Commission Votes For Congestion-Pricing Plan Modification

In a 13–2 vote yesterday, the commission on congestion pricing recommended a traffic plan that will charge $8 to drivers who enter Manhattan from above 60th Street, a modification of Mayor Bloomberg's original vision for an 86th Street boundary.

"Although the final recommendation varies from our original proposal, I accept it," Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement yesterday. "We will work with our partners in the Council and the state Legislature, and with Governor Spitzer, to make sure that we enact a proposal that meets our goals by March 31st. New York cannot afford to walk away from hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds," he said.

The proposal received a negative reception from Albany lawmakers.

"I'm offended by a society that parcels out goods based on an ability to pay," Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a commission member, said after the vote yesterday. "This is awful on a level I don't understand."