Jul 5, 2007 7:05 pm US/Eastern
Bloomberg Rallies For Congestion-Pricing Support
New Ad Push Begins Thursday
by Magee Hickey
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Mayor Bloomberg's controversial congestion pricing plan shifted into high gear Thursday morning.
In Times Square, Bloomberg held a rally to pressure Albany into enacting his new plan. If state lawmakers do not endorse the strategy by July 16, the city could lose as much as $500 million in federal transportation aid.
"I need your help," Bloomberg said. "This is just too important for our children and our children's children. This is a once in a generation opportunity."
According to the Partnership for New York City, the plan's primary supporter, more than 300,000 New York City children have asthma, a disease worsened by air pollution and traffic congestion.
Starting July 5, a picture of a girl clutching an asthma inhaler advertises the mayor's plan to charge car drivers $8 and trucks $21 to enter Manhattan south of 86th Street on weekdays.
The group is sending the ad to 350,000 families, mostly in car-dependent parts of Queens and Brooklyn in which complaints about the plan have been loudest.
Supporters of the plan regard clean air as a fundamental reason to adopt congestion pricing.
"I think congestion pricing is the answer," said Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign, a New York City-based public transport advocacy group.
"Getting New Yorkers out of their cars and into mass transit is the way to make the air cleaner and the city more livable."
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