New York, New York – Assemblyman David Weprin, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Director Pat Foye, Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute and Sam Schwartz of Sam Schwartz Engineering participated in a panel discussion, "Getting From Here to There: Unclogging New York’s Transportation,” moderated by Errol Louis, this afternoon at 7 WTC.

“There are a lot of people, in Eastern Queens and Brooklyn, like small businesses, who rely on their cars” said Assemblyman David Weprin. “People rely on those free bridges because they are middle class people who cannot afford multiple trips back and forth. When the tolls keep going up and up, it gets to a point where it’s not affordable to the middle class.”

“I don’t think the answer is additional tolls” continued Weprin. “If you’re talking about a revenue source, I would sooner see bringing back the non-resident income tax, that used to be called the commuter tax, for revenue dedicated transportation. But I don’t think the answer is to tax our middle class and not take into consideration the needs of outer-borough residents who rely on their cars.”

Video of the event can be accessed by clicking below, courtesy of the Manhattan Institute:

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/getting-here-there-unclogging-nycs-transportation-8738.html