Fix mass transit, leaders demand

By Manny Grossman

Improve mass transit first, three Riverdale community leaders told the commission charged with examining Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to charge drivers for the daytime use of Manhattan's streets.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, City Councilman Oliver Koppell and Ari Hoffnung, president of the Riverdale Jewish Community Council, all told the 17-member New York City Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission that the mayor had his priorities wrong.

Rep. Eliot Engel added his voice in a statement that said the scheme was likely to add to the air pollution and traffic woes it is supposed to cure.

Most of the other speakers at the sparsely-attended hearing at Hostos Community College also expressed concern or opposition toward the plan, which calls for drivers to be charged $8 to travel south of 86th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The commission is to make a recommendation to the City Council and state lawmakers by January.

"Go back to the drawing board," Mr. Dinowitz said. Without the incentive of a faster and more comfortable trip on public transportation, he argued, the plan will not encourage people to leave their cars at home. No plans are in the works to improve mass transit in the West Bronx, and only one improvement is listed by the MTA for the entire Bronx.

Mr. Dinowitz repeated his criticism of the plan to deduct the cost of bridge tolls from the congestion fee, saying it was "discriminatory and unacceptable." Most Bronx residents do not pay a toll when they drive into Manhattan, while commuters from New Jersey and Long Island do.

Mr. Dinowitz also worried aloud that suburban commuters would turn Riverdale and Kingsbridge into a "commuter parking lot." And he was concerned that exemptions are not being made for doctor visits or parents bringing their children to school.

Mr. Koppell and Mr. Hoffnung offered proposals to improve mass transit locally. The councilman suggested increasing capacity on the subways and reinstating skipstop service on the No. 1 train.

Although he has said he is generally supportive of the idea of imposing a charge on private cars, he told the commission the 4 and D lines should be refurbished before a congestion fee goes into effect.

City officials have said they plan to use the $350 million they expect the fee to generate to improve mass transit.

Mr. Koppell also proposed West Side access for Metro-North's Hudson Line, which stops at Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil and Marble Hill. Hudson Line trains are not scheduled to begin running to Penn Station until 2013.

Mr. Koppell and Mr. Hoffnung both pushed for dedicated water taxi service from the West Bronx to Midtown and the financial district. Indeed, Mr. Hoffnung's entire testimony was dedicated to pushing the idea of ferry service from Riverdale to Manhattan (see accompanying story).

Although he did not attend the hearing, Mr. Engel has come out squarely against congestion pricing as currently proposed. In a recent statement, he said all it will do is "move Manhattan's problems into the Bronx," and repeated the claim that Kingsbridge and Riverdale will be turned into commuter parking lots by the plan. He said, "In short, the results of congestion pricing will be added tolls, added traffic, and added air pollution, but less parking spaces."

This is part of the November 8, 2007 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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