Pedicab press conference at City Hall
Songwriter, actress and LOHV-NYC spokesperson Nellie McKay* came to the defense of horses and the pedicab industry yesterday. Nellie and other humane voters drove down from Columbus Circle to a press conference at City Hall in a fleet of pedicabs to protest the City Council's new anti-industry law. Nellie's speech follows.
"My name is Nellie McKay and I am a spokesperson for the League of Humane Voters of New York City. We come here today to protest Local Law 19, which would drastically inhibit the function and growth of the pedicab industry.This bill has been advocated and designed by lobbyists hired by the horse carriage and taxi trade. Its clear intent is to hamper and dilute the competition. The provision bans pedicabs from public parks without authorization from the parks department, an additional requirement unasked of the thousands of cars, buses, skaters, bicycles, and horse-drawn carriages that come and go freely each day.
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Local Law 19 gives the Administration power to ban and/or limit the number of pedicabs in any area without giving a reason or even a hearing, while authority on pedicabs should rightly come from the City Council and only the City Council. The pedicab industry, which has been seeking regulation for years now, was not consulted in drafting this legislation, nor was Council Member Alan Gerson, who authored a previous version of legislation, approached. The width of a pedicab is now limited to 48 inches, a problem considering the width of most pedicabs is between 50 and 52 inches.*Nellie McKay is a songwriter and performer who has contributed to Interview magazine, the Onion, and the New York Times Book Review. Her next album, Obligatory Villagers, will be released next month. In December, she will be seen alongside Kathy Bates and Hillary Swank in the motion picture P.S. I Love You.Perhaps most alarmingly, this bill requires pedicab owners to carry over three times the amount of insurance of a taxi or a horse-drawn carriage. Horse-drawn carriages are driven by easily frightened, overworked, and skittish animals, and at least 4 accidents have occured in the past 2 years. By contrast, the pedicabs have had no recorded accidents in the same amount of time and are driven by alert and aware human beings who have some degree of choice in being there. The need to pay wildly exorbitant insurance for an instrinsically safe and humane trade is grossly unfair.
Finally, if Local Law 19 is truly about safety, why is no training required of pedicab drivers? This omission shows this legislation for what it is - a handout to the horse-drawn carriage and taxi industry and a dangerous misuse of political power. Local Law 19 should be repealed immediately.
If you're going to cap something, City Council, cap horse carriages to zero and leave the pedicabs alone!"
LOHV-NYC executive director John Phillips with Nellie McKay shortly before the ride down Broadway.