Today: Dueling Congestion Pricing Press Events

10:45 AM EDT on July 9, 2007

State Assembly Member Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) is releasing his report on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal on the steps of City Hall today at 2:00 pm. Billed as "the first thorough, independent, and fair-minded" analysis (Apparently, the Partnership for New York's two-year study wasn't thorough and Bruce Schaller's massive body of research wasn't independent enough for Brodsky).

Brodsky's report is -- big shocker -- "sharply critical" of the Mayor's traffic relief plan and suggests that "it would impose an unfair tax on lower- and middle-income drivers," according to the New York Times.

Prior to Brodsky's press conference, Mayor Bloomberg will be detailing the mass transit benefits of PlaNYC and "the need for Albany to act by July 16th to secure up to $500 million worth of federal funds to implement short-term mass transit improvements and to set up a pilot congestion pricing program." The Mayor will be appearing at the New York Building Congress forum, 1:00 pm, at the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park.

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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