BK lawmaker has alternative plan to congestion pricing

A Brooklyn councilman is challenging Mayor Bloomberg?s congestion pricing plan, claiming the plan is too Manhattan-focused.
Supporters of the plan say it will make the city greener and encourage mass transit by charging drivers to get into and out of Manhattan?s central business district. But, Councilman Lew Fiddler says the city needs a plan that focuses on traffic reduction in general and not revenue.
Fiddler unveiled his alternative plan to congestion pricing Friday. Part of his plan would require building three new tunnels. The first cross-harbor freight tunnel would divert traffic through Brooklyn, under the Hudson and into New Jersey. Fiddler says that tunnel would keep about a million trucks a year off city streets. The second trans-narrows tunnel would link Staten Island Railway and the city?s transit system. And his proposed third tunnel would rebuild the Gowanus Expressway underground.
Fiddler is also proposing to end one-way truck traffic tolls and adding more taxi stands in the central business district.