Or what about Larry, who owned a prosperous mom-and-pop lead refinery before heartless government bureaucrats demanded that gasoline and paint could no longer contain lead, thus destroying his customer base and driving him out of business? Now Larry is selling pencils on a corner like some Dickensian urchin. We don't need more Larrys!
I may be one of the few people on the planet who hasn't finished watching The Sopranos (I am on season 5). So I will forgive you for spoiling the ending, especially since the rest of the article is brilliant and includes an adorable photo of a furry génocidaire (no, not Kathy Hochul).
I loved this post, even though I disagree on congestion pricing (and the proliferation of wind turbines, for that matter).
The fact is, she should have just said that she changed her policy after her constituents made it clear that it was an important issue to them and they opposed it. Sometimes you represent and sometimes you lead.
Cuomo understood this. He was awful in many ways, but he dropped the Common Core like a turd after suburban constituents told him they didn’t want it and would be voting on the issue.
Ok, but this raises the question of why NYC should be forever beholden to the whims of suburban voters. The same suburban voters who consider their sacred prerogative to make life more difficult for New Yorker in a thousand ways (eg blocking new construction and thus exploding prices in the city) if it benefits them.
It might be electorally advantageous for a state governor to stomp over cities any time suburban and rural voters wish so, but they should at the very least have the decency to not pretend they are removing some citizens' self-govt for their own good.
" guy who owns a hardware store at the top of the Chrysler Building, and who won’t be able to buy insulin if he can’t sell penny nails to his customers from Paramus". This whole article was absolute gold, but that line in particular killed me. The fish were certainly biting down the at old giggle pond today.
We've been told the toll is so that NYC can upgrade its public transportation. That's fine, but we need a lot of fiscal oversight here. Therefore I think that CP should be rolled out in stages. That way the public can see how the money's being used—and the gov't can see if adjustments need to be made.
I think (opinion only) that uptown is generally as crowded as downtown already, so I am not sure why there's a bifurcation. But if I am wrong, uptown will *become* as crowded as downtown due to people trying to avoid CP.
I don't think it's fair to penalize people based on where they live. Either all of Manhattan needs to be taxed, or residents of what would have been the CP zone (south of 60th St) should get a discount (as London does).
I guess that's what I can't find in any of the data—how many Manhattan residents drive their cars to a point outside the CZ, and how often? Does anyone have this info?
I’m just super intrigued about joining Gov. Hochul in a Manhattan diner—four top in the corner? Sounds like she does this on the regular and everyone’s invited. Cool. It’s strange though, and I don’t mean to be disagreeable here, but I’m thinking that Gov. Hochul maybe didn’t mean “Manhattan” so much as “Albany” or “Syracuse” or possibly “Oneonta”. But fair play on the world-class hardware stores of Manhattan—always worth the drive from Newark!
Bravo. An excellent piece on both the realities of congestion pricing and the realities of BS politics. Plus, as a former resident of NJ and infrequent visitor to NYC and currently very happy resident of neither, the observations made of each were spot-on.
This piece sounds like it was written by Matt Yglesias on cocaine… and I’m here for it.
But seriously, windmills- they kill huge numbers of bats and eagles while house cats kill sparrows and starlings. If Exxon did what wind developers get away with, they would throw the CEO in jail. Wind developers prey on small towns in flyover country to get lucrative tax breaks and it tears communities apart. It’s real gross when you finally open your eyes and see it.
Hochul is not too strong in the upstairs department, but if I had to guess at the motives for her flip flop, I’d point to worry about swing districts in Long Island and Westchester County. She’d like the Democrats to hold NY-3 and flip NY-17, and taking the irritant of congestion pricing off the table could help, even though its cancellation is a terrible idea.
I do love that exchange between the reporter and Hochul mainly because while the governor goes to great pains to say *she* never says the voters are stupid, she clearly believes they are dumb enough to believe her cock and bull story.
Or what about Larry, who owned a prosperous mom-and-pop lead refinery before heartless government bureaucrats demanded that gasoline and paint could no longer contain lead, thus destroying his customer base and driving him out of business? Now Larry is selling pencils on a corner like some Dickensian urchin. We don't need more Larrys!
I may be one of the few people on the planet who hasn't finished watching The Sopranos (I am on season 5). So I will forgive you for spoiling the ending, especially since the rest of the article is brilliant and includes an adorable photo of a furry génocidaire (no, not Kathy Hochul).
I loved the kitten photo ❤️
Hillary Clinton spoiled it for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BEPcJlz2wE
Lock her up!
They just might, if she insinuates that Joe Biden is over 50...
I loved this post, even though I disagree on congestion pricing (and the proliferation of wind turbines, for that matter).
The fact is, she should have just said that she changed her policy after her constituents made it clear that it was an important issue to them and they opposed it. Sometimes you represent and sometimes you lead.
Cuomo understood this. He was awful in many ways, but he dropped the Common Core like a turd after suburban constituents told him they didn’t want it and would be voting on the issue.
Ok, but this raises the question of why NYC should be forever beholden to the whims of suburban voters. The same suburban voters who consider their sacred prerogative to make life more difficult for New Yorker in a thousand ways (eg blocking new construction and thus exploding prices in the city) if it benefits them.
It might be electorally advantageous for a state governor to stomp over cities any time suburban and rural voters wish so, but they should at the very least have the decency to not pretend they are removing some citizens' self-govt for their own good.
" guy who owns a hardware store at the top of the Chrysler Building, and who won’t be able to buy insulin if he can’t sell penny nails to his customers from Paramus". This whole article was absolute gold, but that line in particular killed me. The fish were certainly biting down the at old giggle pond today.
Re gay-bar names: "Mr. Show with Bob and David" had an episode with a gay porn movie called "A Pipefitter's Union."
How bout this one, "The Tongue 'n Groove"
I am not opposed to congestion pricing.
We've been told the toll is so that NYC can upgrade its public transportation. That's fine, but we need a lot of fiscal oversight here. Therefore I think that CP should be rolled out in stages. That way the public can see how the money's being used—and the gov't can see if adjustments need to be made.
I think (opinion only) that uptown is generally as crowded as downtown already, so I am not sure why there's a bifurcation. But if I am wrong, uptown will *become* as crowded as downtown due to people trying to avoid CP.
I don't think it's fair to penalize people based on where they live. Either all of Manhattan needs to be taxed, or residents of what would have been the CP zone (south of 60th St) should get a discount (as London does).
There are only ~200,000 residential cars in all of Manhattan (https://nurturenature.org/pages/balanced-transportation-analyzer). Of the people I know with cars, they use them to go to far-flung parts of BK and Queens, or out of town/state. Not to a diner.
I guess that's what I can't find in any of the data—how many Manhattan residents drive their cars to a point outside the CZ, and how often? Does anyone have this info?
I’m just super intrigued about joining Gov. Hochul in a Manhattan diner—four top in the corner? Sounds like she does this on the regular and everyone’s invited. Cool. It’s strange though, and I don’t mean to be disagreeable here, but I’m thinking that Gov. Hochul maybe didn’t mean “Manhattan” so much as “Albany” or “Syracuse” or possibly “Oneonta”. But fair play on the world-class hardware stores of Manhattan—always worth the drive from Newark!
Bravo. An excellent piece on both the realities of congestion pricing and the realities of BS politics. Plus, as a former resident of NJ and infrequent visitor to NYC and currently very happy resident of neither, the observations made of each were spot-on.
This piece sounds like it was written by Matt Yglesias on cocaine… and I’m here for it.
But seriously, windmills- they kill huge numbers of bats and eagles while house cats kill sparrows and starlings. If Exxon did what wind developers get away with, they would throw the CEO in jail. Wind developers prey on small towns in flyover country to get lucrative tax breaks and it tears communities apart. It’s real gross when you finally open your eyes and see it.
Hochul is not too strong in the upstairs department, but if I had to guess at the motives for her flip flop, I’d point to worry about swing districts in Long Island and Westchester County. She’d like the Democrats to hold NY-3 and flip NY-17, and taking the irritant of congestion pricing off the table could help, even though its cancellation is a terrible idea.
I do love that exchange between the reporter and Hochul mainly because while the governor goes to great pains to say *she* never says the voters are stupid, she clearly believes they are dumb enough to believe her cock and bull story.
I’m pretty much there too. Although I still enjoy the snark once in a while when it isn’t preachy, because shit is crazy everywhere right now.