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Jul 19, 2007 7:44 pm US/Eastern
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Green Light! Congestion Plan Gets Thumbs Up
Bloomberg Wins, But Fee Still A Point Of Contention
by Marcia Kramer
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is doing a victory lap right now.
Less than three months after he proposed easing congestion in Manhattan by charging drivers a fee, he got the green light from state officials on Thursday.
Hope has turned into reality for Bloomberg's controversial plan.
"Hope springs eternal," Bloomberg said.
Added Gov. Eliot Spitzer: "We believe the federal Department of transportation will be more than satisfied."
Satisfied enough to give New York City $500 million in federal transportation grants to fund bus service upgrades and the pilot program for congestion pricing, even though it missed the July 16 deadline.
"What we are told is we get there today it will be one of the nine considered," Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said.
The plan includes:
* Creation of a 17-member commission to review congestion in the city that would consider zones and fees and other ways to reduce traffic.
* A requirement that the City Council approve the plan before it goes to the legislature.
* The legislature would have to vote on the plan by March 31, 2008.
* There would also be legislation authorizing the city to lay the groundwork for congestion pricing.
"We had to overcome hurdles, but we did it," Spitzer said.
The key questions for many New Yorkers is whether the commission will find tolls and the $8 fee inevitable.
"I'm not going to prejudge what the commission comes up with, but it's certainly a critical part of what he has proposed," Spitzer said.
Getting the City Council on board was a key element in winning Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's support. He also wants the commission to look at the entire problem of congestion.
"We believe that the mayor's congestion pricing proposal is obviously something that's never been tried here in this country, never been tried in New York," Silver said. "There are a lot of questions. We believe a commission should examine all of the ways that congestion should be alleviated here in New York."
In a statement, Bloomberg admitted that his plan could end up with some changes. Certainly, he said, there will be discussions of the details of various components of our plan.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)