Debunking the Attack on Congestion Pricing

12:27 PM EDT on May 23, 2007

As The Politicker's Azi Paybarah reported yesterday, the anti-traffic relief group, "Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free"
re-released its report, "Congestion Pricing in the Central Business District: Let's Look Hard Before We Leap." Commissioned by the Queens Chamber of Commerce, the study calls into doubt the benefits of Mayor Bloomberg's proposed congestion pricing scheme, with some revised numbers from an earlier version they put out a few weeks ago.

In response, the Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief, a diverse collection of more than 80 different civic organizations, released a report called, "Debunking the Attack on Congestion Pricing."

Paybarah points out:

There's nothing terribly new here, although it occurs to me that if the argument becomes one about whether or not there's actually too much traffic in Manhattan, that's a bad thing for opponents of the plan. Whatever the numbers say.

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.