Congestion Pricing

City Council Member Joel Rivera, whose stance on congestion pricing remained unclear until he voted "Yes" on March 31st, came out as a full-fledged supporter yesterday with an editorial in the Daily News. The Bronx rep added another wrinkle to speculation that pricing might come back:

State legislators who opposed congestion pricing are shocked -- shocked! -- that the New York League of Conservation Voters may hold them accountable for their positions on one of the most important environmental initiatives in recent history.

Here's an interview from last year with London Mayor Boris Johnson, who ousted Ken Livingstone last week. It's pretty remarkable in that Johnson spends the first eight minutes talking about buses and bikes.

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.

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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: