August 1: The Mayor Shall Submit the Traffic Mitigation Plan

10:50 AM EDT on August 1, 2007

A couple of weeks ago Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Spitzer, Senate Leader Bruno and Assembly Speaker Silver agreed to a process that would lead to the formation of a 17-member commission that would evaluate and decide on New York City's congestion pricing proposal.

The deal laid out a very specific timeline by which the process would move forward. One of the first big milestones on that timeline was today's date, August 1. That is date on which the Mayor shall "submit the traffic mitigation plan." Here is how it was laid out in the deal summary:

NYC is authorizedto present and implement a detailed congestion pricing plan to addresstraffic congestion within a zone of severe traffic congestion inManhattan. Such plan shall include (a) the geographic area to becovered; (b) the proposed dollar amount of any congestion pricing fee;(c) the technology to be used to implement such pricing plan; and (d)the number and scope of exemptions granted from such fee requirements.The Mayor shall submit the traffic mitigation plan by August 1, 2007.

Is the Mayor supposed to submit his plan to the 17-member commission? If so, where is the commission? Or does he just have to submit it to the State Legislature and City Council for now? Is the City still on track to meet the August 1 milestone? I've got some phone calls in to various sources. If you know what's going on, drop a line to tips@streetsblog.org or the comments section.

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

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