A recent TSTC office clean up found some documents that offer interesting (if repetitive) history lessons… Here’s some of the highlights:
1991: East River Bridge Tolls “Preposterous,” Says Silver
A 1991 press release (PDF) from Assemblyman Sheldon Silver (now Assembly Speaker) calling East River bridge tolls “a preposterous proposal” and announcing a coalition to oppose the idea. Citing “air pollution at toll booths” as East River tolls’ major flaw, the coalition signed a letter to NYC Mayor David Dinkins saying that tolls were unjustifiable despite the poor condition of the bridges (the Manhattan Bridge, for example, needed so much work that two of its four subway tracks were closed to accommodate repairs between 1986 and 2004).
While toll technology has changed dramatically– in 1991, EZ Pass was being piloted in Texas and high-speed tolling did not exist in the US — most of the state’s leaders have not. The cosigners of Silver’s letter? Then-State Senators David Paterson (who, as governor, has changed his tune) and Marty Markowitz (who, as Brooklyn BP, has not), and a raft of Assemblymembers who are still in office 18 years later: Peter Abbate Jr., James Brennan, Barbara Clark, Vivian Cook, Herman Farrell Jr., Deborah Glick, Aurelia Greene, Dov Hikind, Rhoda Jacobs, Joseph Lentol, Vito Lopez, Nettie Mayersohn, Catherine Nolan, Audrey Pheffer, and Helene Weinstein. Still-Senator George Onorato also signed the letter. Did someone say “Albany term limits”?
1995: CT Legislature Establishes New Haven-Hartford Commuter Rail… Not.
1995 notes from a Connecticut legislative hearing introducing HB. 6306, “An Act Establishing Commuter Rail Service Between New Haven and Hartford.” At that time, ConnDOT had just completed a feasibility assessment of the commuter service and community organizer Rep. Chris Donovan (now Speaker of the House) testified in favor of the legislation. He said the ConnDOT study found that the rail tracks were in good shape, parking was adequate, and that 2,000 riders would board the service a day. The bill didn’t pass that year; 14 years later advocates are still asking ConnDOT to speed up its study, though at least the planned service now runs all the way to Springfield, Mass.
2002: NYSDOT Starts a 12-Year Study of the Sheridan
The NYSDOT started the official “scoping” for the Bruckner-Sheridan Expressway environmental review in 2002. The scoping began after a multi-year analysis of the transportation needs of the area (see MTR # 177). The project is intended to improve truck access to Hunts Point, and to advocates’ delight, may include the replacement of the Sheridan Expressway with parks and housing. The draft environmental impact statement is now slated to be released in 2010, with construction beginning in 2014. Quick math quiz? That’s 8 years for an EIS and over 20 years from the project’s conception to its construction.
On the brighter side, many of the sustainable policies and programs espoused by TSTC and its allies in the past are now in government documents, including NYCDOT’s Strategic Plan, the MTA’s recently released Sustainability Plan, NJDOT’s capital program, etc. So not everything stays the same — but it sure feels that way at times.
