Congestion Pricing

We're beginning to roll out some site updates and new features here at Streetblog, with more on the way.  Today's treat: Compact Archives.  Take a look at archives listing for a category or month, and you should find them more scan-able.  We've also updated our search results with the same goal in mind.  Boy, have we written a lot on congestion pricing.

New York State Assembly Member Deborah Glick represents Chelsea, Greenwich Village, Tribeca and a good piece of Chinatown and Lower Manhattan. Encompassing the Holland Tunnel, Canal Street and a section of the Westside Highway, her district suffers from some of the worst traffic congestion in all of New York City. Transit-rich and offering some of the city's most walkable and bike-friendly streets (Jane Jacobs lived and worked in this Assembly district) Glick's constituents would likely be among the greatest beneficiaries of any traffic reduction plan.

If all goes according to plan, the decision to approve Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal will be made by New York City's 51 Council members some time before March 28, 2008. Gotham Gazette called every single New York City Council member to ask where they stood on congestion pricing and here is what reporter Courtney Gross found:

Sweden re-launched its congestion pricing system today following a 6-month trial and voter referendum last September, in which Stockholm residents approved the traffic control measure by a margin of 52 to 45. The referendum was a definitive victory for a system that reduced Stockholm's traffic congestion by as much as 50 percent and decreased noxious air pollution by 14 percent (you can see some stats here). Notably, prior to the 6-month trial run, polls showed that as many as 80 percent of Stockholm residents were against the idea congestion pricing.

This morning, I asked whether Mayor Bloomberg had met the August 1 deadline to submit his congestion pricing plan to the 17-member commission that is supposed to come together to evaluate "traffic mitigation" proposals for New York City. Here's the quick answer, from City Hall spokesman John Gallagher:

A couple of weeks ago Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Spitzer, Senate Leader Bruno and Assembly Speaker Silver agreed to a process that would lead to the formation of a 17-member commission that would evaluate and decide on New York City's congestion pricing proposal.

By now we're all familiar with the litany of complaints about the City's new traffic control plan: It's an unfair and burdensome new tax; it's going to kill retail business and hurt the little guy; and most of all, it's just plain "un-American."

Today's Crain's Insider, available to subscribers only, reports on the next steps for the Bloomberg Administration's broader Long-Term Sustainability Plan now that congestion pricing has cleared its first hurdle in Albany:

This afternoon the New York State Assembly voted 122-16 and the Senate voted 39-16 in favor of the process that would establish a 17-member commission to develop traffic mitigation measures for New York City. The commission's plan would be required to produce a 6.3% reduction in average vehicle miles traveled in New York City.