Brooklyn

Joe Lentol is Worried About Congestion Pricing Park-and-Riders

Local elected officials appear to be moving from a "tax on the middle class" critique of Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal to a "park-and-ride" argument. Check out these two letters from senior Brooklyn Assembly member Joseph Lentol to constituents. In the first letter, written May 15, Lentol says that he is giving congestion pricing "his full review and consideration." He expresses no specific opinion or concerns about the plan:

By Aaron Naparstek

12:12 PM EDT on June 4, 2007

Local elected officials appear to be moving from a “tax on the middle class” critique of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing proposal to a “park-and-ride” argument. Check out these two letters from senior Brooklyn Assembly member Joseph Lentol to constituents. In the first letter, written May 15, Lentol says that he is giving congestion pricing “his full review and consideration.” He expresses no specific opinion or concerns about the plan:

Now check out this May 25 letter. Ten days after the first letter Lentol has formulated a critique. He is worried “whether or not the proposal addresses those individuals who will drive into the district to park and then ride subways into Manhattan.” This “park-and-ride” issue appears to be emerging as the congestion pricing hot-button among elected officials all over town. Clearly, it’s time to dig up the data from Transport for London’s “boundary impacts” studies. Stay tuned for that.

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's 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. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.