Submitted by katchoo, Mar 10, 2008 22:50

I laughed at this the way I laughed at the theory of Spontaneous Generation. What kind of crooked line does it take to get to the "Congestion is good because it means people are spending money" theory? I really don't understand how anyone who is even remotely aware of what drives Manhattan can make that judgement. It is not just the people driving around (generally looking for a parking spot they can't find) who spend money and keep businesses running. There is an entire service sector that seems to be dismissed here. There are delivery trucks that block up streets because they can't find a spot to park to make their 1-minute delivery, countless emergency vehicles I see every single day that simply can't get through traffic to potentially save your butt, and a ridiculous amount of time wasted by commercial vehicles trying to get to a job and make money which they can't do because they are stuck in traffic!!! I think the MASSIVE congestion problem we have is a huge drain on the efficiency of the city's services and we simply have to get rid of a ton of vehicles to make a dent. I can't say that congestion pricing would be the best thing for everyone because one fix is never the solution to the whole problem but it's an attempt to solve the problem. Accepting that congestion is an indicator of a functional city is just blind ignorance.

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