TSTC

Meghan Goth reports:

In June we reported on the city's effort to bring some 20,000 additional parking spaces to the Hudson Yards area on the far West Side, via a rezoning provision adopted in 2005. Though it's a remnant of the failed stadium plan, the Bloomberg administration nonetheless intends to hold on the parking component, going so far as to defend itself against a related lawsuit by claiming that the city's carbon monoxide levels are declining. (Not surprisingly, neighborhood folk aren't taking the city's word for it.)

Responding to some politicians' claims that congestion pricing is a "regressive tax" that would impact "working stiffs" who must drive to their jobs, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the Pratt Center for Community Development have compiled data, broken down by district, showing that the vast majority of commuters in New York City and surrounding counties would not be affected by a congestion pricing fee. In district after district, the stats show that most people either work somewhere other than the proposed pricing zone or commute to the CBD via transit, carpooling or other means. Fact sheets are available for City Council, State Assembly and Senate, and US Congressional districts.

Over the past few weeks, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign has been collaborating with environmental economist Charles Komanoff to assess the impact of various value-pricing scenarios on travel patterns at MTA toll facilities, like the Throgs Neck Bridge, at right. From this week's Mobilizing the Region:

A dozen or so years ago, back when congestion pricing was a distant dream and New York City's number one transportation priority was to squeeze more transit funding from government, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign commissioned me to determine which was greater: the dollars that New York State governments took in from drivers, or the dollars spent on drivers' behalf. I spent months immersed in bookkeeping arcana, parsing revenue pots like the statewide Petroleum Business Tax and expenses like fire department equipment for prying crash victims from mangled vehicles, before I emerged with an answer.

From the newsletter of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign comes an inspiring summation of the effects of congestion pricing in London since the program's inception in 2003, gleaned from Transport for London's annual report:

State Assembly Member Richard Brodsky is displeased by the suggestion that his opposition to New York City's congestion pricing plan had anything to do with the fact that he has accepted more money from parking industry interests than any other State Assembly Member and that his district houses the wealthiest Manhattan car commuters in New York State.

The latest issue of Mobilizing the Region digs in to the arguments of congestion pricing foes. Some highlights:

Finally, we get to see just how much former executive director Jon Orcutt was tamping down the high-powered talent at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. The latest issue of Mobilizing the Region is jam-packed with good articles. Here are some highlights (and, yes, I'm kidding about Orcutt but serious about this week's MTR being really good):