Don't block the box
Saturday, June 9th 2007
Editorial

Gov. Spitzer has seen the light on congestion pricing, hailing it as "a necessary investment in the future of New York City." Federal Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters likes the idea so much that she put the city on a list for hundreds of millions in federal grants. State Senate GOP leader Joe Bruno gets it too, introducing Mayor Bloomberg's bill in the Legislature and calling the goals "extremely worthwhile."

Which leaves Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his Democrats as the last ones to get onboard. The question now: Are they going to block the box? Or will they seize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to unclog traffic, curb pollution and pour billions into mass transit?

Yesterday's Assembly hearing smacked of obfuscation and obstructionism. Silver stacked the witness list with critics while failing to invite the MTA or any of the dozens of environmental and public health groups who back congestion pricing. The questions from lawmakers ranged from the skeptical to the outright hostile.

But Bloomberg parried every thrust, and those testifying on the other side did their cause more harm than good. Some actually conceded it's a good idea to collect a fee from those driving into Manhattan but picked nits with details of Bloomberg's implementation. The New York Civil Liberties Union's Donna Lieberman, meanwhile, freaked out about the cameras necessary for the program - as if photographing license plates on public streets would be an invasion of privacy gross enough to forgo unclogged streets, cleaner air and well-funded subways.

Back in the real world, Spitzer and forward-looking leaders are focused on making Bloomberg's idea a reality - and quickly, so as to collect $400 million in aid that Peters will hand out this summer. That money, and the revenue from congestion pricing, would just about make up for the fortune the city loses every year because Silver cooperated in killing the commuter tax in 1999. Will he let this opportunity die too?

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/06/09/2007-06-09_dont_block_the_box.html

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