rob on the job
April 12th, 2006, 8:43:47 AM
No love for Grand Island? What BS.
EXCERPT:
With all the talk about removing Thruway tolls, the Grand Island bridges are being left out of the discussion.
“I hate to say it, but what I hear from my colleagues is, ‘You live on an island,’ ” said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo. “You pay only 9 cents.”
Hoyt, who also represents Grand Island, has a bill in the Assembly that would eliminate the tolls on the Grand Island bridges, but he’s not having much success in convincing his fellow lawmakers to pass it.
One of his colleagues from Queens told him she pays $8.75 in tolls to go to work every day.
“I’m doing everything I can for my constituents, but it’s a tough sell,” Hoyt said.
With the state’s E-Z Pass system, Grand Island residents are charged 9 cents to enter the island, while other commuters are charged a reduced rate. Without E-Z Pass, the toll is 75 cents.
While the prospects for removal of the Grand Island tolls might be slim, momentum is moving for removal of the Niagara Section of the Thruway’s other tolls, at Breckenridge and Ogden streets, most notably because gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer pledged that he’ll tear them down if elected.
link: http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/local_story_101210259.html?keyword=topstory
EXCERPT:
With all the talk about removing Thruway tolls, the Grand Island bridges are being left out of the discussion.
“I hate to say it, but what I hear from my colleagues is, ‘You live on an island,’ ” said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo. “You pay only 9 cents.”
Hoyt, who also represents Grand Island, has a bill in the Assembly that would eliminate the tolls on the Grand Island bridges, but he’s not having much success in convincing his fellow lawmakers to pass it.
One of his colleagues from Queens told him she pays $8.75 in tolls to go to work every day.
“I’m doing everything I can for my constituents, but it’s a tough sell,” Hoyt said.
With the state’s E-Z Pass system, Grand Island residents are charged 9 cents to enter the island, while other commuters are charged a reduced rate. Without E-Z Pass, the toll is 75 cents.
While the prospects for removal of the Grand Island tolls might be slim, momentum is moving for removal of the Niagara Section of the Thruway’s other tolls, at Breckenridge and Ogden streets, most notably because gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer pledged that he’ll tear them down if elected.
link: http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/local_story_101210259.html?keyword=topstory