Mayor rallies for congestion pricing support

Real Estate Weekly,  July 11, 2007  by Daniel Geiger

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg rallied for congestion pricing on Monday, a week before a federal grant that would provide the plan with up to $500 million is set to expire and amid uncertainty whether legislators will approve the measure, which will charge drivers to enter Manhattan's central business district.

"New York has a plan to end traffic gridlock that clogs our streets, that pollutes our air, that ratchets up global warming and that drains jobs and opportunity out of our economy," Bloomberg said, speaking at a New York Building Congress luncheon downtown. "I'm asking you and all concerned New Yorkers to urge our state leaders to put their differences aside and stand up for New York City's future."

Bloomberg reiterated a number of dire economic predictions in support of his proposal, including an estimate that commuting times for those who travel to their jobs in Manhattan by car could swell to four hours round trip. Already, congestion costs the city $13 billion annually in lost productivity.

Bloomberg juxtaposed that against the need to improve the city's transportation infrastructure. Three subway lines are already at capacity he said and that number is expected to grow as the city's population expands by an expected 1 million new residents. In the coming years, 23 of the city's 26 subway lines will be clogged he said. Congestion pricing would provide an essential income stream to finance the massive $50 billion projected cost of upgrading and expanding the city's public transportation, including helping to fund the 2nd Avenue Subway and the proposed Downtown Rail Link to Jamaica.

"There is a $31 billion gap in those funds. Does that sound familiar?" Bloomberg said, unveiling a picture of the 1972 groundbreaking for the 2nd Avenue Subway, a project that was soon after shelved for lack of money.

"There was no dedicated source of revenues to see it through. And you know what? There still isn't a dedicated source of revenue to see it through to completion."

The 2nd Avenue Subway was recently restarted and is planned to take place in four phases, the first one being a section from 96th Street to 63rd Street. But Bloomberg said "even today with work starting, the leg running from 96th Street to 63rd Street funding for the project is almost $1 billion short of what's needed to finish it. How will the MTA pay for Phase 2?"

But Brooklyn Congressman Ralph Nadler, who attended the luncheon, mentioned that although the money would be an important source of revenue for transportation projects, it wouldn't be the all-encompassing solution that Bloomberg seemed to suggest.

"Over a 20 year period, you would be able to leverage the income stream to about $8 billion," said Nadler, who said that he overall supports the plan.

If the plan didn't pass before July 16, Bloomberg said that the city would lose a chance to receive a $500 million grant from the US Department of Transportation.

Bloomberg said that he would use the money immediately to areas bring buses to areas of the city where accessing public transportation is the most inconvenient, service that he said would be implemented within 18 months if New York received the money.

"Federal Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was in our city four weeks ago to express support for our plan," Bloomberg said of likelihood that New York would receive the funds. "And she said we plan to receive up to $500 million in grant funds from her agency to cover the startup cost including immediate mass transit service improvements. I can't imagine anyone thinking that it's a good idea to leave $500 million on the table"

Nadler raised concerns that the mayor was overlooking the need to expand the city's network of roadways to meet the growth in freight travel. Congestion pricing, Nadler said, would only help in the short term because the amount of trucks that bring supplies and goods into the city is expected to grow well past the added capacity that would be created by congestion pricing's lessened traffic. Nadler proposes a new freight tunnel between New Jersey and Brooklyn as a solution, a likely multibillion project that Bloomberg said he would look into with the Port Authority.

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