Bloomberg at a Tribeca Film Festival press conference last week.Photo: Getty Images
Mayor Bloomberg wants his congestion-pricing plan, and he wants it now. That’s what he told a largely sympathetic, lunch-sated audience at the Regional Plan Association’s annual meeting today, when he said he’ll insist Albany approves funding for PlaNYC’s congestion-pricing and transit measures in the next six weeks. The necessary legislation will “have to be in this legislative session,” he said in one of several deviations from his prepared text — and the legislative session ends in the middle of next month. “The reason the legislature doesn’t do what we want is we haven’t gone to them and said, give us what we need, or else,” the mayor said in another improvised bit. Later in the speech, he turned more conciliatory, reiterating a promise to implement short-term transit improvements like extra traffic cops in 22 driver-heavy neighborhoods. “The leaders in Albany really want to get together and get this going,” he added. “It will be a phenomenal legacy for them.” Let’s see if they agree. —Alec Appelbaum
