Personally, I found last Wednesday’s presentation highly comprehensive and impressive. I was unaware of how little our (already infuriating) tolls made sense. Furthermore, “Gridlock Sam’s” plan made logical sense in terms of which roadways we need to clear up and which we can afford more traffic on. Most interesting is how the illogicality of our toll system can be traced back to Robert Moses’ Tri-Borough Bridge Authority. Just as we were discussing how Moses harmed and/or helped New York City we found out one more way his policies are still affecting us today. In this specific case the argument is clear that his policies are causing us harm. While the fix to this problem seems relatively simple, this is easier said than done. Getting the votes of politicians of the outer reaches of the outer boroughs has proven rather difficult. Even when it is proven that this plan greatly helps them even if the toll on one of their four bridges is going up, politicians (and their constituents) remain stubborn. It seems to me that this issue could be handled in a very similar way that the issue of getting sports fans to come to the Barclays Center through public transit was handled: Information. The most important part of getting this plan implemented would be getting information out to the citizens of the neighborhoods that are still reluctant. In this way, these citizens could learn how this plan does indeed benefit them and in turn they can convince their elected officials to vote in their interest. Hopefully, in the end we would have an improved New York toll system and thus improved roadways.
Paul Root
