Congestion Pricing
Streetsblog Basics
Find Out Where They Stand: 73 Candidates Reply to TA Transpo Survey
If you're wondering where the Post picked up the news that Mayor Bloomberg is on the record supporting bike-share for New York, head over to the Transportation Alternatives Candidate Survey. You'll find much more about where the people running for Mayor, Manhattan DA, City Council, Comptroller, Public Advocate, and the borough presidencies stand on transportation issues.
August 20, 2009
District 1 Council Candidates: Safer Streets? Less Traffic? No Thanks.
Reader Ian Dutton sends this dispatch from last night's candidate debate for the District 1 City Council seat representing Lower Manhattan, organized by the Downtown Express and the Villager. If you're a District 1 resident who values safer streets and a well-funded transit system, tough luck.
August 18, 2009
Time-Polluting Daily News Honcho Goes Public
In Utah, they flip off forest rangers and wheel their ATV’s onto delicate wilderness trails. In the Virginia exurbs they lounge in air-conditioned trophy homes and write checks to stop carbon taxes. Here in NYC, they find their “Network” moment in a 25-cent bump in MTA bridge tolls, then ferret out toll-free routes into Manhattan and crow about them in the Daily News.
August 18, 2009
Q Poll: Car-Free Times Square a Smash Hit; MTA Skepticism Still High
If you're a livable streets optimist, you probably suspected that car-free Times Square critics like Andrea Peyser, Susan Dominus, and John Liu were out of touch. After all, most New Yorkers don't own cars, and many of those who do spend more time as pedestrians than drivers. And really, how many people were driving their own private vehicles right through the middle of Times Square, anyway?
July 29, 2009
Brooklyn Pols Revive Proposal for Residential Permit Parking
On Friday, a trio of local electeds pushed for legislation that would allow New York City to create a residential permit parking system. The Daily News and NY1 picked up the story, and if those reports have you wondering about specifics, that's because much of the plan has yet to be hammered out.
May 18, 2009
LaHood: NYC’s Congestion Pricing Money Still There for the Taking
Speaking at an event in Midtown yesterday morning, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood let it be known that New York City can still claim hundreds of millions of dollars in federal transit funding -- if local lawmakers implement congestion pricing. NY1 reports:
May 14, 2009
Albany’s Choice… or Ours
Thank Albany. By segmenting the 30-35 percent transit fare increase into three stages, the legislature has opened the door for a broad-based campaign to put an end to fare hikes and institute genuine transportation reform.
May 7, 2009
Does the State Senate’s MTA Plan Pass Environmental Muster?
The Municipal Art Society came out with a report yesterday urging New York State to start analyzing greenhouse gas emissions in its environmental review process (SEQRA). MAS argues that the policy could be adopted without changing existing laws, which raises an interesting question to ponder on this Earth Day afternoon: Would the State Senate's latest MTA funding plan pass muster if it were subject to an EIS that factors in climate change?
April 22, 2009
Another Bad Transit Plan from the State Senate
So, just in time for Earth Day, the State Senate has proposed an MTA rescue plan that's bad for both business and the environment. Here's a refresher on the basics: The plan calls for an eight percent hike in transit fares and existing tolls, and a higher payroll tax (85 percent of the non-hike revenue comes from this one source), combined with a smattering of fees on renting and owning cars. Half of the $190 million from a new $1 "drop charge" on cabs won't even help the New Yorkers who pay it, going instead to fund bridge and highway projects outside the city.
April 21, 2009
Needed: A Better Way to Sweeten the Ravitch Plan
Wondering how the revised version of the Ravitch plan compares to what's come before? Here's a look at the tweaks proposed yesterday by the Ravitch Commission:
April 16, 2009