Submitted by First Nix Illegal Placard Abuse-NoCongestionTax, Jul 21, 2007 22:15

The Mayor has conspicuously not made any remarks as to whether 150,000 placarded government sector commuters would be exempt from congestion pricing. I dare say he would exempt them, because in all the years he has been in office, he has done virtually nothing to deter thousands of parking violations everyday. This has cost NYC $46-million a year (Bruce Schaller report 2006) and about $250-million in the last 5-6 years alone in parking meter revenue. Not to mention all the extra air pollution and congestion caused by city workers who are given carte blanche to break No Permit Zone laws and posted parking signs. Congestion pricing does not even warrant looking at until illegal placard parking is eliminated. Let's put a signifcant dent in those 150,000 placards and have the Mayor make his committment in the pre-existing and ongoing problem - we'll all see the congestion pricing is a just a cover-up scheme to raise taxes, and NYC can reap all the same benefits without cameras and virtually no cost.

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