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Apr 7, 2008 11:14 am US/Eastern
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Clock Is Ticking On NYC Congestion Pricing Plan
Albany Unlikely To Pass Traffic Plan, Bloomberg Remains Optimistic
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Today is the day legislators in Albany will decide if Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial congestion pricing program will become a reality for the millions that drive in and around Manhattan.
The plan to charge drivers to enter Manhattan below 60th Street appears stalled in Albany, but supporters of the plan tell CBS 2 they believe it still has a shot.
Both sides of the congestion pricing debate are passionate as the decision goes down to the wire.
"Please don't do this," said City Council Member Tony Avella at an anti-congestion pricing rally in a Bay Ridge school.
The same message came earlier Sunday on the steps of City Hall.
"Where are the pro-congestion, small businesses on your side at press conferences?" asked Jan Lee of the Chinatown Small Business Association. "They have never been photographed! These are the people who represent small business in lower Manhattan."
Tofu manufacturer David Ng brought his daughter along, saying he could only hope there was a business left for her to run. Queens Councilman David Weprin added the proposed fee would hurt small businesses and unfairly tax commuters from outside Manhattan.
If the congestion pricing plan is not approved by Monday evening, the city will lose over $350 million in federal aid. Defeat is likely, but Bloomberg remains optimistic.
Facing an uphill battle in Albany, the mayor is going after his objective with the vigor of a General Patton taking an enemy hill.
Bloomberg came to Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn Sunday to talk about Martin Luther King Jr., but quickly segued to congestion pricing.
"We're honoring his memory by creating an opportunity for New Yorkers that I think Dr. King would have wanted us to do," Bloomberg said.
Flanked by church officials and church members while speaking to reporters, Bloomberg gave a preview of his remarks on Dr. King by noting King's fight against poverty, and then effortlessly linked that cause with the congestion pricing cause by noting it was what he and Gov. Paterson were working for together.
"One of the things that we're obviously focusing on right now is congestion pricing -- which will give us the money to invest in the transportation we need in this city. So that working people in this city can get around," Bloomberg said.
Sources tell CBS 2 that even the mayor's supporters in Albany are telling him privately they may not have enough support to pass congestion pricing.
The fate of congestion pricing seems to rest on whether Bloomberg and his allies will accept some crucial amendments to win over key legislators, and if Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver decides to give his support.
Among the changes are a tougher environmental review and monitoring of its impact, a three-year trial period instead of a permanent plan, and a provision to give women and minority businesses a piece of the action for new transit projects.
Both supporters and opponents of the plan said the changes give it a greater chance of getting accepted. However, state lawmakers spent most of their time talking budget and not congestion pricing over the weekend.
"We are just now spending a lot of time trying to just get to a place where we have a budget done so congestion pricing - congestion mitigation has sort of taken a back seat, and I can't say that we have what we need on that right now," said Malcolm Smith, Senate Democratic leader.
CBS 2's Magee Hickey and Pablo Guzman contributed to this report.
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