If you missed it, and want to review live blogging of the DMI meeting on congestion-pricing click here The live blog isn’t a transcript, but it catches most of the highlights. The brightest spot: NYC Central Labor Council Director Ed Ott compares good sex with good outcomes of the congestion pricing debate: No one agrees on what it is but it’s what you do up front that counts. He wants mass transit improvements especially many more buses up front. Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron’s presentation seemed clear, but curiously flat. In the question period, she pointed to my personal bugbear – the potential unfairness of the fees on lower income people. She said that, in London, some of the fee proceeds were used to provide free public transit for young, old and, perhaps in the future the poor. In that, all of the panelist agreed: we’re at the beginning of needed discussion and that the Mayor’s plaNYC 2030 is a first step. I'm convinced. Mr. Ott and Council Member Eric Gioia made, to my mind, the most important point -- and one that I previously didn't get: we are already paying for congestion but in insane and unplanned ways. Mr. Gioia told the story of his family’s florist shop on Roosevelt Ave (Queens) which, because of the delays and costs can no longer profitable deliver to Manhattan. Both He and Mr. Ott recounted the present adverse impacts on residents who drive through neighborhoods of Brooklyn & Queens to dodge the East River and Hudson tolls (Interestingly, while Brooklyn Council Members Yassky and Barron were there, I saw no one from the Bronx or Staten Island and no state legislators.). Council Transportation Chair Liu pointed out that small businesses are already taxed through parking fines for deliveries into the central business district and that listening to their needs and to the needs of transit-starved outer-borough commuters was essential for the success of traffic planning. Everyone on the panel suggested that people who drive were making a rational choice based on the options available to them and that a successful plan would have to take their needs into account. For Sewall Chan's post at the Empire Zone go here Scott Stringer’s thoughts of Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal are, of all places, in the NY Post He, too, sees the key issues: parking control, fairness and open debate. Of course, in the spirit of openness, the Mayor's draft bill is still, weeks later, secret. Queens State Senator John Sabini, who, like the rest of us is still in the dark on Mr. Bloomberg's specifics complained about the credit for using the toll bridges which would effectively lower the cost for suburban communters. He pointed out that "market rate" parking in congested areas might well have the same effect as congestion pricing. Senator Sabini said his mail was running 50-50 on the issue, so keep those cards and letters coming folks.