M.T.A. Chief Warms to Congestion Pricing
The Chief Executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority spoke warmly of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan this morning, calling it “an extremely valuable contributor to the M.T.A. capital program,” though he stopped short of endorsing it.
“It is viable and can be made to work,” Elliot (Lee) Sander said at a breakfast sponsored by Crain’s New York Business newspaper.
He warned, though, that the M.T.A. would have to beef up the transit system in order to accommodate the increase in mass transit ridership.
“It could not happen overnight,” he said.
David Weprin, a Queens City Council Member and opponent of congestion pricing who was in the audience at the New York Hilton, took that comment as a bad sign.
“It sounds like they are not ready and that is a real problem,” he said.
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I hope the MTA chief does not get too warm about congestion pricing. The Mayor has his priorities all wrong - He has not taken care of illegal placard/permit parking first (which he had stated publicly that he would). Congestion pricing is an enticement to all those illegal placard abusers, government employees, NYPD, etc. - to get FREE parking AND FREE entry into NYC. If abolish illegal parking (thousands of violations occuring everyday) the need for congestion pricing is greatly reduced, and many, many millions of dollars (re)gained from previously lost parking meter revenue. I calculated that on my single block alone, with 17 parking meter spaces - since 9/11 - in downtown Manhattan, NYC has lost over $160,000 - Repeat: This A SINGLE NYC BLOCK. The Mayor needs to abolish illegal placard/permit parking first and foremost, then, with thousands switching to MTA mass transit, congestion pricing becomes a moot point, and quality of life in New York is that much better.