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<\/p>\n Personal opinions are like butts<\/a>. We all have them, but most people eager to hide them.<\/p>\n We were reminded of this the other day when we saw an interview that Mayor Adams’s right hand woman, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, gave to City & State.<\/p>\n “Me personally, I hate congestion pricing. I think it sucks,” mayoral Chief Adviser Lewis-Martin said on the publication’s video interview series<\/a> “Political Personalities with Skye.”<\/p>\n In an earlier cover story for the magazine<\/a>, Lewis-Martin even claimed credit for killing former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s congestion pricing proposal in 2008, but she refused to elaborate, saying she was saving that for her memoir. (At the time<\/a>\u00a0she supposedly helped kill congestion pricing, Lewis-Martin was a “senior adviser” to then-state Sen. Eric Adams.)<\/p>\n City Hall spokesperson Charles Lutvak told Streetsblog on Wednesday that it “was clear” that Lewis-Martin “was speaking personally, as others in the administration are allowed to do.”<\/p>\n He reiterated that Mayor Adams supports congestion pricing “so we can invest in mass transit and reduce traffic.”<\/p>\n Lutvak added something interesting: “We are working closely with our state partners to get this right \u2014 ensuring congestion pricing is rolled out fairly and equitably and that the program is structured in a way that will improve our environment, economy, and quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n Let’s parse that: If the mayor’s top adviser personally thinks that congestion pricing “sucks,” presumably she thinks it is inequitable and unfair. So clearly her “personal opinion” matters a lot more than City Hall cares to acknowledge.<\/p>\n We’re obviously familiar with politicians offering hot takes on important issues of the day \u2014 and then walking back the resulting controversy by saying, “Oh, it was just my\u00a0personal opinion.<\/em>” We saw that a few weeks ago when Council Speaker Adrienne Adams \u2014 asked in an interview about outdoor dining in her capacity as speaker<\/em> \u2014 said she didn’t like the idea of dining sheds in the so-called parking lane. When Streetsblog questioned her about this pro-car position, she retorted<\/a> that she was only expressing her personal opinion \u2014 even though said opinion wouldn’t matter to anyone but for the fact that Adams is one of the most powerful officials in the city.<\/p>\n Our point? If a person is in a key decision-making role, his or her\u00a0personal opinion\u00a0<\/em>is more than just personal. It’s business. So we’ll obviously be following this story as it develops.<\/p>\n In other news:<\/p>\n If you're here, you likely have been following along on @GershKuntzman<\/a> "Criminal Mischief" adventures. I did a radio feature about it, as well as @adamlaw50<\/a> and @tonymelone<\/a> Mayor Adam's crackdown, etc.: https:\/\/t.co\/MhzQmlhptn<\/a><\/p>\n — Just your friendly neighborhood transit reporter (@s_nessen) December 14, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"It's](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nyc.streetsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/SB-Donation-NYC-header-2-e1669724112358.jpg?w=500&h=169\")
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