Quinn: There Was No Guarantee Albany Would Vote on Congestion Pricing

“I don’t see how anyone can use support of congestion pricing against somebody politically,” Christine Quinn just told reporters at a brief availability inside City Hall, where she reacted to the Assembly’s decision not to vote on the plan the City Council urged them to adopt.

Reassuring Council members who voted for the legislation, she said voting "yes" to congestion pricing means "you said, ‘Yes, I want $354 million from the federal government,' you said, ‘Yes, I want bus rapid transit. Yes, I want a Second Avenue subway that’s finally finished.'”

“We could have had ribbon cutting after ribbon cutting after ribbon cutting“ for transit projects, she said. “The question politically is, why did people pass that up?”

When I asked what message she had for Sheldon Silver, who, didn’t bring the issue for a vote, Quinn repeated that she is disappointed, but did not refer to him by name.

Quinn also disputed the notion held by some that she and Michael Bloomberg had told City Council members she would call a vote only if state lawmakers would vote on it too, which would have saved them from voting on a controversial issue unless state lawmakers also had to go on record with a position.

“You never know what is going to happen in any legislative body,” Quinn said, “and as a speaker of a legislative body I’d be silly to start placing bets on what other legislative bodies would do.”