[Image Source: New York Times]

It was only last month that New York City's outspoken, green-activist Mayor Michael Bloomberg nearly rammed a London-esque congestion zone scheme down New Yorkers' throats.

The environment, Mayor Bloomberg contended, was his primary concern for instituting the congestion zone charges that would have charged commuters $4 per day (on top of bridge and tunnel tolls) for entering Manhattan anywhere south of 86th Street.

But according to a report featured in the New York Times, Mr. Bloomberg may be something of a hypocrite. The mayor takes not one, but two N.Y.P.D. supplied Chevrolet Suburbans to work on a daily basis.

"Environmentally speaking, 'the Suburban is one of the worst, if not the worst' sport utility vehicles on the market, said Dan Becker, who studies vehicle emissions for the Sierra Club. 'It's way up there.'" The Times reported.

It seems that in order to meet the demands of City Hall and that of his populist image, the mayor is picked up at his home on 79th Street and is chauffeured to the 59th Street express subway stop that takes him straight to work.

And as if to say that the honeymoon between press and the Bloomberg office is over, the New York Times took off the gloves.

"The image of the billionaire straphanger has paid enormous political dividends. One transit group designated him the 'MetroCard mayor,' and Newsday lauded him as the city's 'regular Joe Commuter.; Shortly after he took office, The New York Times declared Mr. Bloomberg 'the first subway-riding mayor.' And his tales from the underground - for example, getting stranded on a northbound No. 4 train for half an hour - have made for useful anecdotes at his news conferences." The paper reported.

The mayor's office did take pains to note that his Chevy Suburbans were equipped with FlexFuel engines that could run on E85 ethanol. And apparently when the mayor is in the City, his trucks run on the alternative fuel.

This begs the question: anyone know where one can buy E85 in the City? The station must be hard to find as there are only six stations that offer ethanol in the entire state of New York.

[Source: New York Times]