Mayor Pats Christine Quinn on the BackAfter her help passing the congestion-pricing bill through City Council, Bloomberg is sharing an NRDC award with her.
Will Arnett, Congestion-Pricing VigilanteThe bike-riding comedian explains exactly how he exacts citizen’s revenge on Jersey drivers who dare to swerve into the cycling lane.
intel
Bloomberg Gets Wheezy Over Congestion PricingMayor Bloomberg came out swinging for congestion pricing today. Facing a March 31 deadline for the city and state legislatures to collect $354 million in federal start-up funds, Hizzoner appeared at breakfast with U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters at his side. To an Anthony Weiner question about congestion pricing’s threat to federal funding, Bloomberg snapped: “That’s one of the stupider things I’ve heard!”
intel
Spitzer’s Crashing and Burning May Put Congestion Pricing Back on the RoadIn one of its more curious repercussions, it looks like Eliot Spitzer’s fall might mean the resurrection of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing agenda. The groups pushing for a fee on midtown driving to fund mass-transit improvements say that governor designate David Paterson’s reputation as a conciliator bodes well for brokering a deal on the controversial proposal. As it stands, city and state lawmakers must adopt a proposed pricing plan by March 31 to retain a $354 million federal start-up grant — but that too could now change. The city will likely play the our-state-government-is-in-crisis card, pressing the Feds — who badly want to see New York get the money — to extend the deadline. (An ally of Sheldon Silver sniffed: “The mayor’s office has cooked up lots of deadlines and may be cooking up this one, too.”)
intel
Mario Cuomo Not So Sure This Congestion-Pricing Thing Is HappeningMario Cuomo, like Mayor Bloomberg, knows presidential-bid scrutiny. But he knows Albany even better. And the former governor doesn’t see congestion pricing coming out of the legislative swamp by the end of March — when lawmakers must adopt a commission-sponsored plan to keep the city from losing $354 million in pledged federal transit aid. “I’m not ruling it out, but I’m not ruling it in,” Cuomo told us (there’s that hedging we remember from the presidential-run talk). After hearing Eliot Spitzer talk up an ambitious budget proposal to the developer-heavy Association for a Better New York, the former governor noted that Mayor Bloomberg’s air-quality cause seemed conspicuously absent from his successor’s weighty wish list. “He has a complicated and very impressive agenda,” Cuomo tells us, “and if congestion pricing were on it, we’d have heard about it.” To be fair, Spitzer’s slideshow did include an endorsement of the MTA’s five-year capital plan, which relies on upwards of $4 billion from bonds that congestion-pricing fees would support. But Albany can always find ways to borrow more money — that’s something Cuomo knows, too. —Alec Appelbaum
party lines
Mayor Bloomberg: Think Green, Drink CokeOne of the things that we love about Mayor Bloomberg is that he always makes an effort during speeches. He always has a joke handy, he’s personable, and crowds always eat him up (who doesn’t want to eat up a munchkin?). So it was last night at the Global Green USA Awards. “When I first got elected mayor, [my mother] said to me, ‘Now don’t try to be witty or clever; just be yourself,’” Hizzoner cracked, to much general amusement. Then he went straight into his eco-themed speech, which touched upon a lot of his PlaNYC initiatives. And then he threw down the gauntlet to PepsiCo, of all people. “Coca-Cola Enterprises has developed a hybrid delivery truck,” he explained. “This new truck produces zero emissions when it’s going very slowly, which is the only thing it’s ever going to do in our city … If I can start to get people saying, ‘Hey, Coca-Cola is a responsible company,’ then it’s good for Coke. They will make more money, and they will have an increased interest in investing in our future. And other companies will hopefully follow suit. After all, if you were PepsiCo., what would you do?” Um, bring back that commercial where Britney Spears, Beyoncé, and Pink are gladiators? Is that the wrong answer? —Robert Fischer
in other news
Congestion Pricing Gets Bloomberg in Trouble With … the Jews?Have you heard? The Jews are voicing their disgust — disgust — with Michael Bloomberg! According to CBS, the mayor’s visit to London, aside from leaving the city in the hands of a shadowy nameless ruler, turned into a Jewish PR disaster: Bloomberg’s U.K. counterpart, Ken Livingstone, whom Bloomie is hoping to emulate with his congestion-pricing initiative, is apparently an anti-Semite and thinks the State of Israel shouldn’t exist. Asked whether the resulting mayor-on-mayor photo-op action may hurt Mayor Mike with his constituents back home, Assemblyman Dov Hikind gravely offered that, quote, “It doesn’t help.”
the morning line
Bus Stop
• Sure, the Feds promised Bloomberg $354 million for his traffic-reduction plan (if he can get the city and state to pass it), but that dough’s mainly to put up new bus depots. Of the roughly $200 mil needed to charge drivers entering Manhattan, Uncle Sam’s promised only $10 million. [NYT]
it just happened
Feds to City: Decongest!
And so it has finally happened: The U.S. Department of Transportation just announced it will give New York City a $354 million grant to implement a congestion-pricing system in the city. It’s not quite the $500 million Mayor Bloomberg and Dan Doctoroff told everyone the city stood to receive, but it’s a whole lot more than nothing, too. It’s a big win for the mayor, except for one thing. The Feds will only pay out on that grant if the state legislature signs off by March of next year — which means that seventeen-member commission formed just after the (alleged) application deadline pass a plan before then, and the city council, too, must agree to it. Shelly Silver, we think, is going to have a whole lot more fun.
U.S. Offers New York Millions for Congestion Pricing [City Room/NYT]
Earlier: Daily Intel’s coverage of congestion pricing
the morning line
Here We Go Again: Mike to Get His Traffic Money, If Albany Agrees
• The Feds are expected to announce today that, yes indeed, they’ll shell out the big bucks necessary for Bloomberg to execute his congestion-pricing dream plan — if Albany passes it first, that is. [NYT]
the morning line
Mr. Ethics, Meet the Ethics Board
• The newest chapter in the fast-developing Spitzer scandal: The State Ethics Commission, which definitely has subpoena power, has joined the State Senate in requesting the documents from the Bruno investigation. Not looking good. [amNY]
it just happened
Congestion Pricing: It’s a Deal!
As Geoffrey Gray warned us earlier, there’s now a deal for congestion pricing. From City Room, the Times’s metro blog:
“We have a deal,” Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader, just told reporters in Albany. “Like any deal, like any arrangement, its [sic] subject to the definitive word ending up on paper. As we speak, we are drafting paper, press release, with the governor’s office, with the Assembly.”
Asked if the deal would still qualify for a grant of $500 million in federal financing, Mr. Bruno said: “We are told if we get this there today, we will be one of the nine considered.”
Just think: Some time in the not-too-distant future, you’ll have the privilege of paying to drive on exploding streets. Fun!
Deal Is at Hand in Congestion Pricing [City Room/NYT]
Earlier: Congestion-Pricing Lives! Is City Hall Close to Announcing a Deal?
intel
Congestion-Pricing Lives! Is City Hall Close to Announcing a Deal?
Thought you didn’t have to hear any more about congestion pricing? You may not be so lucky. This morning’s Daily News reported that a marathon private negotiation went till the wee hours last night, putting Bloomberg and Albany leaders tantalizingly close to a deal to salvage the mayor’s traffic plan. “We are extraordinarily close, but it’s just not going to get there tonight,” Spitzer’s spokesman told the News just before midnight. “All the pieces have not come together.” Well, the word we’re now hearing is that those pieces have finally come together. A source in City Hall tells New York’s Geoffrey Gray that they’ll be holding a press conference in a few hours to announce a deal. We wouldn’t hold our breath — considering the mercurial people involved — but it’s what we’re hearing.
Related: Congest Fight U-Turn [NYDN]
the morning line
Can’t We Just Blame Everyone?
• With Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing plan dead, the finger-pointing begins in earnest. Mayor Mike decries Albany’s lack of “guts” while state officials accuse the mayor of springing a fully formed proposal on them at the last possible moment. [NYT]
in other news
Let Us Ride Bikes!
We missed this in yesterday’s paper, presumably because we were so distracted by Bloomberg’s unsuccessful shuttle diplomacy in Albany: While London, Stockholm, and Singapore all have successful congestion-pricing programs, and while Scandinavian capitals have longstanding center-city transportation cultures built around bicycles, and while an art installation in Soho last week made bikes available to New Yorkers for a few days, Paris is now trying to beat its traffic problems by making some 10,000 bicycles available for nominal fees around the city — there’ll be 20,000 and change by the end of the year — for people to rent from one of 750 stations, ride to where they need go, and return to another station. This plan sounds like it could be another good way to get some cars off the road and emissions out of the air. Could it be congestion pricing 2.0, Mike? Of course not! It’s an interesting and innovative idea; Shelly Silver must hate it.
A New French Revolution’s Creed: Let Them Ride Bikes [NYT]
the morning line
Stalled Traffic
• After all that, Albany shelved Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing idea, letting the federal-funding deadline pass without the issue even coming to a vote. Expect a new traffic-reducing proposal, nothing like Bloomberg’s, later in the year. [NYT]
in other news
Congestion Pricing, ‘Times’ Reporter: Both Still in PurgatoryToday is the deadline for Albany to get a congestion-pricing deal done, as Mayor Bloomberg has consistently said, and at 5:30 p.m. there’s still no legislation. But something still could — indeed, still well might — come together before midnight, which seems about right for our dysfunctional state capital. At City Room, the Times’ local-politics blog, statehouse reporter Nick Confessore has been chronicling a day spent trailing officials like Bloomberg and Joe Bruno hoping, usually in vain, for a comment:
The meeting was closed to reporters, who camped outside a locked conference room door, pressing their ears — and tape recorders — to the glass in the hopes of catching an earful of congestion-pricing gossip. (Such is the exciting life of the Albany statehouse reporter.)
We’ll remind you that Confessore made A1 a mere four weeks ago with his lament, “In Albany, Life Has Seeped Out of the Night Life.” Poor guy.
Day of Decision Comes for Congestion Pricing [City Room/NYT]
the morning line
Traffic Jam
• It’s down to the wire — the deadline for the legislature to approve Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing plan is today — and the still-unbowed mayor is pulling out all stops: Yesterday, he campaigned for it in three churches, fer chrissakes. [NYT]
the morning line
Thrice-Married Catholic Not Considered So Religious
• Only 13 percent of responders think Rudy Giuliani is “of strong religious faith,” according to a Time poll — and that’s lower than Hillary’s number (15 percent). But he once wanted to close down an art exhibit for blasphemy! [NYP]
• “The very character of the Northeast is at stake” if greenhouse gases aren’t reduced, a new study warns. Poised to vanish: Long Island lobsters and New York apples. What will thrive: smog, pollen, and floods. And, clearly, Claritin sales. [NYT]
• An L.A.-to-London flight was diverted to JFK this morning because of a “suspicious passenger.” Michael Chertoff’s gut told him it was a harmless misunderstanding. [WNBC]
• Shelly Silver still won’t agree to bring the Assembly to the table for congestion-pricing talks — even as the desperate Mayor Bloomberg says he’ll fly to Albany tomorrow. By now, we’re just looking forward to Monday, when this mess will be over. [NYDN]
• And, starting today, the MTA adds a “Mets express” to its 7 line: a one-stop service from midtown to Shea. It’s just for an hour on game days, but funny thing: If they did it year-round, Willets Point might actually be habitable. [amNY]
early and often
Will Silver Make Bloomberg’s Traffic Dream Come True? He Just Might, Says Spokesman
This week’s consensus has been that Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing plan is doomed because the legislature won’t act in time to get the federal money, and that the legislature won’t act in time because Shelly Silver isn’t interested in playing ball. But are things changing? Today’s Daily News reports that Silver late yesterday talked with both Governor Spitzer and State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, both congestion-pricing proponents, about the plan (separately, of course). And this morning we had an interesting conversation with Silver’s spokesman. “To say he’s willing to let this expire would not be an accurate thing to say,” press secretary Dan Weiller told us. Oh, really? Hmm. —Alec Appelbaum
Shelly Un-Congests Snag [NYDN]
Earlier: Does Bloomberg Know His Congestion-Pricing Battle Is Lost?
the morning line
Traffic Jam
• The Feds are insistent on their Monday deadline for approval of Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing plan, the mayor says, and Shelly Silver’s Assembly doesn’t even have plans to reconvene to discuss it. Poor Mike. [NYT]
early and often
Does Bloomberg Know His Congestion-Pricing Battle Is Lost?
Mayor Bloomberg spoke to the New York Building Congress this afternoon about the need to fund mass-transit improvements with the revenue from his congestion-pricing plan — and we’ve never seen him looking quite so gloomy. With seven days until Albany can either endorse or suffocate a bid for $400 million in federal start-up aid, Bloomberg began the address with his usual brio but wound down in obvious frustration. He downgraded his prepared text’s “I believe the legislation will pass” to a meeker “I hope”; then, at the end, he croaked out a subdued “I need your help” before the applause. A source close to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, meantime, is talking up half-measure counterproposals and says the State Senate, allegedly in Bloomberg’s corner, might not vote on the plan at all. We’d be depressed, too. —Alec Appelbaum
Earlier: Daily Intel’s coverage of Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing plan
in other news
Westchester Pol to Foil Mike’s Plans?
Uh-oh! Today’s papers brought news of another nail in the coffin of Mayor Mike’s big congestion-pricing plans: Westchester assemblyman Richard Brodsky’s report deeming Bloomberg’s proposal unworkable in its current form. There’s only a week left for the legislature to act before the federal deadline to apply for some $400 million in start-up funds, and Brodsky’s report is just one more, uh, roadblock. Could an Albany scold destroy our billionaire’s big dreams? Actually, maybe not. Brodsky praised Bloomberg’s gumption at this spring’s public hearings on the plan, and he’s told us in phone interviews that he admires any effort to improve mass transit — which money from congestion pricing would do.
the morning line
Just Say No
• Hidden among other traffic-reducing measures in New York’s application for federal congestion-pricing funds is a doozy: Just Stay Home. One of the proposed changes is “telecommuting as a travel demand management strategy.” [Metro NY]
• The Post, firmly on Joe’s side in the Bruno-Spitzer battle, reports that Spitzer’s aides pretty much begged anyone with a badge to investigate the state senator (including, unsuccessfully, “at least one New York City D.A.” — how many of those do we have?). [NYP]
• Despite “experts” insisting that the Bancroft-Murdoch deal is done, the Dow Jones board will be meeting with Ron Burkle today. In the meantime, Journal defections start: A top editor is moving to Business Week. [NYT]
• The first week the new noise regulations were in effect prove one thing: We’re a city of nasty little tattletales. The top complaint to 311 — almost half of the calls — concerned not construction clatter or Mister Softee but noisy neighbors. [NYDN]
• And here’s a free mobile service that puts Google Maps to shame. Should you ever find yourself lost in the Manhattan grid with nowhere to relieve yourself, mizpee.com will send you the address of the “closest, cleanest” restroom. You know, in case you lose the ability to walk into a hotel lobby on your own. [NYDN]
the morning line
No Congestion Pricing, But…
• So Mayor Mike struck out on his congestion-pricing deal as Albany ended the legislative session. But while that plan got all the attention, Bloomberg got a slew of other projects passed: a child-care tax credit, a corporate tax slash, and more state funds for public housing. Huh. [NYP]
• Dozens of pissed-off New Yorkers are being bussed to D.C. for a congressional hearing about the Feds’ performance monitoring air quality at ground zero. Jerry Nadler will be the congressman first to grill ex–EPA head Christine Todd Whitman. [amNY]
• What Sunday’s pride parade may have lacked in middle-aged, middle-class gays, it more than made up for in a newly prominent demographic: religious groups. Jews, Roman Catholics, Buddhists, and others came dangerously close, in the words of a reveler, to “hijacking the parade.” [WCBS]
• The weekend brought a mass gang arrest in Bushwick — 32 kids, the youngest 13 years old, collared on their way to attend a murdered friend’s wake. The gang is supposedly an offshoot of the Bloods, colorfully dubbed the Pretty Boy Family. [NYT]
• And now that Fred Thompson seems to be a viable presidential candidate, let’s get all our political advice from Law & Order cast members. Sam Waterston — a.k.a. A.D.A. Jack McCoy — is also the face of the libertarian-flavored online movement Unity08, and he’s ready to vote Bloomberg. [NYDN]
the morning line
To Run or Not to Run
• As Mayor Bloomberg continues to deny that he’s running for president, the Times reports that his top aides have been testing that scenario for the last two years. Just a coincidence! [NYT]
• With mere hours left until the legislative session ends, Governor Spitzer is leaning on Shelly Silver to consider congestion pricing. Spitzer’s bold step: to “discuss creating a commission of experts.” Ooh, effective! [NYS]
• In Episode 4,387 of the McGreevey soap opera, the ex-gov filed new papers with a New Jersey family court — to dismiss Dina Matos’s charge that his coming-out had traumatized their daughter. [NYP]
• Despite some politicians’ calls for a rent freeze, the Rent Guidelines Board has recommended increases “between 2 and 4.5 percent” (in other words, 4.5 percent) on New York’s stabilized apartments. [amNY]
• And a guy goes on the lam for violating probation, gets tracked down by U.S. marshals right here in Manhattan, fights the arrest, breaks his arm, and goes to jail. That the guy is a close friend of Bernard Kerik’s shouldn’t be much of a shock. [NYDN]
