Pricing Plan Nixed
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Westbound traffic at Queensboro Plaza.

Democratic Assemblymembers from Queens, who were strongly opposed to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan, played a major role in leading Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to decide against bringing the plan up for a vote before Monday's deadline, effectively killing the deal.

Yesterday's media reports out of Albany said Silver had summoned his members to a meeting that day for a final debate about the controversial plan and found overwhelming and persistent opposition, as one paper described the meeting.

That opposition came from Queens members, as well as their colleagues from Brooklyn and adjoining suburban areas, sources reported.

Yesterday, Assemblymember Michael Gianaris (D- Astoria) issued a statement explaining the opposition. "Ensuring mass transit funding and reducing traffic congestion are important goals, but I could not support a plan that placed the burden disproportionately on middle class Queens residents," Gianaris declared. "The congestion pricing plan was little more than a poorly disguised tax on the middle class, and that is why it deserved to fall."

In comments made to reporters on Monday, Assemblymember Mark Weprin (D- Little Neck) stated that his constituents almost uniformly opposed the move around their own city.

Assemblymember Ellen Young (D- Flushing) said she would oppose the plan, "until I see an improvement in existing infrastructure and service to the outer boroughs. We must be fair to all sectors of this city."

Another Flushing representative, Assemblymember Rory Lancman, was turned off by the mayor's dealings with senate Republicans to line up their support for the plan.

"It was such an obvious transaction between the senate Republican conference and the mayor," Lancman said.

Generally, these were the same objections Queens councilmembers found with the mayor's plan, which called for charging motorists $8 to enter the Manhattan central business district below 60th Street.

One of the staunchest council opponents, David Weprin (D- Hollis) stated after the plan was blocked in Albany:

"Now that this battle is over, I hope that we can all come together to work on a true plan that helps to reduce congestion and have cleaner air in all five boroughs, but without the middle class and small business owners having to pay such a high price. Let's talk about building municipal parking garages at transit hubs; getting more taxi stands, cracking down on double and triple parking and encouraging commercial deliveries during non-peak hours."

Meanwhile, the state senate delegation from Queens, headed by Democratic Minority Leader Malcolm Smith (D- Jamaica) did its part on Monday to thwart the mayor's proposal.

When Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who supported the plan, called for a floor vote on the legislation, Smith told his members to ignore it. Because the Democrats refused to come to the senate chamber, no vote was held on the bill.

Needless to say, the mayor was bitter over the defeat of the plan, which he expected would have large environmental benefits for the city and would raise billions of dollars to fund mass transit improvements.

In attacking Silver and the Assembly's actions, he noted, ven Washington, which most Americans agree is completely dysfunctional, is more willing to try new approaches to longstanding problems than the state Assembly.

"It takes true leadership and courage to embrace new concepts and ideas and to be willing to try something. Unfortunately, both are lacking in the Assembly today."

Bloomberg added:

"If that wasn't shameful enough, it takes a special type of cowardice for elected officials to refuse to stand up and vote their conscience on an issue that has been debated, and amended significantly to resolve many outstanding issues, for more than a year. Every New Yorker has a right to know if the person they send to Albany was for or against better transit and cleaner air. People know where I stood, and where members of the City Council stood. They deserved at least that from Albany."

Summing up his one-year fight, the mayor recalled:

"The idea for congestion pricing didn't start in our administration and it won't end today. The $354 million we would have received from Washington tomorrow will go to another city in another state. But the problems congestion pricing could have helped solve are only going to get worse. And too many people from more than 170 environmental, labor, public health and business organizations recognize the merits of congestion pricing and hopefully someday, we will have more leaders in the legislature who recognize it, too.

"We will continue to push forward on the other 126 proposals in PlaNYC that will reduce our carbon footprint and green our city. We will move forward on proposals to plant 1 million trees, introduce hybrid taxis and install green roofs on city buildings. Congestion pricing is just one part of our ambitious agenda."