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Bill De Blasio, central park, Horse Carriage Ban, Intro. 573-B, Labor unions, new-york-city, NYC Council, pedicab ban, salary increase
Photo courtesy of hey tiffany!, Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
One day before the vote Bill de Blasio’s horse carriage legislation in the New York City Council, the bottom fell out from under de Blasio’s long fought agenda to eradicate the carriage horse industry in New York City.
Hours before Commie Bill’s State of the City address, Teamsters Joint Council 16, the union representing the horse carriage drivers, walked back its support of Intro. 573-B.
George Miranda, President of Teamsters Joint Council 16 released the following statement:
“The Teamsters’ first priority is always our members and their livelihoods. With the legislation now finalized, our members are not confident that it provides a viable future for their industry. We cannot support the horse carriage bill currently before the City Council.”
Intro. 573-B, de Blasio’s legacy legislation would not only restrict the horse-drawn carriage industry to Central Park, it would decrease the number of carriage drivers from 200 to 95 by 2018 permitting only 75 horse to work in the park at a time.
The restrictions would obliterate the industry and destroy the livelihoods of countless carriage drivers who would find themselves on the unemployment line.
Members of the NYC Council who just last week were on par to passing the legislation after being urged by Melissa Mark-Viverito, the Council’s speaker to do so immediately walked back their support.
Without the union’s support of the legislation, Intro. 573-B is dead in the water. Council members would defy de Blasio before they defy the unions.
“…There were many members, including myself, who had always said that the only way I could ever support a compromise was if the Teamsters were a party to and supported the deal,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens.
But once the Teamsters pulled out, “they knew they didn’t have the votes and they had to pull the bill,” he said.
Because the Council rarely votes on measures that are not assured of passage, the bill’s removal from the calendar for a vote on Friday is tantamount to its defeat. The mayor’s office said before the Teamsters’ decision to pull out on Thursday that the legislation still had the votes needed to pass….
Apparently not.
de Blasio released a statement that the City:
“negotiated in good faith with the City Council and the Teamsters to reach this agreement. The terms of that agreement have not changed during these past weeks, but today the Teamsters decided to back away from the fair compromise they had previously endorsed. While we are disappointed this bill will no longer be considered Friday, the people of this city know what I believe, and we will work toward a new path on this issue.”
De Blasio acted in such good faith that he attempted to force the horse carriage bill through the New York City Council tomorrow in spite of heavy opposition to the legislation.
Speaker, Melissa Mark Viverito stated that the horse carriage bill contingent upon an agreement between all parties, the de Blasio Administration, the union and the City Council “was negotiated in good faith and…The Council will not vote on any horse carriage related legislation on Friday since the Teamsters no longer support the deal.”
SIDEBAR
In spite of its unpopularity amongst many in the NYC Council, the legislation was coincidentally placed on the docket last week for a vote at the same time that Council Members prepared legislation in the dark of night for a 32% salary increase retroactive January 1.
Both pieces of legislation were scheduled a vote tomorrow.
Mark-Viverito received a directive from de Blasio reference passage of the horse carriage legislation, which she relayed to Council members. Legislation for the massive salary increase was written the following day.
De Blasio must be feeling like a sucker about now meaning that the legislation involving the salary increase will be voted on tomorrow as scheduled.
END OF SIDEBAR
De Blasio denies that Intro. 573-B is flawed and would kill NYC’s horse carriage industry, as de Blasio and donors who aggressively and financially pushed for the legislation intended all along. See last week’s post, THE FIX: On same day NYC Council Votes ‘Yea’ for De Blasio’s HORSE CARRIAGE BILL, Council will vote itself a 32% PAY HIKE.
As reported earlier this week by the New York Times, the bottom began to fall out while de Blasio and his wife were campaigning in Iowa in spite of doors slamming in their faces [my emphasis] for Hillary Clinton. Something of which New York’s groundhog, Staten Island Chuck should be thankful. Commie Bill killed his predecessor.
Back to the bottom falling out…
Photo courtesy of David Goehring, Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
… An influential labor group, the Central Labor Council, made calls to elected leaders urging them to oppose the legislation… Pedicab drivers, who would be banished from the lucrative lower section of the park as part of the deal, began organizing under the banner of another labor organization.
The Central Park Conservancy has raised “significant concerns” about the impact of the proposal, including the increased traffic from horses on park drives, the bridle path and transverse roads….
De Blasio’s pedicabs ban included in the horse carriage bill would restrict pedicabs, not exactly a favorite of Manhattanites from operating in Central Park below 85th Street in Manhattan.
A ban on pedicabs would prove financially beneficial to yellow taxicabs whose union are major de Blasio donors.
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