Columbia: "Vamanos!"

In what will be a taste of things to come, if Columbia University gets its expansion plan approved, the university has followed through on its intention of evicting the 15, mostly Hispanic auto mechanics from their West Harlem body shop. As the NY Post highlights this morning, the mechanics, as sub-tenants, had no legal recourse to fight their eviction.

Can the handwriting on the wall be any clearer? This is a corporate interest, much like any other, using the false impression of public interestedness to aggrandize its own corporate agenda. As Rolando Sally, one of the evicted mechanics told the paper, "'They don't want to continue to give us a chance...'" His partner Tony Garcia went on to say, "'Everyone is crying...Columbia doesn't want to give {a new lease}.'"

In the dissembling that we have come to expect from this once proud institution, a college spokesman said that Columbia had invited Mr. Garcia , "to apply for space as a tenant in a Columbia-owned property." Yet, as the Post points out (in typical Catch-22 fashion-someone's reading Joseph Heller over at the Morningside Heights campus); "Garcia said the school told him no other space is immediately available."

So we find out sooner rather than later just how Columbia handles evictions. Remember it has also promised the residential tenants of the Till Houses that they will be relocated to "as good, or better" apartments. Perhaps they will, or maybe only when space becomes available.

Gardiner Correction

In my earlier post I criticized the Sun's Jill Gardiner for her saying that the Gateway Mall was built on vacant city land. A careful reading of the article would have indicated that she was referring to the construction on the Hub at Third Avenue. Sorry Jill, you were right.

In addition, as a commenter to the blog pointed out, the Carrion remarks about "family life" at Gracie Mansion could also be considered a shot at the two other possible mayoral candidates-Anthony Weiner (a bachelor) and Bill Thompson (divorced or separated, not sure about this). All of which raises the question of whether the "family values," pro-business, anti-labor candidate, may be really planning to run as a Republican.

Mayor Carrion, or Simply Carrion?

In today's NY Sun, Jill Gardiner takes a look at the mayoral prospects of Bronx BP Adolfo Carrion. While the article is mostly positive, and cites the construction boom in the Bronx, it does raise some questions about Carrion's viability in a city wide race; and quotes Richard Lipsky that, "Mr. Carion could have a hard time taking credit for the new construction, as City Hall initiated most of it."

The greater difficulty for Adolfo, however, will devolve from an inability to appeal to a larger city wide constituency, while simultaneously maintaining his Latino base. His decision in 2006 to support State Senator Sabini against Hiram Monseratte, his Hispanic challenger, could come back to haunt him in two years.

Carrion's enthusiasm for the removal of mainly Latino businesses from the Bronx Terminal Market to make way for the Gateway Mall won't win him points with Latinos, something that Monseratte is sure to bring back up in 2009. It should be pointed out here that the Sun is incorrect in saying that the Gateway Mall will rise on "formerly vacant, city-owned land." The vacancy was a product of the eviction of the existing businesses in a sweetheart deal between the city and the Related Companies (with Deputy Dan as the midwife).

In addition, Carrion has a rather rocky relationship with labor; his support for BJ's in the Bronx and his flirtation with Wal-Mart has raised questions about what he would do as mayor. His willingness to support the mayor on congestion pricing, an idea that has little support in the outer borough constituency that he needs to cultivate, will also make it hard for Adolfo to project himself out of the Bronx stereotype.

One last point. What's up with the headline in the Sun?- "Gracie Mansion is ready for family life again." Gardiner doesn't comment, but since one of Carrion's main rivals may well be a gay woman we're interested to see if this was some sort of implied shot against Chris Quinn. If it is, then 2009 could become quite a nasty fight for the top slot in city government.

MTA's Decongestant

Well, well, now. Perhaps the cat is finally out of the bag, especially when the leading cheerleader for a congestion tax is suddenly turning a bit skeptical about what in financial circles is called, "the use of proceeds." In this morning's NY Daily News the paper's editorial asks some hard questions about the proposed fare increase-ones that we have already raised-but no one, least of all the agency itself, has bothered to answer.

The confusion arises from the protean nature of the congestion tax itself. So many claims have been made on the money that we're going to need a forensic accountant, along with the EIS we've called for, to determine where the tax money would be going if the congestion tax was given a green light in Albany.

What we have been told all along, and the NY Times editorial this morning repeats the mantra, is that the proceeds of the tax would be utilized for the generation of a more robust mass transit infrastructure. This has been the major carrot used-the one the editorial boards have been hammering away on- to convince a skeptical public (particularly the folks outside of Manhattan with poor transit options) to support the mayor's tax plan.

As it turns out, our skepticism about all of this has been well-founded. As the DN reported yesterday, in Friday's MTA hearings chaired by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, it was revealed that the MTA budget is counting on some of the money from the congestion tax in order to meet its normal operating expense needs. As the News says today; "We thought the congestion pricing money was slated for capital improvements, not operating funds. Sander had better make himself clear."

Now does everyone finally realize why the public has been so unwilling to buy Bloomberg's pig-in-a-poke? It would seem that much of the public has been a good deal wiser than the mayor's media amen chorus about all of this. As Senator Diaz reminded us all at a recent press conference, we heard the same arguments when the lottery was being championed as a funding mechanism for education. Once the state gets hold of the public's money-well, you know the rest of this story.

Expose the Charlatans

In this week's Village Voice there is a letter written in response to a previous story that was done on Nick Sprayregen, and his vocal opposition to the Columbia expansion. The letter, written by someone claiming to be a religious figure and community resident (isn't it interesting how all of the so-called proponents of Columbia refer to the neighborhood as "Manhattanville," just like their paymasters?) attacks Nick for being a businessman and not a community resident.

What's fascinating in the Reverend Williams' letter is how closely it hews to the scurrilous flyer that Bill Lynch's army of homeless guys were giving out at a recent community meeting. But Williams is claiming to the Voice that he represents, "...an extensive coalition of businesses, landowners, religious leaders and concerned individuals who support Columbia University's Manhattanvile proposal."

Where is this coalition, and if it exists in such an extensive form, why is it resorting to anonymous flyers and character assassination against a local businessman who doesn't want Columbia (you know that friendly and only community-minded West Harlem neighbor) to make off with his property? Williams, or whoever he is, than goes on to ask about Sprayregen: "Who, and what does he really represent?

First this guy tries to defame NS as a rich interloper, a builder, he says, of luxury condos in Yonkers. Then he goes on to say that Nick is trying to use his wealth to make himself the face of the opposition to Columbia. If all what these folks are saying about Sprayregen was true, they should welcome him as the poster child of the opposition since he is only a businessman, not a resident; and after all he only has worked and employed local residents, while servicing neighborhood needs for around thirty years which should certainly disqualify him from any voice in the expansion proposal. The fact is, that Sprayregen is only one voice among thousands who disapprove of the CU scam.

It is time that the sewer rats came out of their tunnels and openly admitted their role in all of these attempts to deligitimize Nick. The reason they can't is that their extensive coalition-a coalition of the bribed and bought-is no such thing; and pales before the real community coalition of Coalition to Preserve Community and CB#9. After all, if the Reverend Williams was part of any mass movement here, there would never been any unanimous vote in favor of the 197-a plan and, therefore against the CU plan, at the community board.

Nick Sprayregen is being targeted in typical scapegoat fashion because the Columbia expansion has so little community support-it simply lacks any of the ingredients needed to legitimately attract local enthusiasm. The more that the paid proponents of CU can focus on Nick, the less attention paid to the weaknesses of the plan itself.

A good strategy in another context perhaps, but not in West Harlem where the locals have been on to the Columbia game for years. The use of these tactics, however, speaks volumes about the integrity of this poison ivy league institution.

Mayoral Control Freak

There is a fascinating analysis piece, one of many that is done by the inimitable Sol Stern, that focuses on the reality behind the mayoral PR campaign about how well the schools are doing under Bloomberg's stewardship. In many ways, the elaborate mayoral burnishing is reminiscent of the current campaign on congestion taxing-lavish spending on media relations designed to conceal some unpleasant truths lying beneath the surface of all the glitter.

In addition, the attempt to create a more sophisticated version of the Marx Brothers' catch phrase-"Who are going to believe, me or your own lying eyes?-leads the way, as it has on traffic taxes, to the further display of Mayor Mike's most natural trait-arrogance. Remember, when confronted by state senate Democrats about some of the fuzzier details of the congestion tax proposal, Mike rudely questioned whether the caucus, elected officials in their own right, had bothered to read his plan.

As Stern underscores, the same attitude of mind over matter-"I don't mind, and you don't matter"-charcaterizes Bloomberg's approach to accountability in education. What the mayor sees as accountability in this area is simply the four year election cycle, and nothing more. After voting, anyone who had a problem with the Bloomberg school agenda could, according to him, "'Boo me at parades.'"

In Stern's view, and one we share for a host of other policy reasons as well; "The arrogance of that response demonstrates how little Bloomberg really seems to care about accountability." But, as Stern points out, this situation isn't simply about the personality flaws of the chief executive.

Bloomberg's attitude about being accountable needs to be seen in the context of his public relations machine; "In fact, his Department of Education routinely undermines accountability with a public-relations juggernaut that deflects legitimate criticism of his education policies dominates the mainstream press uses the schools as campaign props, and, most ominously, distorts student test-score data. Without transparency, real accountability doesn't exist."

This is precisely what we have been saying about the mayor's congestion tax blitzkrieg-a multi-million dollar full court press that co opts the media and distorts data in order to avoid the transparency that is necessary for proper oversight and evaluation. And, as we have also said-mirroring Stern's analysis-all of this is in the service of a special interest: Mike Bloomberg's national ambition.

Why does the DOE have 29 employees in its press office, four times the number in the old Board? This operation is on top of the sophisticated city hall press effort, and doesn't include "...the substantial public-relations and marketing services that the administration has received from companies, either pro bono or paid for by third-party private contributions." Can anyone say REBNY or the NYC Partnership?

In similar fashion to the efforts of the environmental groups on congestion, signed on as beggars at the feast for the mayor's ambitious national plans, we have a group called the Fund for Public Schools that has "launched a two month ad campaign bolstering administration claims that reading and math scores were rising and calling on New Yorkers to 'help keep the progress going.'"

What wasn't mentioned, of course, was the fact, "that Klein was the Fund's chairman or that the mayor's friends, including the Broad Foundation, had helped pay the $1 million cost of the ad campaign." When is the press going to get off its duff and simply connect the dots here; and with the elaborate smoke and mirrors of the congestion tax scheme? The lavish public relations spinning hides what the inn keeper's wife observed about the Master of the House: "He thinks he's quite a lover, but there's not much there."

Once again what we are seeing is the way in which the mayor's great wealth is being put to the use of a special interest-his own; and like all special interests it is cloaked in a public interest garment. Whether it's education or the environment what we will see, if we look closely enough, is the truth of that great fable-"The Emperor has No Clothes."

No Green Light

It never ceases to amaze us how certain folks can't help but try to put the best spin on the legislature's approval of a commission to study the mayor's congestion tax-and reasonable alternatives to the taxing scheme. This morning's NY Daily News editorial is a case in point; an effort apparently written directly out of the mayor's press office.

The News' editorialists feel that the commission will have no choice but to approve the mayor's plan-that's if the money is even there-because; "The legislation establishes a commission that must find a way to reduce Manhattan traffic by 6.3%-but, by our reckoning, there's no way to do that except through congestion pricing."

Well let's hope that the commission doesn't use the DN's reckoning, because there is absolutely no empirical basis for the paper-or the mayor for that matter-to make the 6.3% assertion. The commission, as Richard Brodsky told the Times, is a process not a fait accompli; and one of its primary missions, along with that of the City Council, is to devise the right methodology to evaluate the congestion tax plan-under the heading of, "There's a first time for everything."

Which gets us back to our emphasis that this proposal needs to undergo a full Environmental Impact Statement-there is no exemptions for "Pilot Programs." Here, from our developing expert analysis, is a brief taste of the underlying rationale: "It is self evident that an underlying concern about the proposed Action that meets the SEQR/CEQR criteria of significance that warrants an EIS is the potential adverse environmental, social and economic impacts on communities adjacent to subway stations that serve the pricing zone caused by a large number of auto commuters who would not otherwise travel to these areas..."

This is just a preliminary glance at what will be a full-blown, clarion call for a thorough review of the congestion tax assumptions. We're pretty sure that the 6.3% figure-probably simply extrapolated from London-will not withstand real world empirical review-which will make the mayor's proviso of this figure in the legislation moot.

So there's along way to go from here. There is much opposition in both houses of the legislature-and in the senate particularly there is no guarantee that leadership will be able to deliver the members. As tax supporter Senator Schneiderman told the NY Times; "'There's a lot more communication to be done by the advocates of congestion pricing, including me, if we're going to get anything done.'"

A Tale of Two Cities

The Q-Poll was released yesterday and it revealed that we are indeed a tale of two cities. What the poll found, as this was consistent with all of the previous polls, was that the folks outside of Manhattan do not approve of congestion taxing. Leaving the Manhattan numbers aside, what we find is that New Yorkers disaprove of the mayor's plan by a 58.25-34.75 margin-a landside by any poltical calculation.

The poll, however, does go further and asks repondents how they would feel if the congestion tax was used to defray any increase in the subway fare. The response? No surprise really-the support shifts to a margin of 58-36 in favor. What does this kind of question mean, especially in the context of yesterday's news that the fare increase that's being planned has no correlation with the mayor's tax proposal?

The question really has no place in a non-partisan poll because there has been no explicit correlation of the two policies-aside from the disinformation clack in the mayor's amen chorus. Suppose, however, the Q folks had asked what their feeling would be about congestion taxing if it would be imposed along with a fare increase? The numbers would skew even further against the congestion tax.

Unfortunately, the Crain's people in today's update don't provide this kind of insight, and take leave of their reportorial role, joining the choral ranks by headling the poll story thusly: "New York City Backs Transit Plan for Transit Funding..." Say what?With all due respect to Crain's, its headline is misleading and plays into the supportive line that has crept into the magazine's coverage of this issue.

The fare is going up because the MTA's entire funding mechanism is out of whack. So what we have here then, is a misleading poll question being obfuscated even further by a misleading report of what the poll's findings actually say. New Yorkers are too smart for this kind of spinning.

All of this takes a somewhat back seat to the passage of the commission bill in the legislature yesterday. This certainly was no shock since leadership supported the measure that they themselves brokered. What we did find interesting was the number of Senators who felt that they had to vote No, on what really was only a procedural vote.

Of course, nothing could top the report that Senator Bill Perkins, in voicing his opposition to the Bloomberg tax, called both Bloomberg and Doctoroff "'rats,' out to impose their own plan on the 17 member body..." Since Perkins used to chair the Rat Committee in the City Council we have to say that he qualifies as an expert in this mater-and we always defer to such expertise.

MTA: Getting Out of Our Way

With a fare hike looming once again, it took Norman Seabrook, the head of the correction officers union and an MTA board member, to put the entire fiasco into perspective: he suggested that the MTA sell off station naming rights to Disney. The mayor, on the other hand, thought that the idea was, well. Mickey Mouse.

Perhaps the idea is unrealistic but it does manage to highlight something about the agency and its entire operating methodology-it's Mickey Mouse through and through. The MTA's budget is not transparent, its functioning is beyond any outside accountability-and its reason for existence is no longer clear to anyone who has watched it operate over the past few decades.

Yet this is the same agency that we will sit back and allow to unilaterally raise subway and bus fares on New Yorkers because, well because it says that it must. What's fascinating here is that the MTA is apparently, at least according to the NY Post, earmarking fees raised through a congestion tax to defray its own projected operating deficits; "The MTA's latest financial plan-which already calls for a fare increase-is loaded with speculation about income from congestion-pricing charges..."

As MTA CEO Lee Sander tells the Post, "We need the money..." Well, don't we all, but we understood that congestion taxes were going to a separate authority under the mayor's scheme. Has something changed? This is just another example of the way in which the congestion tax is being unrealistically claimed for multiple purposes-and is therefore serving multiple masters. Since everyone is claiming the door prize, the likely result of all of this is- if the tax is ever enacted it will need to be constantly increased in order to feed the hungry hordes.

Which brings up the NY Times editorial point that is raised this morning: "While congestion fees would buoy the system in time, Mr. Sander needs to find an immediate way out of the MTA's fiscal pickle. Its revenues come from the state and local government coffers and the fare box. Fares have had to finance a big part of the budget-58 percent versus the national average of 40 percent-mostly because the state and city have long shortchanged public transit" (Emphasis added).

While we certainly disagree with the Times' view that the congestion tax could help to stabilize the system's finances-not with a projected deficit of $31 billion in transportation capital funding-we do agree that the bus and subway riders have been shortchanged-but sticking it to middle income auto commuters is not the proper response to this historic public transit penury.

The only likely result would be the rapid increase in both congestion taxes and fares-something that we see in embryo today. The funding for our mass transit infrastructure, and we mean for the entire region, needs to be addressed in a comprehensive an equitable manner. And the burden needs to be spread fairly across the board-and not by pitting middle income commuters against the folks on the E Train.

Part of this task would include an immediate-and prior-implementation of a mass transit expansion that would make the system a cheaper and attractive alternative, as it is in Paris As one Parisian emphasizes in this morning's Times Op-ed; "The lesson for big city mayors: If you're going to squeeze the cars, first primp the public ride."

So what the congestion tax commission needs to do is to expand the scope of the inquiry in order to avoid what C Wright Mils called "crackpot rationality," the seemingly rational planning that is done for an overall irrational enterprise. Congestion taxing will not save the fare, it will not build more transit infrastructure, it will not even reduce traffic congestion in any meaningful way-and, as importantly it is an inefficient way to raise money, as one of its own supporters admits in this morning's DN.

There is the need for a traffic congestion plan, but only as part of an overall plan to deal with mass transit funding. Part of this comprehensive oversight should include a real hard look at the continued usefulness of the MTA, and alternative ways to bettter administer our complex transit system. A congestion tax is the most inefficient, unfair and least comprehensive approach to this serious problem. Let's hope that our leaders in Albany understand this.

Farely Predictable

One rationale down, it seems. As the NY Times is reporting this morning, it looks as if the MTA is going forward with the rumored fare/tolls increase. No surprise in that, it's just important to highlight the fact that any linkage between the fare increase and the mayor's congestion pricing plan is, and always was, political fiction.

What needs to be done here is for our elected officials to begin a process of examination: the MTA must be put under the microscope in order to evaluate its operations with an eye towards either reform or replacement. Unelected public authorities, while sometimes providing needed cover for electeds, are basically unaccountable and undemocratic vestiges that should be replaced by entities that are directly responsive to political authority.

It is true, as City Council Transportation Chair John Liu tells the Times this morning, that any fare increase, "is tantamount to a tax increase..." Given this taxing ability we need to insure that the authority is not only accountable, but also competent-with the money raised being spent prudently. Richard Brodsky's hearings a few years ago on the MTA don't give us a great deal of confidence that this is so.

Which takes us back to the mayor's own tax plan. It is our view that the stables need to be cleaned before we devise an elaborate taxing scheme that purports to raise money for mass transit. We know that the mayor's proposal for his own "smart" authority will be going nowhere in Albany, which only means that any money raised would be wheel barreled over to the MTA.

Big mistake! We need for the Albany commission on the congestion plan to begin the process of developing a regional transit plan, one that examines the utility of maintaining the dysfunctional public authority that seems to avoid even a modest amount of oversight. Until then, proposals to tax New Yorkers for putative transit improvements should be resisted strenuously.

Getting Testy

As the NY Sun reports this morning, the congestion tax commission will provide council speaker Chris Quinn with a severe political test. As the paper says, Quinn came on board the Bloomberg band wagon, "before the deal that puts the council on the hook was negotiated." Now it will be up to her to deliver, an effort that has both potential political costs as well as benefits.

With a dedicated cadre of opponents on the council, many of whom occupy key leadership positions, Quinn will have to adopt a strategy that acknowledges the concerns of opponent, while at the same time cultivating the necessary votes to pass the required home rule message. Councilman Weprin, a confirmed congestion tax opponent, told the Sun that he didn't think the speaker would "use her pulpit to influence members."

We're not as sanguine as our friend David on this point. The speaker will need to use all of her resources because, as Professor Cohen of Columbia told the Sun she needs, "to show she has the leadership ability to be mayor..." With her political prestige on the line, she'll have no choice but to go full bore on this issue-and make no mistake she will be a formidable presence in the upcoming months.

That being said, her stalwart support for the mayor carries certain risks. The bottom line reality in this fight is that, in spite of all the money that has been spent to sell the tax plan, most New Yorkers abhor the idea. The bulk of the opposition resides in the communities that the speaker will have to woo if she's going to have a chance to actually win a Democratic primary. In addition, let's not forget that potential mayoral foe, Anthony Weiner, has come out strongly against the mayor's plan. Therefore, Quinn, just like many of her council colleagues looking to move on politically, does not have an easy road ahead.

So as "Take 3" of the congestion tax bill gets introduced in Albany on Thursday, there is much uncertainty on both sides of the controversy; and things are not as rosy as Crain's New York Business believes in its editorial this week. There are simply too many variables in play for any one to get carried away with bold prognostications.

And the one thing that has been missing in all of this is the actual examination of the mayor's plan. Remember, every time the mayor has been asked to explain aspects of the plan he has gotten rather testy-acting as if PlaNYC 2030 was the Ten Commandments. It isn't, and some of the plan's assumptions are likely not to survive the disinfecting action of sunlight. In addition, many of the claims of supporters are contradictory and may well be exposed in the debate.

Still, the Mike Bloomberg shouldn't be counted out in all of this, particularly because of two factors: (1) His willingness to spend lavishly-and to use public resources as an additional enticement; and, (2) The absolute abdication by the editorial boards of the city of their oversight role. Quite simply, they-with relatively few exceptions- have become embarrassing toadies of the mayor.

Why has the cry for an accounting of all of the mayor's spending gotten stuck in so many editorial throats? After all, a number of these folks never shut up about the pernicious influence of money in politics. What makes this situation different? Many of those with the current lockjaw fever would no doubt argue that all of this spending is OK because it is in the "public's interest."

But who defines this public good, and what separates this policy from any a special interest? Please look closely here. This is Mike Bloomberg looking to impose a tax on many middle class New Yorkers who are already, by all measures, very heavily taxed. He claims that he is doing this because of some notion of environmental betterment.

Perhaps he thinks he is, but there's an alternative explanation. Mike Bloomberg, a mayor who has done more than any other mayor in recent memory to increase carbon emissions in this city, has decided that he needs to use the popular concern with the environment as a platform for his national ambitions.

He is unconcerned with the potential fiscal impact his tax plan may have on thousands of New Yorkers, precisely because his major interest in all of this is the promotion of one Michael R. Bloomberg-the very definition of a special interest, since there are few New Yorkers, when looking at an additional $2,000 tax bill, who give two snits whether Mayor Mike runs for national office.

So, in the final analysis what we have is lavish spending on behalf of a special interest and, like all such interests, it is falsely couched in public interest terms. You'd think that all of our righteous editorial voices of indignation would get that; but they don't-not because they're in the mayor's pocket-but because they are fully embedded in the fabric of his well-tailored suit.

In Liu of Common Sense

In this week's feature article in the Gotham Gazette, a publication that has genertally been supportive of the mayor's tax scheme on congestion, there is some discussion about the role of the City Council in the upcoming battle. As the GG says; "The compromise changes the political equation by bringing the City Council into the picture...While City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has endorsed the plan, her members seem largely divided."

According to the Gazette, there are 11 council supporters and nine opponents, with 30 members undecided-a large contingent given the plan's notoriety. As Council member Avella tells the Gazette; "'I'm surprised that more council members aren't talking...the council should play a role.'" The problem here is that a number of members have gladly received the mayor's municipal largess-at time when it appeared that no stand actually needed to be taken. Now, with a council vote interposed, it is going to get uncomfortable for some council folks when their constituents start to make their feelings known.

John Liu, however feels that most council members will come around if it means that the outlying neighborhoods will get express bus service-to which we reply, let's see the buses first. And anyway, why does additional bus service have to be contingent on yet another tax? Why doesn't Liu first consider whether we need to add another tax to, in effect, susidize the inefficiency of the MTA.

As Transportation Chair, Liu should have been more aggressive at holding this dysfunctional agency's feet to the fire. Perhaps then, the express buses he longingly hopes for, would have already been provided. This battle should be about the proper care and funding of a mass transit infrastructure-something that can be done fairly without any new tax on the middle class.

Perhaps it is Liu who will come around when he realizes that supporting additional taxes on outer borough residents is not the best platform to launch a city wide race from-no matter how much money you have raised. We'll see if common sense prevails here-after the councilman's position gets wide circulation.

The idea that congestion taxing is fair-an idea that owes its strength to a distributive concept of fairness that always sees equity in taxing the middle class homeowner-fails to consider the impact that the overall tax burden already has in a city that too often leads the way in the tax burden it places on all of its citizens and businesses.

The Blomberg Enablers

In the entire congestion tax battle, leading up to the creation of a commission to study the mayor's proposal, we have been witness to one of the most fascinating examples of a social psychology phenomenon: the attempted use of emotional symbols to create a suspension of critical faculties in support of an idea that no one has truly examined in any empirical fashion.

The past few months would make an interesting additional chapter in one of Murray Edelman's books on the symbolic uses of politics-an opus that examines how symbols are used to emotionally manipulate large numbers of people; while at the same time allowing a few folks to reap considerable tangible benefits at the expense of the many.

What is just as fascinating, however, is how this attempt has so far been rebuffed-partly by the work of opponents of the tax scheme who have labored long and hard to deconstruct the concept-by elected officials who quite simply refused to drink the Kool-Aid. It is now time to examine what the mayor has presented as an unassailable public benefit.

Let's begin with two of the mayor's main assumptions: congestion is choking the city; and the consequent pollution is making our kids sick. In the first place, we have yet to see the traffic study that supports the first argument. It is our understanding, one that is bolstered by some very knowledgeable folks, that the number of cars coming into Manhattan has not appreciably increased in the past decade. In fact, the levels of congestion that have really increased can be found outside of the CBD-something that the mayor's plan addresses not at all.

Secondly, there is the pollution/asthma nexus advanced by the mayor and some real estate moguls. The reality is that the city's air quality-as unhealthy as it could possibly be at the time of the passage of the Clean Air Act-has shown remarkable improvement over the past thirty years. Carbon monoxide emissions, according to one leading expert, are almost immeasurable they have become so negligible.

In addition, the areas where asthma rates are highest are far from the CBD; and there is nothing in the mayor's plan that looks to ameliorate these outer borough-specific traffic/air quality conditions. Which brings us to the "two levels" of politics. The advance men for the asthma debate are real estate developers, companies and individuals who stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars from their developments, who are single handedly promoting in-asthma-rich neighborhoods-the kinds of traffic congestion that their own ads claim contribute to the exacerbation of the respiratory ailments of our youngsters.

Mayoral Claims

We now come to the most crucial aspect of the mayor's congestion tax plan-his claim that if the tax is enacted there will be 6.3% reduction in congestion. As anyone not on the mayor's pad actually seen the study that determines this? And we don't mean the conclusions-which is a famous tactic of the liars for hire in the consulting community. Figures are thrown out that conclude one thing or another, but the back-up documentation-the data that would allow someone else to replicate the work-is absent.

So what we have with the mayor's 6% solution is a chimera; a ballyhooed number that for all intents and purposes could have been drawn from thin air. What needs to happen here, is for the state and city legislatures to immediately develop a methodology-both political and scientific-that would subject the mayor's assumptions to an independent test (And John Liu's feet should be put to the fire hear for his lap dog approach to the problem).

We need to get a better handle on the actual congestion conditions, their root causes, and some realistic ways to address the real world conditions. All we've gotten so far from the mayor is the old: "How do you say F#U in business?" The answer: "Trust Me."

The operative word is independent, because we have seen time and time again how a small coterie of consultants would-to paraphrase Meatloaf-do anything for money. Of course, all of this may turn out to be moot if the feds don't fork over the dough, if Albany drags its feet because of the politics of pique; or if other cities are successful at our expense.

But if they do send us the money we need to be ready to avoid another Bloomberg social experiment-one that uses the tax payer once again as a guinea pig. In order to be able to do this, we need to have more facts at our disposal-and more critical thinking than the editorialists at the DN seem capable of- than have been forthcoming so far.

Times and Rudy: Deconstruct and Denigrate

In this morning's NY Times the paper focuses on Rudy Giuliani, with a long profile by Mike Powell that deals almost exclusively with race relations. Its failings? Primarily in the article's lack of context, and its reliance on Dinkins and Sharpton to provide the color commentary.

Where, for instance, is there any real discussion of the collapse of the political culture under the disastrous reign of Dinkins? The Korean boycott fiasco isn't even mentioned, and while crime reduction is discussed, it is done so in juxtaposition with Rudy's abrasiveness and the NYPD's aggressive tactics against blacks.

What a really thoughtful piece would do, is to examine the extent to which Giuliani altered the political culture in this city-and the fact that dissing Rev. Al was part of that change, and a healthy one at that. What's really newsworthy is the extent to which Sharpton-his past behavior and anti-Semitic rhetoric notwithstanding-has been legitimized, and can be seen by the Times as a reliable observer of Giuliani's mayoralty.

If Rudy manages to get the Republican nod, this line of attack-because it would be a mistake to see the Powell piece as anything but a broadside meant to aid and abet the burgeoning anti-Giuliani narrative that the Democrats are developing in anticipation of his candidacy-will become standard; with the media acolytes providing the "analysis" while operating really as only an amen chorus.

Columbia's Lion Eyes

In today's City Section of the NY Times, the paper takes a long look at the expansion plans of Columbia University. The most incisive parts of the article deal with the fears of local residents that they will be priced out of the neighborhood once the "swells" start to crowd out the old neighborhood stalwarts. As long time resident Luisa Henriquez told the Times; "'They want us out here...'They want it all.'"

The university, of course, sees things quite differently-envisioning scientific breakthroughs in an area where currently you only hear the sounds of car engines being tuned. As the university's spokeswoman says; "'Columbia wants to work on the kinds of issues that impact humanity, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease...'"

Why not throw in a cure for cancer while you're waxing poetic here? The issue, however isn't-or at least doesn't have to be-a zero-sum game between a beautiful new campus for Columbia and the preservation of local business and residents. It is only this way because the university makes it so. As Ms. Henriquez says, "'Columbia should work around us...They say that everything is for the students, for the students. What about us?'"

In addition, the vision that Columbia is seeking to impose on West Harlem (Manhattanville is the name the university chooses to use; the neighborhood sees itself as West Harlem) excludes other equally. or even more compelling uses. So, while some merchants welcome the change-and the new business it might bring; "...others in Manhattanville are unsure, and still others are strongly opposed, saying that the university is charging into Manhattanville just as the neighborhood begins to perk up, that they will be priced out of the revamped area and that other initiatives, like building affordable housing, are much more compelling."

Unfortunately, aside from a brief side bar discussion of our own Nick Sprayregen, we never get to meet these others-leaving the erroneous impression that Sir Nick is the lone white knight here, battling Columbia in order to preserve his own business interests. This is, of course, far from the truth; it excludes from the discussion the critical role of CB#9, the community's 197-a plan that is an alternative to the university's vision, and the actions of the Coalition to Preserve Community, a coalition of scores of local groups who are opposed to the expansion plan.

This is particularly remiss because the article does go into a rather lengthy discussion of the historic university gymnasium controversy that roiled this neighborhood in 1968. If this battle is, as the university spokeswoman suggests, a "shadow" that still hangs over Columbia's current plan, than the nature of the current opposition-aside from that of Nick Sprayregen-needs to be properly laid out for the Times readers. It isn't, and we are left with only Sprayregen-and even he is juxtaposed against another businessman-not a property owner-who welcomes Columbia's expansion (the fact that he is a lease holder and Columbia is his landlord may just color his observation somewhat).

The article also excludes any meaningful discussion of the private university's role in the taking of local properties, or the questionable role of AKRF, the consultants who are representing both Columbia in the land use process, and the state in the condemnation process-a clear conflict of interest. It doesn't discuss the role of the $40,000 a month man Bill Lynch, Columbia's point man in all of this.

In spite of its shortcomings, the Times piece does accurately capture the sense of foreboding and the fear of displacement that the Columbia expansion effort generates in the local community. The article ends with an anecdote about a tour bus coming through the neighborhood, and the observation of a local woman; ""'They're shopping for property.'"

In the end, as it always is does Manhattan, it all comes down to property. The university, a non-tax paying institution, is going to try to use the land use process and the eminent domain process to gobble up as much property as it can. Whatever benefits the community sees will only come after the main course is served. That is, unless other variables are introduced here that allow for changes in the ubber-vision of the university. Stay tuned-don't leave the gym until the final whistle blows.

Expansion Alterations

This week the NY Sun did a story this week on the efforts of "storage king" Nick Sprayregen to prevent Columbia from heisting his property for its own expansion. There was also a piece in the Village Voice that focused on Nick and his battle. Both articles make much of the fact the Sprayregen has the means at his disposal to fight the university-a fact that shouldn't take away from the righteousness of his fight to keep his own property.

The truth is, however, that there are some folks who are doing everything possible to portray Nick as the rich "interloper," lacking any real concern for the interests of the community. Of course, this attack begs the question of the role of the much richer Columbia-and how much its expansion serves the interests of anyone besides Columbia. At the past few community meetings, however, we have been treated to flyers-given out by some rather homeless looking guys- from a group with no address or phone number. These missives attack Sprayregen; while simultaneously portraying Columbia as the community's white knight.

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to which political consultant-of rather over-inflated reputation-is sponsoring this trash? You'd think that for $40,000 a month one could at least do some actual grass roots organizing, and not some phony effort whose main feature is character assassination. The real community sees through this, and continues to support the fight against the university's use of eminent domain.

Missing in all of this is any attempt to devise a middle ground. In the Sun story Sprayregen tells the paper that he is willing to work with the university and collaborate with the proviso that is property is preserved. Columbia's response is that its buildings must be built to "university specifications," and that "the existing footprints of these private properties don't fit these academic research needs."

Oh, please! There are 18 acres here and, as the Observer points out, Columbia is busy buying up even more land in the neighborhood. There is room for changes to be made, and even executive vice president Robert Kasdin, Columbia's spokesman on this expansion says that, "Columbia is still open to alterations in the plan..."

Well we are going to put the university to the ultimate test of its sincerity-to determine just how much smoke they are all blowing. When we introduce the alteration in the coming weeks, we will see how the university responds-and to what extent is greed transcends the blithely stated spirit of compromise it puts forth to the press.

Uncertain Future for Mayor's Traffic Plan

In today's NY Times, the paper does its own post mortem on the recently concluded "deal" that was struck on the mayor's traffic tax. The tag line in the headline says it all: "Hardest Part Lies Ahead." Not only for the mayor, we might add, but for all of the legislators-particularly those in the outer boroughs and suburban districts-whose constituents aren't going to look favorably on any new version of a commuter tax.

Of course, a challenge lies ahead for opponents as well; faced with the mayor's willingness-along with his real estate allies-to spend unlimited funds on astroturf efforts in the environmental community and among certain civics. Which is why Liz Benjamin, in her Daily Politics blog, is right to give Walter McCaffrey and myself "mixed" props because, while we "manged to drum up a heck of a lot of press operating on a much smaller budget than Bloomberg and the coalition of his supporters...They didn't manage to wholly block congestion pricing, but they have time yet."

That's the key here: time. We now have an eight month window to demonstrate just why the mayor's traffic tax is such an anathema to average New Yorkers. Which is why one of Liz's commenters gave us such a kick when he said that the the opposition to the mayor consisted of "this incredibly small group of parochial interests." The only people behind McCaffrey and Lipsky, said the commenter, were the Queens Chamber of Commerce, the Automobile Club of NY, and the Municipal Parking Association.

Ah yes, but let's not forget the 68% of the city outside of Manhattan that has told poll after poll that this idea stinks. The hundreds of civics is Queens that have come on board do to the hard work of Corey Bearak, plus the scores of similar groups in Brooklyn that we have been working with Steve Barrison to bring in to the coalition is just the beginning. All of the fence-sitting council members-and some who support the mayor but should know better just where their constituents stand-are going to be hearing from the grass roots voices in their districts. As will the state representatives as well.

What we have been saying all along, in somewhat of an ironic tone, is that everyone supports the mayor's plan-except for the people. The letters that have come in to the tabloids from the neighborhoods gives a good flavor of the grass roots appeal of the mayor's plan. In today's DN, under the heading "Congestion Indigestion," we hear the following lament: "While I absolutely agree that we need a plan to lessen traffic, taxing those who already live here and pay some of the highest taxes in the country is absurd...Charging city residents to drive in their own hometown is overkill."

All of the neighborhood discontent is only going to get stronger as the mayor's plan-and what it doesn't address-gets fully exposed to comprehensive review. Mayor Mike needs to try to avoid having his traffic tax plan become, as Rory Lancman tells the NY Sun, his "Moby Dick." He's been fortunate so far, in not getting tarred by other unpopular initiatives he's put forth-but he shouldn't push his luck..

And when the public gets wind of all of the presumptuous planning that the DN reports the mayor has done-haughtily anticipating his plan's approval ("But uncertainty isn't stopping City Hall.")-their support for the congestion tax will diminish further. As will the legislature. Remember Shelly Silver's advice to the mayor-use the money to buy express buses, not congestion cameras.

This is the regal arrogance that the mayor has consistently displayed at certain key junctures in his mayoralty; last seen when, as Alicia Colon points out, he called being trapped in the subway for 48 minutes in the July heat "a minor inconvenience." So if the mayor forges ahead too quickly before legislative reviews are conducted he runs the risk of courting disaster (Or, in his own words, it will be "a very sad day for the city").

And for the national agenda of Mayor Mike; no Robert Moses hole digging is going to work in today's political climate. Already the mayor, according to AMNY, is saying that the city will have to give back all of the fed's money (assuming it gets the grant in the first place) if it doesn't implement his tax. Yet, how does this square with the possibility that an alternative plan may have a bigger impact on congestion relief? Another example of attempted strong-arming and bad faith?

We're going to see a real battle ahead, as the mayor's money (will the Times and DN critique the corrupting power of money in this battle?) is pitted against the will of the people; and New Yorkers' fatigue of living in the highest taxed milieu in the country. Every elected official in the city will be forced to take a stand-a good thing for democracy.

"DEAL," or NO "DEAL?"

It is one of the most fascinating scenarios we've ever seen in thirty years of public policy watching and lobbying. The Albany leadership has concocted a complex deal-including congestion relief- that is being characterized by some in Albany as "The Big Ugly." Here's the Capitol Confidential description: "That's typically the way to describe a large, sausage-like piece of legislation that includes a lot of amendments, add-ons, or side deals."

What remains to be seen is whether the deal holds or, to paraphrase Karl Marx, whether the synthesis achieves composite error. There a lot that can go wrong between now and any final resolution of what will happen to the mayor's traffic tax, and what we're seeing now is a whole bunch of folks reading into the situation what they'd like to believe is true. This is definitely not the "No Spin Zone."

To give a better idea of the confusion we only need to look as far as the reactions of the city's two major tabloids-in both their news coverage and their editorials. The NY Daily News hails the Albany agreement in a "They Bust Gridlock" editorial. In the piece the editors praise the "courage" of the leaders and says, "The deal shifted the debate from whether the city will impose fees for Manhattan motoring to how the charges will be implemented..." In similar fashion, the news coverage leads with a "Green Light, Mike" headline followed by a "Mayor can start congestion plan, but state gets final say on toll."

Things look radically different over at the NY Post, a paper that has also editorially backed the mayors plan, although with far less enthusiasm than the DN. The Post's editorial head, "A Definite 'Maybe'," indicates the extent to which the paper sees the Albany deal in much less a sanguine fashion. The money quote" "Certainly, no one has unplugged the life-support machine that's kept Mayor Mike's traffic relief plan barely alive."

The Post sees the deal as a cover for the leaders to achieve some of their own ends, while giving the mayor some degree of face-saving. It also sees Silver's fingerprints on the deal smudging any degree of false optimism; "Sure enough, the plan did not even come to a vote in either house of the Legislature. Rather, Silver proposed an arrangement imposing new hurdles."

In its news coverage of the deal, the Post puts "deal" in quotations and goes on to relate, "But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose members are strongly opposed to the mayor's plan, said that while some kind of congestion plan was inevitable, it's possible it won't include congestion pricing. Said one ranking legislative source: 'This is a face-saver for the mayor and I wouldn't bet on the likelihood that his plan will be approved in the end." The Post's Fred Dicker, speaking on WABC radio this morning was even more direct; "'The mayor got rolled,'" he told the Curtis and Kuby listeners.

This degree of skepticism is echoed in this morning's Observer report that sees the mayor as "bullish" on the deal, while observing that speaker Silver remains "sluggish," pointing out that, "Technically, lawmakers only agreed to keep studying the issue..." As Liz highlights; "The speaker didn't leave the impression that congestion pricing is a done deal."

And over at the NY Times, the paper simply buries the entire congestion issue with a full length coverage of the campaign finance reform part of yesterday's deal. When it gets around to discussing the issue it reports, "The compromise also tied up other issues, in classic Albany style. It would set up a commission to study Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's plan for 'congestion pricing' and alternatives that are intended to ease New York City traffic, but it put off action on any measures until March..." Not really a "let's break out the champagne" proclamation.

So what we have is a complicated process where it looks as if the mayor's plan will be subjected to rigorous scrutiny. One of the provisos that the mayor did get included was that any alternate plan would have to reduce congestion at least as much as the mayor's own tax proposal. What is missing here, is the fact that the Mayor's own estimates have never been independently vetted; and we believe that such a process will greatly undermine the overly optimistic projections that form the foundation of his tax scheme.

All of which seems to mean that there will be considerable action on both sides of this issue in the months ahead; and that opponents will now get what they have been asking for all along-a real review process that will challenge the mayor's facile environmental assumptions. It is also now incumbent on the City Council to really exercise its oversight responsibilities-and it must insist that the mayor's plan go through a full environmental impact review, one done by independent experts and not the mayor's trained seals.

Deal, Or No Deal?

Just at the point where it appeared that the mayor would be thoroughly decongested, it now appears that he may have some breathing room after all. As the NY Daily News is reporting, along with the Post, NY Sun and Newsday, the Albany big three may be on the verge of a mega-deal that would allow the congestion tax to be kept alive for a thorough review by a legislative commission. The legislature would then have until, March, 31, 2008 to grant a final approval on all aspects of the traffic plan.

But as the DN says today, "A person briefed on the talks said a deal would set up a congestion pricing commission, contingent on the feds coughing up $350 milion by October 31...The commission would be required to make recommendations on how congestion pricing would be implemented by March31, suggestions that would be subject to approval by both the City Council and the legislature."

The devil here is most certainly in the details, but the mayor's plan, thought to be dead, now is close to actually coming off of life supports-if not yet breathing on its own. That being said, there is as of yet no deal. As Liz is reporting this morning, "Still No Deal," with the governor's spokesman telling reporters at around midnight to go home because, "All the pieces have not come together."

Still, it appears that something is going to happen here, and we're hopeful that the something will include a thorough review that would subject the taxing component of the mayor's plan to the scrutiny it deserves. Which is why, although we do appreciate the accolades, it is still too early for the Crain's In$ider to give Walter McCaffrey and Richard Lipsky any winning designations. There is a great deal of work that remains before gold medals can be awarded to anyone in this tussle.

What these new developments do set up, however, is an interesting set of circumstances, particularly down at the City Council. What the outline of the deal indicates, is that the council will now have to get into full battle gear over this issue-no more free passes as the legislature feared in an era of term limits. Each of the council members will now have to take a stand, something that they have been able to avoid up until now (while basking in the mayor's beneficence).

And in Albany, what will the commission ultimately come up with? Will a full EIS be required? Will trucks be included and will the fees remain at the current proposed levels? What about the parameters of the zone? Or will, on review, the legislature decide that there are better ways to accomplish congestion relief without a tax?

Stay tuned, this is not over by a long shot. Perhaps we will even see the the "Greater Good" achieved; something that the editorial folks over at Newsday see in the mayor's rather limited vision.

What's Next? Decongested Mayor Tries to Move On

As the NY Sun reports this morning, in its epitaph for the mayor's political failure on congestion pricing, "with two years left in office, the mayor must decide whether to spend more of his political capital on what is likely to be a losing issue or to embark on a new crusade." Our suggestion, and we agree we the Sun editorial here, is that the mayor would be better off focusing on issues of greater national import.

The mayor has enough money to be in a position to get the attention of the national electorate; and to get everyone to forget just how meager his political skills are when dealing with elected officials in a position to block his imperious droit du seignor approach to politics. So in spite of all of the speculation that there may be a way to salvage aspects of the mayor's tax plan, we believe that Bloomberg will cut his losses and move on to what the Sun calls, "the next big thing."

So, as the NY Times reports this morning, all we seem to have left is the finger pointing, and the post game analysis that seeks to determine what went wrong with the mayor's grand strategy; "It was supposed to be different this time. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his aides conducted elaborate analyses and an intricate media campaign, not to mention all of the detailed strategy sessions with aides and experts, to develop and promote the mayor's traffic congestion pricing plan."

The mayor complained that the legislature didn't "get it;" it failed to grasp the importance of adopting his plan-questions could be asked and perhaps answered at a later date. But as the Times points out, it was the mayor who was clearly out of his depth, bringing the proverbial knife to a gun fight; "...Mr Blomberg and his aides sprang a complex proposal on the Legislature at the end of its session, seemed unprepared to answer questions or to revise details...and then used the deadline to apply for federal financing as a bludgeon to shove the plan through."

It was a disaster from the beginning, orchestrated by someone who has become accustomed to seeing how his great wealth suspends the normal rules of the game when he pursues his own personal political agenda. It didn't work this time because of the mayor's hubris, and because the people in the cross hairs of his tax plan rose up to say-"Enough!'

Paying for Regulation

The NY Post's Steve Cuozzo has a nice piece this morning on the rising cost of dining out in the city. Now a great deal of the focus is on rising rents and the higher cost of supplies, but another item caught our eye. Towards the end of the story Cuozzo quotes Alan Stillman, the founder of Smith & Wolensky who also cites, "'financial pressure on the industry from city agencies like the Department of Health.'"

We have witnessed in the five years of the term of Mother Bloomberg and Doc Frieden an unprecedented focus on regulating and fining restaurants-from trans fat ban and menu labeling, to a ticket blits after some rats were spotted at a local Taco Bell. All of this has a cost, of course, although the mayor doesn't seem to worry about the regulatory burden his regime has on neighborhood businesses. His only concern? The financial sector where his kind of folks hang out and profit.

It's Crying Time Again

In the run-up to the final demise of the mayor's congestion tax, he kept telling the speaker, as some form of inducement to join him, that Albany was only two hours away. That may be true, but if you're Mike Bloomberg, Albany might as well be in another country. He has never caught on to how to navigate the legislative shoals. Having been badly beaten on the stadium fiasco, he simply repeated some of the same mistakes-proving once again that the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

So, as the City Room and Daily Politics blogs are pointing out, we are left with the spectacle of a sour grapes mayor lashing out against his political opponents. As Liz points out-citing her colleague Kristin Danis-the mayor couldn't hide his bitterness at today's post mortem press conference; "'Some people have guts and lead from the front, and some don't.'" City Room's money quote from Hizzoner: "'This is just a disgrace.'"

He's right. But the real disgrace is the heavy handedness of the mayor's effort, and his arrogance in trying to bogart a real legislature. The mayor ironically makes our point: "In contrast, he said, the City Council had done 'difficult things' in the last five years, like approve bans on trans fat in restaurants and smoking in public places...'That's what courage is all about, and that's what we need, and unfortunately, we didn't see that'..."

Or, in other words, obediently follow my courageous nanny lead without too much second guessing. Does the mayor understand the meaning of solipsistic thinking? His quote in the Crain's/AP story says it all here: "'It's sad to note that after three months of working with all parties...'" C'mon! Three months? With all of this working how come there were still so many unanswered questions when the mayor met up with legislators yesterday? And how come he refused to answer the legitimate queries of elected officials who remained confused-even after reading the mayor's proposal?

As Newsday points out in its late breaking story on the aftermath of the congestion tax's demise, the mayor didn't have the requisite political skills to advance his ideas: "'He's used to getting his own way,' said state senator Neil Breslin, an Albany County Democrat who attended a closed-door senate conference with the mayor on Monday. 'But he's dealing with separately elected officials and they won't be treated in a dismissive way...He tended to interrupt before someone completed their thought in a very abrupt way, which offended a number of my fellow senators.'"

Where we go from here is any one's guess. The mayor told the Times that the city can unilaterally implement congestion taxing; "'The only thing we can't do is we can't institute fines or fees.'" Well, well, well-a voluntary congestion tax that could perhaps be seen as a charitable contribution-or as a carbon off-set. We'll just sit back and see if there really is a Plan B as the mayor constructs his national platform with renewable crayons.

Update

Underscoring our point about the mayor's own failings in all of this, Azi quotes Senator Ruben Diaz (in a post titled, "Diaz Attacks 'Arrogant' Blomberg"), who keynoted our Sunday press conference: "'Bloomberg has himself to blame...Number one, he didn't deal with us right. He was arrogant. Number two, we are tired of people using our pain to get what they want.'"

Mike Spiked: Money for Nothing

All that is left for the press is the final accounting. As the NY Times reports this morning, "Lawmakers on Monday shelved Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's plan to charge a fee to drivers entering the busiest parts of Manhattan, dealing a setback to the mayor as he tries to raise his national profile and promote his environmental initiatives."

How much did Mayor Mike and his minions spend-publicly and privately-in their quixotic quest to enact a congestion tax on New York commuters? When the final numbers come in, that is if the journalistic scent is properly followed, it will be clear for all to see that money, even large expenditures, isn't always sufficient if a shortage of political acumen-and a failure to connect with the people affected most by a policy- characterizes the effort.

And the effort did indeed lack political acumen, much like the mayor's heavy-handed efforts over the West Side stadium failed to convince Albany law makers. As Richard Brodsky told the NY Sun, the congestion tax was "Jets Stadium redux." On top of this we saw just how much the mayor's basic political inexperience served him poorly once again in the attempt to use political negotiation to achieve a key policy objective. His people were so busy trying to cajole electeds with pork that they failed to involve themselves early on in the needed back-and-forth horse trading that is the life blood of legislative activity.

Which is why the Daily News' Bill Hammond gets it all wrong in today's analysis piece on the collapse of the mayor's plan. Hammond tells his readers that Shelly Silver treated the mayor "like dirt," going on to observe that "Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan is the classiest act to hit Albany in years. The mayor and his staff did months of homework, developed a well-thought-out proposal, rallied broad community support and pitched their big idea to state lawmakers with all the passion and sincerity they could muster."

This evaluation really couldn't be farther from the truth. The fact is that the voluminous plan had large question marks-and the bill submitted to the legislature differed significantly from some publicly discussed aspects of the plan. The time frame did not give the legislature adequate time to properly vet the proposal, and the "broad community support" that Hammond talks about was, quite simply, a mirage. Never has a phonier AstroTurf effort been launched on behalf of any policy goal in New York State.

As poll after poll pointed out, the real life public-the folks that couldn't be rented for a few dollars-simply detested the plan; and hated the fact that they would be further taxed so that certain elitist elements could micromanage their lives. The real broad based community support was evidenced by the galvanizing done against the tax by Corey Bearak and the Queens Civic Congress, and Steve Barrison of the Small Business Congress.

In many ways the successful opposition campaign was reminiscent of the effort against the ill-fated megastore proposal launched with such fanfare by Rudy Giuliani some 14 years ago. In that campaign, just like the one here against the congestion tax, community and small business opposition rallied to support elected leaders so that an unwanted policy could be defeated.

There is, however, one key difference. In the case of congestion pricing, the community/small business effort took second billing to the yeoman-like effort of the Assembly Speaker and fellow law makers such as Brodsky and Lancman. It is in our view the legislature's finest hour; demonstrating that no amount of money and media clacking can intimidate elected officials who, exercising their checks and balances prerogatives, think a policy just lacks credibility.

And Hammond should keep in mind that, time and time again yesterday, the mayor's poor political instincts were on display. As Liz points out this morning, the mayor even managed to alienate Senate Democrats, the one constituency the was in his corner going into the last ditch effort. Clearly frustrated, the mayor asked the Senate Dems if they had bothered to read the proposal. As the Times highlighted, "Mr. Bloomberg told the senators that his administration had sent plenty of information about his plan in the mail, and it was not his fault that they had not read it." But clearly it was his fault.

As Senator Kevin Parker told the paper, "'If the mayor came in with one vote, he left with none...His posture was not ingratiating...He says he does not know politics, and he certainly bore that out by the way he behaved.'" Indeed, Bill Hammond needs to point the finger of blame, as the NY Sun does in its editorial this morning, more at the architect of this grand scheme than at the skeptics who would not be bamboozled.

So we are left with the idea of a study commission. As the NY Post points out, however, it is unclear whether this will be enough to entice the federal dollars that the mayor was championing. Keep in mind, though, that the feds were happy to stiff the city on homeland security money, so there was never any guarantees that the transit funds would be forthcoming.

The dust has yet to settle on all of this, and we don't know how the mayor is going to respond to this public woodshedding by the Speaker. Already Bruno is skeptical about the utility of a commission so we can't be sure that the mayor will buy the idea, even if its just to save face.
We will, however, be ready to offer sensible alternatives to relieve the problem of congestion in the city; but the solutions must be legitimately city wide, and the costs must be borne fairly.

All in all this has been a great lesson in democracy-and the ability of the folks, with the aid of their elected officials, to fight all of the wealth and power that went in to advancing an ill-conceived idea. The mayor's hubris was his ultimate undoing.

Commissioning the Mayor

As of five o'clock this afternoon, it looks as if Speaker Silver has snookered Mayor Mike in calling for the creation of a commission to study "all of these issues." As News4 is reporting on its website, " Assembly Democrats are concerned about how much of Manhattan would be subject to entry tolls, the amount of the tolls, creating exemptions, how parking permits will be issued outside of the zone for mass transit commuters, and other major aspects of Bloomberg's proposal."

In other words, the Assembly is concerned with every thing the mayor has laid out-and is not convinced that the plan is necessary in its current configuration. Yet Silver told the press that he believed that the commission would be sufficient to keep the city in the running for the federal dollars that the mayor has been holding out as the carrot in this well-orchestrated campaign.

Clearly, the Assembly members didn't believe the mayor that there was any hard and fast deadline that needed to be heeded; "But Silver always questioned the deadline, saying a clear agreement short of legislation likely would be good enough for the federal government."

What Silver has done here, as Sewell Chan lays out extensively in the City Room blog, is to insure that the Bloomberg plan, as well as any number of reasonable alternatives, is subjected to the fullest review possible, and from the comments of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, it is not clear whether any congestion tax could be passed in Albany. As Richard Brodsky told News4, "'It's regressive, it's unfair to the outer boroughs, it does not necessarily do much for the air.'" Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, a supporter of the mayor's, said that "he wanted changes in substantial elements of the proposal, including where parking lots will be built and how the pricing will be enforced."

All of which leaves the entire plan very much up in the air-with the congestion pricing concept threatening to become an Albany pinata; with folks from all sides looking to use the process for their own particular political advantage. From where we sit tonight, it looks like a big defeat for the mayor, but there is still time for him to emerge victorious if opponents of the congestion tax fail to mobilize properly.

Update from Liz

Shelly's not done insuring that good government prevail in the mayor's congestion tax promotional tour. As LB reports the Speaker is insisting that the City Council weigh on on whatever the commission decides through a "home rule" message. As he told the News, "'In many areas {that} Assembly members represent, the City Council members are in their district telling people or not telling people that they should urge their Assembly members to vote against it or to vote for it or just not say anything.'"

What the speaker is doing is to make council members take a stand-and not just take the mayor's largess with no electoral consequences. What this means is that outer borough members who have signed on to the mayor's plan-with the understanding that the state legislature would be making the final decision-will now have to answer to their constituents, voters who generally oppose the mayor in large majorities.

Congestion Tax: Good for Small Business?

In today's City Room blog Sewell Chan writes about the mayor's assertion that his congestion tax would be good for small business. The mayor's point was that his plan would "help retail businesses by allowing shoppers to reach commercial neighborhoods more easily."

To his credit, Chan goes on to point out that, "Of course, some small business owners are among the most fervent opponents of the plan, saying that the traffic fees will discourage shoppers from enntering some of the city's busiest neighborhoods." The mayor is simply out-to-lunch on this-and is ignoring the thousands of small contractors who make service calls in the targeted tax area.

Bloomberg's point about making some neighborhood shopping areas more accessible is simply incomprehensible. Does he really believe that more folks are going to drive into Chelsea or Chinatown, and pay the additional 8 bucks, because of a 6% decrease in congestion?

Once again, with no discernible economic impact study-and with none having been done by the Communist mayor of London-there is no way for any supporter of this tax to argue about the putative economic benefits of this taxing scheme-and certainly not when one of its key components is a truck tax that will not do a thing to relieve any traffic congestion.

Bloomberg and Sharpton: Perfect Together

New York Magazine is reporting (thanks for the link Liz) that there has been an unusually heated dalliance going on between the mayor and Al Sharpton. It seems that the two joined forces to advocate for the recycling center in Chelsea-using "environmental justice" as the central theme.

This goes hand-in-hand with the mayor's church-hopping yesterday on behalf of his congestion tax. In both cases the issue of environmental justice is being used by the mayor who, more and more, seems to get a kick from using the phrase. It is another reason why we are beginning to see just how much an alliance between Sharpton and Bloomberg would make sense-a relationship where allegiance is ruled by expedience, and where hypocrisy is the glue, as it is with all arranged marriages.

Hypocrisy to the Very End

In our press conference yesterday, Senator Ruben Diaz forcefully challenged the using of the health of black and Latino children as a primary rationale for the mayor's congestion tax. As the NY Times reports this morning, Diaz told the assembled media; "'Who is going to assure us that the people who are suffering from asthma are not going to be suffering more when all these residents of Westchester County start leaving their cars on their streets.'"

Diaz, whose district has one of the city's highest asthma rates, was joined by Marion Feinberg, one of the Bronx's leading fighters against asthma. He went on to say-as the Daily News reports-"Who is going to show me that the people in the South Bronx suffering from asthma will not be suffering after the mayor's plan." Diaz called for a full environmental review of the mayor's plan.

Joining with Diaz was the intrepid Councilman David Weprin, who released a study that showed that the areas with the highest incidences of asthma also had the highest mass transit riderships-another indication, as the NY Sun points out, that the attempt to make the asthma-congestion tax correlation is pure bunk. As Feinberg told AMNewYork, "Doing something about traffic congestion in Manhattan, is not really going to affect the air quality in the Bronx..."

While the so-called D-Day approaches the editorial acolytes of the mayor continue with their relentless drumbeating. Both the News and the Post focus their attention on Shelly Silver who, for his part, is not falling over for the hyperbole of the mayor's amen journalistic chorus. As he told the Post, "'The mayor is offering this {as} all things to all people, saying this proposal will raise $250 million and advertising it as paying for the Second Avenue Subway, which is a minimum $16 billion project, and keep the fare at $2...'"

Of all the editorial drumbeating it is the stance of the NY Post that causes the most consternation. That the Post should support this tax-especially the part of the plan that would impose the $21 fee on trucks-when it has stood steadfast against all of the other mayoral tax schemes, frankly mystifies us. If memory serves here, we think that the paper opposed getting more people enrolled in food stamps-even though the money was available from the Federal government and wouldn't have put any additional burden on local tax payers.

The Post also-along with the NY Sun-vehemently opposed the mayor's outrageous "Bodega tax" on cigarettes, the one that is costing local stores around $250 million a year in lost revenue. So what is driving these folks on the mayor's congestion tax? Are they the newly emerging clack for the fight against global warming? Frankly, we just can't fathom the reasoning over there.

The one question that remains here, assuming that Silver holds firm, is what will the city and state do to fight congestion? As Jacob Gershman of the NY Sun wonders; Where is plan B? What the mayor's pumped up deadline and concomitant hysteria have done is to drive any reasonable discussion of this issue-and the corollary ones about mass transit funding and the subway fare-away from the public policy table.

Silver was right to put the brakes on; now maybe-if the mayor's piques doesn't get in the way-a rational policy deliberation can take place, one that takes into consideration who will, and should, pay the bill for the ultimate rendering.

Bloomberg's Last Stand

As the "deadline" for approval of his congestion tax nears, Mayor Mike, a recent convert to the Church of Gore, is making last ditch efforts to convince Shelly Silver to approve his plan to relieve congestion, receive $500 million in Federal aid, create an environmentally sustainable city, cure asthma, keep the fare at $2, and build up a decaying mass transit infrastructure. Somehow, as the NY Post is saying this morning, the troglodyte Silver is still playing the obstructionist and is standing in the way of ushering in New York's Utopian green age.

It doesn't appear likely, however, as the NY Daily News is reporting; "But Assemblyman Denny Farrell, a powerful Harlem Democrat, said there's no hope that the deal will get hashed out by tomorrow." In addition, Rockland legislators weighed in the other day voicing their opposition to the mayor's plan. As Harriet Cornel told the Journal News, "...this plan is an unfair tax on Rockland because we don't have adequate mass transit-there is no alternative for our residents." Rockland Assembly members Zebrowski and Jaffee both oppose the mayor's tax.

But Bloomberg, hot on his national political agenda building, is not giving up. And with the kind of money that the mayor is willing to spend, it is never a good idea to totally count him out.
Which is why we will be joining Senator Ruben Diaz and a group of children from East New York this morning for a press conference at City Hall.

With the mayor "hitting churches across the city to push his plan," it is important to expose his asthma charade. The fact remains that the mayor, and his hypocritical supporters at the NYC Partnership, have been building auto-dependent developments in all of the areas of the city where asthma rates are highest-and there is nothing in PlaNYC that even addresses this.

There are many things that the mayor could do to relieve the city's congestion-without resorting to a new tax. One of these measures is the restriction of city parking permits that flood all of the areas of Manhattan with automobiles driven by city workers to and from their jobs. A wonderful Op-ed in the Daily News this morning highlights this problem-one that could be eliminated with a simple executive order.

The reality is that the mayor's first response to almost any problem is to throw money at it-both his own and the tax payers'. We're hopeful that the defeat of the congestion tax will lead to a more well thought out and fairer way to deal with the city wide problem of traffic congestion. If it does, we will have to thank Shelly Silver, Richard Brodsky, Ruben Diaz, David Weprin, Rory Lancman and the irrepressible Carl Kruger for their valiant efforts on behalf of the region's tax paying auto commuters.

Daily News Pops a Clutch

Of all the editorial acolytes of the mayor's Manhattan congestion tax, the NY Daily News ranks at the (over the) top in its sycophancy; and lack of any real consideration of the plan's pitfalls. The paper continues in this vein in its editorial today. Thankfully, El Diario has a more balanced approach to the issue.

The News, like so many of the other proponents, sees the congestion plan as some kind of panacea-cutting car use, improving the air, holding the subway fare down-you name it, and the mayor's plan, like the musings of some overly imaginative toddler, provides the magical thinking that will help resolve these problems. As the News says today, "These goals are critical to maintaining a livable city..."

Of course, we would all agree that these are important goals, but the question of whether the mayor's plan is the right approach to achieving the outcomes we would all desire is the real open question. It remains open because the proper due diligence has yet to be done, nor has any time been given so that alternatives can be devised that wouldn't whack middle class and working class commuters.

And, as we're beginning to see, the so-called deadline may be a ruse that was concocted by the mayor to bum rush his plan through the legislature. Certainly the tactic has worked for certain supine legislators that are beholden to the mayor's generosity; and it has been effective in creating an editorial chorus whose unanimity we should all consider suspect.

In fact, the grand coalition that supports the mayor's tax is rapidly approaching the level of farce. As the News points out, "Congestion pricing supporters range from business leaders, who see it as a way to reduce gridlock that drains billions from the economy, to the Drum Major Institute, which advocates for working families and is pushing for better transit. The Environmental Defense Fund likes the way it cuts global warming . The American Lung Association wants to get rid of smog..."

Missing are the civil rights groups who will see the congestion scheme as a way to end racism in America, and John Edwards who will soon see in the mayor's plan the silver bullet that will eliminate poverty as we know it. Soon the mayor's plan will officially become a Rorschach Test, with supporters glimpsing unfulfilled fantasies in the inkblot. As the song from Fiddler goes, "Something for everyone, a comedy tonight."

Well, as another song goes, "Come Monday, everything will be all right..;" as long as Shelly holds firm and doesn't allow the mayor to bogart him into some compromise that will only end in disaster. We're all going to stay tuned to this final installment of, "The Mayor and his Millions."

Traffic Plan Incongestion

We've never considered to the Speaker to be heavy, but on the case of the mayor's traffic plan it appears that Silver has become the proverbial fat lady-and his singing signals that the congestion tax, in its current incarnation, may finally have met its maker. As the NY Times reports this morning, Silver will not be in Albany on Monday and will instead be convening his caucus down at 250 Broadway.

On top of all this, the Times story also underscores what we have been saying all along-the mayor's deadline is self-imposed, just like his inclusion of the congestion tax was an arbitrary provision that didn't need to be a part of the city's submission to the Feds. As Richard Brodsky told the Times, "'There is no federal deadline...What there is is a pressure tactic designed to substitute for a reasoned argument about the merits of congestion pricing. It didn't work for him on the West Side stadium, and it won't work now.'"

All of which indicates that any congestion relief plan will have to be actually negotiated with the Assembly. As Silver said, the mayor can go down one of two roads; either he can negotiate with the legislature, "'Or he can go the way he went on the stadium, and challenge people to say no to him.'"

Bravo! Some people with backbone who aren't afraid to stand up to our born again environmentalist. When all is said and done, it will become clear that there are any number of fatal flaws and premises in the mayor's plan, shortcomings that have been ignored by a fawning editorial cohort and a bunch of environmental munecos. What's indisputable in all of this is that, absent the mayor's wealth-and his willingness to use it-this plan would never have even been given the slightest consideration; and all of the mayor's cheerleaders should be ashamed of their total suspension of disbelief.

Columbia's Smoke and Mirrors

Let's get one thing straight about Columbia and its expansion plan: the university has no desire to really negotiate an agreement with the community-no matter how it is configured. That was made clear by the unanimous vote that was given the other night to the CB's 197-a plan. If a developer with Columbia's resources put any effort into wooing a community board it would have been able to garner at least some support. To us, the unanimous vote against Columbia-and that's what support for the 197-a plan indicates, signifies the fact that the university isn't even bothering to generate local support.

Instead, it is relying on its institutional muscle-and public relations gimmicks. This was witnessed by the university's seeming about face with its announcement that it would refrain from using eminent domain to evict the tenants in the low income housing on the west side of Broadway. As we pointed out to the Observer, however, this is merely an example of divide and conquer tactics-ones that seeks to divide the opposition by race and class in refusing to consider, and be proactive with, the other property owners.

What is clear here is the fact that Columbia can easily modify its plan if the will is present to do so. There is nothing written in stone and as we pointed out, "It demonstrates what we have said all along...and that is Columbia's plan can be modified and there is room for compromise." That does depend to some extent on the willingness of the elected officials to act as honest brokers.

In the body of the Columbia press release there is a quote from Councilman Jackson praising the university for its magnanimity. He goes on to say that he looks "forward to continuing to work with the University and the community to address the myriad other challenges associated with Columbia's proposed expansion." This is a good statement but it means that Jackson must start to exhibit leadership-and initiative-to insure that these "myriad" issues are properly addressed and resolved.

There is no reason why Jackson can't insist that Columbia hold face-to-face meetings with the property owners to determine whether there are ways to allow the university to expand, while simultaneously preserving property rights. Efforts in this area would mean that his office would take the lead- and not allow the WHLDC to meander along while precious time is being lost.

Columbia Slam-Dunked

In what has to be considered an enormous slap in the face, and a further indication of the depth of community antagonism to the Columbia expansion proposal, CB#9's land use committee unanimously approved an alternative proposal for the 18 acres that the university is looking to expand into. As the Columbia Spectator reports, "Over 400 CB9 members, West Harlem business owners and residents, Columbia students, and locally elected officials, crowded into the community center of the Manhattanville public houses to express their support of the plan...One by one, 50 people took the microphone and expressed distrust of and disdain for Columbia's expansion plan..."

Importantly, the 197-a plan, as it is called, would insure that the area be used for the creation of affordable housing-something that is totally absent in the Columbia proposal. As the Spectator reports elsewhere, the Columbia DEIS indicates pretty clearly that their expansion will cause considerable primary as well as secondary displacement.

In addition, the "bedrock" of the community plan, in the words of one local resident, is the prohibition against the use of eminent domain. Of all of the area's elected officials, however, only State Senator Bill Perkins came down to personally support the community alternative-raising questions among those present about where their electeds were standing on all of this.

Still, the community turn out was impressive, and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out as it becomes clearer and clearer that the Columbia expansion-much like the mayor's congestion pricing scheme-has elite support but not any grass roots love.

Congestion Tax Poll-axed

As the NY Post is reporting this morning, the just released Marist/WNBC poll on congestion pricing finds that-well, just what all the other polls found, with the exception of the Schoen push poll-most New Yorkers think the idea is a dumb one. So what we have here is the elite-both business and environmental-lined up against average city residents, as well as the expected opposition from commuters outside the city.

Even in Manhattan we find that the supporters of the mayor's tax can't get enough support to break 50%, and interestingly enough, the Bronx opposition to the plan is the highest in the city, with a 68% disapproval rating (we guess that the asthma hysteria is falling on deaf ears here, and the elitist nature of the proposal is getting the deserved Bronx cheer). Today's NY Post letters section gives a very clear glimpse into the sentiment of the majority of rank-and-file New Yorkers ("Indigestion pricing" is the heading).

All of this comes at a time when it appears really unlikely that the mayor's plan will be entertained in a timely fashion up in Albany next week. As the NY Times is reporting today, "unlikely" is the adjective that is most descriptive of the plan's prospects. There is, however, some talk of setting up a commission to devise a proposal that would be more politically viable. As Speaker Silver told the paper; he had "a hundred questions" from law makers about the workability of the mayor's plan.

The NY Sun reports on the efforts to set up a commission and tells its readers that it is probably the only way to keep the mayor's proposal alive since, "Assembly Democrats said they were doubtful that lawmakers would pass any version of congestion pricing." Clearly, as the Sun points out, any program that would be approved, "would give lawmakers broad latitude to change fundamental components of the plan, such as shrinking the zone boundaries, reducing the daily fee rates, and adding more exemptions to the road tax."

What the Assembly folks are doing, and kudos to Silver, Brodsky and Lancman here, is legislating-something that should have been done before the mayor tried to bogart everyone with his tax blitz. There has always been scores of discrepancies between the mayor's description of his plan and the language of the bill that was submitted-and confusion, sometimes intentionally sowed, about the details of the proposal even among the plan's supporters.

Which is why our friend Matt Schuerman shouldn't have looked to poke fun at Latino Restaurant head Louis Nunez at our press conference (see Hoy's Spanish language coverage) yesterday because of Nunez's less than perfect understanding of the mayor's scheme. What Schuerman did get right was that, "...if the mayor's congestion pricing proposal does go down, it will be partly thanks to many details that are easy to misunderstand-and misrepresent."

And who's fault is that? What's clear, as entrepreneur Ruben Levine pointed out yesterday-and more and more reporters are doing so as well-is that the truck portion of the plan is nothing more or less than a business tax that will have a zero impact on congestion-but it is still being used by supporters as if it did (misrepresentation Matt?).

It is time for this plan to get a careful and comprehensive airing so that all of the details can be understood-and altered so that fairness and equity can be assured. The entire scheme needs to be put through as city wide ULURP, just as was the mega store proposal in the mid-nineties. Everyone in the city will be affected, and all of us need to be part of a proper review process.

Silver Holds the Line-

As the NY Times City Room blog is reporting, it doesn't appear as if Shelly Silver is motivated to return to Albany on Monday to do the mayor's bidding on the congestion tax. What puzzles us is something that our coalition's Walter McCaffrey pointed out at today's press conference by small business opponents of the mayor's plan.

As Walter said, there are something like eight other bids in for the federal money that the mayor says can't be obtained unless New York adopts his congestion traffic tax. Yet no other city has adopted a congestion tax plan. It appears to us that the mayor has painted himself into a corner here. If the city fails to get the federal dollars, it seems to us that this would be a classic example of a self-inflicted wound. The mayor has drawn an unnecessary line in the sand, and he has only himself to blame if failure follows.

Small Business Rallies Against New Traffic Tax

Today, in front of Guantanamera Restaurant at Noon on 56th Street and 8th Avenue, various representatives of small business organizations will hold a press conference to continue to voice their opposition to the mayor's congestion tax. The NYSRA and the Latino Restaurant Association, will be joined by the Small Business Congress and the Independent Beer Wholesalers of New York to underscore just how the mayor's proposed tax will hurt small wholesalers, retailers and independent contractors.

The event takes place while the self-imposed deadline for federal funds approaches, and there are still signs that the mayor's plan may not be dead yet-compromise is still a possibility. The press conference is being held to show continued support for Speaker Silver and Assemblymen Brodsky and Lancman who, along with Senator Kruger and Councilman Weprin have shown the most strength in waging the fight against the mayor and his money.

In addition, the Alliance will be there to expose the hypocrisy of environmental groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund who have used the clean air issue to make their case, while remaining silent for the last five years while Bloomberg has waged war against neighborhood businesses in the mall-driven building frenzy that has been the hallmark of his administration-at least until he had his remarkable environmental epiphany.

Low Lifes, Low Blows

In what has to be described as the ultimate in chutzpah, some group called Transportation Alternatives has taken it upon themselves to attack Richard Brodsky personally for his opposition to the mayor's congestion tax. As the NY Times' City Room blog reported yesterday, someone named Paul Steely White tried to correlate Brodsky's opposition to the traffic plan with contributions he received from the "parking garage industry."

Now we've known Brodsky for over twenty years, and we first got acquainted with his fighting spirit when he personally took on King Budweiser in the late eighties. Since then we've seen him take on any number of powerful figures; and he is the last guy in Albany you want to label a to label as a tool for any special interest.

So who is the putz at TA who wants to do this? Frankly, we have no idea, but the chutzpah in all of this is the fact that the special interests ($4-$5 million and counting) are lined up with Bloomberg on this new tax-with folks like TA acting as the useful idiots in the front row of a mayoral charade on behalf of the environment.

And while we're at it Mr. White, where has your group been when the mayor was adding tens of thousands of tons of new carbon dioxide emissions with his malling of the Bronx and Brooklyn? When Wal-Mart wanted to add thousands of cars to the choked S.I. roadways in and around Tottenvile was the Bloomberg/TA/EDF/NRDC alliance leading the charge of outrage? Where was the concern about asthma for black and Latino children when the Bronx Terminal Market was destroyed to bring 125,000 cars and trucks a week to the new Gateway Mall?- right on asthma alley.

So please, just stop with the aspersions against someone who has championed progressive causes for the better part of three decades in Albany. If you want to see special interests in action, all you need to do is to go down to city hall and watch the new Sotheby's in action-as the mayors minions sell everything but the Brooklyn Bridge to garner support for his new tax.

And don't think that the mayor's money isn't playing a central role with many of these barking seals. After all, the NYC Partnership's two leading lights-the comedy duo of Ross and Roth-are making hundreds of millions through their close friendship with Deputy Dan. Anyone who doesn't think that some of these enviros, habitually short of funds, aren't angling for a future piece of the Bloomberg pie isn't really paying attention (with the exception of our friends at DMI who we believe are genuinely committed to the taxing policy of the mayor).

So as we go into the home stretch, let's hope that Shelly hold firm on the need to subject this entire grandiose plan to a real independent review; one that ignores the slavish hectoring of the Daily News editorial board, and examines whether the Bloomberg scheme will be able to deliver on all of the promises that the mayor has been making. All of the "there" isn't "there" in this scheme.

Columbering Along

With its consultants under fire, and the local community up in arms, Columbia University is proceeding with its expansion plans as if it has no care in the world. It apparently believes the old maxim: "In politics, clubs are trump."

As the NY Sun reported yesterday, the university played to a sympathetic audience over at the City Planning Commission at Reade Street. The CPC has never had any real interest in actually evaluating land use applications, preferring to rubber stamp whatever the mayor decides he wants. In fact, in over thirty years of watching these appointed folks we've never seen them take any independent stand on anything.

There certainly not going to begin with Columbia; and with the current Chair, the commission's only input on anything is with the aesthetics of a plan. A proposal could be wiping out an entire neighborhood, but if there is enough greenery in the community's demise, than you can count on our city's Burden to wax euphoric.

What makes the current battle interesting is the fact that there are actually two competing plans before the community board. The so-called 197-A plan-a plan backed by CB #9- would delimit what the university could do in the 18 acre site, in particular in regards to the taking of private property: "Central to the 197-a plan is the attempt to block the taking of private land by eminent domain, the potential use of which in West Harlem has riled critics of the project and has been steadfastly and unanimously opposed by Community Board Nine."

Yet Columbia, as the NY Times' City Room blog points out, is still as of yesterday insisting that its expansion is community-friendly. As President Bollinger told the CPC; "Everything we've done has been with the spirit of integrating a campus into a community..." Everything but actually negotiating face-to-face with community residents and property owners.

Clearly, the university's notion of integration differs from that of the community itself: somewhat along the lines of-"We integrated the community in order to save it." This entire matter is headed for a major confrontation and Columbia is whistling past the graveyard..

Bloomberg' Congestion Advantage: Paper Thin

The NY Times this morning is describing as "unlikely" the chances that the mayor's congestion tax will garner Albany approval-at least in time to meet the self-imposed "deadline' for the flow of Federal transportation money into the city. Instead another congestion-tackling proposal, sponsored by Assemblyman Lancman, is ready to be introduced in the assembly; a bill that doesn't include the $8 car tax and the $21 truck tax that the mayor sought to levy.

The current turn of events follows on the heels of a scathing assembly report from Richard Brodsky that exposed the regressive nature of the congestion tax, while at the same time underscoring the extent to which the plan failed to deliver on its core objective: any significant reduction in the level of congestion in the central business district.

Typically our tax-and-spend friends were driven into a frenzy of fury by Brodsky's report. Over at the DMI, a place that we have already scrutinized for its love affair with taxing New Yorkers, the assembly report was greeted with scorn by DMI spokesman Chad Marlow, who released the institute's own memo: "Mr. Marlow said the the Drum Major report should 'carry more weight than one written by a politician who had already announced his opposition to congestion pricing before he started writing his report.'"

Is this the same place that recently honored the mayor and, like all of these congestion tax supporters, are eagerly anticipating the future largess of our Johnny-come-lately billionaire environmentalist? Meanwhile, others even less tactful than DMI, have resorted to accusing Brodsky-of all people-of being a tool for the parking garage industry. This raise chutzpah to a new level.

While others, like the Plague of Conservation Vultures, chide Brodsky's report for its failure to "evaluate the cost to our environment" if the mayor's scheme is not enacted. It's lucky that Brodsky stopped where he did and didn't treat all of the environmental assumptions with the same critical eye that he gave to the economic impacts of congestion taxing (although he did point out that the congestion relief in the proposal was minimal). If he did it would have been revealed that some people, including the mayor,were using that little girl's asthma inhaler for something more that pure air.

The mayor's money, and his willingness to spend it freely, is the elephant in the room here-and we're not including his "city for sale" performance in enticing electeds to support his plan. Every single good government group is angling for a piece of the pie, something that greatly stimulates what may have been an inclination to support the mayor in the first place.

And what are we to make of the Sierra Club which is trying to make congestion taxing a question of-national security? Just what we need, people who probably opposed all of our real national security efforts-both military as well as espionage-now raising the specter of security to support their natural tendency to expand the "good" role of government at the expense of the tax payers.

Which leaves us with the mayor. He continues to arrogantly act as if he can dictate to the other elected leaders of the city and state. And why shouldn't he feel this way when the city council has totally abdicated its role as a check on mayoral power? Not having been disabused, he drives forward in the belief that he can bogart everyone. As the Times reports: "At a news conference yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg declined to address the congestion pricing issue, but did refer briefly to the Assembly report, saying, 'That's just a piece of paper.'"

And so is toilet tissue, but we know how important that is. In the end, the office cartoon about no job being complete without the paper work (with a picture of the child wiping his behind), may justifiably come to symbolize the importance of the Brodsky report in the final demise of the mayor's plan.

Traffic Congestion Tax Jammed

"It ain't easy being green," that old lament from our Sesame Street favorite Kermit the Frog, must be resonating in Mike Bloomberg's ear just about now. With just one week left in the mayor's self-imposed deadline for action, (as the Albany Times Union reports) it is appearing less and less likely that the legislature is going to genuflect to Mike Bloomberg's national extreme makeover as an environmentalist.

The reason for the skepticism-a new report just issued by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky that raises some very serious reservations about the disparate impact of the congestion tax. As the NY Times reports this morning, the Brodsky evaluation of the mayor's plan highlights the extent to which the proposed "fee" would hit middle income city residents the hardest; "The new report characterizes the plan as a regressive tax that puts most of the burden on poor and middle-income drivers, and cautions that the charges would need to be raised substantially to have the desired effect of easing congestion."

Just so! And in issuing the report Brodsky took umbrage at the charge levelled by the mayor that those opposed to the plan were not concerned with the public interest: "'We're interested only in the public interest, and the first thing that the public requires is someone to actually look at the mayor's plan, fairly and thoroughly."

And look Brodsky did. As the NY Sun reports, Brodsky found that the actual bill that was submitted to the legislature differs substantially from the rhetoric that Bloomberg has used to sell the idea. For instance, there is no provision in the legislation that would guarantee that the money generated from the tax would go to mass transit; or that drivers simply moving their cars in the zone to comply with alternate side parking regulations would not be charged the tax.

In the case of congestion taxing, the devil is really in the details-and when the details haven't been thoroughly examined it usually means that there is a great deal that isn't going to be pleasant for NYC tax payers. As the NY Daily News tells us, the Brodsky report underscores that, "Brooklyn, Queens and Bronx drivers make about 24% of the trips into the congestion area, but would pay 47% of the fees." These New York City residents have an annual salary of $46,ooo, while Manhattan commuters (earning roughly $74,000 a year) who make 72% of the trips, would pay only 42% of the fees.

All of which means that the mayor needs to take a deep breathe and put this plan into a proper review process; and not one done by one of the usual consulting suspects. While he's at it, he can cease and desist in his asthma huckstering, something he continues today in the NY Post with a tendentious Op-ed piece.

NYC does need a rational traffic congestion plan. The mayor's proposal, however, is not-and should not- be the final word. It might also be a good idea if the crafting of the plan is done in consultation with the legislators that will be called on to approve it; and not in the current "make way for the lord" fashion.

DOH Being Butt Ugly

In today's NY Daily News the paper reports on the proliferation of illegal cigarette sales in many of the city's poorest neighborhoods. The story's focus is on the fact that buttlegging is a threat to the health of the folks in these areas because it prevents the deterrent effect of the cigarette tax from operating effectively. As the paper's headline points out, "Illegal Market Blackens Lungs."

AS the News points out, the steep tax increase on tobacco products, an 1800% record hike for this city, was "aimed at convincing New Yorkers that tobacco is bad form their health." Yet the fact that a pack of black market smokes on the street can cost one or two dollars less than in a store makes it easier to purchase and avoid the health/cost dilemma.

How much do these street sales impact the cigarette market? It is, of course hard to say exactly since the sales are, well, illegal. The News, however, goes on to say that, "After the city hiked its cigarette tax from 8 cents to $1.50 per pack in 2002, the number of New Yorkers getting their street fix through street hawkers rose from 6% to 9%, city health officials said."

Really? How does any "city health official" know anything about the black market in cigarettes? What we do know is that the city's 2202 hike is taking $250 million a year from the bodegas, newsstands, green grocers and delis of NYC. That's over 50% of the legitimate sales. So who exactly is the moron who came up with the 6-9% estimate?

Well maybe it was the commissioner, who commented to the News that, "'Taxing cigarettes is the single most effective way to reduce tobacco use...Small and even modest amounts of evasion don't change that one bit.'" We're not quite sure what the distinction is between "small" and "modest," but we do know that a greater than 50% reduction in legal sales every year is not a small thing to the store owners who are suffering the loss of business.

Which is not really surprising since, when the mayor was asked about the severe loss off business from the cigarette tax, he characterized it as "a minor economic issue." What is comforting is the fact that city officials "have doubled their retail inspections to 60 a month..." Just what we have come to expect: when legitimate store owners are being victimized by illegal street sales, the city comes to their aid by-ratcheting up inspections on these very same retail businesses. Way to go Mayor Mike!

Congestion Fear and Loathing

We continue to find good reasons why the mayor's congestion tax scheme is desperately in need of some sunlight. As more and more reasons are put forward in support of the plan-rationales that all come with hefty price tags-we can't help but wonder who are the folks that are doing all of the accounting. You see, there's no possible way that the congestion tax can fund massive mass transit building, while at the same time, generate enough money for the MTA to hold the line on the $2 fare.

Now we find that the League of Conservation Voters is about to launch a mailing campaign-on top of the phony asthma-prevention one sponsored by the NYC Partnership-calling on voters to support the mayor's plan in order to keep the fare at its current level. As the NY Daily News reports this morning, "The New York League of Conservation Voters is mailing flyers to 350,000 voters calling on them to tell their legislators to support the plan."

What are these one-issue advocates doing here? First the business moguls lecture us on the environment, than the environmentalists hector us about subway and bus fares. All of the confusion can be explained by the fact that the mayor's pollster has to be orchestrating the whole phony coalition campaign. Next we'll see REBNY calling on New Yorkers to recycle more and turn off their excess electricity so that we can all help the mayor to save the planet.

And the phoniest thing of all in this political theater of the absurd is the leader of this crusade. There is nothing more disconcerting, or dishonest, than seeing a jet taking, helicopter-riding, luxury boat-owning, billionaire leading some kind of crusade against global warming.

What's even more hilarious-and we got to give Bloomberg credit for creativity here-is watching the environmental justice street activists and the trust fund environmentalists march arm in arm with some of this city's most ruthless business tycoons. Tom Wolfe couldn't have concocted this whole thing any better than the mayor's national advance team has. Add to this farrago the editorial muñecos, and you have fantastic high comedy.

What you don't have is good public policy. The mayor has done a great job at manufacturing all of these political illusions but, fortunately, it doesn't appear that he has convinced a good many state legislators-and Speaker Silver in particular, that his plan makes sense. Add to this, the over-the-top feud between the governor and the majority leader, and it begins to look like-just as with the auto-dependent West Side stadium-that the mayor's going to need to come up with Plan B. We can't wait. But a number of outer borough electeds who sold their support to the mayor are going to have some explaining to do.

Funny Money

We have already commented about the lame rally that the mayor held yesterday in support of his congestion tax. In fact, we were too kind-it was actually much lamer than we had originally thought. With over $3.5 million in the pro congestion tax budget, you would have thought that the mayor could have been able to generate more than around 100 rallyers.

Now, as Metro's Patrick Arden points out in this morning's paper, it appears that even this meager showing was the result of-paying the kids in the green shirts to show up; "The troops wore bright green shirts and held up signs. Two teenage cousins from Soundview...wore their shirts but didn't know much about congestion pricing. They showed up because one of the groups was paying $10 an hour."

Now it certainly doesn't get any lamer than that. With congestion taxing it appears that even money is not enough to generate any real enthusiasm for the scheme.

Decongesting Bloomberg

In one of the best examples of a manufactured grass roots effort-and a not very good one at that-the mayor led a rally yesterday in Times Square in favor of his plan to raise taxes on commuters driving into the city. As the NY Sun reports, "Over a hundred people gathered for the rally..." What's a matter Mike? Didn't you guys have more than 100 green tee shirts to give away? (Actually, the NY Post called it, "dozens of supporters").

The entire mayoral campaign is beginning to take on a "theater of the absurd" quality, as environmental zealots consort with real estate moguls in some kind of grotesque parody of political activism. Has anyone in the press bothered to investigate why so many rich folks have invested in this effort? Doesn't take any genius to figure out that the quid pro quo here for the likes of Steve Ross is not cleaner city air.

Speaker Silver continues to be the voice of reason in all of this, telling the Post that he believes that a study is justifiable in order to better determine the plan's "overall downstate impact." Bloomberg, however, dismissed the need for a study, saying that the "time is now," alluding to the federal money that he believes will be made available should the state sign on to his experiment.

But Blomberg wasn't content with simply saying that. He just had to blow smoke about global warming and, of course, asthma; "'We also have to do something right now for those kids suffering from asthma aggravated by car pollution,' he said." The Post goes on to point out that
Lancet, the British medical journal, has published studies that show correlations between auto emissions and respiratory ailments.

Well well- put a stop work order on the Gateway Mall right now! Cease and desist on the expansion of the Gateway Estates Mall as well; both malls are in high asthma zones and will attract tens of thousands of additional cars and trucks every week into those neighborhoods.
And while we're at it, let's close up the building of Vronado's Rego Park Mall and shut down discussions for the redevelopment of Willets Point-both projects will generate considerable car emissions and threaten the health of the little girl with the inhaler in the ad sponsored by these very same hypocritical developers.But let's not stop there. What about the Vronado/Related redevelopment of Penn Station? This is going to tie up mid-town traffic for years in ways that are far worse than the current commuter traffic.

Oh, you say we can't do all of this? Why not? Well, because the profits of the developers are sacrosanct in New York, while the income of middle class New Yorkers is continually up for grabs by tax happy politicians, As the Post highlights this morning, even when we get a tax reduction in this town it turns into a MIRAGE. This is precisely why we told the News that the Partnership ad campaign was, "as dishonest a piece of political communication as this city has ever seen."

And speaking of mirages, we find out in the NY Daily News this morning that, given the cost of a commuter bus ride, it may actually be cheaper for folks to get into their cars rather than get jammed into over-priced buses. We continue to find out more inconvenient truths about a mayoral plan that our beloved chief executive desperately wants to avoid having any in-depth scrutiny. We're beginning to understand more and more why he is resisting independent review.

Columbia's Courage of it Evictions

In today's NY Post we read about what we believe will be the first of a series of evictions should Columbia University be allowed to expand with impunity into West Harlem. This time it is a group of struggling small business folks-auto mechanics who are being dispossessed with no plan for their relocation.

As the Post reports, "More than twenty auto mechanics at three auto repair shops near 131st Street and Broadway in Manhattan will be out of work by July 31st, as they become the first economic casualties in Columbia's campus-expansion plan." They most certainly won't be the last, and everyone in West Harlem should be on guard.

The problem here is that the mechanics were simply subleasing their space and have no legal recourse; but after all, what's their plight when compared with the potential cure for Alzheimer's? The larger issue, however, is the fate of the residents of West Harlem, folks that will be either directly or indirectly evicted as a result of the Columbia plan.

Their fate is underscored by the column in today's NY Daily News by Community Service Society head David Jones. What Jones highlights is the less than stellar record of the mayor in the area of affordable housing-a glaring disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality of the administration's efforts. As Jones writes: "But it's time to check that image against the record. The city's affordable housing picture continues to worsen as the mayor's new housing goes up. Rents are soaring, placing a tremendous burden on low and middle income tenants."

As we have commented extensively before, the mayor is permitting Columbia to expand into the largest underutilized parcel of land in Manhattan with absolutely no additional housing. On top of this scandal, the university will be evicting 400 low income tenants from the expansion foot print. BP Stringer, concerned with a rising tide of gentrification, has proposed his own rezoning plan to try to mitigate Columbia's impact. This is a half-measure.

The Columbia plan needs to be immediately derailed. We have already seen how the collusion of the consultants is hot wiring the review process. Now the more substantive issues of displacement need to be addressed-something that can't and won't be done while this sham ULURP process moves inexorably forward.

Indigestion Pricing

There's a fascinating piece in yesterday's NY Times business section that focuses on the pricing dynamics of E-Z Pass systems. As the story tells us, "As a result of E-Z Pass and its ilk, even many adults don't notice the cost of a toll at all...Which raises an interesting question: If you don't know how much you're paying for something, will you notice when the price goes up? Or has E-Z Pass, for all of its benefits, also made it easier for toll collectors to take your money?"

The answer, unfortunately, is a definite yes. As the Times story tells us, a young economist pulled decades of toll records and did a comparative study that found a clear pattern: "After an electronic system is put in place, tolls start rising sharply." In similar situations, tolls with an electronic system in place soon become about 30% more expensive than the tolls collected manually.

In an electronic economy, with E-Z Pass style paying rapidly becoming the norm, "it's much easier to be carefree." That is until you get the bill. The beauty of cash payments comes from the fact that you're always aware of the expense. Milton Friedman's comments about the withholding tax concept that he pioneered many years ago is germane to this discussion: ""'It never occurred to me at the time...that I was helping to develop machinery that would make possible a government that I would come to criticize severely as too large, too intrusive, too destructive of freedom.'"

Which brings us to the mayor's plan to tax commuters using electronic technology. Now we've already seen how our friends in London have rapidly doubled the initial fee. And we've commented on just how little the truck charge will relieve congestion-and will really be used exclusively to raise revenues. What we're facing than, is a very easy and convenient way to continue to hike commuter charges with the least amount of resistance.

It is, however, even worse than that. What NYC commuters are facing is the creation of an elaborate collection behemoth-another public authority that is unaccountable to the citizens- whose technology is questionable, but whose collection methods-much like the city's PVB-will be unassailable. The mistakes will be legion, but the remediation of these errors will be nonexistent. As Ray Keating wrote recently in Newsday; "Just what we need-another unaccountable public authority so politicians can borrow and spend more money without having to get approval from all of those pesky voters."

It would be an expensive weapon against the city's business and working classes, a weapon that is much too dangerous to be left in the hands of city bureaucrats. Alternate methods of raising money for mass transit need to be explored and this elaborate and exploitative scheme needs to be permanently shelved.

Partnership's Ill Wind

In today's NY Daily News we are witness to one of the most dishonest political ads that we've seen in a long time; made even more dishonest because of the nature of the hypocrites that are putting these ads out. The dishonesty ranks right up there with the daisy twirling little girl in the anti-Goldwater ads of 1964 vintage, you know, the ones that told us to vote like our lives depended on it.

The ads showing another little girl, this time with an asthma inhaler, are designed to generate support for the mayor's congestion tax. The ad's phony apocalyptic warning reads: "She cannot hold her breathe waiting for Albany to act." Which environmental group placed this ad? None other than the NYC Partnership, a group made up of real estate moguls who's idea of environmentalism has traditionally meant simply writing a conscience-salving check to the NRDC, or some other environmental cause.

What makes the whole situation even worse are two factors that are left unmentioned by the Partnership's lame attempt at public service. In the first place there is absolutely no connection that has been demonstrated between auto emissions and asthma. The only decent scientific correlation that has been found is the one that focuses on insect and rodent droppings-and the prevalence of food waste that attracts this vector problem.

Over the last five years the faux-environmentalists at City Hall have fought the Alliance on the legalization of food waste disposers-the one methodology that would eliminate the food source for the disease-generating vermin. No concern with asthma or community public health here.

In addition, what the mayor and his toadies don't mention is that NYC's air, once the dirtiest in the nation, has never been cleaner-something that all of the environmental supporters of the mayors plan should realize, even if the Partnership, new to the issue, does not.

Secondly, taking the Partnership's argument at face value for a moment, if car emissions are a big contributing factor for the city's high rates of asthma, then why are some of the group's leading supporters building so many auto-dependent shopping malls all over the city. Yes we mean the likes of Steve Ross of Related and Steve Roth of Vronado. Two of Related's biggest developments are in the South Bronx-right along "asthma-alley," and in East New York, one of the poorest sections of Brooklyn.

So if the Partnership is really looking "to protect our kids' health now," it should start by simply shutting up and stop its lying in the name of clean air; instead it should quietly discontinue the two Gateway projects so as to protect the health of the children that they hold so dear.

Poverty of Philosophy

We have commented before about the mayor's absurd plan to pay children and families to behave better. In the latest Weekly Standard the Manhattan Institute's Heather McDonald lashes into the mayor's program and, in the modern currency, thoroughly deconstructs it: "Anyone interested in seeing what Bloomberg's rhetoric of 'innovative,' nonpartisan problem-solving means in practice will find his new poverty plan illuminating. It combines a clever technocratic veneer with a profound ignorance of civil society."

McDonald goes on to say that if the Bloomberg war on poverty is adopted by city government (it is currently privately funded), "it could be one of the most destructive welfare policies ever devised." What the mayor and his minions-is there anyone at City Hall advising the mayor and urging caution?- fail to realize is the extent to which decades of welfare dependency have fostered a "culture of poverty" that has eroded the will of the recipients: a subculture where even free medical care for ones children is not being utilized by parents.

How to end this cycle of dependency is not easily answered. For a good many, though, the answer lay in the simple programmatic refusal to continue to subsidize folks forever-in other words, welfare reform that set deadlines so people understood that their benefits wouldn't last forever. In NYC Mayor Giuliani spearheaded this effort and was excoriated by all of the same folks that have been fawning over Bloomberg's "less confrontational" style.

The reality, however, is that Rudy was a paradigm shifter, while Bloomberg is a Back to the Future version of John Lindsay. There is no way that Mayor Mike would have ever challenged the comfortable liberal shibboleths that had held sway in this city for years. Nor would he, in this same vein, have adopted the "broken windows" concept of policing that helped to facilitate the dramatic decreases in crime that have made it easier for Bloomberg to govern.

The fact is that the mayor has been coasting on Giuliani's efforts, and has been doing so while accepting the encomiums of people who harshly resisted Giuliani's agenda. It is quite nauseating to witness the level of hypocrisy from those who, while benefiting from Giuliani's achievements, praise Bloomberg for his more acceptable leadership style.

Which brings us to Bloomberg's grotesque anti-poverty scheme. McDonald rightly points out that the plan does recognize the fact that attitudinal change is essential if we're going to address this resistant subculture of poverty. It runs aground, however, on the mistaken belief that a cash transfer-like some kind of corporate subsidy-will alter not only current behavior but future decisions as well.

It will do no such thing. What it will do, is create another overarching bureaucratic apparatus that will continue to expand as the recipients and all of their "advocates" establish another feeding trough that will institutionalize dependency even further. As McDonald points out, if Mayor Mike really wants to do something dramatic about poverty he should launch a pro-marriage campaign. But that would put Mike at odds with all of his liberal salons and would actually involve making people responsible for their behavior.

Wait till Bloomberg tries to sell this on a national stage; he'll be exposed as the liberal elitist that he is, and will be innovated right out of the race. We're actually looking forward to watching this happen.

Livingston Red-Faced

Yesterday we questioned whether it made any sense to trust the judgement of London mayor Ken Livingston-on anything. Having Livingston act as the poster child for congestion pricing, given his bizarre and dangerous views on so many other things, makes little or no sense. Which is why we chastised the Times for allowing the unhinged mayor to have an Op-Ed platform.

Today, in a column in the NY Post, Amir Taheri underscores our point about the views of "Ken the Red." What Taheri emphasizes is what Nick Cohen has pointed out in his book, What's Left? How Liberals Have Lost Their Way-the manner in which left wing and supposedly progressive folks have begun to embrace Islamic fascists because of the way they challenge Western "hegemony."

Livingston has done this for years, and continues to do so today, even in the face of another terror plot against his city and country. As Taheri points out, "Worse still, Ken Livingston, London's quixotic leftist mayor, has shifted the blame from the terrorists to the British at large, who are supposedly tempted by 'Islamophobia.'" Does this in any way ring true?

Taheri again: "Even the most rabid and anti-West and pro-terror Islamic clerics are granted visas to come to the United Kingdom and spread their message of hatred ( at time, as guests of Ken Livingston and his friends)." Yet Livingston is now sanitized and properly cleansed by the NY Times to act as the spokesman for congestion pricing.

Quite frankly. we wouldn't follow the model of any city that has the poor judgement to elect Livingston as mayor-and the socialist crew over in Stockholm aren't that much better in our view. The fact that Livingston has already doubled the initial congestion tax and wants to charge SUV's around $50 bucks to enter the city only adds to our reluctance to accept his judgements on public policy. If this creep is given any more invitations to come to New York to lecture us, we should let our muddle-headed mayor know what a mistake that would be.

Ken the Red Weighs In on Congestion

The NY Times opens up its Op-Ed today to the wisdom of "Ken the Red" Livingston, the communist mayor of London. Now we normally resist the need to resort to ad hominen attacks, but for Livingston we're happy to make an exception. To put it simply, the man has exhibited such abhorrent views on so many of the most crucial issues of the day that, in our minds, he has forfeited the right to be taken seriously on any issue; And certainly not on any issue that involves business impacts.

This is the same man who has defended the most anti-Semitic and vile Islamic clergy, literally genuflecting to their hateful philosophy. When the London bombers murdered his constituents he effectively justified such terrorism on the grounds that the terrorists were "oppressed" by the people they murdered. He then went on to basically blame, not the bombers themselves, but the Israelis who had, "done horrendous things which border on crimes against humanity in the way in which they have indiscriminately slaughtered men, woman and children on the West Bank and Gaza for decades (See Londonistan by Melanie Phillips).

Livingston has also embraced the Muslim Brotherhood-literally so. As Philips reports, "Livingston publicly embraced Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Brotherhood's spiritual leader who has not only endorsed the use of human bombs against Iraq and Israel but has denounced the 'incomparable and overt' iniquity of the Jews and called for Jews and other infidels to be killed." The fact that this vile sheikh loathes gays, women and "infidels" doesn't seem to bother Ken in the least.When Livingston was confronted for his support of this clerical fascist he accused the sheik's opponents of being part of a "Mossad plot."

Livingston' irrationality and obscene politics is not of recent vintage. At the funeral of the old Stalinist Gerry Healy, the head of the Workers Revolutionary Party in England (and a rapist to boot), Livingston praised Healy-who at the time was fronting for Saddam and was on the payroll of the Baath Party-and blamed the collapse of the WRP on M15 (sound familiar?).

Livingston is, however, supposed to be the voice of reason on congestion pricing? Quite frankly, when someone is so politically unhinged it is useful for others to exercise extreme caution in taking anything they say seriously. In fact, it would have been useful-even if out of character, for the Times to mention just how irrational Ken the Red is on so many issues-as a caution and service to its readers. But that might have been construed as "Red-Baiting," which of course is out-of-bounds even if the person in question is "Ken the Red."

Columbia's Questionable Advisors

It now appears that the rush to certify the Columbia expansion plan had an additional rationale; besides the usual need to go full speed ahead in order to save money on construction costs. What just may have been prompting the breakneck speed approach, before any real negotiations have begun between the university and the community, is the law suit that was brought by the West Harlem Business Association (our client, Tuck-it-Away, is a member).

The law suit targeted all of the communications between AKRK, a land use consulting firm, and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC). The reason for the suit was to challenge the legitimacy of the use of AKRF as a consultant for ESDC in the preparation of the state's requisite blight study; a mandated precursor to any condemnation proceeding.

Now it turns out that AKRF's talents are quite protean. The firm is not only doing the state's blight study, it is also representing the party that wants to condemn the West Harlem real estate-none other than Columbia the gem of the ocean. In its legal defense AKRF told the court that this apparent conflict wasn't really any problem since it had constructed a "Chinese Wall" within the company-something that, understandably so, Judge Kornreeich didn't find to be very credible.

Why is this so important? It is so because the blight study is what the state and Columbia will rely on to defend themselves against the inevitable litigation should the use of eminent domain be utilized to evict the West Harlem property owners. It is further crucial since the so-called blight will be determined for an area where Columbia itself has taken over the vast percentage of all of the extant property-and has purposefully allowed it all to deteriorate.

It is also important because of how it throws into sharp relief all of the supposed independent consulting work that has become integral to the city's land use review process. It underscores the extent to which there has never, ever, been any real independent review of environmental data submitted to the city; nor has the city ever properly reviewed any of the data proffered by those looking to develop.

ULURP is, and has always been, a political process with an environmental veneer, and it is high time that the entire charade be reformed. Perhaps the Columbia collusion will become the impetus for just such a reform.