Will Congestion Pricing Have A Chance Under New Governor?

Is there a faint possibility that David Paterson newly installed replacement governor could be the key to giving Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan a chance at being passed?

Most signs point to the plan, which faces a March 31 deadline to b e

approved by the state legislature and the City Council, being defeated by both those legislative bodies.

There has been consistent opposition to the plan in the Assembly and the same is true in the city council, despite the fact that it is backed by Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Bloomberg.

The mayor's plan, which calls for imposition of an $8 fee allowing motorists to drive below 60th Street in Manhattan, is strongly opposed by Councilmember David Weprin (D- Hollis) and nine other Queens lawmakers.

The mayor is trying to sell the proposal as a means of cleaning up the city's air and at the same time raising money to improve transit services.

Governor David Paterson

Before resigning Governor Eliot Spitzer had supported the plan, but last week, his successor, Paterson, sidestepped when asked by reporters what his position was on the plan. He said he needed to study it more closely and perhaps discuss it with Bloomberg.

However, two men very close to Paterson, Bill Lynch deputy mayor under David Dinkins, Paterson's former campaign manager, Luther Smith, both of whom have been advising him on his transition to governor, have been involved in advocating for the proposal.

Lynch's lobbying firm, Bill Lynch Associates, of which Smith is president, has been performing community outreach for the pricing plan for Communities United for Transportation Equity, an organization which sees congestion pricing as the vehicle to raise funds to make major mass transit improvements in underserved communities. One of those communities is Harlem, Paterson's home community and political base.

It appears there's a good possibility that the new governor will get a strong recommendation from advisers Lynch and Smith to get behind congestion pricing. There's no certainty that he will or, if he does, whether he'll make a major effort to get it approved in the short period of time before the deadline by which it must be approved in order to qualify for $354 million in federal government funding for the controversial plan.

Meanwhile, at this juncture, Weprin has been joined in opposition to congestion pricing by Queens Councilmembers Tony Avella, Peter Vallone Jr., James Gennaro, Helen Sears, Eric Gioia, Leroy Comrie, Thomas White Jr., Melinda Katz, and Joseph Addabbo Jr.

There's a vote on congestion pricing scheduled to come up in the council shortly. It should generate a lot of heat, since it provides a rare occasion where Quinn faces much opposition on a bill that she supports very strongly.

Meanwhile, Paterson, who was sworn in as Spitzer's successor on Monday, will be occupied with negotiating a new budget in his first days in office. But given the March 31 deadline on congestion pricing, only 12 days away, we think that issue will come up in the next few days, if not sooner.

PC KELLY TOPS MAYORAL POLL: NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly topped a field of five possible mayoral candidates in the 2009 election, drawing the votes of 22 percent of those polled in a Quinnipiac University poll released last Thursday.

Tied for second were Congressmember Anthony Weiner (D- Queens/Brooklyn) and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who each received 14 percent. Next came City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D- Manhattan) at 13 percent, followed by Controller William Thompson and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, tied at 8 percent. The undecided vote came out to 21 percent.

Kelly has not declared his candidacy nor even his intention to run, but a fair representation of people have made known their support of him for the city's top elective office.

The incumbent mayor, Michael Bloomberg, will be in office until the end of 2009, when his two-term tenure will end because of term limits.

Kelly does not list any party affiliation, but is expected to run as a Republican, if he does run. Supermarket magnate John Catsimatides, a Republican, has announced his intention to seek his party's nomination to run in 2009.