Earth Equity News-April 8, 2008

$8 Traffic Fee for Manhattan Dies Behind Closed Doors. By Nicholas Confessore, NYTimes, April 8, 2008. "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's far-reaching plan to ease traffic in Manhattan [by charging drivers $8 to enter a congestion zone in Manhattan south of 60^th Street during peak hours] died... on Monday in a closed conference room on the third floor of the Capitol. Democratic members... held one final meeting to debate the merits... and found overwhelming and persistent opposition... by a broad array of politicians from Queens, Brooklyn and New York's suburbs, who viewed [it] as a regressive measure that overwhelmingly benefited affluent Manhattanites... The plan's collapse was a severe blow to Mr. Bloomberg's environmental agenda and political legacy... 'It takes a special type of cowardice for elected officials to refuse to stand up and vote their conscience on an issue that has been debated, and amended significantly to resolve many outstanding issues, for more than a year,' [the mayor] said [in a statement]." NY Assembly Speaker Silver Kills Congestion Pricing. Editorial, NYTimes, April 8, 2008. "New Yorkers should remember Monday as the day Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, used the power of his office to deprive them of $354 million in federal funds to help mass transportation, ease traffic congestion and improve the air that all New Yorkers breathe."