[Mpls] Taxing Downtown Drivers

[Terrell Brown]

> Bill Dooley
> Kenny - Ward 13

>> First it's London and now a San Francisco proposal. Does a downtown
> drivers tax have merit in Minneapolis? Here is the link to the SF story.
>> (http://sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/02/15/news/20050215_ne01_toll.txt)
>
then:
> Dan McGrath
>
> People live downtown these days. Alot of them. Are we to penalize them if
> they decide to drive out of town? Pay to leave your home?

[TB]  Perfect timing Bill.  February 17th is the 2nd anniversary of the 
London congestion fee (which I wrote about back then).  Its not just London, 
similar charges exist in Oslo, Bergan And Trondheim, Norway (since 1991 in 
Trondheim), Singapore, Rome (since 2001), Edinburgh, Melbourne, Australia, 
Dunham, England and possibly some other places that I don't know about.  In 
London, the Mayor was the person who got the plan implemented (can anyone 
imagine either Rybak or McLaughlin having the guts to back such a plan?)

The Mayor of London isn't a dumb guy, London discounts the fee for residents 
of the zone.  The discount is 90% (see: http://www.cclondon.com).

Oh, by the way, London not only has a Mayor with guts, it has a real mass 
transit system.


Terrell Brown
Loring Park

"I hate cars.  If I ever get power again, I'd ban the lot"
 - Ken Liningstone, June 1989


Maybe I can find what I wrote 2 years ago and put it in the campaign blog 
<g>