City Council Approves Fee to Drive Below 60th

by Dave Keating | April 1, 2008 at 03:41 am

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This vote is the first step toward a full "congestion charge" for New York City similiar to the one currently in place in London.

he controversial proposal to charge drivers in the busiest parts of Manhattan took a major step forward on Monday, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Speaker Christine C. Quinn wrenching approval from the City Council by an unusually slim margin.

Councilwoman Melissa Mark Viverito, left, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer and Speaker Christine C. Quinn after the congestion pricing proposal was passed.

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Under intense pressure from the mayor, Ms. Quinn and their allies that continued almost until the voting began, council members approved the plan to charge most drivers $8 to enter a zone below 60th Street by a vote of 30 to 20, with no abstentions and one absence.

At a news conference after the vote, where Mr. Bloomberg made a rare appearance on the speaker’s side of City Hall, officials sought to play down the narrowness of their hard-won victory, among the closest of this administration in a body that typically votes in near unanimity.