Run, Mike Bloomberg!

This is crunch time. The federal government has given until Monday for New York to decide if they want up to $500 Million to start a pilot program for congestion-pricing. It would be a staggering failure if New York dose not take this money and Mr. Bloomberg recognizes this and is fighting to get this plan on track. He’s own words

“First, a congestion charge will reduce gridlock immediately in all five boroughs, easing the stranglehold traffic currently has on our economy. The price of congestion in fuel costs, delayed deliveries and lost productivity is already $13 billion a year - and will only get worse unless we act now. So will the air pollution which results in children in some of our city's neighborhoods being hospitalized for asthma at close to four times the national average.

Second, a congestion charge will generate the revenue we need to upgrade and expand our mass-transit system. The vast majority of New Yorkers commute by mass transit - only 5 percent drive into Manhattan for work - and yet we have not expanded the subway system since 1981. It is no secret which projects we need: East Side Access, the Downtown Rail Link to Jamaica, the Second Avenue Subway, Bus Rapid Transit, increased bus and ferry service, and others. But if you add them all up, we are more than $30 billion short, and no one wants to talk about where the money to plug that gap will come from. It is time we do. Congestion pricing will yield nearly $400 million per year, and 100 percent of it will go to transit improvements.

By simultaneously reducing congestion and finally finding a way to expand our mass-transit system, we will remove the greatest barriers to our economic expansion and prepare the city for long-term growth. That's one of the reasons our congestion-pricing plan has been endorsed by more than 140 civic, business, environmental, labor, community and public health organizations. A growing list of elected officials from every community and the editorial boards of New York's biggest newspapers, including this one, have signed on, too.”

It’s hard to argue with this logic, but he is just one person and he needs our help. We need to call our local state representatives today and tell them we will not forgive them for letting such an opportunity go by.

Call or write to Sheldon Silver at his district office:

DISTRICT OFFICE
250 Broadway
Suite 2307
New York, NY 10007
212-312-1420

Or Albany Office:
LOB 932
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-3791

Call or write Joseph L. Bruno at his district office:
368 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518)-583-1001
Or his Albany Office:
Room 909 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
(518) 455-3191