Blommberg won't vow no new taxes.. meaning, of course, that they're coming. .

Bloomberg won't vow no '08 tax hikes

BY KIRSTEN DANIS
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Saturday, January 12th 2008, 4:00 AM

The city budget crunch could soon hit taxpayers in the wallet.

Struggling to close a $3 billion budget gap after several flush years, Mayor Bloomberg is leaving open the possibility of a property tax increase this year.

"We'll see," Bloomberg said Friday on his WABC radio show when asked by host John Gambling if taxes are going up.

Bloomberg already has ordered city agencies to slice 2.5% from this year's budget, which ends in June, and another 5% to get ready for the next budget.

It's not yet clear whether the cuts will be enough to balance the books, the mayor said.

"That'll be a little tougher," he said. "My hope is we'll be in decent shape. It's certainly going to be a struggle."

Bloomberg will introduce his spending plan at the end of the month. Last year, City Hall cut property taxes 7% and sent homeowners a $400 rebate - two luxuries the administration might not be able to afford now that the economy has worsened.

The Independent Budget Office has projected a $3.1 billion shortfall for the upcoming budget, which begins July 1.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a potential 2009 mayoral candidate, will negotiate the budget with the mayor. Quinn (D-Manhattan) refused to say whether she would support a tax increase.

Another Council member, who asked not to be named, said the mayor's doom-and-gloom talk may be a way to keep politicians and the public from complaining about inevitable service cuts.

"He's trying to reduce the squawking by putting out there the alternative," the Council member said.

Any tax increase would have to be approved by the Council, and it would be a tough decision for several term-limited members vying for higher office.

Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Queens), who is running for controller, said she did not support a tax increase. Her rival, Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), said he would rather see city agencies find ways to save money and avoid a tax hike.

Another potential controller candidate, John Liu (D-Queens), would not rule anything out.

kdanis@nydailynews.com

Bloomberg promises that the Congestion Pricing $ will be used on Mass Transit for "the next 646 days I am in office."

CONGESTION Money to be used for Mass Transit for the next two years. Afterwards, who knows?

In other words, after the end of his term, all bets are off. This is exactly why term limits are bad. Since His Honor will not face the polls again, who cares what New Yorkers think?

March 31, 2008 -- New Yorkers are wary of congestion pricing - and they found even more reason to be last week.

No sooner did a poll show New Yorkers guardedly supporting Mayor Bloomberg's plan to charge $8 for passenger cars driving below 60th Street in Manhattan - if it could be guaranteed that the funds would be targeted toward capital improvements in the city's mass transit system - than the MTA abruptly announced a halt in solemnly promised plans for such improvements.

New Yorkers were told last year that the fare hike enacted less than a month ago was necessary to pay for millions in capital fixes.

Instead, MTA Executive Director Lee Sander put a hold on the improvements, noting that a major revenue source for the MTA - real estate transfer taxes - were falling sharply.

Perhaps that is prudent, but the MTA's action underscores the public's biggest worry: Congestion pricing could be good for the city - but can the politicians be trusted to do the right thing once they get their hands on new money?

At a Tuesday press conference with Sander, Bloomberg recognized what the MTA's decision could mean for public support for congestion pricing.

"I think the public has every right to be skepical," he said. "I can just tell you that I am giving the public my word that these monies will be used for mass transit for the next 646 days I am in office and that I will do everything I can after that as a private citizen to make sure that . . . the MTA lives up to its commitment."

It's good to hear the mayor - a trustworthy man - say that. But he ultimately is only one man.

As the Quinnipiac poll indicated, the public is, to use the mayor's word, skeptical: New Yorkers recognize a bait-and-switch scam when they see it - and Sanders' backtracking on fare-increase revenues qualifies.

If the MTA can't be trusted on that, why should the public believe that congestion-prising cash go where it belongs?

Albany will be voting on congestion pricing soon.

Some iron-clad guarantees are necessary - now.

Assembly Democrats haggle over congestion pricing plan

Wake up, New York. Under Mayor Bloomberg's Congestion Plan, even drivers headed towards the outer boroughs from Brooklyn and Queens will have to pay the $8 toll. "So will taxi passengers. So will people who live in Manhattan and park there. So will car owners who don't have E-ZPass," writes Daily News reporter Adam Lisberg.


The Daily News reports on Congestion Pricing:

Under plan, N.Y. drivers entering Manhattan on bridges would also pay

By ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Thursday, April 3rd 2008, 4:00 AM

Drivers heading into Manhattan aren't the only ones who will pay if Mayor Bloomberg's congestion-pricing plan becomes law.

So will New Yorkers heading from Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island to the rest of New York - or America. So will taxi passengers. So will people who live in Manhattan and park there. So will car owners who don't have E-ZPass.

The new fees have received little attention amid the frantic debate over whether to charge cars $8 and trucks $21 to enter Manhattan below 60th St. between 6a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays.

In that area, though, cab rides would cost an extra $1, to help make taxis pay for their share of traffic tieups.

"If they have to charge to come past 60th St., the cab drivers aren't going to come here," said Kyle Manning, 40, a doorman who hails cabs at Bloomingdale's on 59th St. "It might ease traffic. But it'll be hard on the cab drivers."

Send Blommberg your thoughts son paying $8 a day to enter Manhattan.

Click here to tell the Mayor how you feel about his Congestion Plan.

Leave it to Bloomberg to do whatever he can to help the rick Manhattanites his administration caters too. Here's Juan Gonzalez, from the Daily News:

Pork handouts offered to pressure council members to OK congestion plan

Wednesday, April 2nd 2008, 4:00 AM

Rosier/News

Mayor Bloomberg put on pressure to get green light on plan.

No one could recall such a naked combination of arm-twisting and pork-barrel handouts to pressure City Council members to approve the huge tax increase known as congestion pricing.

"City Hall offered more in goodies this week to get this tax passed than the federal government is giving us to do it," said Brooklyn Councilman Lewis Fidler, a leading opponent of the plan that passed by a 30-to-20 vote.

Harlem Councilwoman Inez Dickens, for instance, got a last-minute promise from City Hall for major changes she'd been seeking to the huge 125th St. redevelopment plan.

Her colleague, Sara Gonzalez, got a promise of a new ferry line for her district in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Councilman Domenic Recchia of Gravesend was offered a new ferry line for his constituents from Coney Island to Manhattan.

Up in the Bronx, a major retail redevelopment project at the Kingsbridge Armory that had been stalled for a year suddenly moved forward in the past few weeks.

Joel Rivera, the Council majority leader from the Bronx, had opposed the mayor's plan until Monday. Rivera suddenly switched his position the day of the vote. He joined six other members of the Bronx delegation to deliver near-unanimous support for the mayor's $8-a-day tax on cars coming into the central business district on weekdays.

On Staten Island, Councilman Michael McMahon, who claimed he was leaning against congestion pricing, stunned most insiders by flipping at the last moment.

"You wouldn't believe the pressure," said one supporter of congestion pricing who asked not to be identified. "Some of my colleagues in Council suddenly got religion on Monday after opposing this thing for weeks."

Others talked of the mayor suggesting in private meetings that he might hold fund-raisers for certain term-limited Council members running for new posts next year.

Everyone, of course, denies any direct relation between their vote and the specific "enhancements" for their districts, or any offers of political support.

"The 125th St. negotiations with the local members of the Council are a normal part of the ULURP [uniform land use review process] process," Bloomberg spokesman John Gallagher said.

As for the new ferry routes, Gallagher said the mayor and Council Speaker Christine Quinn are "working with the Council on a five-borough ferry plan."

Throughout all of this frenzied lobbying the past few months for congestion pricing, Quinn has acted like a slavish deputy sheriff to the mayor.

In case you think this was all part of the give-and-take of the democratic process, consider the following: A few months ago, the mayor's plan was so unpopular it looked unlikely to even be voted out of committee.