TRAFFIC SLAM
Corey: Blaz gave up too much in congest deal
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is a fan of congestion pricing — but he isn’t quite on board with the deal struck by Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo.
“I strongly support congestion pricing, I always have, so I’m glad to see that the mayor is now on board,” Johnson told reporters Thursday. “I think the proposal that was outlined earlier this week is short on details, and details really matter here for this plan.”
And some of the details Johnson’s seen so far don’t sit well with him. While de Blasio has said the pan calls for a lockbox to ensure the toll revenue goes to the MTA, Johnson said he is concerned about making certain that the money goes directly to subways, buses and transit deserts within the city — and not commuter lines.
“I’m surprised the mayor would sign on to the plan without having a greater level of commitment on how the money was going to be spent,” Johnson said. He is also wary of the plan to allow the state to install transponders on city streets and to name a committee to set tolls — arguing the city needs more control, not less. “It would give the state greater authority over the streets of New York City — on where the transponders would be located below 61st St., it would create an unnamed committee to decide what the pricing should be on that, it would create, it would give greater authority to New York State on how potential revenue is spent,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he is a fan of the Move New York plan — a long-stalled proposal that would have reduced tolls on some outer borough bridges and put new ones on the free bridges over the East River.
The speaker’s comments come before he is set to give his first State of the City speech next week — which he hinted would focus on transit. He has repeatedly raised the idea of the city controlling the subway system in the past.