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ManhattanDowntowner (not verified) says:
I attended the evening oversight hearing on Congestion Pricing at City Hall tonight, 3/24/2008. Although the meeting was heavily weighted with Transportation Alternatives congestion pricing advocates and the like, Councilman Fidler asked the same relevant, unanswered, questions to these pro-CP advocates with absolutely no substantive replies. Congestion Pricing and PlaNYC offers a bouquet of roses with the thorns still attached - NYC be warned - don't grab it!
With congestion pricing, the toll bridge/tunnel crowd gets a "free" ride and everyone else pays. Pure insanity! Who in his/her right mind would support such an inherently unfair and unequal bill?
London, which is used as a model of congestion pricing, cannot be compared with NYC because London does not have 142,000 government sector vehicles with parking permits entering Manhattan and parking for "free" so everyone else has to cruise endlessly. The elimination of illegal parking permit abuse, a prerequisite to any thought of congestion pricing, continued to be hidden at this congestion pricing oversight hearing. Do New Yorkers really believe that 142,000 government sector vehicles with parking placards will really NOT be exempt from Congestion Pricing? The track record of the D.O.T., Bloomberg, and NYPD in the last 7 years says "Yes", 142,000 government sector vehicles will definitely be exempt.
The D.O.T. posted results of its 2008 Residential Parking Permit Study on its website, but it did NOT post the expose' results of the 2006 $570K Downtown Manhattan Parking Study which was quietly released in the newspapers, on a Fridays - this is bogus and contrived politicking at its worse. We are not dealing with forthright people here! Congestion pricing will not win support on its merits because this ill-prepared heavy driving tax (during a recession, mind you) is premature in thought, it is blatantly unfair, and will fail in its execution - look at who's in charge of enforcement - the NYPD and the D.O.T. Observe how the DOT has enforced illegal permit abuse during Bloomberg's administration - in the last 7 years, NYC has lost $322-million in parking meter revenue alone due to the NYPD, D.O.T. and Bloomberg all turning a blind eye. And, how much is the Federal carrot for Congestion Pricing? Oh yeah - $354-million.
Councilmembers who are sitting on the fence, are you listening?
I attended the evening oversight hearing on Congestion Pricing at City Hall tonight, 3/24/2008. Although the meeting was heavily weighted with Transportation Alternatives congestion pricing advocates and the like, Councilman Fidler asked the same relevant, unanswered, questions to these pro-CP advocates with absolutely no substantive replies. Congestion Pricing and PlaNYC offers a bouquet of roses with the thorns still attached - NYC be warned - don't grab it!
With congestion pricing, the toll bridge/tunnel crowd gets a "free" ride and everyone else pays. Pure insanity! Who in his/her right mind would support such an inherently unfair and unequal bill?
London, which is used as a model of congestion pricing, cannot be compared with NYC because London does not have 142,000 government sector vehicles with parking permits entering Manhattan and parking for "free" so everyone else has to cruise endlessly. The elimination of illegal parking permit abuse, a prerequisite to any thought of congestion pricing, continued to be hidden at this congestion pricing oversight hearing. Do New Yorkers really believe that 142,000 government sector vehicles with parking placards will really NOT be exempt from Congestion Pricing? The track record of the D.O.T., Bloomberg, and NYPD in the last 7 years says "Yes", 142,000 government sector vehicles will definitely be exempt.
The D.O.T. posted results of its 2008 Residential Parking Permit Study on its website, but it did NOT post the expose' results of the 2006 $570K Downtown Manhattan Parking Study which was quietly released in the newspapers, on a Fridays - this is bogus and contrived politicking at its worse. We are not dealing with forthright people here! Congestion pricing will not win support on its merits because this ill-prepared heavy driving tax (during a recession, mind you) is premature in thought, it is blatantly unfair, and will fail in its execution - look at who's in charge of enforcement - the NYPD and the D.O.T. Observe how the DOT has enforced illegal permit abuse during Bloomberg's administration - in the last 7 years, NYC has lost $322-million in parking meter revenue alone due to the NYPD, D.O.T. and Bloomberg all turning a blind eye. And, how much is the Federal carrot for Congestion Pricing? Oh yeah - $354-million.
Councilmembers who are sitting on the fence, are you listening?