Mayors New Congestion Ads Use Girl With Asthma

reminder: Atlantic Yards supporters booed when TIsch James mentioned a girl who died from asthma and that brooklyn had the worst rates in the country. Reminder two: Ratner's project will increase pollition causing asthma. Reminder three: Mike Bloomberg doesn't give a damn.

Congest ads tout breath of fresh air
Flyers link asthma to city air pollution
BY KATHLEEN LUCADAMO
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Posted Thursday, July 5th 2007, 4:00 AM

A picture of a girl clutching an asthma inhaler is being used to sell Mayor Bloomberg's controversial plan to charge motorists to enter much of Manhattan.

As the deadline looms to secure federal money to implement congestion pricing, Brooklyn and Queens are being blitzed today with heartrending flyers warning that if state lawmakers don't approve the plan by July 16, the city "will get nothing except more polluted."

The text next to the girl says, "She cannot hold her breath waiting for Albany to act."

The ad, which is being sent to 350,000 families, is being paid for by the Partnership for New York City, the plan's chief backer. The flyer says that "over 300,000 New York City kids have asthma - a disease made worse by air pollution and traffic congestion."

The goal of the print campaign is to "point out all the benefits" of congestion pricing and tell fellow supporters to make sure state representatives hear them, said Kathryn Wylde, the partnership's president.