I have NO expectation of serving in the Weiner Administration. AND I assure you that I will serve as DOT Commissioner in NO Administration. [I am sure that is a relief to streetsbloggers] In fact, I believe on eneeds a certain educational/professional background to serve in that position.

For the record, I did not support Mr. Weiner's Mayoral ambitions lasst time. I was the first and last Freddy Ferrer supporter. And Freddy was RIGHT. We are creating two cities here...for the haves and have nots, and the may and may nots. We will rue the day that we go to residential parking schemes in this City.

Grab a hold of yourselves and examine this divisive issue before you buy into to so you can sell CP.

Lew from Brooklyn

And I don't know about Forest Hills Parking Workshop, but the LIC one had about 40 people attending. Everyone at my table of 8 participants was from the LIC/Astoria area or owned a business in the area.

what is to prevent the rather to super wealthy from filling up the space he projects to exist under a congestion tax with their luxury vehicles.

Same as in London, Corey: Using congestion pricing revenues, we will reallocate the newly freed up street space to buses, bikes and pedestrians.

Have you ever experienced riding a bus on a dedicated bus lane, a lane totally free of single passenger vehicles, double parkers and yellow cabs? It's pretty great. It actually makes the bus work, something most New Yorkers can hardly even imagine.

Now come all the way out of the closet and start letting us now about the hard lives and desperate struggles faced by your only wealthy constituents as they strive to climb the next rung to super-wealth. I'll be down in the subway with all the people from Queens who will still be paying to get into Manhattan, whether or not congestion pricing happens.

Incidentally, Niccolo Machiavelli was a political philosopher who espoused democracy and republican governance during a period of petty despotism. "The Prince" is an analysis of city state despots, not advocacy for them. Machiavelli was jailed and tortured for his democratic sentiments and political leadership.

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Yes. The private auto, whether gasoline, electric, or hydrogren, is a threat to all life on earth. The subsidized auto promotes sprawl. Sprawl is unsustainable at current levels. The world population is growing at the rate of one New York City per month.

BTW, the streets will not be gentrified. The middle class and the poor will continue to have easy access to midtown and downtown streets - by subway, just as we have since 1904.

Congratulations, you're gentry!

(apologies to Eddie Hernandez)

One thing might be worth engaging Corey's position on is the decongestion associated with better taxi organization (no reason not to do it anyway, just a little enforcement effort, speaking of enforcement, what are Lew Fidler and Corey Bearak doing to get more red light and speed cameras onto city streets, is there a bill I don't know about?). Whatever decreased congestion associated with better taxi cues will only allow more cars to come fill up that space.

That is one element of all of the anti-CP positions that never gets resolved. One of the largest costs of driving into the city is the time wasted in congestion. Remove that cost however with no congestion fee and more cars will drive in to fill up that space just vacated. That is true of the taxi alignments they present herein and any of the other (including Weiner's truck program) of the non-CP alternatives.

Lew will get his opportunity to vote. Yeah, he is doing his job in the City Council. That will last until the end of his term. After that, try to find another job, maybe in the Weiner administration. DOT Commish Fiedler? I'm sure we can expect a lot from that in terms of vibrant street life.

It is true that the CBD is the CENTER of the City. And I guess you would be mighty pissed off if the agency that you work for moved to the other end of a subway line. You would surely have to make the choice of whether to take the commute or transfer to another location. I do not take that lightly, but surely after an initial adjustment period for existing workers---and I doubt it would affect that many---the situation would nrmalize. And yes, Larry, areas like Broadway Junction are what I have in mind. Rockaway Parkway in Canrsie at the end of th eL line as well.

I do not accept the logic of build a new freeway exaample. One would HAVE to assume that if someone planned a freeway for a route, they built based upon projected need. If it wren't being used to capacity, it would reflect awfully bad planning.

That's all I got for the end of this long day. By the time we get to the blogs tomorrow, the Sham Commission will have reported out the plan that the Bloomberg administration has told them to report. Fundamentally anyway. The issue will be finally engaged.

All I ask---though I doubt it will resonate here---is that you keep an open mind. CP is not the holy grail. The objectives are the goal. Not the method.

Lew from Brooklyn

It's true that subways go both ways, but Manhattan is easier to reach for most commuters. Suppose you live in, say, Sheepshead Bay. Would you want to start commuting to the South Bronx or Long Island City by train? Probably not. This might even cause you to start driving.