Most of New York City, rightfully so, feels that congestion pricing is not right for New York. We need to solve the problem of 150,000 government sector commuters with parking permits first. This costs the City $45-million/year in lost parking meter revenue alone (Bruce Schaller, 2006). If Bloomberg wants to leave a legacy, let’s see him clean house first. The congestion tax scheme is just that – a tax to drive that will do more harm than good and drive the wedge between rich and poor even further.

Bloomberg and the state gov. can make anti-permit policies all they want; the cops won’t write tickets or tow. (Yeah, Fifth Precinct’s new-ish boss might tow or ticket one or two cars a year, but that’s not even a drop in the bucket.) I certainly don’t love congestion pricing, but it is the only thing that might reduce the numbers of government employee car commuters that I have ever heard of. If a cop parks his private car on a sidewalk, he will still get away with it, but with CP there would be less reason for him to do so.