View From The Middle
Fidler Plays Wisely While Congestion Panel Could Burn
By Charles Rogers

Now that the City Council, Governor Eliot Spitzer, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and State Senate Leader Joseph Bruno, and others, have chosen a 17-member commission to study the proposed congestion pricing plan, we still don't know whether it will pass with flying colors, especially since a new poll issued just last week says most people are opposed to it. Most, that is, if you live outside of Manhattan.

Some of the members of the mayor's panel - no, MOST of the members of the panel, according to our own City Councilman Lew Fidler - have taken "a public position on this issue that is inconsistent with the public's opinion." He called the panel "a sham."

I think he's right. There are a few obvious counts where that old stalwart "democracy" comes into mind that, by all intents and purposes, the appointers of the panel, Mayor Bloomberg especially, have completely forgotten. Some sources indicate that, for instance, at least ten of the members of the commission already support congestion pricing. Now, I'm really lousy when it comes to math or arithmetic or even physics, but it seems to me there's already an imbalance. Physics experts will tell you that, if you have a see-saw, the side that's heaviest will descend to the ground and win. Duh! And the people on that lopsided panel haven't even started to discuss it yet! They have until next March to come up with suggestions to the City Council and the State Legislature. Even then, barring any leaks about what their determination will be, there will be a lot of in-fighting. And justly so.

The one saving part of the projected discussions is the fact that there will indeed be discussions. We can all hope the commission will meet first thing in the morning.

It's all about congestion in the city. Vehicle congestion (at this early stage, no one is talking about pedestrian or mass transit congestion, as long as they make those counts at least minor objectives). Essentially, the plan is to make drivers - those who are not exempt (and, believe me, there will be plenty who fancy themselves exemptible) - pay $8 a day for cars and $21 for trucks to enter or leave Manhattan below 86th Street and $4 for cars beginning their trips within that zone.

Now, in return, the federal Department of Transportation offered the city $354 million to help finance the project if it is adopted. Of course, they hesitated to make the offer at first, giving the mayor lots of consternation and a case of well-bitten fingernails. He went ahead and told the feds his plan to choose a commission and he showed them a few other plans he had in mind and, well, the money is now, essentially, in escrow. It's there when congestion pricing gets the nod.

Of course, the big question is, who is going to give the nod? The voters? You and me? As far as polls go, the answer the public is giving - overwhelmingly - is to turn it down. Let the federal government know that there are other ways to spend $354 million that will still relieve congestion. In the meantime, the poll notes that, while practically everyone agrees that traffic congestion is a "serious" problem, they still object to the federal government even having any say at all in the project, calling it "meddling."

Then, of course, the MTA has to have a say in it, and they have to submit their comments by October 1, 2007. That's less than a month away. If money is a factor - and when is it not? - you can believe there will be some kind of fare raise in the future, whether we have federal monetary help or not. Remember, there are people on the panel who don't know what it's like - who have NO CONCEPTION - of what it's like to ride on a subway train to and from work every day (even as we speak, they're worrying whether anyone saw them grab a private plane, courtesy of the State Government, for their latest transportation). And the mayor? Maybe we should ask him if he's ever had to get off the L train at Broadway Junction, go down at least two million stairs, and then catch a scenic bus to Canarsie.

Back to that poll: It was conducted by Quinnipiac University on August 30. When Councilman Fidler was asked to comment on it, he said, "Maybe if we had another Tea Party, they'd get the idea that the people do no want this plan restricting their travel into the central business district of their city based on economic ability." And asked about the part of the poll that asks if people would support congestion pricing if it avoided (mass transit) fare hikes, Fidler said this is not the stated purpose of the plan.

"The plan is supposed to provide capital dollars to improve a crumbling transit system," he said.

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