Studies repeatedly show that congestion pricing's popularity is lowest *right before it gets implemented,* recovering and quickly becoming popular once citizens start to see the benefits of it, so of course NY Dems are committed to staying in that "almost implemented" period as long as possible
Same instincts that lead to many of Obamacare's benefits not kicking in until 2-4 years after it passed leaving Dems stuck defending a law voters saw as massively disruptive and risky without delivering any benefits to them in the meantime.
Obamacare is my go-to comparison for conversations like this. Controversial when proposed, most opposed immediately before opposition, and now something most people can't ever imagine didn't exist before. See also: Citi Bike, Times Square pedestrianization, car-free parks, etc.
It’s a good analogy! I mentioned Obamacare in my calls with politicians’ staffers yesterday and will do so again if I ever get through to a person at Schumer and/or Hochul’s office
But re the delay of benefits in the ACA, my fear is that Democrats took the wrong lesson from it. I think conventional wisdom in Dem circles is that Obamacare was the right thing to do but in the short run it cost a lot of marginal congressional reps reelection
And now, Hochul probably thinks about congestion pricing the same way, but doesn’t appreciate that the benefit delay was the thing that made the ACA’s unpopularity linger. Here the benefits will be much more immediate
I remember when the smoking ban was going to put every bar and restaurant in the city out of business.
And then almost immediately after it went into effect everyone recognized it was a massive improvement and good for business
I think the pedestrianization of Broadway in Times Square is another where they did stuff fast and everyone instantly recognized it was better, even though they were mocked and ridiculed widely.
It’s kind of wild that no one in city government is pushing to expand an obviously successful thing
My small town closed mainstreet to traffic for a few weekend evenings a few years ago. The restaurants were constantly full during this time due to foot traffic.
When it was time to talk about making it permanent, they all pushed against it. They've never been as full since.
The same thing has happened here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Shop owners vehemently oppose removing carparks and making areas more pedestrian-friendly, yet their businesses always thrive once it's implemented.
I remember when the outlawing of private gun ownership was going to bring about the end of Australian society.
And then almost immediately after it went into effect everyone recognised that it was a massive improvement and good for not having mass shootings
💯
Because smokers were visible; pub owners didn't see the people driven away by smokers.
Cars are visible; we don't see the people driven away by heavy traffic.
#WindshieldBias#CongestionPricing
Exactly. A surprising number of people would prefer to cycle or walk than fight through heavy traffic and face the nightmare of finding a carpark (especially with e-bikes becoming so popular). And fewer cars make it much more safe and pleasant to cycle or walk, encouraging more people to do so, etc.
I remember when Vancouver's bike lanes were going to make driving a nightmare and put all of the shops and restaurants along them out of business, and then when they were implemented made life better for everyone.
It was all those things, and it was also an education for how poorly pubs, clubs and nightclubs were actually cleaned in Australia
…Those places all smelt like stale feet for about a year after the ban
Not too long ago I was out for a run with a friend in Prospect Park. She moved here just a few years ago. When I told her that cars had been allowed in the park up through the summer of 2018 she did not believe me at all.
still see some car going through too quickly most times I'm there (parks or cop vehicles mostly - but also just people taking illegal short cuts because the NYPD refuses to enforce any traffic law against drivers)
But it wasn’t good enough fast enough for Democratic voters so they stayed home during a census/redistricting election year. Where would we be now as a country if they had used that political capital and supermajority on something else that wasn’t as life changing but didn’t rock the boat
That was a perfect fucking storm, wasn't it. We are *to this day* suffering from the GOP gerrymandering and super majorities resulting from redistricting the following year.
even citibike is a rolling target
here in 11226 it only arrived last year. had a few neighbors loudly decry the expansion.
Now that it's been here for a year, I don't hear about it.
hearing that the national NY politicians helped shut it down gives me the impression that much of the Democratic party leadership doesn't believe Americans will actually show up to save democracy and they need all the electoral advantage they can get
so they're being reactionary to polling
i mean i buy that generally but specifically with obamacare a bunch of stuff was delayed in order to lower the projected cost of the law in the 10 year budget window so the CBO would grade it as deficit neutral.
Unclear, but probably? The way it actually passed is really weird because of how Ted Kennedy died, then Scott Brown won the special election to replace him, so its kinda hard to draw counterfactuals on.
The way things actually went, the abortion stuff was actually a much bigger hold up in the house than the budget stuff, but a lot of the budget stuff became sort of necessary after Dems lost their 60 vote majority in the senate so idk
London's congestion charge has hugely improved air quality, as well as the obvious reduction in traffic, yet Labour almost persuaded the Mayor to halt its expansion because of Tory and 'pressure group' fuckery before the recent mayoral election.
Mayor Khan proceeded, and won a landslide.
