Bloomberg Rebuffed Twice Yesterday

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was feeling pretty good about himself, coming off a tremendous Earth Day event where he announced his plans to make the city greener by 2027. Too bad for him the City Council delivered two veto overrides yesterday, one concerning metal baseball bats and the other which tried to stop tough laws for pedicabs.

The metal baseball ban is just a little ridiculous. To stop high schools from using the aluminum tubes is as crazy as those being talked about by Bush trying to link nuclear weapons with Saddam Hussein. The bat industry has already gotten involved and is helping to prepare a legal challenge to the City Council's decision. Even the Public Schools Athletic League is against the ban. What possessed the council to come up with this waste of legislation is beyond me. There are certain things that our city government need to leave alone and this is one of them.

The other veto override allowed tough legislation to go through for the city's pedicab industry. Now for the first time pedicab drivers will be regulated by NYC, capping their numbers at 325. Pedicabbies showed up at the council meeting yesterday and were extremely animated throughout the proceedings. They cheered for councilmembers who supported the veto and hissed at the majority who voted for the veto override.

I am a little mixed up over these two. First off the baseball bat ban is plain stupid. The council should prioritize their work and not try to stop every perceived danger that baseball players face. If they had their way players would have to walk the bases to avoid running and tripping in the dirt. Pedicabbers however, need some sort of regulation. Perhaps not a cap on their numbers, but insurance should be mandatory just like a cabbie with a Crown Vic.