New York state's Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission met yesterday to brainstorm a couple plans to reduce traffic in Manhattan. Among the suggestions: banning taxi hailing, some wacky "no driving on days when your the last number of your license plate matches the date unless it's your golden birthday" plan, that sort of thing. Many of the plans were designed to be even crazier and less likely to be approved than Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal. A street parking price raise would generate up to $17 million a year while reducing traffic in Manhattan "about 0.5 percent"! Here is our proposal: more annoying street fairs. Look at Little Italy—traffic is blocked every damn day and the city is raising untold millions in bribes alone! Also enjoy delicious zeppole, the "ethnic" funnel cake, year round.

Ways to Cut City Traffic? Well, Maybe [NYT]