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Mar 19, 2008 7:13 pm US/Eastern
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Congestion Pricing Delays Take Toll On Bloomberg
Mayor Doesn't Get Answers He Wants From Paterson, Then Erupts Over Weiner Criticisms
'That is one of the stupider things that I have ever heard said'
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Will it cost you more to drive into Manhattan?
The days are winding down for lawmakers to approve Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan. But as CBS 2 HD has learned, it's become an increasingly uphill battle for him.
With time running out before the March 31 deadline, the mayor stepped up the pressure Wednesday. He welcomed new Gov. David Paterson to City Hall and pressed for his support.
"He really has a thing for congestion pricing," Paterson said.
But there was no deal, a headache the mayor doesn't need. Eliot Spitzer was a fan of the idea to charge motorists to drive in Midtown.
But Paterson isn't so sure.
"This is something we're reviewing and we'll see what we can do," Paterson said.
The mayor's immediate problem is that large numbers of state legislators and city council members don't like the idea at all.
With just five days left on the legislative calendar, the pressure is rising on Bloomberg to come up with something they can live with. That pressure showed Wednesday when he was asked about Congressman Anthony Weiner's recent criticisms.
Weiner wrote a column in the Daily News saying New Yorkers shouldn't believe for a second the government will continue funding the city if it adopts congestion pricing.
"That is one of the stupider things that I have ever heard said," Bloomberg said.
Weiner responded later in the day.
"The moment we start to collect taxes from ourselves for mass transit you can count on that level of resources being reduced by the same amount," Weiner said.
Bloomberg on Wednesday released the legislation he's pushing. But he's already offering to change it to make it more palatable to legislators, perhaps by offering tax breaks for poorer New Yorkers who'd be hit hard by the measure.
He also brought the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to back up his claim that the city will lose more than $300 million if the bill isn't passed soon.
Regardless, critics are predicting this idea will go the way of the West Side stadium.
"People have too much common sense to pass this," said Walter McCaffrey of Keep NYC Congestion Tax-Free.
Because time is growing short opponents fully expect Bloomberg to float a compromise soon, but the question is whether these legislative bodies have any appetite for a plan at all.
If passed, New York City would become the first and only U.S. city to have a congestion pricing plan.
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