http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/congestion-pricing-plan-is-dead-assembly-speaker-says/

"The Assembly minority leader, James N. Tedisco, said he had offered the votes of all 42 of the Republicans in the Assembly to Mr. Silver — who had expressed partial personal support for congestion pricing — and that the speaker had responded that he simply didn’t have the votes to get it passed."

BTW: Amusingly enough, when i called this noon I got told by a staff member that CP was already voted down and in the newspaper ...

**April 7, 2008

Dear Neighbor:

Today I released the following statement on congestion pricing:

ASSEMBLYMEMBER ROSENTHAL DEPLORES REJECTION OF CONGESTION PRICING

Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D, WF) issued the following statement
today:

"I am disappointed and dismayed that New Yorkers will be deprived of the many environmental and public transportation benefits that would have been provided by congestion pricing. It is abundantly clear that New York City needs to address the overload of cars entering Manhattan everyday, and from the beginning, I have been supportive of a proposal to bring cleaner air, less congested streets, and desperately needed transit funding to New York. Many of my constituents on the Upper West Side have contacted me over the last year to express their ardent support for such a proposal. Last spring, I voted in favor of establishing the Traffic Mitigation Commission, testified at every Commission hearing with ideas to improve the plan, and applauded the Commission's amendments arising from community concerns. Today's decision to not take a step forward with congestion pricing has put New York a giant step back in the local and global effort to achieve environmental sustainability."

re: (Every legistlator in favor of Congestion Pricing should let it be known.)

And so that staffer did that, and then gave it to the intern to distribute, and that intern had a fifteen-item to-do list today. And maybe the office is so busy that that no one thought to tell the intern that his/her project #11 the CP e-mail, was now pointless.

I'm not saying it's what happened, but it's a pretty realistic scenario.

I just think all the angry speculation in a lot of the comments is misplaced energy. But heck, I realize everyone's hurting...

Wrong! No one is going to blame them for being "in favor" because the plan did not pass. So the objective is to avoid being blamed for being opposed when the consequences some due. That's why the vote was secret. Opposition was "overwhelming." So the truth is...

Millman IS OPPOSED.

Brennan IS OPPOSED (but theoretically in favor of some other plan, which he can feel free to get passed but will forever remain opposed otherwise).

Every one of them is OPPOSED, unless they were arguing in favor as of yesterday.

And, Millman believes that everyone who lives in her district is an idiot.

I, for one, have contacted my Assemblyman (Gianaris) who has spent the past few weeks conspicuously silent.

If our representatives continue to hedge and hide behind Silver, we just have to assume they're happy with how things turned out.

Am reading up on what it would take to run an assembly campaign (I live in DUMBO and watch the congestion foes sit on the Brooklyn Bridge every morning and evening).

I told someone I know from Westchester who was cheering the killing of CP that the city should just take the logical next steps: banning on street parking, constricting vehicular access to NYC at inopportune times during the day, etc. All of these are entirely within the Mayor's and Council's powers.

Seriously: if you want to know Who is Running for What, you can always ask Gotham Gazette.

Running on the Congestion Pricing Party ticket line probably isn't a winning approach, though. However, you might get funding from the mayor!

By failing to speak up, Joan essentially allowed her colleagues from South Brooklyn, Westchester and Long Island to determine the future of Downtown Brooklyn's transportation and traffic situation. All these people want to do is continue to use Downtown Brooklyn and surrounding neighborhoods as their free shortcut in and out of Manhattan.

Joan is responsible for the next subway fare increase. Joan is responsible for delayed trains and crowded buses. Joan is responsible for the ever-growing traffic congestion that is crushing our neighborhoods.

This is just a massive failure of leadership. Millman must go. Her time has come and gone.

Hell, I'll run against her. But I'm sure we can find someone better.

Who's running against her this election?