Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal for congestion pricing would reduce discretionary traffic into Manhattan. It would provide, for all New York neighborhoods, a steady stream of funds for better mass transit, which ultimately would reduce pollution and green house gasses and make for us an increasingly livable city.

It would be especially beneficial for the downtown neighborhoods of Brooklyn, and the projects constructed and planned there, by reducing the traffic on the major arteries and surrounding streets leading to the East River bridges and Downtown Brooklyn.

But only if

• the congestion pricing revenue were fairly directed first to neighborhoods with inadequate access to Manhattan;
• the neighborhoods potentially (and presently) impacted by commuter parking were ensured a system of residential permits and muni-meters on their streets; and
• controls were placed on the building of commercial parking lots so that the economic incentive of providing parking near transit did not negatively impact those surrounding neighborhoods.

And if, along with all the good things coming out of the Mayor's PlaNYC, Atlantic Yards, the largest single source project ever in the City and the largest "temporary" construction worker parking lot ever, gets another look for some reasonable and appropriate change.