Many Brooklynites are calling Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan a tax on the boroughs. Not Borough President Markowitz, though. This week, the Beep said he hadn’t taken a position on the plan, despite very strong statements in the past towards anything that smacked of a toll on the East River bridges.
“Some ideas will fly like an eagle. This is a turkey. It’s just totally unfair to Brooklyn.”
New York Daily News, Feb. 16, 2002
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“To try and rationalize that East River tolls as a ‘fair tax’ because people in Manhattan are able to afford more expensive real estate is ridiculous.”
Daily News, April 6, 2003
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Bridge tolls would be a “tremendous economic burden on the businesses and residents of Brooklyn, many of whom are forced to drive because they have no other public transportation options.”
Daily News, Sept. 30, 2003
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“If there was a way that it would not become an additional tax burden on residents of the boroughs of New York City and at the same time it would generate revenues for major infusions of resource in public transportation … then it’s something worthy of review. … I don’t know if what is being done in London could be transferred here to New York City. However … it is certainly worthy of looking into.”
The Brooklyn Paper, November, 2006
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“I have many concerns [about congestion pricing]. However, it is worthy of full review. … I haven’t come out against it, nor have I come out in support of it.”
The Brooklyn Paper, April, 2007
