A cramped, sweaty press conference on an Eighth Avenue sidewalk this afternoon was held, according to its organizers, to show small business solidarity with the likes of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. But it also showed that, if the Mayor’s congestion-pricing proposal goes down, it will be partly thanks to many details that are easy to misunderstand—and misrepresent.
“There are people who live on 87th Street,” said Luis Nuñez, president of the Latino Restaurant Association. “Does it mean every time they cross the border of 86th, these people have to pay $8 every time they go around the block looking for parking?”
The short answer is no. The $8 is for a full day of travel into, out of and within the congestion zone. When asked afterward, Mr. Nuñez acknowledged that cross-border parking was not the best example for him to use, but added, “A lot of us have two or three kids and they have cars.”
Mr. Nuñez made it clear to the Mayor, however, that his opposition to congestion pricing was nothing personal: “If this is part of a ploy to expand your horizons, let me say to you I will vote for you as President, but on this plan you are dead wrong.”
