Tuesday’s Headlines: Pay-to-Play Edition
Another day, another example of New York City political leaders bought and sold by corporate interests.
Food delivery app companies spent $3.2 million in this spring’s City Council elections — so Council members are doing their bidding and refusing to pass a a bill to require app companies to provide delivery workers with safety equipment or risk losing their license to operate in the five boroughs, the news website The City reported.
DoorDash has called the proposal “extreme” and said it “puts delivery and the benefits it brings at risk.” And “when app lobbyists talk, many Council members pay close attention,” writes The City’s Claudia Irizarry Aponte.
Top Council members responsible for overseeing the app industry received significant contributions from the industry this year, according to the report: Consumer Committee Julie Menin and Labor Committee Chair Carmen De La Rosa, who are vying to be the Council Speaker, raised, respectively, $143,129 and $156,787 from Uber. Current Council Speaker Adrienne Adams took in $150,000 from DoorDash for her failed run for mayor.
Perhaps not by coincidence, Council members opposed to the bill have echoed industry arguments that the bill would put them out of business, bill sponsor Council Member Gale Brewer told the news outlet.
“I don’t know if the apps have been saying that to colleagues, or where they got that,” Brewer said, adding that “the apps should be held accountable.”
“Right now there’s nothing to hold them accountable,” Brewer said.
In other news:
- Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce CEO Randy Peers has no regrets about opposing life-saving street redesigns like Third Avenue and McGuinness Boulevard. (Crain’s)
- Other outlets covered Zohran Mamdani’s appearance on McGuinness Boulevard on Monday, including Streetsblog, Gothamist and Brooklyn Paper.
- The proposed Times Square casino threatens to bring a lot more cars to Midtown Manhattan. (amNY)
- Carlina Rivera has officially left the City Council. (EV Grieve)
- Mayor Adams won’t say whether Ingrid Lewis-Martin is still volunteering on his campaign. (Daily News, amNY)
- An MTA bus driver crashed into an SUV, injuring two people. (amNY)
- NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch met with Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday as President Trump threatened funding for jurisdictions with “cashless bail.” (Daily News. Gothamist)
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