State Democrats Kill Congestion Pricing Plan in State Assembly

The New York State Assembly killed Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controversial congestion pricing plan Monday. The proposal, which would have charged $8 for cars and $21 for trucks entering Manhattan below 60th Street, faced overwhelming opposition from assembly Democrats, who voted privately not to hold a vote in the full assembly.

The decision, which dealt a heavy blow to Bloomberg’s political agenda, brought relief to drivers who would have had to pay the extra fee. But it came as a huge disappointment to those eagerly anticipating the reduction in traffic and pollution that proponents said congestion pricing would have brought.

“Today is a sad day for New Yorkers and a sad day for New York City,” Bloomberg said in a statement released shortly after the decision.

The plan’s defeat disqualifies the city from receiving up to $354 million in “federal grants for traffic mitigation and mass transit aid,” according to the New York Times. It also comes less than a month after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced it would postpone proposed service upgrades—including increased evening service on the 1 subway line—due to lack of revenue, despite a fare hike in March expected to increase annual revenue by $360 million.

“There was a lot of opposition [to the plan], especially outside of Manhattan,” Senator Bill Perkins (D-West Harlem), who had recently declared his support for congestion pricing, said. “Most of us [legislators] that represent Manhattan were supportive.”

Perkins stressed that the issues of traffic and air quality—particularly in Morningside Heights and West Harlem, where asthma and other respiratory problems are unusually common—will now have to be addressed by other means.

“Those issues are still important and cannot be ignored,” Perkins said. “Things will get worse before they get better, but they will get better.”

City Council member Inez Dickens (D-Morningside Heights and Harlem), who voted in favor of congestion pricing when it came before the City Council last week, declined to comment.

State Assembly member Danny O’Donnell (D-Morningside Heights) and City Council member Robert Jackson (D-West Harlem and Washington Heights) could not be reached for comment by press time.

maggie.astor@columbiaspectator.com