In a move that Mayor Bloomberg denounced as “shameful,” Assembly Democrats yesterday killed off his controversial congestion-pricing plan – without even putting the measure up for a vote on the floor.
The Assembly’s rejection means New York missed the midnight deadline to pass congestion pricing or a viable alternative and will forfeit $354 million in special federal mass-transit aid.
“Many of them just don’t believe in the concept. Many of them think this bill is flawed,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver after a private meeting with his Assembly Democrats.
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Last night, Bloomberg issued a harshly worded statement condemning the Assembly.
“It takes true leadership and courage to embrace new concepts and ideas and to be willing to try something. Unfortunately, both are lacking in the Assembly today,” the mayor said.
“If that wasn’t shameful enough, it takes a special type of cowardice for elected officials to refuse to stand up and vote their conscience . . . Every New Yorker has a right to know if the person they send to Albany was for or against better transit and cleaner air.”
Silver said that overwhelming opposition by the Democratic majority – estimated by lawmakers to be between 75 and 80 percent – meant the bill would not be brought to the floor.
Bloomberg spokesman John Gallagher called Silver’s decision “one of the biggest copouts in New York’s history.”
The Republican-controlled state Senate didn’t hold a vote on the plan either.
Democratic senators yesterday boycotted the Senate session, fearing Majority Leader Joe Bruno might have brought the congestion legislation forward for a surprise vote to put some Democratic members on the spot, sources said.
A number of Assembly Democrats flat out opposed the plan to charge drivers $8 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, while others opposed details.
“A lot of my constituents saw it as an elitist tax on middle-class people,” said Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Queens).
Supporters weren’t giving up hope, saying New York’s traffic woes will get worse and alternative sources of funding for mass transit will still be needed.
“It may not be today, but congestion pricing is the ultimate answer,” said Kathryn Wylde, head of the Partnership for New York City.
A “deeply” disappointed US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said starting today, her agency will begin looking to disburse the $354 million in mass-transit aid to other states.
The Assembly’s move also throws the MTA’s $29.5 billion capital plan into doubt, since it depended on funds from congestion pricing to benefit the mass-transit system, including projects like the Second Avenue Subway.
Silver yesterday said that with or without congestion pricing, the MTA capital plan is “severely underfunded” and said that shortfall “has to be the first area of concern.”