Nearly one year to the day after its unveiling, Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan has died. The plan, which would have brought traffic relief and cleaner air to the city as well as more money for public transit, died when upstate politicians opted against bringing Bloomberg’s groundbreaking and controversial plan to an Assembly vote today.
New York City, meanwhile, will lose out on $354 million pledged to the city from the federal government. The funds were to go toward establishing congestion pricing and funding increases in mass transit service but were predicated on a congestion pricing bill’s earning approval by midnight tonight.
Sewell Chan and Nicholas Confessore from The Times’ City Room blog have the story:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s ambitious dream to remake New York City streets with an elaborate plan for congestion pricing died on Tuesday in a private conference room on the third floor of the State Capitol.
It was there that Democratic members of the State Assembly, who control the chamber, held one final meeting to debate the merit’s of Mr. Bloomberg’s plan, ultimately voting—in secret—against the idea. The opposition was so overwhelming, said Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, that he would not hold an open vote of the full Assembly, though many Republicans were supportive of Mr. Bloomberg.
“The congestion pricing bill did not have anywhere near a majority of the Democratic conference, and will not be on the floor of the Assembly,” Mr. Silver said following his meeting with fellow Democrats…
“The word ‘elitist’ came up a number of times,” said Assemblyman Mark S. Weprin, a Queens Democrat, who said his constituents overwhelmingly opposed the measure. “The members who oppose it did so because their constituents opposed it,” Mr. Weprin said. He estimated that opinion among Assembly Democrats ran four to one against the plan.
Of course, anyone who knew anything about the plan could tell Weprin that elitism was the cause of its Assembly defeat and not the root of the plan’s problem. The elites – those rich enough to be driving their cars into Manhattan each day – are the ones who were vehemently opposed to it, and they have the resources to fight it. The people who stood the most to benefit from congestion pricing were the everyday commuters who rely on the subways and buses to get them around town. Elitism has everything to do with the vehement Assembly opposition to congestion pricing.
Meanwhile, attention from those of us advocating for mass transit should turn toward the Assembly. By allowing this plan to die in conference, the Assembly just gave up $354 million for mass transit as well as a dedicated annual revenue source for the MTA. It is incumbent upon our elected officials to make good on their promises from the fare hike debate and deliver more state funds to the MTA. While we may be stuck with people too stubborn to give up their automobiles when they don’t need them, we shouldn’t be left with a subpar mass transit system at the same time.
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