Nine Bklyn Councilmembers Vote Against Congest Fee
Yesterday the City Council voted in favor of congestion pricing “by an unusually slim margin,” according to the Times. Nay votes from many Brooklyn and Queens Councilmembers contributed to that 30-20 outcome, per a pdf sent out by the Queens Civic Congress (reprinted on the jump). Seven Brooklyn councilmembers—Simcha Felder, Sara M. Gonzalez, Letitia James,…
Yesterday the City Council voted in favor of congestion pricing “by an unusually slim margin,” according to the Times. Nay votes from many Brooklyn and Queens Councilmembers contributed to that 30-20 outcome, per a pdf sent out by the Queens Civic Congress (reprinted on the jump). Seven Brooklyn councilmembers—Simcha Felder, Sara M. Gonzalez, Letitia James, Domenic M. Recchia, Kendall Stewart, Albert Vann, and David Yassky—voted for the plan. On the other hand nine Brooklyn councilmembers voted against congestion pricing: Diana Reyna, Charles Barron, Bill de Blasio, Erik Martin Dilan, Mathieu Eugene, Lewis A. Fidler, Vincent J. Gentile, Darlene Mealy, and Michael C. Nelson. The Brooklyn no-ways were second only to the number from Queens; our Long Island neighbor had 10 councilmembers voting against the proposal, which now heads to Albany for approval.
City Council Approves Fee to Drive Below 60th [NY Times]
Congestion Pricing Passes Council, Brooklyn Vote 9-7 Against [Gowanus Lounge]
Photo by wka.
Who voted for the Congestion Tax (30)
Y – Eric N. Gioia, 26, Queens, Democrat
Y – John C. Liu, 20, Queens, Democrat
Y – Hiram Monserrate, 21, Queens, Democrat
Y – James Sanders, Jr., 31, Queens, Democrat
Y – Thomas White, Jr. 28, Queens, Democrat
Y – Maria del Carmen Arroyo, 17, Bronx, Democrat
Y – Maria Baez, 14, Bronx, Democrat
Y – Gale A. Brewer, 6, Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Inez E. Dickens, 9, Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Simcha Felder, 44, Brooklyn, Democrat
Y – Daniel R. Garodnick, 4, Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Alan J. Gerson, 1, Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Sara M. Gonzalez, 38, Brooklyn, Democrat
Y – Robert Jackson, 7, Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Letitia James, 35, Brooklyn, Working Families
Y – G. Oliver Koppell, 11, Bronx, Democrat
Y – Jessica S. Lappin, 5 Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Melissa Mark-Viverito, 8, Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Miguel Martinez, 10, Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Michael E. McMahon, 49 Staten Island, Democrat
Y – Rosie Mendez, 2, Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Annabel Palma, 18, Bronx, Democrat
Y – Christine C. Quinn, 3, Manhattan, Democrat
Y – Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., 47, Brooklyn, Democrat
Y – Joel Rivera, 15, Bronx, Democrat
Y – Larry B. Seabrook, 12, Bronx, Democrat
Y – Kendall Stewart, 45, Brooklyn, Democrat
Y – James Vacca, 13, Bronx, Democrat
Y – Albert Vann, 36, Brooklyn, Democrat
Y – David Yassky 33, Brooklyn, Democrat
ABSENT
Helen D. Foster, 16, Bronx, Democrat
Who voted AGAINST the Congestion Tax
N – Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., 32, Queens, Democrat
N – Tony Avella, 19, Queens, Democrat
N – Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., 27, Queens, Democrat
N – Dennis P. Gallagher, 30, Queens, Republican
N – James F. Gennaro, 24, Queens, Democrat
N – Melinda R. Katz, 29, Queens, Democrat
N – Diana Reyna, 34, Brooklyn/Queens, Democrat
N – Helen Sears, 25, Queens, Democrat
N – Peter F. Vallone Jr., 22, Queens, Democrat
N – David I. Weprin, 23, Queens, Democrat
N – Charles Barron, 42, Brooklyn, Democrat
N – Bill de Blasio, 39, Brooklyn, Democrat
N – Erik Martin Dilan, 37, Brooklyn, Democrat
N – Mathieu Eugene, 40, Brooklyn, Democrat
N – Lewis A. Fidler, 46, Brooklyn, Democrat
N – Vincent J. Gentile, 43, Brooklyn, Democrat
N – Vincent Ignizio, 51, Staten Island, Republican
N – Darlene Mealy, 41, Brooklyn, Democrat
N – Michael C. Nelson, 48, Brooklyn, Democrat
N – James S. Oddo, 50, Staten Island, Republican
Sorry daveinbedstuy, while I may have a bad case of OCD with paranoid / neurotic complications and am certainly in need of immediate psychiatric help, I can assure you I’m not the faded type poster.
🙂
Are you telling me people who can afford a car, insurance, gas, and parking to drive to work everyday in Manhattan can’t afford another 8 bucks. These are not poor folks just more of the disenfranchised middle class caught up in the ridiculous façade of wealth this city has erected. And I don’t buy the argument that the neighborhoods close to Manhattan will become parking lots. Why would someone fight traffic, spend time looking for parking in an already parking deprived neighborhood, only to then have to pay 4 bucks to get on a subway or bus to get into Manhattan. Wouldn’t they just pay the extra 4 bucks and keep on driving? I say ban private cars, require all truck deliveries to take place between 10pm and 6am, and spend the 350 million to buy a couple million bikes and blanket the city.
WOW…a very bad case of OCD with paranoid/neurotic complications 9:29. You’re escalating and in need of immediate psychiatric help.
If the cost is $8 to enter Manhattan, will many drivers bother endlessly circling near Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods trying to find a spot and then paying $4 for a round trip subway ride? I could certainly see it impacting traffic above 60th Street in Manhattan, but wonder if the affect on the outer boroughs will be as significant as some predict.
While $8 seems a bit steep for the average driver to start congestion pricing at, I’m all for it to encourage people to take mass transit more often. (I’m also against parking permits and I live in Brooklyn Heights, but am willing to deal with whatever increased traffic results from what I think is an overall good initiative for the city and the environment).
“Do you know that those vehicles have more riders than mass transit WITHIN midtown where mass transit option are best.” Cite the reference for that one 9:17. I love it how so many posters are fast and loose with the facts to the point of absurdity.
Please, people SHARE taxi’s throughout the day, instead of one car one person. Where do I go to rally Albany to support this?
Bloomberg did an amazing snowball job on this issue. I can’t believe someone questions organization against it – when many many more $$ were spent promoting it – why not ask who funded that?
Sold it as environmental issue – when really just a revenue producer. And essentially lets the taxi/limo rider off for just another $1. – and they are the group that congest and pollutes. Do you know that those vehicles have more riders than mass transit WITHIN midtown where mass transit option are best.
Also, I find residential parking permits much worse idea than the congestion pricing.
Because if he charged taxi/limo riders $8 each too I would have no problem with congestion pricing.
There were lots of robocalls going around for people to contact their representatives to vote against congestion pricing. Of course they wouldn’t say who was funding the calls, probably the Petroleum Institute or some other lobbying organization that wants to keep the status quo–and they were framed funny: “vote against this because we can’t trust the MTA with more money since they’ll just squander it.”
I mean I can understand the fear that the near Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods will become parking lots for Manhattan but they weren’t asking people to be against the issue for that reason.
UNCOOL de blasio