Bloomberg to Congestion Pricing Opponents: “Don’t Be Dumb”
Mar 19th, 2008 by Jervey
Photo from Streetsblog.
Well, he might not have said that exactly, but pretty much. And boy have the blogs reacted.
Streetsblog sets the stage:
It’s now or never for congestion pricing, the MTA, and maybe even the city itself, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this morning.
Speaking before a sold-out crowd at the Battery Park City Ritz-Carlton, Bloomberg and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters were the guests of honor at today’s Crain’s New York Business Breakfast Forum, where the mayor painted a bleak picture for a city transit system without congestion revenues and the $354 million in federal funds that hinge on the adoption of a pricing plan by March 31.
“Refusing those funds is basically saying that there will be next to no MTA capital projects in our immediate future,” said Bloomberg. “It’s just the truth of the matter. There is no money short of this.”
From the Daily Intel:
To a question about congestion pricing’s threat to federal funding, Bloomberg snapped: “That’s one of the stupider things I’ve heard!”
On the State Assembly proposal to tax income above $1 million, he cracked: “If not now, when? I don’t know what these people are smoking!”
He got so passionate that he even sounded daring about putting tolls on East River bridges: “Given the times we’re facing, maybe people can consider ideas that were politically third rail.”
From Gothamist:
And regarding local leaders who aren’t supporting congestion pricing because of their constituents, Bloomberg said, ““That is not why people were elected. They were elected to lead.“
And from the Observer:
In response to Weiner‘s assertion that the mayor’s congestion pricing plan would lead to reduced federal aid for transportation, Bloomberg said:
“I have nothing against any one congressman [but] that is one of the stupider things I’ve ever heard said. Forget the fact that he’s one of the congressmen who’s supposed to get the money for us. The Democrats control—his party controls Congress—what’s he talking about? Number two, by that argument, we should cut all the taxes, which some people would like, and then just sit here and wait to give us all the money back. Are you kidding? It’s insanity.”
It’s so, so nice to have a mayor who says what’s on his mind. As Gothamist quips, he’s “so not endorsing Weiner for Mayor in 2009.”
This guy is awesome. Bloomberg for VP!