Liz with the details.
The end.
There will be no vote in the Assembly.
"The conference has decided that they are not prepared to do congestion pricing," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver after emerging from behind closed doors where he was closested with members of his Democratic majority. "I think you can speak to the members of the conferene who have made that determination."
"Many of them just don't believe in the concept," the speaker continued. "Many of them think this bill is flawed. So an overwhelming majority of the conference that opposes congestion pricing, and for that reason, the congestion pricing bill did not have anywhere near a majority of the Democratic conference, and will not be on the floor of the Assembly."
From a personal standpoint, Silver said he is "more inclined to admit we must do something about congestion and this is a plan with some work that could work, but it needs amendments."
City Room has more.
Mr. Silver's announcement is a major defeat for the mayor, who had furiously advocated state and city officials for a year and worked to assembly a coalition of business, transportation, environmental and labor groups to support the plan. In recent weeks, the plan had seemed to gain momentum, as the mayor managed to secure support from Gov. David A. Paterson and from the City Council, which on March 31 voted, 30 to 20, to endorse the plan. But up through this afternoon the fate of the plan had seemed uncertain. The Republican leader of the State Senate, Joseph L. Bruno, gave his support the plan, and even Mr. Silver, the Assembly speaker, voiced partial support for it, though adding that he did not believe the members of the Assembly's Democratic majority were convinced.
Saying that this is a huge defeat for Bloomberg is an understatement. He was really pushing this plan and to lose out like this will hurt. But for now, congestion pricing is dead. |
