Congestion Pricing

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who introduced congestion charging to the British capital in 2003, has probably been unseated by Tory challenger Boris Johnson, report Reuters and the Evening Standard. Labour lost across the board in UK elections yesterday, and the London mayor's race appears not to have bucked the trend, although the final tally has not yet been announced.

This is the second installment of Streetsblog's interview with Paul Newell, candidate for State Assembly in the 64th District, who's challenging Speaker Sheldon Silver in the Democratic primary this September. In this segment, Newell addresses some of the issues that are fresh in the minds of everyone who followed the death of congestion pricing in Albany without a vote earlier this month. The first part of the interview, about running for office in New York, ran yesterday.

The New York State Assembly is doing a great job... for the people of Chicago.

Following a three day period that saw three pedestrian fatalities in Brooklyn -- preceded by two cyclist deaths in Manhattan one week earlier -- the Citizens Committee for New York City has released its annual "Speak Out New York" survey, citing pedestrian safety as one of two top concerns of city residents.

Welcome to Glickville

This weekend, in a bizarre profile of congestion pricing's alpha opponent, Richard Brodsky, the New York Times did little to counter the Westchester Assemblyman's populist rhetoric. The piece, by reporter Joseph Berger, is full of odd editorializing, and appears to reprint some of Brodsky's talking points part and parcel without attribution:

Marc Shaw, former chair of the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission, caused something of a stir in the local press on Friday, when he predicted that congestion pricing would "rise again" as a proposal to toll East River bridges and a cordon across 60th street. Speaking at a panel discussion at the RPA's Regional Assembly, Shaw said he had been told by Richard Ravitch, the one-time MTA head who's been asked by Governor Paterson to devise ways to shore up the agency's finances, that pricing is "on his agenda."

As former deputy mayor and Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission Chair Marc Shaw predicts that congestion pricing may re-emerge soon in the form a proposal to toll 60th Street and the East River bridges, the Daily Politics reports that Ted Kheel is planning to put up $1 million to promote his free transit plan heading into the 2009 mayoral election.

DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan gave a brief, clear-eyed overview of the city's post-pricing transportation agenda today at the Regional Plan Association's 18th Annual Regional Assembly. Speaking at a panel discussion called "Making Cars Pay Their Way," she rattled off a list of projects in the works, including some public space improvements that are certain to quicken the pulse of livable streets types.