Thursday morning was an interesting morning on the Brian Lehrer show (hosted by Andrea Bernstein). I was listening but must have lowered the volume during all the following excitement. Luckily my pal, David Bukszpan,  publicist at WNYC, sent me this transcript and a note:

So here it is: Marty Markowitz, Tom Suozzi, Kate Slevin & Caller Rosie Perez on the first segment of today’s The Brian Lehrer Show, guest-hosted by WNYC’s Political Director Andrea Bernstein

Highlights:

    * Perez: bridge toll will “kill the commerce in downtown Manhattan, not Brooklyn”
    * Perez & Slevin get into it on who’s more of a Brooklynite
    * Suozzi: “It wasn’t me” who greeted Gov. Paterson outside a fundraising event, angling for Clinton’s Senate seat

Audio at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2008/12/04 (embeddable)

Here’s the transcript:

Andrea Bernstein: We have calling us Brooklynite, Rosie Perez. Are you taking it on the chin?

Rosie Perez: Um yes I am. You know, people say how can you talk because you know you make a lot of money, blah blah blah. Listen, just like the previous callers said, I have a lot of family members that have to drive into Manhattan. They do not, they’re not able physically to take the train so they have to drive back and forth to Manhattan. If you do the math, the drive in $5, they drive in and back $5. That’s $10 a day.

There are people…the woman who was saying she’s a Brooklynite, I would love to know how long she’s lived in Brooklyn. Because most new people in Brooklyn live in the downtown area and have no idea what it means to live in Red Hook – have no idea what it means to live in East New York in the Flatlands. In what Marty Markowitz was commenting on. And I can’t believe agreeing with Marty Markowitz here, but there is a transportation problem in Brooklyn where the trains don’t go to, the busses don’t go to. And every time they say they’re going to raise the prices on the MTA, and they’re going to benefit the boroughs, they don’t. So, here’s the problem.

And also – for the people that do make a lot of money in Brooklyn, what are you going to do at night when the taxis won’t bring you back because they don’t want to pay the toll. They’ll pay the toll coming into Brooklyn but they’ll charge you for the toll back. That means they’re going to be responsible for the toll back. It’s going to kill the nightlife, it’s going to kill the commerce in downtown Manhattan, not in Brooklyn. And people need to be aware of this. But also what really bothers me is what Marty Markowitz does say. Is that – why is the entire burden, well not the entire burden, excuse me. The majority of the burden is going to be replaced by Brooklynites. It’s not fair. And all these crazy people that have moved to Brooklyn say, Oh well I take the train, well I take the train. A lot of people do not take the train and do not live in the downtown area where a train ride is only going to be 20 minutes.

KS: well wait a second. You’re making assumptions about me that aren’t…I mean….

AB: Okay – Kate Slevin.

KS: I’ve lived in Brooklyn 10 years – I live in Flatbush – that’s a long time.

RP: I’ve lived in Brooklyn all my life.

KS: Okay that’s fine, that’s great. [lots of indiscernible voices]

AB: Okay I live in Brooklyn too, you know, so ah….A lot of people calling in live in Brooklyn

KS: I’m going off of the statistics which are that 57% of households in Brooklyn do not own a car. That means that they are on our transportation system. Households without a vehicle in Brooklyn make $32,000 a year versus households with a vehicle make over double that. That means that from an equity standpoint, tolling the East River bridges to reduce the fare hike is a smart thing to do.

AB: Hang on a second. Rosie Perez – if you can stay with us for just one sec, I know that Nassau County executive has to leave us, so I just want to see if you have any final response to Rosie Perez. Rosie Perez, if you can stay with us, I’d like to get back to you in one second. But what about what she said about killing the nightlife in lower Manhattan. Tom Suozzi.

Tom Suozzi: I don’t think that that’s a possibility. I think it’s so much of a draw that they’ll continue to be nightlife in downtown Manhattan.

RP: If you’re coming home at 3 o’clock in the morning, you’re not going to take the train.

AB: Okay hang on. Rosie Perez, let’s just let Tom Suozzi cause he has to jump off the phone. So we’ll get right back to you.

TS: There’s one thing I want to challenge about Rosie’s saying. The idea that the majority of the burden is going to rest with Brooklyn residents. Of course, I don’t have the statistic in front of me, the report is not out yet, but I’m reasonably certain that the majority of the burden is not going to fall on Brooklyn residents. It’s going to be equitably distributed based upon the fact that the corporate payroll tax has been proposed, based upon the fact that people use these bridges – all the bridges that are going to be tolled – from different parts of the region to enter into Manhattan. And we’ve got to distribute the burden. And right now, if you do think of it, we do have congestion pricing now in that people who take the midtown tunnel, and people who take the Triborough Bridge, must pay a toll. So they’re getting congestion pricing currently. And this will create a more equitable system that each of the different thoroughfares are treated equitably