Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing scheme has cleared its first major hurdle, the City Council, and is now headed to Albany – where it faces an infinitely more formidable roadblock: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
The council passed the legally required home-rule message by a 30-20 vote (by Council standards, an unusually slim margin). Now the Legislature must give its final approval by next Monday – the deadline for $350 million in federal transit funds needed to offset the program’s startup costs.
But Silver is in no rush to get anything done – even though the Senate’s GOP majority is ready to take up the issue right away.
In fact, the speaker says he won’t even begin considering the matter until both houses have passed the state budget – which likely will take until Friday.
This means that congestion pricing would come before the Legislature as a stand-alone item, rather than as part of the budget process – making it much more difficult to pass.
As it is, Silver’s Democratic majority in the Assembly isn’t all that eager to approve congestion pricing – especially since some of his conference members fear primary-election challenges from term-limited City Council members looking for another sinecure.
And without Silver’s personal sign-off, congestion pricing won’t happen.
Which means that, ultimately, the fate of this entire proposal – with all that it implies for New York City – rests entirely in the hands of Sheldon Silver.
One-party rule in Albany?
Try one-person rule.
This wouldn’t be the first time Silver’s dictatorship killed a promising undertaking – it was Silver, after all, who personally deep-sixed the proposed West Side stadium.
Such is the bizarre nature of business-as-usual in Albany.
It’s understandable that Mayor Mike’s criticism of that status quo has been muted (think flies and honey), but he’s kidding himself if he believes a decision of this import will be made on the merits.
He needs to call Silver out before it’s too late.