Will City Council Override Mayor’s Pedicab-Bill Veto?

DSCN1488.JPG

Anticipating a vote in the City Council this afternoon to override the mayor’s veto of Intro 331-A, a bill to regulate pedicabs, a group of pedicab operators was demonstrating outside the American Museum of Natural History after Bloomberg’s big Earth Day speech.

Handing out leaflets with the numbers of swing councilmembers like Daniel Garodnick, the pedicabbers came up to members of the press leaving the museum and asked for help with media coverage of their issue. Periodically the demonstrators chanted: "We’re not in the way, we are the way!"

Members of the group said they fit perfectly with the sustainability plan the mayor had just outlined inside.

"I am zero emissions, that’s what I do," said Jesse White, a pedicabber who was leading chants. "Intro 331-A will shut us down."

Photo: Sarah Goodyear 

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Pedi Politics

By Aaron Naparstek |
On Monday, April 23, the day after Earth Day and the Mayor’s Long-Term Sustainability speech, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn plans to hold a decisive vote on Intro. 331-A, a law limiting and restricting pedicabs. Mayor Bloomberg vetoed the bill but rather than going back and trying to improve the legislation by, say, simply increasing […]

Quinn’s Pedicab Problem: Personal or Political?

By Brad Aaron |
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is reportedly pressuring — some might say coercing — council members into backing her effort to override of Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of stringent pedicab restrictions. Tony Avella of Queens talked to the Sun about Quinn’s anti-pedicab campaign among council members. Mr. Avella said his colleagues are following Ms. Quinn’s wishes […]

Bloomberg Says He’ll Veto Pedicab Bill

By Sarah Goodyear |
Speaking on his weekly radio show on WABC, Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced he would veto the City Council’s legislation capping the number of pedicabs in the city at 325: However, the mayor also said he may be amenable to a revised version that simply raised the cap on the vehicles, known as pedicabs. He suggested […]

Council Overrides Pedicab Veto

By Brad Aaron |
NY1 is reporting that the City Council has voted to override Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of its pedicab bill. The pedicab bill caps the number of cabs at 325 and also adds new safety and insurance requirements. The mayor vetoed the bill after meeting with pedicab drivers who were concerned about losing their jobs.

Political Deal Results in Bad Pedicab Regulations

By Aaron Naparstek |
More on tomorrow’s rally and press conference on the city’s proposed pedicab regulations: Chad Marlow of the Public Advocacy Group, the pedicab industry’s lobbyist, sends along this press release arguing that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Speaker Christine Quinn’s proposal to put a cap on the number of pedicabs and ban electric-assist technology harms the industry […]