Posted on 04/22/2007 4:05:58 PM PDT by blam
Mayor Proposes a Fee for Driving Into Manhattan
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg laid out a series of Earth Day proposals on Sunday at the American Museum of Natural History.
By MARIA NEWMAN
Published: April 22, 2007
Saying that he would not spend his final term in office “pretending that all is fine,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made a series of Earth Day proposals this afternoon to improve the environment of New York City, including charging a new congestion fee to drivers who come into parts of Manhattan during peak hours during weekdays.
The $8 congestion fee was one of 127 initiatives included in a sweeping plan by the mayor to help the city of currently 8.2 million people cope with an expected surge in population that he said is sure to put a strain on its transportation, housing and energy systems.
“Let’s face up to the fact that our population growth is putting our city on a collision course with the environment, which itself is growing more unstable and uncertain,” the mayor said.
A key objective is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030, by which time the population is projected to grow by at least a million people, he said.
The proposal that is sure to attract the most attention, and possibly objections, is one to impose the $8 fee on car drivers, and $21 for truck operators, to drive in Manhattan south of 86th Street.
The mayor said congestion on the city’s streets is the source of many of the city’s health, environmental and economic problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“You already pay a fee for driving into Manhattan on most bridges and tunnels. “
If Bloomberg REALLY wanted to raise cash, he’d make people pay to LEAVE NYC
If I was in NYC I know I would give my left..... to get away from that place.
90% of the cars there are taxis.
(That’s a guess.)
ML/NJ
By taxation, the growth estimates are greatly exaggerated.
I have a friend who works in the "fund of funds" part of the hedge fund business. He's a terribly smart guy... Ivy league education, and strong math skills... a savant.
When he goes to Kennedy airport, he figures out how long his trip will be for and if the money justifies it, he treats the car tow like a valet service. He pulls up in front of the airport, summons the tow truck, and gets on his plane.
When he gets back, he goes to the impound yard, pays his fine, and picks up his car.
I think the trip duration that justifies it is something like 11 days. If he's gone longer than that it's cheaper tp get the car towed than to pay for parking.
Absolutely true.
It’s wrong by quite a bit.
So stereotypical it's amazing. For every solution there's a tax.
No one remembers the timid...
Any one who can work in Manhattan can afford $80. Why stop with a lousy girly-man $8?
Just saying.
Sounds like a lot of trouble, plus I’d be worried that the tow operator (they’re all salt-of-the-earth types) might damage the vehicle. Couldn’t he just take a cab?
Mayor Bloomberg would have to pay me to drive into Manhattan!
Another rich Liberal out for the little guy........
Republicans should toss this control freak out of our party.
>>When he goes to Kennedy airport, he figures out how long his trip will be for and if the money justifies it, he treats the car tow like a valet service. He pulls up in front of the airport, summons the tow truck, and gets on his plane.<<
That is the most outrageously humerous story I’ve heard in a while. Amazing.
Idiotic. Traffic isn’t any worse or better than it’s been for the last 20 years. Congestion hasn’t reached any kind of breaking point or any such nonsense.
I’ve been driving into the city on weekends from Westchester for years (I ride the train in every weekday). Things have been made tougher driving in under Bloomberg in two ways:
1. Reducing the number of free parking spots in midtown drastically. Virtually everywhere now are the pay machines (though parking’s still free on Sundays, which they deliberately don’t advertise in order to sucker in the newbies and clueless suburbanites).
2. Greatly increasing the penalties if you do get caught. A midtown parking ticket will cost you $120-150 dollars. Enough to put the fear of God in you.
But a mandatory $8 charge is enough to kill off the hardcore veterans like myself. I won’t be driving in any more if that’s the case. And the city loses a great amount of income from me and my family in order to gain ... well, absolutely nothing.
Idiotic.
NYC already charges admission; all they’re doing is raising the price!
A tax is a tax is a tax.
They don’t need any new reasons to tax... just call it something different to match the rhetoric of the day.
You are correct that this plan won’t make a dent in traffic congestion. And who will be hurt most? City residents who for one reason or another find it inconvenient to use the subways:
1. Older people and those in poor health who find it hard to negotiate all those stairs.
2. Mothers with infants or toddlers who have to carry baby, strollers, and related gear.
3. Freelancers who transport large portfolios, sample cases, musical instruments and other items that make long walks and riding in crowded trains a challenge.
An extra eight dollar fee for every trip into midtown, on top of all the other tolls, parking fees and so on that they already pay, is quite a burden, though I’m sure Bloomberg and his pals can afford it.
This guy is way more liberal than most liberal democrats.
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