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Comments

• [1] Robots Need 2 Party from Brooklyn December 04, 2008 - 10:37AM

  Rosie is right. 57% is hardly a majority. Drivers shouldn't be unfairly burdened. I'm not a driver but I oppose this plan. I am a Brooklynite. Raise taxes. Raise the fares but tolling the East River Bridges is completely unfair. Aren't boroughs supposed to be interconnected? Are we not one city? What a nightmare of a proposal. This is Congestion pricing with Brooklyn footing the bill.

  
  
• [2] Josh from Brooklyn December 04, 2008 - 11:17AM

  Commuter tax people!! Hundreds of thousands of people who use our system don't pay for it besides their fare. We pay a payroll tax and part of our property taxes. Bridge tolls would unfairly penalise drivers going to work who don't live near public transportation. They don't have a choice. They would be, in a sense, subsidizing commuters.

  
  
• [3] David Aronowitz from Riverdale December 04, 2008 - 11:18AM

  It is absurd opinions from the bombastic Brooklyn Borough president - he uses the same siege reasoning mentality that was previously used by the ex Staten Island Borough president Molinari - who wanted to secede from NYC - Guiliani called on his bluff.

  Mayor Bloomberg is a saint - he looks out for a common good of all - Bloomberg should take the gloves off - he should act as Guiliani as pugilist especially on this issue.

  
  
• [4] Kissel from Manhattan December 04, 2008 - 11:20AM

  Is it just too much to ask for them to actually trim the enormous fat from the MTA (reduce the enormous payroll and pension costs) and to actually automate the system like almost every other major metro rail system in the word outside of the 3rd world?!

  I mean the bottom line is people in NYC pay the most taxes, the highest tolls, the largest business taxes, etc in the nation. How many more people and businesses do they want to chase out of the area?! Particularly during these times.

  People just don't have anymore money to throw down the hole that is the NY/NYC government bureaucracy.

  
  
• [5] Katrina from Astoria December 04, 2008 - 11:22AM

  Ms. Bernstein, could you comment or have a guest comment on whether the bridge-tolling plan includes a carpool rate, as do the Lincoln and Holland tunnels? If so, how would this work without toll booths (as discussed in the previous segment), with no staff to check car occupancy? Thanks!

  
  
• [6] Leo from Queens December 04, 2008 - 11:53AM

  Does the Ravitch proposal include recommendations for real reform of how the MTA operates and include accountability and transparency moving forward as 100% of their revenue comes from taxpayers and transit riders? Does it also include cuts in the admistrative/central bureocracy as well as salary cuts for its executives?

  
  
• [7] donovan from Brooklyn December 04, 2008 - 11:54AM

  Why doesn't anyone mention the "surplus" and the set of double books that the MTA was keeping and all of their scandals of the past years. This has to be one of the most corrupt agencies in a very corrupt government.

  
  
• [8] Ben from brooklyn December 04, 2008 - 11:58AM

  currently I use the brooklyn battery tunnel and pay $5...why have a toll thier and not the others. I see no problem to add tolls to the other east river crossings. what about those from NJ and SI that use the crossings and come thru brooklyn?

  
  
• [9] emily from greenpoint December 04, 2008 - 12:00PM

  I am not a driver and I don't support this idea! (And a Brooklyn resident)

  We pay enough to get into the city via the bridges (Whitestone, etc)!

  What's next, taxing bikers/walkers to bike/walk over the bridges? Please.

  
  
• [10] ostern from brooklyn December 04, 2008 - 12:04PM

  The Ravitch Commission's proposal lays an unfair burden of raising revenue for the MTA on a select population of the City.

  Markowitz's alternatives to the East river tolls should be seriously considered.

  Also, the electronic toll collection, as described on the show today, poses additional serious hardship and inconvenience to people without credit cards and ezpasses. If toll collection is not convenient for EVERYBODY, it is not an option.

  
  
• [11] Leo from Queens December 04, 2008 - 12:16PM

  Mr. Ravitch just said in the press conference that the East River tools would generate $1B a year with $600M going to the MTA and $400M going to operate the system - 40 PERCENT? that sounds like an expensive system - There is no talk of how much the taxpayers will need to invest to setup this camera-toll (surveillance/tax) system? Why the insistence on this costly bureocracy when you can generate the same revenue or more by increasing the yearly auto registration fees and imposing a $5 surcharge on garage parking in Manhattan - with NO additional bureocracies or investments.

  
  
• [12] nigel clarke from East Village, Manhattan December 04, 2008 - 12:25PM

  If we keep placing the burden of the failed economic policies and assumptions (this proposal was commissioned and developed prior to the financial meltdown) on the citizens eventually society will be too expensive to live in.

  Although, the tolls won't affect me directly. I do have a brother that lives in Brooklyn and works in New Jersey. This will either force him and his family to consider moving to NJ or give up a meal a day.

  Tax cuts (no millionaire tax, no commuter tax) for the rich while the less fortunate enjoy new tolls, fare increases, higher meter rates, $115 parking tickets, and a job that barely pays you enough to be an indentured servant.

  Our politicians make proposals/laws with idea that the poor don't exist in this city any longer. They do and this only exacerbates the every day struggle.

  At the very least we have prison sentences for non-violent criminals - Cool free room and board.