare hikes or tax hikes, what's your poison?
Good.
You know who else wanted congestion pricing? The Nazis, that's who.
oh goodness gracious, how will we ever survive?
Silver is a goddamn disgrace.
this is precisely why the new york assembly is the most fucked up legislature in the country. untouchable, out of touch, self interest promoting scumbags - the lot of them, democrat and republican.
Oh Noes! Ha ha ha!
why the f*ck should anyone outside the city have a say in the matter
Half of the Assembly and the majority of it's Democrats are from the city.
silver is a scumbag
True and he also from Manhattan. Sounds like this was just a giant FU to the mayor.
Alright naysayers you've won. So...fare hikes or tax hikes, what's your poison?
either one, if a tax increase proves necessary. Congestion pricing is just an administratively burdensome way to raise revenue anyway, so if we need to raise the money, might as well do it in a way that's less expensive to implement.
watch the news and see how many single occupant cars they interviewed.
fantastic news. bloomberg lost another one. this would have been a disaster and ever dollar gained by CP would have been subtracted from the current tax revenue the MTA gets and wasted on other crap -- just like the lottery and cigarette taxes. You can promise funds from something in gov't go to a pet project, but that doesn't mean you cant shift the current stream somewhere else. its good people didn't fall for this trick for the 1000000th time. good bye and good riddance CP.
“If it wasn’t for this mayor, it would have been dead a year ago. It’s because of the mayor it had any life at all.”
well, the good news is, with summer just around the corner, the Mayor can turn his attention to looking the other way while Con Ed does its thing.
matty, please keep quiet and let the adults talk. thanks
ps.
don't you have better things to do in chicago than post on a nyc blog about ny politics?
brooklyn says
tanks for albany for not put a tax of brooklyn
brooklyn and i
Why not just implant E-ZPass's in people's necks?
It's not like Silver is some upstate mandarin lording his parochial interests upstate against NYC. The reason the Assembly is supermajority Democratic is because it's dominated by downstate and NYC districts. Sheldon Silver lives in and represents the Lower East Side. Secession is not a panacea for every event that doesn't go in favor of Manhattanites.
Congestion pricing is a means to raise revenue from certain activities. We could continue to have high property and income taxes in this city on those of us who take up less space by living in tiny apartments and taking the subway while we give away free land in parking spaces and multi-lane roads on America's most valuable island. And who gets this free land? Delivery people, yes, but they can just raise their prices. Who really gets free lands here?
A. people who live outside the city but work here.
B. People who live in the city who have the cash and space for a car (or three).
C. People driving THROUGH the city and not stopping in it. We got enough people with real needs clogging our streets to want to discourage through-drivers.
Screw you, Albany. Go stick your head back in the sand, where it's been since the 60's.
THANK YOU LORD SATAN!
i say build it then charge for it!
NYC powers that be have a nasty habit of promising something to get their hands on the goodies, then reneging on the promise then redirecting or keeping the windfall!
So, Taxing people who live south of 60th St is fair??
Um, How's that "help" NYC??
Yay!
There's plenty of money in the pipeline, and we shouldn't be taxed further to pay for their inefficiencies.
Silver represents 64th District which is IN MANHATTAN!
here's my plan for congestion pricing. Ban baby strollers, or maybe tax them based on size. Those things congest our city streets and subways.
"don't you have better things to do in chicago than post on a nyc blog about ny politics? "
no
How would the city residents suffer? We would suffer if the tax was passed. This was a win for the entire city and tr-state area to prevent Manhattan from becoming a gated community.
And who gets this free land? Delivery people, yes, but they can just raise their prices. Who really gets free lands here?
That's the point:
The rising cost to transport goods into the city just because gas costs so much is passed on to the consumer. Gas prices, plus a new tax = even higher prices on goods.
To all those who said this was good for NYers...
Mahattan should succeed, screw em!
Those outlying hood were to bare the brunt of Congestion pricing and the wealthy do not get to pawn thier smog on the outer boros!
f%ck that boston carpet bagger and his rich cronies that have displaced so many true NYers with all these wanna be LI and Jersey herbs...
I should send my 13 years old cousin after yall scared mofo....rub bitches run! get the F&%k OUT...
A tax increase would burden the wrong people. Congestion pricing actually imposed the cost of the negative externalities of auto congestion on the people responsible for those externalities.
sure, if those taxes wouldn't be passed on to everyone else. Of course, the largest share of the tax would be on commercial vehicles delivering goods into the city, those taxes, of course, would be passed directly to consumers. The richer people, lawyers and bankers, would pass those commuting expenses down the line as business expenses, and would eventually come out of our pockets in the form of higher costs for services. Taxis would pass that on to customers in form of higher fares. We're all going to pay one way or the other, don't kid yourself.
Commuter tax time?
so, what can Bloomberg do - WITHOUT the approval of the freaks in Albany - to make life unpleasant for the horrible commuting automobiles? Suggestions anyone?
Raise the price of street parking to very high levels?
Send in the police to hyper enforce any traffic regulations and fine the hell out of those who violate them?
Designate some streets as pedestrian walkways - shutting them to traffic?
what can we do apart from having this rammed down our throats.
I hate people who drive. UGH.
@tadhog what are you talking about Free Land? roads are already paid for (and suck to boot). if you want to raise prices on parking, go right ahead. That makes a lot more sense than congestion pricing, and would be much easier and cheaper to implement.
i find all of you calling for taxes and other ways to destroy the city humorous. Especially during tax time. Do yo realize the amount of money NYC takes from its people and even non-residents? DO you realize we are the #1 taxed people in the nation by a huge margin. WHat do you actually get for that money? Promises that never come to fruition? Corrupt city council? Tons of non productive people sucking in city revenue? If transportation was really an issue they can use the 100s of billions they already take and use it for transit. It clearly is not. This was just a money shell game as I stated before. Get some new money from this pocket, take away the current money and use it for some other waste. WHat people don't realize is all these taxes are a large part of what makes NYC so expensive to everyone and why business continue to leave with their jobs. Instead, we try to bribe them to stay with incentives -- why not reduce all the waste instead? oh yeah, too many special interests and too much corruption.
prove to me that nyc subways during rush hour can realistically handle just a dozen more people per subway car and ill gladly pay...
I once again will be voting agaist Quinn and for Silver.....Real Nyers know why this was bad for NYC.....losers know how to whine and complain.......
Here's the amount NYC takes in taxes from non-residents.
Zero.
No commuter tax in NYC.
BTW, I live in Brooklyn and the failure of so many to see how this would actually help the outer boros is astounding (particularly since many nabes were going to get resident permit parking). Perhaps it would be wise to turn our wrath to Mayor Bling, who with this many misinformed citizens of his city, obviously did a lousy job of educating and selling this thing.
Having said that, I'm still down for secession. Then we can ban single-occupancy vehicles in Manhattan AND raise tolls as we see fit.
If the city needs money take it from the bloated non productive politicians salaries.
Thank God.
You guys weren't so pissed at Shelly when he killed off the west side stadium plan, huh? Good for him, I'll send him something for Purim in a few weeks.
How to get more money for the MTA? Hmmmm, I don't know...maybe an additional 1 percent tax on millionaires! Oh wait, the Mayor didn't want that. Hmmmm.....
+1 for 51st state.
Tim, you are wrong non-residents pay non-resident income taxes.
Now when MTA fares go up AGAIN next year, we will all know who to blame.
brooklyn and i wrote:
Assuming you mean "a tax on Brooklyn," no. A tax on Brooklyn people who DRIVE INTO MANHATTAN, which represent a VERY SMALL MINORITY. How are people still this dense?ihateallbrokers wrote:
Build it with what money?Bottomless Chips wrote:
What money in the pipeline? You mean the $17 BILLION deficit the MTA now has to deal with?eyekantspel wrote:
I'd rather have fees be imposed on the basis of actually using resources (such as Manhattan street space, which is a limited resource) than indiscriminately by raising, say, city income tax.GM wrote:
Sounds like a good plan to me. Good luck getting it passed.Tim N. wrote:
It astonishes me as well. The bounds of stupidity never fail to amaze.DWM2008 wrote:
You mean the same as what you've been doing? Except, you know, in coherent English?Ugh. I'm the asshole who screwed up my hyperlink. Sorry.
Dear Progress blockers,
Please, when the 2nd Ave subway stalls, don't complain. When the MTA raises fares, please don't complain. When you don't get the extended service on the line near you, don't complain. When you're stuck waiting for an emptier subway car during rush hour, please, don't complain.
P.S.
The next time the US Government hands out money, please don't ask for a hand out, and then have the nerve to complain when you don't get it anyway.
yep, all single occupant cars were interviewed.
how bout a carpool initiative? like what was done the weeks and month post 9/11.
They didn't hand out money! They took the funds that they were already supposed to supply and created this ridiculous competition pitting cities and residents against each other. Why you may ask? So that they can provide 0 funding to NYC and other cities for transit in the future and let them pay themselves. BTW, fares would go up anyway, just like they have, 2nd ave would stall or not stall not based on a few hundred million for a multibillion dollar project. This was a scam all around under the pretty disguise of environmentalism. We've already been told the last fare increase will not go to improvements -- how gullible can you be?!
Great. Tim N. is on another of his "fuck the suburbs" rants.