Three northern Brooklyn community boards and seven civic groups, today, endorsed a plan to toll the East River River Bridges with the money raised by the tolls earmarked for public transit and transportation infrastructure improvements.
Under the plan, dubbed Move NY, tolls on the city’s outer bridges, including the Verrazano and Cross Bay bridges, would be lowered by up to 48%, while tolls would be added to the East River bridges and across 60th Street.
According to the plan, this will result in $1.5 billion per year of net revenue that would go to capital transportation improvements. When bonded, that net revenue could fill much of the current $14 billion gap in the MTA’s 2015-2019 nets
Those supporting the plan after organizational votes include Community Boards 2, 6 and 8 covering Boerum Hill, Bridge Plaza, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Clinton Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Farragut Houses, Fort Greene, Fulton Ferry Landing, Vinegar Hill, Wallabout, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Columbia Street District, Gowanus, Park Slope, Red Hook, North Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and Weeksville.
“The Move NY plan will create a new source of revenue for critical infrastructure with the added benefits of new and improved mass transit, safer streets and reduced air pollution. This is not just congestion pricing, but a whole new, more equitable framework for transportation in New York City,” said CB 2 Chair Shirley A. McRae.
“Currently, high tolls on the Verrazano Bridge and free rides on the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges encourage drivers with no destination in our neighborhoods, or even in Manhattan, to use city streets instead of taking highways. The bigger a truck you drive, the more money you save by using city streets,” said Eric McClure, CB6 transportation committee co-chair and co-founder of Park Slope Neighbors.
The civic organizations supporting the plan include the Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Heights Association, Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, Cobble Hill Association, Park Slope Civic Council, Park Slope Neighbors, and Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council.
There quotes and notes of support include the following:
Lauri Schindler, trustee of the Park Slope Civic Council: “One of our neighborhood’s main subway lines, the F, was late almost 30% of the time last year. The Move NY Fair Plan will fund a modernization of the signaling system with 21st century technologies that will allow trains to run faster and more often.”
Paco Abraham, President of the Cobble Hill Association: “The plan will dedicate 10 percent of the net revenues it raises to community transportation enhancements and said “we look forward to working with our elected officials to choose the investments that would most help our community.”
Boerum Hill Association President Howard Kolins said that his community supported Move NY’s proposals to reduce traffic in Downtown Brooklyn and increase transit service, despite concerns that more drivers will park in the neighborhood and take local subways into Manhattan: “Studies show that very few drivers get out of their cars so close to their destination but it would still be noticeable in our neighborhood. We think Albany should authorize New York City to implement Residential Parking Districts along with the Move NY Fair Plan.”
While these organizations support the plan, similar organizations in the central and southern part of the borough, where public transportation is more limited, are likely to oppose the plan. Such was the case when a similar congestion pricing proposal was floated and ultimately scraped under the Bloomberg Administration.
In any event, since the plan involves tolls it would require state approval and Albany is unlikely to even consider it without getting the City Council to pass a home rule resolution that they want it.
A source familiar with the issue said the time frame for action will be determined by Albany and so far it’s playing out very slowly.
“It will surely not be decided before the session ends in June, but the process should at least begin before then, if it is to be finalized later this year,” said the source.
