Jul 9, 2007 7:58 pm US/Eastern
Sources: Albany Not Crazy About $8 Congestion Fee
Bloomberg Puts Full-Court Press On As Deadline Looms
by Andrew Kirtzman
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Mayor Bloomberg held a rally in Times Square on Thursday to drum up support for his controversial congestion pricing plan. (File photo)
AP
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed charging motorists $8 to leave Manhattan below 86th Street.
AP
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is making a final push for his controversial congestion pricing plan. But with the clock ticking down to a deadline next Monday, the proposal is meeting stiff resistance in Albany.
As Midtown traffic slows to a crawl so has Bloomberg's plan to fight it.
Exhausted from a night spent at a hospital with wounded police officers, Bloomberg on Monday made a late-inning plea for his congestion pricing plan.
"The time for action is now," he said. "The time to take action in Albany is now."
But Albany is growing deaf to his pleas. Sources in the state Assembly say the chances of passage have dwindled, amid growing unease with its call for $8 fees for Midtown driving.
Bloomberg has warned that the city will lose a half billion dollars in federal funding if the plan isn't approved by Monday. But aides to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he's unlikely to call his members together.
On Monday one member picked apart Bloomberg's plan.
"Congestion pricing in this proposal is a regressive tax," Assemblyman Richard Brodsky said. "It is paid largely by people in the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn."
Meanwhile, tensions between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Leader Joe Bruno have slowed the bill's momentum in the State Senate. Yet Bloomberg still has a vast number of supporters campaigning for the measure.
On Monday, the League of Conservation Voters sent out thousands of flyers warning that the subways fare will rise to $3 if the plan dies.
"Bloomberg's aides are still on the phone trying to strike a last-minute deal with Silver's office," one aide to the mayor told CBS 2 HD. "There's still a lot of urgency on our end."
The question is how much there is on the other.
Bloomberg plans to travel to Washington on Tuesday to meet with federal transportation officials about his proposal.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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