Our visionary of a Mayor, Mr. Bloomberg the Billionaire, has proposed a plan for our fair city called New York 2030. In short, this plan will transform the city so that in the next 26 years we will be able to accommodate nearly a million more people. Our population is currently pegged at 8.2 million so we must prepare now for that magic day when we hit 9 million.
This plan includes building hundreds of thousands of more affordable housing units and using over 70,000 acres of city land more efficiently. For example, we will be building more housing on the Brooklyn waterfront as well building over the rail yards in Queens. Mayor Bloomberg also wants every New Yorker to live within a 10 minute walk of some kind of parkland, which is as lovely an idea as I've ever heard. Of course the big hubbub of the last week has been his controversial proposal for congestion pricing - charging car and truck drivers for coming into parts of midtown and lower Manhattan during key business hours.
Mr New York endorses this congestion pricing plan. Needless to say a new kind of tax will always engender opposition but the traffic problem in Manhattan has reached critical mass. This tax will reduce the number of cars in Manhattan and slash eco-unfriendly carbon emissions. Best of all, the money collected from this tax will be plowed back into providing even more public transportation which is really the only way to get around this town. People out in parts of Queens like Bayside, Fresh Meadows, and Flushing have barely an public transportation at all. It's time they did.
Also, and I haven't heard anyone in the media mention this, but won't less cars in Manhattan mean better safety? Less accidents, etc.? This is as good an idea for this new tax as any that I've heard. After all, with the Manhattan baby boom of the last several years, this is as good at time as any!
So, congestion pricing is good for NYC. More affordable housing and parkland is great for NYC. If future Mayors and city leaders stay true to the spirit of the 2030 plan, it may be that Gotham's best days are yet to come.
This plan includes building hundreds of thousands of more affordable housing units and using over 70,000 acres of city land more efficiently. For example, we will be building more housing on the Brooklyn waterfront as well building over the rail yards in Queens. Mayor Bloomberg also wants every New Yorker to live within a 10 minute walk of some kind of parkland, which is as lovely an idea as I've ever heard. Of course the big hubbub of the last week has been his controversial proposal for congestion pricing - charging car and truck drivers for coming into parts of midtown and lower Manhattan during key business hours.
Mr New York endorses this congestion pricing plan. Needless to say a new kind of tax will always engender opposition but the traffic problem in Manhattan has reached critical mass. This tax will reduce the number of cars in Manhattan and slash eco-unfriendly carbon emissions. Best of all, the money collected from this tax will be plowed back into providing even more public transportation which is really the only way to get around this town. People out in parts of Queens like Bayside, Fresh Meadows, and Flushing have barely an public transportation at all. It's time they did.
Also, and I haven't heard anyone in the media mention this, but won't less cars in Manhattan mean better safety? Less accidents, etc.? This is as good an idea for this new tax as any that I've heard. After all, with the Manhattan baby boom of the last several years, this is as good at time as any!
So, congestion pricing is good for NYC. More affordable housing and parkland is great for NYC. If future Mayors and city leaders stay true to the spirit of the 2030 plan, it may be that Gotham's best days are yet to come.
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