Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. introducing Rohit Aggarwala, Mayor's Office of Operation - Director of Long Term Planning and SustainabilityBefore the presentation CM Addabbo had given each member of the audience three index cards - red, yellow and green - and asked them to raise the one which denoted how they felt about congestion pricing...Red if you were against, Yellow if you weren't sure and Green if you approved of it...By my estimate, the Red cards were about 99% of those raised...
Community Board Chairperson Betty BratonMr. Aggararwala then gave his talk with the pretty power-point presentation....When he was done, members of the public were able to ask questions and make statements (my written statement is below)...I found Mr. Aggarwala to be very long-winded in his responses, as if he was filibustering to kill time and run out the clock...
When all was said and done, CM Addabbo asked for another show of the index cards and Mr. Aggarwala had failed to convice a single person...I would estimate that there were 50 people attending and at least 48 Red cards were put up...
Locust Grove Civic Association President Donna Gilmartin - Rockaway resident Leo Fahey in foregroundMy Statement
Town Hall Forum – March 25th – Held at MS 210
Much as I like the idea of reducing vehicles and traffic in Manhattan and throughout NYC, due to my active involvement with civic associations in Queens I have to report that most people I speak to are very upset by this. They see it as a tax on them, and for the most part, I agree that they're right.
We in Queens have the WORST public transportation in the city, and the longest commutes in the nation. Folks from outside the borough already take tolled bridges and tunnels, so this will hit the people who use the free bridges - such as the 59th Street bridge - hardest. Being a borough of middle class working folks we take the free ones because we don't have the extra disposable income to pay for the more direct (and expensive) methods.
There is NO GUARANTEE that CP will increase transportation funding. Just like the lottery was supposed to benefit education, all it did was allow the politicians to decrease funding from the general budget by the amount that came in from the lottery. That is all CP pricing does. There is nothing that will keep them from cutting the general funding to transportation, assuming that the CP money even ends up earmarked for transportation.
For example, in today's NY Times: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority postponed $30 million in service improvements that it had promised in connection with recent fare and toll increases, saying its finances had worsened sharply.
People understand the need for this, but the big problem here is that
they don't trust the MTA, Mayor Bloomberg or even city government to use the revenues in the way that's been promised
There is no specific amount of known dollars from Washington for CP funding. The funds promised depend on how many other cities go for it. And if none do (including NY) then the money still exists to be allocated another way to mass transit. Senators Schumer and Clinton can try to properly allocate that money for us. Except the Iraq war will eat it up, as it does all our other funding, leaving us to fight for the scraps.
The concept of "residential parking permits" is a pandora's box that is best left closed. We all subsidize the curbside parking that everyone takes for granted, but allowing those streets to be reserved for residents is even worse. Every neighborhood with a parking problem (which means every neighborhood in Queens) will be screaming for the same consideration. I live near the Rockaway Blvd train station in Ozone Park and we have hundreds of cars a day circling our streets, from 9am to 9pm. Why should Astoria get protected from commuter parking when we don't? The instant that resident parking is allowed in Astoria or elsewhere, every other community will demand it also.
CP is just a regressive form of taxation. It means nothing for the wealthy who will likely just write it off as the cost of doing business. It will mean that only the wealthy will be able to drive into Manhattan. The prices will keep going up (see London) until that is true.
And don't get me started on the privacy intrusions of more cameras. There is the issue of civil liberties also at stake, with so many cameras being proposed. DoT Commissioner Sadik-Khan has put the number of cameras at 25 and I'm sure that will increase to over 50 additional cameras. So the government will be monitoring our comings and goings to a greater extent than presently.
In my lifetime I can honestly say that Queens always gets screwed by Manhattan projects. We got a useless 63rd street tunnel. The MTA has given is a useless V train and packed E trains. Gee, who could have predicted that? I bet CP funds end up paying for the 2nd Ave line and the Fulton Street Shrine.
Now we get a massive city-sponsored rezoning of Jamaica that will dump thousands of more riders onto the E/F line. The proposal for the rezoning estimated an additional 200 person-rides per day. 200. Sure.
Once Queens has a reasonable way of getting into the city, we can reconsider CP. Until then, CP is not an option for most of Queens riders.
There is a way of raising more money, it's called the Commuter Tax. Reinstate that before you start charging Queens drivers. Why do drivers from the suburbs get to travel NYC roads for free, when we will have to pay.
Where is the outrage?
In my eyes congestive pricing brings absolutely no benefits to the communities of South Queens – therefore I cannot support CP at this time, although I agree wholeheartedly in reducing traffic throughout NYC
In closing, I think the proposal is just another way for Mayor Bloomberg to make Manhattan an island for only well-heeled, wealthy people and tourists, By making CP so cost-prohibitive, it's just a way to keep the riff-raff from the outer boroughs from having access to our own City.
At this time, I have no alternative but to oppose the CP as proposed by Mayor Bloomberg.
David M. Quintana
