Posted on 04/22/2007 4:05:58 PM PDT by blam
Mayor Proposes a Fee for Driving Into Manhattan
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg laid out a series of Earth Day proposals on Sunday at the American Museum of Natural History.
By MARIA NEWMAN
Published: April 22, 2007
Saying that he would not spend his final term in office “pretending that all is fine,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made a series of Earth Day proposals this afternoon to improve the environment of New York City, including charging a new congestion fee to drivers who come into parts of Manhattan during peak hours during weekdays.
The $8 congestion fee was one of 127 initiatives included in a sweeping plan by the mayor to help the city of currently 8.2 million people cope with an expected surge in population that he said is sure to put a strain on its transportation, housing and energy systems.
“Let’s face up to the fact that our population growth is putting our city on a collision course with the environment, which itself is growing more unstable and uncertain,” the mayor said.
A key objective is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030, by which time the population is projected to grow by at least a million people, he said.
The proposal that is sure to attract the most attention, and possibly objections, is one to impose the $8 fee on car drivers, and $21 for truck operators, to drive in Manhattan south of 86th Street.
The mayor said congestion on the city’s streets is the source of many of the city’s health, environmental and economic problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I hope this man elects a burial when he is dead.
And I hope I outlive him.
Because I’m anxious to piss on his grave.
You already pay a fee for driving into Manhattan on most bridges and tunnels. It’s called a toll.
You also pay a whopping tax if you put your car in a parking garage. If you leave it on the street and get towed, you pay a huge fine to redeem your car.
If you drive into Manhattan for the purpose of working, you pay a whopping state income tax.
And if you drive into Manhattan and stay at a hotel, you pay a whopping hotel tax.
Altogether, It’s a wonder anybody bothers to drive into Manhattan.
Yes, he is explicitly following in the footsteps of “Red” Ken Livingstone with this one.
Well,that puts *my* mind at ease.At least he's not doing it for the $$$.
Hell, like I need another reason to avoid that cesspool!
as a person born on this island, it’s just another in a long list of reasons to avoid it.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
True enough.But those tolls are meant to pay the hacks...sorry..."public servants" who "maintain" the bridges and tunnels.An additional toll must be instituted to pay all the other,ummmm,public servants.
“Mayor (Bloomberg) Proposes A Fee For Driving Into Manhattan”
So you pay a fee to get into NY then you have to pay an additional fee to drive into Manhattan. Next thing he will do is a subway and bus tax.
I say anyone who has over 1 billion in assets has to give half to the UN.
He looks like a fellow who would rather squat to pee than stand up like a man.
The liberals of New Jerk City deserve this worm.
Just goes to show that you get what you elect.
Wealth dosen’t necessarily convert into common sense for many, especially the Hollyweird and New Jerk City crowd.
> Altogether, It’s a wonder anybody bothers to drive into Manhattan.
I don’t, haven’t driven there in 20 years. Don’t care to. Take the train into the city and ride the subway.
My son drove in NYC a couple of years ago coming from the south to see a Yanks/Red Sox game. He took the tunnel from New Jersey, drove through Manhattan to the Bronx. It was his first time in he Big Apple, and gosh from his pix and descriptions you’d think he passed though Oz.
It would make sense if this actually reduced the congestion in NYC, but it wont.
But it wont. The main problem is so much biz related traffic. Mostly trucks and vans. And they still have to come into the city, surcharge or not.
This will get passed on as a cost to comsumers by higher costs of doing biz and for higher costs for products. They studies that say it will save time $ money via reduced traffic are worthless.
This is just a tax.
Reminds me of a joke:
Before going to Europe on business, a man drove his Rolls-Royce to a downtown New York City bank and went in to ask for an immediate loan of $5,000.
The loan officer, taken aback, requested collateral and so the man said, “Well then, here are the keys to my Rolls-Royce.”
The loan officer promptly had the car driven into the bank’s underground parking for safe keeping, and gave him $5,000.
Two weeks later, the man walked through the bank’s doors, and asked to settle up his loan and get his car back. “That will be $5,000 in principal, and $15.40 in interest”, the loan officer said. The man wrote out a check and started to walk away.
“Wait sir”, the loan officer said, “while you were gone, I found out you are a millionaire. Why in the world would you need to borrow $5,000?”
The man smiled. “Where else could I park my Rolls-Royce in Manhattan for two weeks and pay only $15.40?
Hmmmm. Why not just let the cops and ICE do their job and deport the illegals? That will reduce congestion.
He's a dork. A sincerely deluded one. It won't happen, because it will kill too much business, and the City Council (of Aldermen . . . non-PC term) won't go along.
“You already pay a fee for driving into Manhattan on most bridges and tunnels. “
If Bloomberg REALLY wanted to raise cash, he’d make people pay to LEAVE NYC
If I was in NYC I know I would give my left..... to get away from that place.
90% of the cars there are taxis.
(That’s a guess.)
ML/NJ
By taxation, the growth estimates are greatly exaggerated.
I have a friend who works in the "fund of funds" part of the hedge fund business. He's a terribly smart guy... Ivy league education, and strong math skills... a savant.
When he goes to Kennedy airport, he figures out how long his trip will be for and if the money justifies it, he treats the car tow like a valet service. He pulls up in front of the airport, summons the tow truck, and gets on his plane.
When he gets back, he goes to the impound yard, pays his fine, and picks up his car.
I think the trip duration that justifies it is something like 11 days. If he's gone longer than that it's cheaper tp get the car towed than to pay for parking.
Absolutely true.
It’s wrong by quite a bit.
So stereotypical it's amazing. For every solution there's a tax.
No one remembers the timid...
Any one who can work in Manhattan can afford $80. Why stop with a lousy girly-man $8?
Just saying.
Sounds like a lot of trouble, plus I’d be worried that the tow operator (they’re all salt-of-the-earth types) might damage the vehicle. Couldn’t he just take a cab?
Mayor Bloomberg would have to pay me to drive into Manhattan!
Another rich Liberal out for the little guy........
Republicans should toss this control freak out of our party.
>>When he goes to Kennedy airport, he figures out how long his trip will be for and if the money justifies it, he treats the car tow like a valet service. He pulls up in front of the airport, summons the tow truck, and gets on his plane.<<
That is the most outrageously humerous story I’ve heard in a while. Amazing.
Idiotic. Traffic isn’t any worse or better than it’s been for the last 20 years. Congestion hasn’t reached any kind of breaking point or any such nonsense.
I’ve been driving into the city on weekends from Westchester for years (I ride the train in every weekday). Things have been made tougher driving in under Bloomberg in two ways:
1. Reducing the number of free parking spots in midtown drastically. Virtually everywhere now are the pay machines (though parking’s still free on Sundays, which they deliberately don’t advertise in order to sucker in the newbies and clueless suburbanites).
2. Greatly increasing the penalties if you do get caught. A midtown parking ticket will cost you $120-150 dollars. Enough to put the fear of God in you.
But a mandatory $8 charge is enough to kill off the hardcore veterans like myself. I won’t be driving in any more if that’s the case. And the city loses a great amount of income from me and my family in order to gain ... well, absolutely nothing.
Idiotic.
NYC already charges admission; all they’re doing is raising the price!
A tax is a tax is a tax.
They don’t need any new reasons to tax... just call it something different to match the rhetoric of the day.
You are correct that this plan won’t make a dent in traffic congestion. And who will be hurt most? City residents who for one reason or another find it inconvenient to use the subways:
1. Older people and those in poor health who find it hard to negotiate all those stairs.
2. Mothers with infants or toddlers who have to carry baby, strollers, and related gear.
3. Freelancers who transport large portfolios, sample cases, musical instruments and other items that make long walks and riding in crowded trains a challenge.
An extra eight dollar fee for every trip into midtown, on top of all the other tolls, parking fees and so on that they already pay, is quite a burden, though I’m sure Bloomberg and his pals can afford it.
Get in line! , (: >)
(ITS A LONG LINE AND GROWING!)
This guy is way more liberal than most liberal democrats.
Next he’ll put monitors on his residents’ chests to tax every breath they take. Jerk.
Our beloved liberal governor has now announced that he plans to get gay marriage legalized in New York. I hope folks are happy with their choice!
______________________________________
No, you just revel in the cultural riches of the OC.
Minimum ticket $110. Tow fee $110. Processing fee $70. Daily storage fee $10/day for day 1-2, $15/day after. Plus cab fare to get to the pound (after you figure out which one) say $30.
Your friend would pay at least $420 to free his car after for a twelve day trip....except that it wouldn't be there because after ten days unclaimed cars go to the city for auction.
Makes a good bar room tale though.
That wasn’t a knock on the city, other than that Manhattan strikes me for the most part as a particularly inhospitable place to travel by car.
Gotcha - we cool.
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