Is that like Lenin, "the worse the better" or "you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs"?

Thanks to the mayor, the genie is now fully out of the bottle with congestion pricing. From this point forward, support for CP will only grow among transit users with every crowded train, every delayed bus, every fare increase etc...

As the MTA moves to stall, or roll-back service improvements - all the while increasing fares - I suspect more and more resentment will rise against freeloading drivers.

Of course the same old "the MTA stinks!" arguments will resurface, but I doubt there will be any political retribution for pro-CP votes. It's an unavoidable solution for the MTA's nightmare finances...

Wishful thinking, maybe?

Putting the issue on the agenda has been the most significant achievement of the movement and it has already penetrated the city DOT (remember Weinshall was still commissioner this time last year).

I can see Gov. Paterson and either Mayor Quinn or Thompson pushing mass transit proposals in 2010 in a more friendly way...The next mayor will have to have a pretty good plan B to congestion pricing even if it is Weiner.

While the legislature "won" this battle, all they did was turn back an ambitious proposal...for now. They are already on the defensive in that they will now have to explain where the money for the MTA will come from.

I can definitely see insurgent primary or Republican candidates with a more transit focused agenda. Or the political winds continue to shift and they will evolve.

Manhattan Assembly Democrats that did not take a strong stand will be vulnerable, particularly if they decide to run for any other office. Bing, O'Donnell, Glick should worry about their future.

I don't know, Glenn. Where is the political organization that is mobilizing to make these assembly members feel pain in 2010? Who is raising the money, knocking on doors and making alliances with interest groups in their districts? Who, for that matter, is setting up shop to run against them? Where are the alternative candidates? I hope it comes about but I don't see it happening right now in any concerted way. If we've learned one thing from this congestion pricing debacle it's that the livable streets side has lots of good policy ideas but not enough real-world political power to get them done.

No doubt people will be giving up. But read my posts on MTA, city and state financing. The disgust is just beginning.

Remember, don't let them say they would have voted yes.

And I think the council yes/no map is a template for emergency transit service cutbacks, especially for buses which (thanks to free transfer) don't bring much revenues. Good thing I'm biking in now Mr. Deblasio.

http://www2.nysun.com/article/74469

"During the first quarter of 2008, fear of recession and a scarcity of financing are causing a significant reduction in investment sales, perhaps the most precipitous drop in decades. It is difficult to comprehend that during the first 90 days of the year contracts for sale were signed for only two prominent office buildings."

"Based on the current climate in commercial real estate, investment sales brokers can take off for the entire year," the chairman and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, Steven Roth, said last week at a conference on real estate investment trusts at New York University."

OK, so what will be going on in 2009 -- if the MTA can hold off until after the election. Massive fare increases, service cuts, desperate attempts to get givebacks from labor, borrowed money used for operating expenses, etc.

All while state transit $ are going down, not up, because of their own financial disaster that they just postponed to the election.

Those who voted for CP locally will be able to say "we tried to fight off disaster" -- but my shortsighted opponent has shoved your future down the toilet.

As for Quinn, let's chip in and get that woman a bicycle.

1. The majority of their elections won't be until next year, it's hard to think people will be as upset about their votes then. So in 2009 it's possible most voters won't care about this one vote.

2. Its very possible that the state will continue to drop the ball on funding mass transit and that things will get worse. Bad for all of us, but good for those who voted for CP. They can say they supported doing at least something for mass transit without the fall out of actually having to implement CP. So their votes for CP could be beneficial in 2009.

It's time for guys like Avella and Weprin to stop beating the anti-CP drum and deliver on mass transit improvements, otherwise they will be the ones dead in the water in 2009.