U.S. Allocates $354 Million to Reduce New York Traffic

[babylonsister]

U.S. Allocates $354 Million to Reduce New York Traffic

By ANAHAD O’CONNOR and WILLIAM NEUMAN
Published: August 14, 2007

The United States Department of Transportation announced today that it has allocated $354 million to help Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg finance his plan to reduce traffic in Manhattan by charging tolls to drivers entering the busiest parts of the borough.

The announcement, by Mary E. Peters, the secretary of transportation, is a major lift for the mayor, and is likely to increase pressure on legislative leaders who have balked at the plan to let the city move forward. Ms. Peters said that the city would receive $1.6 million initially, but that the State Legislature must assent to the plan within 90 days of convening — roughly by the end of March 2008 —before the city can receive the balance.

“If the city does not have the legal authority to move forward at that time, it will not receive the money,” Ms. Peters said.

The State Legislature has created a 17-member commission that it asked to evaluate the mayor’s congestion pricing plan and make recommendations. The $354 million that the federal government has allocated falls short of the $536 million that Mr. Bloomberg requested, but exceeds the $200 million that the Legislature set as a minimum commitment from the federal government for its commission to proceed.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/nyregion/14cnd-traffic.html?bl&ex=1187236800&en=8e36724315b65aa4&ei=5087%0A

[rusty charly]

1. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[babylonsister]

2. It's not bothering anyone else. nt

[rusty charly]

3. whew!

"The federal government said on Tuesday that it would provide $354 million for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s broad plan to reduce traffic, but left it to the city to come up with more than $200 million needed for the most controversial part of the plan: a system to charge people who drive into Manhattan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/15/nyregion/15congestion.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1187180541-59g3+AnOJcntWfYNBMqsBg

Opponents of the fee on drivers, however, called the news a setback for the Bloomberg administration, and predicted it would be more difficult now for the mayor to win approval for his congestion pricing plan.

“It’s puzzling if you listen to the transportation secretary today about how important congestion pricing was to the plan,” said Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat from Queens, who has been an outspoken critic of the mayor’s proposal. “But obviously it wasn’t important enough to fund it.”

He added, “It creates a very difficult sell, I think, for the mayor.”