Source: Newsday
Publication Date: Oct. 25, 2007

By Carl MacGowan

Robert Weisenfeld held up photographs yesterday showing what he said is the real cause of traffic congestion in Manhattan: A delivery truck parked in the middle of a street and another truck double parked in front of a deli. "Anybody who drives in New York City knows that this is a rather regular occurrence," Weisenfeld, a Bayside lawyer, said last night at a public hearing on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed congestion pricing plan.

About a dozen speakers debated the plan during a public hearing at Hofstra University attended by about 40 people. While all the speakers agreed traffic congestion is a major problem, they disagreed about how to solve it.

Bloomberg's plan would charge commuters $8 a day for driving into Manhattan below 86th Street during business hours. The mayor believes the plan would generate $380 million in revenue in the first year and $900 million annually by 2030. Officials estimate half would be paid by commuters and businesses in northern Manhattan and the outer boroughs, and half by those outside the city.

The plan, which Bloomberg touts as a way of reducing air pollution by encouraging the use of mass transit, has been derided by bipartisan critics as a regressive tax intended to compensate for the loss of a previous commuter tax.

The 17-member New York City Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission holding the public hearings is due to make a recommendation to the City Council and state lawmakers by Jan. 31.

Congestion pricing is a "sensible solution" to traffic tie-ups that cost the region $13 billion and 52,000 jobs a year, said Josh Klainberg, deputy director of the New York League of Conservation Voters. "The technology exists today that will allow us to create a congestion pricing system that is fair, flexible and responsive to regional planning needs," Klainberg said.

Corey Bearak of Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free referred to Bloomberg's proposal as a congestion tax and said excessive traffic is caused partly by failure to enforce traffic laws.

But Weisenfeld and others said Bloomberg's proposal would be a hardship for people traveling into Manhattan. Robert Friedrich, president of the co-op board in Glen Oaks Village in Queens, said there is little public transportation in his neighborhood.

"There are no subways there, and there are sporadic buses," he said. "This is an imposition of a lot of money on working-class people."

Business owners said the proposal would hurt companies that must make multiple trips to Manhattan each day.

"Our industry is going to be majorly impacted," said Ron Billing, president of Ron's Rapid Delivery in Hicksville.

The proposal would raise revenue to fund transit projects while reducing traffic, said Christopher Jones of the Regional Plan Association.

"Everybody who takes the roads in New York City knows that traffic has gone from being a nuisance to being a crisis," he said.

Bert Donley of Oyster Bay said congestion pricing would be "one more reason not to go to the city. It's obviously a way to get rid of the free bridges," he said.

Another hearing is to be held tonight at 6 at Hunter College in Manhattan.