The City Council Vote in Two Dimensions
This map depicting Monday’s City Council vote comes to us courtesy of Justin Kray at the Pratt Center for Community Development. You can use the City Council website to identify who represents which district. And here’s some good data to go along with the map: car commute rates for every district.
Bill de Blasio’s Brooklyn district, number 39, sticks out like a sore thumb, as does Mathieu Eugene’s, number 40. Sandwiched between representatives who did vote for pricing, de Blasio speaks for a district where 3.7 percent of workers commute by car to the congestion zone, according to the 2000 Census. In Eugene’s district, the figure is just 2.4 percent.
Other “No” districts that immediately stand out include 22 in Astoria (Peter Vallone, Jr.) and 34 in Williamsburg (Diana Reyna). Both districts are slated to get significant transit enhancements, and Astoria car commuters already pay to drive over the Triboro Bridge or go out of their way to get to a free bridge.
Another interesting companion piece is today’s Juan Gonzalez column in the Daily News. Though his anti-pricing stance comes across loud and clear, Gonzalez provides some good insight into the horse trading that went on prior to the vote.
UPDATE: Liz Benjamin at the Daily Politics interprets the map with an eye towards 2009 elections.
Read More:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
