Readers: The Verrazzano tolls for thee
COURIER LIFE, DEC. 27, 2019-JAN. 2, 2020 29
The US Congress passed legislation
to reinstate two-way
tolls on the Verrazzano-Narrows
Bridge, three federal Brooklyn
pols announced Tuesday.
The House’s Fiscal Year 2020
bi-partisan spending package
known as the Omnibus Budget
Package includes language ending
a three-decade ban on twoway
tolling at the massive span
between Brooklyn and Staten Island,
which will ease traffic, cut
back on out-of-state truck traffic
entering Manhattan via the
bridge, and bring much-needed
revenue to the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, according
to one pol.
“Restoring split-tolling will
greatly improve traffic and congestion
in Brooklyn and Lower
Manhattan, while also capturing
new vital funding for the
MTA from out-of-state trucks,
which no longer will avoid a
toll entering New York City via
Staten Island or dodge tolls on
the Hudson River Bridge and
tunnel crossings,” said Congressman
Jerrold Nadler (D–
Borough Park).
Readers had a lot to say online:
Unless the trucks are originating
IN Staten Island, this makes
no sense at all. The toll if coming
from NJ whether via the Goethals,
Outerbridge, or Bayonne Bridge
is MORE than the Holland or Lincoln
Tunnel. In other words, even
under the current system, it costs
MORE to use the Verrazano, so
how are trucks saving money this
way???
Jayjayel Len Whycee
It’s just amazing the chutzpah
and moxie needed to get a FEDERAL
law passed back in the
1980s!!! Thank the gods this is going.
Never knew that was the reason.
Kreig Zimmerman
I would love to see how much
money the bridge makes in one
day. Let’s come clean and open the
books.
Madeline Scotti Castellano
Democrats finding ways to extend
toll misery to more people
rather than remove or reduce the
hardships imposed by expensive
tolls on every commuter
Joseph Colombo
Ridiculous. This is the only
place in the US where such blatant
theft is legal.
Jeannelle Ramírez
I guess soon the Verrazano will
only be for the wealthy...
Ant Vazquez
People are just not going to use
the bridge. $20 each way or some
EZ pass cheaper version will do
the same for this bridge that was
supposedly paid for in tolls already.
Phillip Brendunn Grady Jr.
I’ve crossed accidentally twice,
this is going to be expensive.
Geralyn Shukwit
It’s a garbage situation
The non-for-profit caretakers
of Prospect Park will ask visitors
to take a greater hand in
maintaining Brooklyn’s Backyard
beginning sometime next
year, when certain areas of the
park will be subject to a “carry
in, carry-out” garbage policy
modeled after the National Park
Service’s like-named program,
according to a spokeswoman for
the Prospect Park Alliance.
“I can confirm that we are
planning to pilot a carry-in,
carry-out trash program in the
park’s Lookout Hill,” said Deborah
Kirschner.
The upcoming pilot program
is designed to help protect
wooded, highland areas of the
park, where work vehicles have
difficulty maneuvering and litter
poses a danger to the natural
environment, according to
Kirschner.
Readers spoke up online:
The garbage situation is absolutely
out of control. Folks bringing
in massive amounts of stuff for
20-plus people barbecues and parties
and then just dumping it in
the park when they’re done. It is
so obviously not appropriate for a
space shared by hundreds of thousands
of people.
Tyler Burbank
That’s just not going to work.
Expect more trash being left behind
Amy Jacobus
So they are just stopping any
garbage pick up. Clever way to say
they’re simply cutting services.
Clyde Henriques
How about they start with enforcing
any rule, just pick ONE,
and see how that goes. Baby steps.
Eric R. Olson
I read up to removing the trash
cans…. good luck with that.
Clare Kope
Better still — just close Prospect
Park to all, and no garage can
ever enter.
Sheva
Think of the
pedestrians!
A business advocacy group
unveiled a host of snazzy renderings
that display a “pedestrianized”
Downtown Brooklyn, and
members are calling on the city
to make its vision of America’s
Downtown into a reality.
“Downtown Brooklyn has
transformed into a true mixeduse
community over the last 15
years, and with its population
set to double in the next decade,
now is the moment for a bold
public realm vision that’s far
more welcoming to pedestrians –
from its streets to its plazas and
parks,” said Regina Myer, president
of the Downtown Brooklyn
Partnership.
The renderings were created to
show off the groups “Downtown
Brooklyn Public Realm Vision,”
a scheme to expand pedestrian
spaces in the borough’s business
district by extending the city’s
so-called Shared Streets program
along Willoughby Street
and its side streets between
Boerum and Fleet places, an initiative
the Department of Transportation
debuted on a section
of that thoroughfare and Pearl
Street in September.
Readers spoke up online:
Put the money into fixing subways.
A bikelane on Fulton Street
would be a danger for the thousands
of pedestrians that shop
there and walk through Fulton St.
It works fine with two way buses
as is. Stop wasting money on useless
fountains and excessive walkways.
Meanwhile the city is chopping
down man 100s of large trees
as they talk about planting new
trees that will take many years to
be effective to fight the heat island
index. More gentrification brought
to you by the Downtown Brooklyn
Partnership.
Lucy Koteen
This project is primarily being
built for cyclists not sidewalkers.
DOT and Transportation Alternatives
only recently even acknowledge
the presence of pedestrians.
they only care about the cyclists
Sheva
There has been one fatality on
Pearl Street already.
Sid Meyer
It would be nice if they could
clean up the crime in that area
first. More NYPD foot patrols.
Steve Zakszewski
Joey Saladino — a controversial
Youtuber known for urinating
into his own mouth —
has ended his bid for southern
Brooklyn’s congressional seat
to back a fellow Republican candidate,
he announced on Thursday.
“Six months ago, there were no
true Conservative / Pro-Trump
candidates running in NY-11.
Gun grabber, Never-Trump Nicole
Malliotakis was the only
option- and that was just unacceptable
to me,” Saladino wrote
in a Facebook post. “But in the
last month, that has changed.
A new candidate decided to join
the race, Joe Caldarera.”
Readers spoke up online:
The face of the young Republicans....
“dude I can pee in my own
mouth”.... keep it up buddy better
than pissing on the rest of us
Andrew Genninger III
Good. I’m “relieved.”
Victoria Wurdinger
The lede of the year
Justin Brannan
Known for what????
Vladimir Cousteau
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