RUMOR - Addabbo Bridge Toll?

I received an email earlier this morning from a neighbor who wrote...

Hey Pete,

I heard a rumor, that they are planning to put tolls on the Addabbo bridge for us to pay to and from howard beach... Did you know anything about this?

My response to this inquiry was as follows.

At first blush the "rumor" sounded outlandish and I attributed it to the frustration all of us feel regarding the recent modification of the MTA's resident rebate program for tolls on the Cross Bay Bridge which went into effect last Friday, July 23, 2010.

After all, unlike the Cross Bay Bridge which is operated by the M.T.A., the Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge falls under the auspices of the New York City Department of Transportation.  The DOT also operates all of the older, major east river bridges (Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge) as well as most of the other minor bridges throughout the city.

Then, the more I thought about this, I remembered that Bloomberg is still dead set on achieving his "congestion pricing" plan which would include the placement of tolls on the major east river crossings.

Thus in answer to your question, no, I have not heard anything about this and I would be extremely interested in the source of the rumor.

Do I think it is possible for the city to place a toll on the Addabbo Bridge - absolutely! If the city and DOT can toll the major east river bridges, why not?

Do I think it is probable? Absoultely not, it would be a political nightmare.

Of course, what I think doesn't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to our federal, state and city governments putting their hands in our wallets. 

Knowing full well that next year's city budget deficit is looming, our city is looking to identify all kinds of new and "innovative" revenue streams. After all, the Mayor just recently announced that he is considering charging a fee for the amount of garbage we generate.  As such, I have contacted the office of our city councilman (Eric Ulrich) and aksed that he repond to this rumor.  I will let you know his response when I receive it.

(UPDATE Monday 7/26/10:  Councilman Ulrich has stated that his office is unable to lend any credence to this rumor.)