The week that Governor Pataki says he is ready to consider East River bridge tolls, Mayor Bloomberg finally admits the city has done nothing to prepare for their implementation and says getting them up and running will take too long to make a difference in the current fiscal crisis.

Perhaps the mayor’s statement is part of a gambit to force Albany’s hand regarding the commuter tax, though it is hard to locate a less equivocal position in NY State than the governor’s and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s opposition to the latter.

The fiasco reflects the striking incoherence with which the city administration has approached bridge tolls. The mayor includes them in his budget and talks about them from time to time, stimulating headlines and opponents in Queens and Brooklyn. Some negotiation over leasing the bridges may be going on between the city and MTA. But no Bloomberg political or technical plan to move toward toll implementation has ever been in evidence. City Hall even managed to force the governor into publicly opposing tolls by generating a series of news stories on the topic during the thick of last year’s gubernatorial election.

If Mayor Bloomberg has ruled out a deal on bridge tolls during this budget season, it’s hard to regard them as anything that will move during the mayor’s current term. If he wins re-election and is serious about bridge tolls, the mayor will need to bring much more commitment and skill to the issue than he has shown to date. 

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