Will a Greener New York Help or Hurt the City's Working Poor?

April 24, 2007— -- The mayor of New York City hopes a proposed tax on commuters will reduce congestion and help make the city greener, but it's the loss of green in commuters' wallets that has some drivers and their representatives worried.

In an ambitious speech made to mark Earth Day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlined 127 proposed environmental projects for the city's transit, water and energy sectors. But the proposal that's surely the most controversial would impose a tax on motorists when they drive through the most heavily trafficked parts of Manhattan.

Under the three-year pilot program, which is similar to projects in London, Stockholm and Singapore, motorists would be charged $8, and trucks $21, to enter Manhattan below 86th Street on weekdays during business hours.

City officials said the "congestion charge" would reduce traffic and pollution, and the money collected -- an estimated $400 million in the first year -- will go toward public transit projects.

"Let's face up to the fact that our population growth is putting our city on a collision course with the environment, which itself is growing more unstable and uncertain," Bloomberg said.

But commuters and politicians said the toll, collected electronically and without the use of tollbooths, penalizes drivers from the outer boroughs and suburbs, and ignores other measures that could reduce congestion.

"We don't like it," said Robert Sinclair Jr., manager of media relations for the Autombile Association of America's New York chapter. "There are lots of other things that could be tried, like bus rapid transit, stricter enforcement of double-parking regulations, and signal timing to make traffic move more smoothly.

"Motorists are already overburdened by fees, surcharges and tolls," Sinclair said.

Bill Gould, the marketing director for a jewelry company in midtown, said his daily commute from Long Island can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and half, and he questioned the mayor's timing.

"I applaud Mayor Bloomberg for having a long-range program, but he needs to slowly deploy different elements in his plan. Until additional elements are completed, like staging areas for parking, or the Second Avenue subway, I think it is ill advised to start the program."