Most significant, the Mayor should press for tolls on the East River bridge.

The Mayor pressed for a special prosecutor.

The Mayor pressed this argument despite incredulous resistance from environmentalists, community groups and the City Council.

Since last October, the Mayor had pressed the taxi commission to postpone consideration of a fare increase until the Council took action on the medallions.

Right now, the Mayor should be pressing the Authority to complete Kennedy Airport's far-from-finished renovations.

For the moment, the aides said, the Mayor would not press the politically unpopular idea of placing tolls on the East River bridges that are now free.

For months, the Mayor has pressed the case for a new stadium, despite the projected price tag of as much as $1.06 billion.

The Mayor is pressing for a bridge construction and maintenance authority with a dedicated funding source to maintain all the city's 2,000 bridges.

Colleen Roche, a mayoral spokeswoman, said that the Mayor would press forward with his proposal to increase the fine still more, to $100 from $50.

Although the Mayor pressed them to come up with ways of preventing violence, their answers revealed a bitter rift.