Congestion pricing

The 6,300 miles of streets and the transportation infrastructure spread across New York City's 321 square miles “is coming up against limits,” the commissioner of the New York Department of Transportation, Janette Sadik-Khan, said in the agency’s “Sustainable Streets” plan announced today.

Since Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan never got off the ground, the DOT laid out a new blueprint to ease travel within the city by making streets more pedestrian friendly; targeting improvements in bus mobility, safety, and bicycling; and reducing the transportation network's impact on the environment. It's ambitious, but since Albany has no say in the matter it might be more likely to become a reality than its predecessor.  read more »

A little more than a year ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched his pathbreaking "PlaNYC 2030" urban sustainability plan. According to the city’s own progress report on the plan’s first year:

The implementation of PlaNYC's 127 initiatives requires the effort of more than 20 City agencies; the help of our Sustainability Advisory Board; partners and supporters from all across New York City; and close cooperation with the City Council and other elected officials. In the first year since the release of the plan, we completed rezonings, planted 54,484 trees, moved our taxis and black cars toward fuel efficiency, encouraged bicycling with 60 new lane miles, and engaged New York City in the most significant transportation discussion in a generation.

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Here is something I just noticed.

Minutes after Kevin Sheekey went on NY1 and blasted Sheldon Silver for not having the "courage" to vote on the mayor’s congestion pricing plan, Sheekey officially made a new Facebook friend: Paul Newell, one of two Democrats seeking to oust Sheldon Silver in the September primary.  read more »

Yesterday, Dan Hendrick of the New York League of Conservation Voters stopped by City Hall, just in time to chat about Earth Day!  read more »

Today is Earth Day! It’s also the one-year anniversary of Michael Bloomberg's formal announcement of a plan for congestion pricing.

To honor the occasion, a congestion pricing critic, Assemblyman Mark Weprin, is distributing a letter that commends Bloomberg for putting the issue on the table:

"So while I opposed the congestion pricing plan, I applaud the Mayor for appropriately placing traffic congestion and its environmental impacts at the forefront of public discourse. Indeed, every mayoral candidate running next year will now have to present a serious plan for traffic mitigation in New York City.

Here's the full letter:  read more »

A little over a month after the Port Authority hiked tolls on its six bridges and tunnels, there has been a 2.9 percent drop in the number of vehicles commuting amid Manhattan, New Jersey and Staten Island-- more than the 2 percent dip the agency expected and more than the 2.3 percent dip that followed the previous toll increase in 2001, according to The Times' CityRoom blog.

More than 350,000 cars and trucks used the bridges and tunnels on an average weekday before the toll increase. Since March 2, usage has dropped by over 10,000 vehicles every day. In the past, it's taken between as long as nine months for traffic to drop following a toll increase.  read more »

After he delivered a speech this morning in Washington, a reporter asked Michael Bloomberg if he agreed with top political aide Kevin Sheekey that Sheldon Silver lacked "courage" on congestion pricing.

‘Well, I didn’t hear what Kevin said last night,” Bloomberg said, according to audio provided by his office. “I suggest you talk to Kevin.”  read more »

Michael Bloomberg and his aides have presented the demise of their congestion pricing plan, which occurred without a floor vote in the Assembly, as an example of Albany’s well-noted dysfunction.

Not surprisingly, the view from within the Democratic-held Assembly is different.  read more »

"Shelly just came out of our conference and said our conference does not have the support to bring this to the floor,” Democratic Assemblyman Mark Weprin yesterday told reporters after a meeting with Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assembly democrats about Mayor Bloomberg's congestion-pricing bill. “I want to be clear that the conference was overwhelmingly against it,” he further said.

To say that congestion pricing died because the Assembly members were against it is of course true, but not the point. When items are important to Speaker Silver he has this habit of “leading” his conference. He will maintain that his style is to engage his members and compromise, and his ability to bully the legislature is overstated. That is, of course, ridiculous—the Speaker usually gets what he wants. The bottom line is that Shelly Silver killed congestion pricing.  read more »

“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.  read more »

I just got off the phone with Sheldon Silver spokesman Dan Weiller, who tried to explain his boss's decision not to bring congestion pricing legislation to a vote in the Assembly today.

“There was not enough support for this legislation in the Assembly majority -- not nearly enough support to bring this to the floor,” Weiller said.

Unlike Michael Bloomberg, Weiller doesn't think there needed to be a vote to find out where Assembly members stand on the legislation.  read more »

Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan has flat-lined, but transportation advocacy groups said that dealing with congestion and traffic remains imperative at the city level.  read more »

Here is Christine Quinn’s statement on the death of congestion pricing, which says she is “disappointed that we missed an opportunity” and describes today as a “setback.”

Neither Quinn's statement nor the statement from Michael Bloomberg aide John Gallagher mention Sheldon Silver by name.

Here’s the full statement:  read more »

Michael Bloomberg’s spokesman John Gallagher is releasing, upon request, a statement blasting the legislative process that killed his boss’ plans for congestion pricing.

“What we are witnessing today is one of the biggest cop-outs in New York’s history. After insisting on the formation of a commission to make recommendations for a bill, and then for the City Council to vote to endorse that bill, the Assembly needs to stand up and be counted.  They owe it to the majority of New Yorkers who support this plan, the scores of environmental groups, public health organizations, business leaders, unions, and the public at large, to put this proposal to a public vote.”

Mary Peters, the U.S. Transportation Secretary also released a statement thanking by name everyone but Sheldon Silver for their “leadership” on the issue.

“Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Paterson, Majority Leader Bruno, the City Council and many other state and local officials and civic, environmental, business and labor organizations, New York has engaged in one of the most vigorous and significant debates about transportation policy in modern U.S. history. While today's announcement, if accurate, is deeply disappointing, New York’s mounting traffic and environmental woes point to congestion pricing as an inevitable solution, even if not in the next few months or with the assistance of federal Urban Partnership dollars. Starting tomorrow, we will engage with many of the largest cities in the United States that have put forward ambitious traffic fighting plans to discuss how they could use this money to cut traffic, improve transit and reduce pollution.”

More reactions after the jump.  read more »

Thanks in large part to Sheldon Silver, congestion pricing is dead. Now, Silver's Democratic primary opponent, Paul Newell, wants to make sure the Assembly speaker gets credit.

“This is a perfect example of how the broken system in Albany fails New Yorkers, and lower Manhattanites [are] included in that category,” Newell said.

“What is the point of being represented by the speaker of the State Assembly if he can’t even go to bat for us when it counts?”

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State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and allies have effectively doomed Mayor Bloomberg's congestion-pricing plan for Manhattan. More from The Politicker.

Congestion pricing is dead in the Assembly.

“Shelly just came out of our conference and said our conference does not have the support to bring this to the floor,” said Democratic Assemblyman Mark Weprin.

“I want to be clear that the conference was overwhelmingly against it,” he said, dispelling the notion that Silver, personally, blocked the plan. Weprin, who opposed the plan, said the program’s biggest supporter, Michael Bloomberg, should not be blamed for the failure, but rather, commended for making it an issue.  read more »

Midnight tonight is the deadline for state lawmakers to approve the mayor’s congestion pricing program in order to qualify for $354 million in federal transportation funds. It’s still not clear that there are enough votes to get it passed in either house of the legislature.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Joe Bruno supports it, but may not have enough votes on his side of the aisle to get it through. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been typically lukewarm and has consistently suggested that his members are not inclined to be in favor.

But Michael Bloomberg’s top aid, Kevin Sheekey, still thinks it’s less about cobbling votes behind closed doors and more about forcing legislators to vote on the issue publicly.  read more »

At an anti-congestion pricing rally at City Hall yesterday, Councilman David Weprin claimed that the program isn’t supported by a majority of city lawmakers, even though it passed the Council recently by a vote of 30 to 20.  read more »

From Downtown Express:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told Downtown Express Wednesday he is likely to support congestion pricing, but the Albany power broker also said passage is still in doubt.  read more »

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Citizens Union, a group that promotes government openness and transparency, is urging state lawmakers to pass congestion pricing.  read more »

City comptroller Bill Thompson, who is also a possible mayoral candidate, just released a letter to Governor David Paterson that urges state lawmakers to pass congestion pricing by the April 7 deadline.

There are, however, a few amendments he would like to see.

Thompson wants to eliminate the discount that drivers would receive if they pay the tolls prior to entering the congestion pricing district. As the letter puts it, that change “ensures that all drivers will contribute equally.”
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Once again, Michael Bloomberg has defied public opinion polls and noisy skeptics, lined up bipartisan support from the Democratic governor and the Republican State Senate and won over city lawmakers in support of an idea that would have a profound impact in New York City.

And once again, his big plan—this time, to impose a toll on cars driving into midtown Manhattan—faces a immovable obstacle in Sheldon Silver, who often seems to be the most powerful politician in New York. (It was Mr.  read more »

A day after the City Council voted in favor of congestion pricing, and before the state legislature has a chance to, critics of the plan are making the argument that it is a financial burden on community services and charities.  read more »

Mayor Bloomberg's dream of charging commuters to drive below 60th Street in Manhattan took a giant leap forward yesterday as the City Council voted in his proposal's favor. Manhattan renters, especially those on the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side, should take notice.

The old boundary for the congestion pricing proposal was 86th Street, smackdab in the middle of both neighborhoods. In June, The Observer wondered aloud:

[T]he $8 daily fee that Mayor Bloomberg is proposing car drivers pay to enter core Manhattan will give people all the more reason to seek out homes near existing transit hubs. Commuters who choose to drive every day will incur about $2,000 a year in commuting charges that they don’t currently pay.

Now that the border's likely to be 60th Street will we see midtown condos like the Sheffield on West 57th become all the more valuable? And will more New York homeowners and tenants soon have to factor commuting fees into their midtown travels? Will they simply opt for downtown or midtown living instead?  read more »

The City Council on Monday passed a measure 30-20 supporting Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal. (More coverage here from brother blog The Politicker.) The proposal now moves to the State Legislature, which has until April 7 to act.

A congestion pricing measure before the Council just passed, 30 to 20.

Domenic Recchia, who is planning to run for Congress, took a pass on voting the first time around, but eventually voted yes. Eric Gioia, who had told the New York Times on March 8 that he was voting no, also voted for it. Comptroller candidate Melinda Katz voted no, but her likely rival David Yassky voted yes. The two candidates for Brooklyn brough president, Bill De Blasio and Charles Barron, both voted against.  read more »

Congestion pricing just passed the City Council Committee on State and Federal Legislation, 6-4. Members who voted in favor included Maria Baez, Melissa Viverito, Larry Seabrook, Joel Rivera, Mike McMahon and Hiram Monserrate. Those opposed included Lew Fidler, Joe Addabbo and Erik Dilan.

It goes to the full council tonight.

Richard Brodsky, the longtime former chair of the Assembly's environmental conservation commission and a leading critic of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, is declining to seek the support of the New York League of Conservation voters, in the latest chapter in a long-simmering feud dating back to the group’s defense of Governor George Pataki. Brodsky has recently found himself on the opposite side of much of the state's environmental lobby over congestion pricing.

In a letter to the group dated March 27 and released publicly today, Brodsky wrote, “For the reasons that follow I've decided, respectfully, to decline to fill it out, and to decline to seek your
endorsement or support.”

He goes on to write:

“[I]n 2006, LCV declined to support any Member of the Assembly, including me, and leveled direct and clear criticism of Assemblymembers and Assembly leadership for its failure to get legislation passed by the Senate, and signed by the Governor. Put aside the peculiar theory of government that holds the Assembly politically responsible for other branches of government. Put aside the strange politics of the previous twelve years, when LCV was a persistent and well known defender of Governor Pataki who raided the EPF “locked box,” reduced enforcement of environmental laws and refused to support any of the significant environmental legislation supported by LCV and passed in the Assembly."

The full letter is after the jump.  read more »

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Christine Quinn’s press office just announced the Council will vote at 3:30 p.m. on congestion pricing. Which is interesting because the first pitch of the Yankee’s opening game at home - where Quinn, the mayor and a few elected officials are expected to attend - is at 1:05 p.m.

Beat the traffic!

Here is the announcement from Quinn’s office.  read more »

The "final" federal deadline of April 7 is approaching for the federal subsidy of $354 million to set up a congestion-pricing system for Manhattan’s Central Business District.

In these tough budget times the plan would produce an estimated $4.5 billion over the next five years for improved mass transit. It is the only source of funds available to reduce the M.T.A.’s dependence on fares and debt to improve transit. Even if the amount of funding ends up lower, it is still critical, found money.  read more »

Doug Muzzio is putting his money on Christine Quinn and the congestion pricing supporters in the Council. According to Muzzio, a political science professor at Baruch College, it is less about the substantive pitch Quinn is making, and more about the strategic decision members make to avoid becoming one of her enemies.

Muzzio told me, “Those people who are wishy-washy, I would bet most of them go to the pro-side, Chris’ side. She controls the institutional agenda, she controls the perks. Why piss her off?”

Christine Quinn just told reporters at City Hall she’s confident she’ll have the votes to pass congestion pricing in the City Council.

When asked if she and Michael Bloomberg were “twisting arms,” Quinn said, “Certainly not. My staff and I are having conversations with council members.”  read more »

Lew Fidler, a vocal critic of congestion pricing, spoke Wednesday night at the Stonewall Democratic Club in Manhattan, putting his objections to the plan in context with language borrowed from 2005 mayoral candidate Freddy Ferrer, who used to say during the campaign that New York was becoming two cities.

Fidler told Stonewall, “There is no doubt in my mind that the congestion pricing proposal, once you get past all the laudable goals that it attempts, unsuccessfully, to achieve, is just that kind of system.”

It's not clear what effect, if any, this would have on the actual outcome of the mayor's push to enact congestion pricing, but as it turns out, Barack Obama supports the mayor's plan to reduce traffic.

Bloomberg introduced Obama before the senator's speech at Cooper Union this morning, fueling rumors of a formal endorsement or even a joint ticket. (So far, there have been no real signs of either.)

A reader sent over this brief transcript of a news clip that aired on WNYC a little while ago:  read more »

If the Bloomberg administration fails to get city and state lawmakers to approve congestion pricing in time to qualify for more than $350 million in federal funding, it won't be for lack of official outreach.

This morning, members of the Bronx Assembly delegation met with Michael Bloomberg at City Hall to discuss the issue and right now, officials from the administration are testifying in front of the City Council about it. And here, courtesy of Bloomberg spokesperson, is a list of meetings the administration has held with lawmakers in the past month:  read more »

The City Council is holding a hearing on the final report of the city-state traffic mitigation committee, as the deadline to enact Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan nears.

The proposal needs to get the green light from the City Council and the state Legislature by April 7 for Manhattan to receive $384 million in federal funding.

Last week, Governor Paterson endorsed the proposal, giving it a much-needed boost in Albany. But garnering public support for the project may prove more difficult for Mayor Bloomberg, based on the results of a survey released this morning by Quinnipiac University.  read more »

It's another good day for congestion pricing, as Joe Bruno introduced a bill in the State Senate to correspond with David Paterson's announced support for the measure.  read more »