Bd 7 Hails Congestion Pricing Defeat
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

Although Councilmember John Liu voted in favor of congestion pricing, no one at the April meeting of Community Board 7 seemed to mind.

"As this board has wished, the whole congestion pricing thing is out of the water," Liu said at the meeting in Flushing.

The reaction was spontaneous and in the affirmative. "Yes!"

Liu, chairperson of the council Committee on Transportation, said, "I think we still have to come up with ways to reduce traffic congestion. We have to think outside the box now."

Along with encouraging more car pooling to increase occupancy in vehicles, Liu said, "We will continue to push for greater frequency of express buses on existing lines."

Liu also said Mayor Michael Bloomberg will continue to crack down on abuse of city-issued parking placards. "It's not acceptable to use placards to park the entire day," he said.

With the upcoming city budget due by July 1, Liu said, "We're getting close." Regarding the state budget, passed on April 9, he said, "[It] could have been a lot worse."

The $122 billion state budget increased spending by 4.9 percent.

But with warnings from Governor David Paterson that as much as $12 billion may have to be cut from next year's budget, Liu acknowledged the 2009 state budget will be different. "Next year, I think it's going to be really tough," he said.

Albany will be sending $643 million more to the city for education this year, but Liu said the city is looking to significantly cut spending for education in its budget. "There is going to be a huge crisis in school funding," said Liu. "[This] will hurt many schools in our area. [We're] starting to get into the whole [budget] fray. We'll have a busy next couple of months."

In other business, the Metropolitan Transit Authority - Bridges and Tunnels, announced work on the Throgs Neck Bridge will begin by this summer. "We're doing a roadway deck replacement that includes painting," said Frank Pasquale, MTA - Bridges and Tunnels Director of Public Relations. "This is a brand new steel reinforced deck, a much better riding surface."

The main span of the bridge, up to the merge between the Clearview Expressway and the Cross Island Parkway, will be replaced. In addition, in the repainting, all old lead paint will be removed.

The Cross Island Parkway access ramp will be shut down and some diversions to the Bronx- Whitestone Bridge are expected. During work, the center median will be removed and replaced with movable barriers. In the morning there will be two lanes to The Bronx that will reverse to two lanes to Queens in the afternoon, maintaining three lanes in each direction during the work.

The contract will be awarded in June and the roadway work will be conducted in 2009 during two separate five-week periods. There will be no winter work and the entire length of the project is expected to be two years and nine months from the date of the award in June.

"We will be working double shifts and stay within New York City noise codes," said Pasquale. "We will also be careful about construction lighting." Access to Little Neck Parkway will be unaffected.