Fidler Says East River Bridge Tolls a 'Non-Starter,' But Oddo Says It Might Be Time

City Councilman Lew Fidler said the Ravitch plan to tax businesses one third of one percent in order to help fund the M.T.A. sounds familiar.

Fidler said it was part of the traffic plan he proposed months ago as an alternative to congestion pricing.

"If they had done that when I proposed it, we'd have half a billion dollars in the till already," Fidler said.

He also said the plan to toll East River bridges is a "non-starter" in the Council, which he said will likely have to vote on a home-rule message to send to Albany about the tolls.

Another Councilman, one of the body's few Republicans, begrudgingly said he'd probably support it.

"I'm sorry to see New Yorkers being asked to reach deeper into their pockets," said Jimmy Oddo of Staten Island in a text message to me. "But as a guy who represents a borough with a $10 toll and whose constituents have to pay to get on and off our island, it's hard for me to oppose this proposal."