GLWD and other critical human service organizations can front the fees, and get rebates come tax time. Is that so tricky? Next topic?

The non-profit exemption seems big enough to drive a tractor trailer through. I mean every one of us would probably qualify using some affiliation. Or worth forming your own church.

P.s. Lunch: it’s the new breakfast (the next morning)

http://www.godslovewedeliver.org/about_directors.html

2007 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Co-Chairs
Michael Sennott
Sylvia Vogelman

Vice Chairs
José A. Belizario, M.D.
Blaine Trump

Treasurer
Jeffrey M. Krauss

Vice Treasurer
Jeffrey V. Diglio

Secretary
Barbra Locker, Ph.D.

Linda Fairstein
Richard E. Feldman, Esq.
Jon Gilman
Jennifer Goodale
Desiree Gruber
Ann Jackson
Star Jones Reynolds, Esq.
Debby Landesman
Alan G. Levin
Michael Meagher
R. Michael Moran
Donald R. Mullen
Joan Rivers
Alan J. Rogers
Lisa Sherman
Judith Siegel-Baum, Esq.
Reginald W. Smith
Don M. Thomas
Paul Wilmot

President & CEO
Karen Pearl

Current and Former Board Chairs
Richard Feldman 1992 – 2001
Sylvia Vogelman 2000 – Present
Alan Levin 2001 – 2003
Michael Sennott 2003 – Present

SEQR is overridden by actions that are voted on by the State Legislature. If congestion pricing, crafted by the City’s top transportation experts, with a promised EIS prior to implementation, is approved by the City Council and the State Legislature, why then should it be subjected to the rules of SEQR? Isn’t the approval of the Mayor’s Office, the DOT, and City and State elected officials enough to justify a pilot program? If you require SEQR, you miss qualifying for the federal money AND you then have to pay for all the additional studies, reports and filings for SEQR. What a waste of $360 million.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/6473.html

3. Are there any agencies excluded from complying with SEQR?

In enacting SEQR, The Legislature specifically excluded some decisions by agencies.

These include the Adirondack Park Agency for actions on private land within the Adirondack Park (the “Blue Line”) and the Public Service Commission for actions involving Articles VII and X of the Public Service Law (e.g. pipelines, transmission lines and power plants). This was done because these two agencies already had a SEQR-like analysis process.

In addition, there are a few narrowly focused exclusions:

The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has an exemption for most actions it takes on land that it already owns;

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has the potential to be excluded from the provisions of SEQR only to the extent that compliance with SEQR is inconsistent with the terms and purposes of Section 1014 or the Public Officers Law.;

The Long Island Power Authority is exempt for actions involving the decommissioning of the Shoreham Nuclear Plant.;

The Thruway Authority was granted an exclusion from SEQR in 1990 for the acquisition of Interstate 287 which connects the Tappan Zee Bridge to the New England Section of the Thruway;

The Hudson River Waterfront Area was similarly excluded from SEQR requirements in 1990 for the designation of certain portions of the Hudson River shoreline in Manhattan as portions of the Hudson River Waterfront Area, and their simultaneous removal from the West Side Roadway Construction. Area; and

The New York State Department of Transportation was granted an exemption for certain actions involving addition of travel lanes and other projects on the Long Island Expressway.

OK, that last one was added long after SEQR was created. Everything passes the state legislature unanimously. Who voted for it? It must have been sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I’ll be Ms. Konheim knows.

Like I said, the environmental review process has been so hijacked that it is routinely discarded if something is thought important.

Given 262 “congestion days” in a calendar year, if all 16 of their vans had to leave and re-enter the congestion zone at least once every one of those days, the total annual cost would be maximum $33,536, not “$30,000 to $80,000″. However, for each van that could operate while staying inside the zone for the day, that annual cost would drop by $2,096, so it could be less than $30,000. For a company with $8.2 million in assets and $9.4 million in annual revenues, $30K doesn’t seem like that outrageous an increase.

They could also move their base of deliveries from Soho to somewhere outside of the congestion zone and only have to have one or two vans operating in the zone each day, lowering their costs to $4,192/year. Having fewer vehicles driving in the congestion zone is, after all, the true goal of CP and this is proof that the financial incentive would work.

Unfortunately, there are going to be challenges for some groups to adjust, but I don’t think that just because you are a worthy cause you have the right to congest the downtown and pollute the air more than others. Maybe if there was less pollution in the densely populated area of downtown Manhattan, there would be fewer people with cancer who need free meals delivered to them. Am I right or am I being a bastard here?

Having done this math, they should issue a revised letter, addressed to Silver and Glick, in STRONG support of CP. And then go on NY1 Inside City Hall to articulate same message!

Volunteer Services
(212) 294-8104
volunteer@glwd.org

God’s Love We Deliver
166 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013
Phone: (212) 294-8100

- It was clear long ago that anything smaller than a tractor-trailer would pay the $8. No way that God’s Love We Deliver will pay $80K

- 16 vans * 250 CP days * $8 = $32,000.

- From the letter, you would think that the God’s Love vans never get stuck in traffic. How many additional AIDS patients could they feed for that $32,000 – without hiring an additional driver?

- According to Charity Navigator, God’s Love We Deliver spends 22% of their revenue, almost $2 million out of their $9 million budget, on fundraising. Their ED makes over $200,000. They can’t spare $32K?

- Al d’Amato lobbied on behalf of private buses, which Brodsky calls “the Greyhound exemption.” Who takes Greyhound? The poor. The fact that Brodsky is including the name “Greyhound” in his talking points shows how out of touch this “crusader for the poor” is.