Part of this confusion maybe that Bloomberg is typically synonymous with City Hall, and so is Doctoroff, but when they are saying different things...

The New York Sun

December 4, 2006 Monday

HEADLINE: Fees To Ease Midtown Traffic Jams May Get a New Look From City Hall
The city will likely apply for federal funds next year to conduct a pilot study on how charging a fee to drive on Manhattan's most congested streets could help reduce city traffic.

Today, the Partnership for New York City, a group of 200 CEOs from some of New York's biggest companies, will release a report on the economic costs associated with traffic congestion in Manhattan. Congestion pricing is one option the group studied.

A consulting firm has been hired to conduct a phone poll gauging public opinion on congestion pricing and commuter taxes, although it is not clear who the firm's client is.

Mayor Bloomberg has not endorsed the idea of congestion pricing. He has said in the past it isn't on his agenda. But the movement to bring congestion pricing to Manhattan is quietly gaining momentum. Previously closed-door discussions on congestion pricing are beginning to contribute to a public dialogue on the issue.

The Manhattan Institute, a think tank, will host a panel discussion Thursday about what New Yorkers think of congestion pricing. The president and CEO of the Partnership, Kathryn Wylde, is one panelist who will likely speak in favor of it. City Council Member David Weprin will represent the opposition.

The city has until March to apply for a grant from the Federal Highway Administration, a national agency that awarded $7.3 million in grants last year to cities studying innovative methods to relieve traffic, including a $1.04 million grant to the city of San Francisco to test congestion pricing.

A spokesman for the mayor, John Gallagher, maintains that the city has no plans to apply for federal funding and that congestion pricing is not a part of its agenda. But other city officials and private advocates are pushing the idea.

"We should always apply for federal funds to conduct studies if those are available," City Council Member John Liu, who heads the council's Transportation Committee, said. "Conducting a study doesn't obligate us to do anything, but at the same time it may open our options up to things that haven't been realized before."

Opponents of congestion pricing in New York are, most often, residents outside Manhattan who say that the fees discriminate against them because of fewer public transportation options in their boroughs.

Congestion pricing was introduced in London three years ago. Today, drivers there pay $14 to enter the tolled zone of the city during rush hours, and traffic has been reduced by about 30% in those neighborhoods.

"There's no question that traffic congestion is choking us in many ways," Mr. Liu said. Many consider traffic congestion to be a public health issue, because of the pollution it creates, as well as a cause of economic stagnation when it deters potential shoppers from entering certain neighborhoods in the city.

The president of the non-profit organization Citizens for NYC, Peter Kostmayer, has emerged as one of the most active advocates to bring federal funding to New York.

Mr. Kostmayer, a former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, says he will meet in the next two weeks with officials in the mayor's office and city council members to discuss an application for federal funding. He says he will discuss with them the possibility of applying for federal money to fund a two-year, small-scale congestion pricing experiment. "It seems like a compromise if we do it in a BID and show that it works, rather than doing the entire midtown business district all at once," Mr. Kostmayer said, referring to the business improvement districts that represent many of the city's commercial strips.

Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff is said to be taking the lead on seeking federal funds to study congestion pricing. Some speculate that the city will not disclose its future policies regarding congestion pricing until the political groundwork is properly prepared.

LOAD-DATE: December 4, 2006