Local politicians responded to the State Assembly’s defeat of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan last week with mixed reactions. The plan would have implemented an extra charge on drivers entering congestion zones in Manhattan during peak hours and given the city $354 million in federal funds to implement the new system.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a major opponent of congestion pricing, called the defeat “a huge victory for the people of the Bronx and all of New York.”

One of Dinowitz’s main objections was that city residents would have been charged the $8 fee for driving into mid-Manhattan while New Jersey residents would not.

Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. agreed that the defeat was a victory for working families who would have had an “unfair financial burden” placed on them. Assemblyman Michael Benjamin joined his Democratic constituents by opposing the plan because of the impact it would have on the middle class and small business owners.

Bloomberg criticized the politicians who couldn’t “embrace new concepts and ideas” and promised that he and his supporters would continue to work for a greener New York. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, and Council Member John C. Liu released statements expressing their disappointment at the State Assembly’s decision.

Even with the bill’s defeat, all agree that congestion remains a problem, and some type of improvement must be made in the future. “Congestion pricing didn’t win today, but the problems it addresses are not going away,” said Michael O’Loughlin, director of the Campaign for New York’s Future, a coalition of community, environmental, health and labor groups.