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. more ›

The failure of congestion pricing (at least for this legislative session) has cast a pall on NYC-Albany relations. Not least because Mayor Bloomberg spent some time yesterday slamming state lawmakers. He said:

New York City is today poorer because of Albany's inaction yesterday, and I think, sadly, it appears that we jeopardized, at best, and probably lost, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something with someone else's money. more ›

Though the Partnership for New York City's Kathryn Wylde told the NY Times that she finds Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver "quite the opposite" of the "dark Darth Vader figure of Albany" that many people think him to be, we're betting that Mayor Bloomberg thinks Silver is quite Vaderish. A number of lawmakers confirmed to the Post that the many people hate Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan for the city, offering comments like "It sucks, it does nothing for anybody, kill it" and "It's likely dead for good." And Streetsblog found out from new Department of Transportation Commisioner Janette Sadik-Khan that the city doesn't quite have a Plan B if congestion pricing doesn't go through. She said:

Everyone is shooting for [approval of the plan on Thursday when the legislative session officially ends] but the promise of a special legislative session later this summer is still out there. So, Plan B is the special session. We are not giving up hope at all. We are fully committed. We need to get this legislation passed. It needs to pass now. It would be ridiculous to throw away hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds. That's our plan and when the plan passes we're looking to institute a series of immediate short term improvements before the switch is flipped on congestion pricing, including increased express bus service, ferry service and a variety of other initiatives. So, our emphasis is on making sure this congestion pricing program passes. On the transportation side, we don't think there's anything more important for the future of New York than getting this plan through.

City Councilwoman Gale Brewer is introducing an intriguing bill: Business owners would be fined if they keep their windows or doors open while the air-conditioning is on. The NY Sun reports that the bill would "make it illegal for windows to be open while an air conditioner is operating and would require all doors to be closed except to allow people to enter or exit a building." The fine would be $200 per open window or door! more ›

It's not surprising news, but it's a reminder why people don't live in New York City. A report from the Independent Budget Office showed that New York City has the biggest tax burden than eight other big cities. In fact, NYC's tax burden is practically 50% higher than the average of cities like Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix and San Diego. (We don't know where San Francisco, Boston, or Seattle were during this survey.) For every $100, New York City's state and local taxes "absorbed" $9.02, while other cities average $6.16. more ›

- Other world cities, many of which are competitors with New York for business investment and job creation, are moving aggressively to reduce the burden that traffic places on economic activity.The report recommends that the city investigate adding a congestion tax for cars, as well as increasing parking fees, adding more ferry service and designing better freight loading facilities. more ›

Non-profit think tank Milken Institute has issued a study on which U.S. cities are the "best performing" - the main criteria being where "jobs are being created, economies are growing and businesses are thriving." New York ranks 175th of 200 for all metro areas, and 9th of 10 for most populous metro areas. The number one city? Fayetteville, Arkansas, home of Wal-Mart. Gothamist will proudly say, "We're Number 175/Number 9!" more ›