Traffic and parking in Manhattan is a major issue. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
has a plan to charge motorists to drive below 86th Street in Manhattan.
If approved, many real estate brokers are already saying it may do more than simply reduce traffic, noise and pollution in the Manhattan business districts. They are saying that it could add an extra sense of exclusivity to what is already some of the most expensive residential real estate in the country.
Mayor Bloomberg's plan for what he calls "congestion pricing" would impose fees of up to $8 a day for cars and $21 a day for trucks driving below 86th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays.
Instead of setting the boundaries at the entrance to midtown Manhattan at 59th Street or at the bridges and tunnels entering Manhattan the boundaries were set a mile north of midtown at 86th St. to include the residential neighborhoods of the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
According to the NY Times "Crossing the Gold Line"By JOSH BARBANEL who called it the golden boundaries that
lassoed in hundreds of residential buildings where some of the most affluent New Yorkers live, including Mr. Bloomberg on East 79th Street.
Lucky for me I live between 86th and 87th, so I guess I have the best of both worlds. I can have visitors with cars any time as long as they come from the north. People in my building with cars can exit and enter our garage on 87th Street as long as they go north between 6am and 6pm on weekdays.
There is a similar plan in London. I'm not sure what affect charging a toll will have but the right zip codes and phone prefixes have become status symbols so I suppose the golden traffic zone might become one too. It is also possible that the neighborhoods north of 86th will be in demand for people who want to keep cars without paying "congestion pricing".
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