Skelos riffs on LI-to-NYC traffic, tolls

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos was about a half-hour late for his speech at the Association of Better New York event at the Sheraton New York.

"Thank you," he said, finally, from the podium. "Two hours to get in from Rockville Centre! Now don’t quote me on this, but we should look at congestion pricing.”

Of course, that was what Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted -- congestion pricing being a euphemism for toll entrances to Manhattan -- which was rejected in the Legislature. Someone else proposed it again, and Skelos and other lawmakers still oppose it.

That didn't keep Skelos from saying of the mayor, a financial supporter of his GOP conference and longtime ally of the senator: "He has advocated some bold initiatives that have to be brought to the table and discussed and not just dismissed out of hand."

This one got discussed and then dismissed.

Skelos also spoke up in favor of so-called private-public arrangements for infrastructure projects and reinstating a 20-year capital program for both roads and mass transit, and acknowledged MTA chairman Jay Walder in the room.