About.com | Pamela’s Manhattan, NY Blog | Bloomberg’s Congestion Pricing Plan Passed by City Council | By Pamela Skillings, About.com Guide to Manhattan, NY since 2005 | Tuesday April 1, 2008

The City Council narrowly approved Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan last night by a vote of 30 to 20. …In a nutshell, the congestion pricing plan would require drivers to pay $8 to travel south of 60th Street in Manhattan between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays.

…read the rest… There has been talk around New York City for some time now about a proposed Congestion Pricing Plan and now the matter has come to a vote - and passed by the New York City Council

New York City Council press release: City Council Approves Home Rule Request on Congestion Pricing

PlaNYC Congestion Pricing Fact Sheet (pdf)

About.com: Congestion Pricing Guide for New York City | Everything You Need to Know About Bloomberg’s Congestion Pricing Plan | From Margot Tohn, for About.com

According to the About.com reports, there are $345m in federal funds for New York City attached to the Traffic Congestion proposal - and requirements for the city to make reductions in the number of automobiles travelling in the city, come up with attractive public transportation options for travelers in NYC and make improvements in air quality and general public health. The New York City Council proposal must be reviewed by New York State lawmakers and a decision made by them by an April 7th deadline. What does any of this mean for film production and location scouts? (…if the measures pass at state level and become law)

• Obviously, there will be at least nominal increases in expenses by location scouts and other crew driving / equipment trucks / motorhomes traveling below 60th Street in Manhattan, (also known as the Central Business District (CBD)
• More of us will be traveling by subway and bus to get around at times ;-)
• There are concentrations of production companies in the Times Square, Chelsea, and Soho areas, all areas that would be affected - be interested to see what this does to the general city’s production and general demographics - businesses making exoduses uptown, to the outer boroughs and even to New Jersey, the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island?

..more news as it develops…

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