Justmako

March 4, 2008, 6:53 pm Council Members Urge Congestion Pricing Changes

By Diane Cardwell


The road to enact Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to charge drivers an $8 fee to bring their cars into Manhattan below 60th Street just got a little more twisted.

A group of 20 City Council members sent a letter to Mr. Bloomberg urging changes so that New Jersey commuters pay a partial fee or so that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey use a portion of tolls it collects from Manhattan-bound drivers to pay for New York City mass transit, almost half the body which must, along with the State Legislature, approve the plan for it to qualify for federal financing.
“Under the current proposal, bridge and tunnel toll payments would be credited against the $8 congestion charge,” the letter read. “This means that commuters who currently pay tolls to use the Port Authority and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority river crossings will pay no additional congestion fee. The bulk of these drivers live outside of New York City. At the same time, drivers who enter Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge or the Williamsburg Bridge will pay the full $8 congestion charge. Most of these drivers do live within New York City. This is blatantly unfair.”
To qualify for the federal financing, the proposal would need approval by the City Council and State Legislature by March 31, but its future is far from certain in either body, despite the support of Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. Opposition has been strongest among those lawmakers representing the boroughs outside Manhattan, although the 20 council members hail from all four boroughs except Staten Island.
John Gallagher, a spokesman for the mayor, said, “We are willing to work with our partners in the City Council and the State Legislature to address outstanding issues.”

• 21.
  March 19th,
  2008
  5:38 pm
  Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island residents pay exorbitant taxes for the privilege of living in New York City. Congestion pricing communicates to them that they are not bona fide New Yorkers.
  The congestion pricing plan amounts to an additional tax on outer borough residents, who are predominantly working class or poorer.
  They also live in the areas of the City that the subway covers least, with the greatest distances to walk between subway stations (and buses that are unreliable for anyone on a schedule). Laborers can hardly be expected to lug all the equipment they need to service Manhattan first to subway stations and then onto the trains during rush hour then back again. The proposal discriminates against outer borough residents.
  Why is this preferable for the Mayor of New York City who ought to represent City residents than the tax on commuters in New York’s wealthiest suburbs that once brought much-needed income to the City from those who benefited from jobs in New York but did not pay City taxes, and who could most easily afford the surcharge? One wonders whether the Mayor is thinking of the New Yorkers who elected him, or of friends in his economic class living in the suburbs.
  Can outer borough residents claim a tax exemption for the double tax on them?
  
  

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