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Now that congestion pricing is dead at the hands of a do-nothing, irresponsible legislature in Albany (expect a full diary on this soon to come), here is a political post-mortem.
WINNERS:
Richard Brodsky
Brodsky represents one of the wealthiest and most-automobile-centered districts in the state, and he pandered them proud. Brodsky has accepted over $16,000 from parking interests and today proved he is worth every penny.
Anthony Weiner
Anthony Weiner, along with Toney Avella, is the loudest congestion pricing opponent running for mayor. CP passing would have been disasterous for Weiner because if London is any example, it would have proved to be very popular in the end and his vocal opposition to it would have made him look incredibly short-sighted by the time 2009 rolled around.
Christine Quinn
Despite CP's untimate failure, Quinn's sheparding it through the City Council was an impressive feat of political muscle. It shows she has respect within her caucus and throughout the outer boroughs that will make her formidable in the 2009 mayor's race, recent scandals notwithstanding.
LOSERS:
Michael Bloomberg
This is a serious blow to Bloomberg's long-term legacy. He was foresighted and innovative in putting CP on the map, but its ultimate failure is partially a fault of Mike's political skills. He framed CP as a non-partisan, common-sense solution, but he lost most of that moral authority with a $500,000 donation to the Senate Republicans in March. While this may have bought Bruno's support for CP, it alienated the Democrats in both houses of the legislature.
Sheldon Silver
Sheldon Silver's entire rationale for being re-elected to represent his district was destroyed today. While almost all of the state has been grumbling and groaning for years at Silver's heavy-handed leadership tactitcs, back-door deals, and anti-reform stonewalling, his constituents could take solace in the fact that he was always able to bring home the bacon and get what they needed. Not anymore. Almost no legislative district had as much to gain from congestion pricing as Shelly's, between the insane traffic over Canal street, the lack of revenue to bring the Second Avenue Subway to Downtown Manhattan, and the truly horrifying asthma epidemic affecting the children in his district. Without the ability to pass pricing, Silver now represents the worst of both worlds for his district- an insular, secretive, anti-reform leader who either did not or could not flex his muscle to look out for his own district. If he goes down to defeat in September's primary, today's failure will be the reason.
Malcolm Smith
For a man who hopes to be the first Democratic Majority leader in more than a generation, he was conspicuously absent from this whole process. Unlike Jim Tedisco, his minority conference has enough votes in its respective house to matter when it comes to passing crucial legislation. His lack of of a public presence on this issue brings many questions on his ability to lead his caucus, and ultimately, the State Senate.
NEW YORK TAXPAYERS AND THE MTA
With no more pricing, the MTA is now projecting a $17 billion gap in its next capital plan Either the state and other interested municipalities will plug this hole with general revenue or debt, or the transit system will revert to it's old state of the 70's and 80's. Neither of these is acceptable. Additionally, money to fund a whole host of expansion projects is now in serious doubt.
Today is a sad, sad day for New York. Now, more than ever, we see how our calcified legislature has failed to support environmental innovation and public health for New Yorkers. Here's to hoping we can eventually get accountbility for this failure at the ballot box.
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