Quinn Wielding Her Clout in Contest Over Pedicabs

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is wielding her substantial political influence to ensure council members override Mayor Bloomberg's recent veto of a bill capping the number of pedicabs allowed to roam the city, a council member said yesterday.

The member, Tony Avella of Queens, was one of seven council members who in late February voted against the bill, which he described as a way to kill the pedicab industry. Mr. Avella said his colleagues are following Ms. Quinn's wishes because her support is essential when trying to introduce legislation or secure funding for projects in a member's district.

"The power of the speaker is incredible when used in this type of situation," he said. "And that's a situation that really has to change. We talk about three men in a room in Albany. Well, the City Council is getting just as bad."

Ms. Quinn is considered the strongest supporter of the pedicab bill, which would allow only 325 pedicabs in the city, require pedicab businesses to carry a $2 million insurance policy, and bar the bicycle taxis from using electric assists, which allow drivers to rest their legs on long trips.

A lobbyist at Bolton-St. Johns, Inc, a group hired by the Committee for Taxi Safety to lobby the council, Emily Giske, is considered by many to be close to the speaker. She and Ms. Quinn lived, and may still live, in the same apartment building on West 24th Street, according to a recent address listing.

After Ms. Quinn, who is a lesbian, gave her first speech as speaker last year, Ms. Giske told a weekly newspaper of Lower Manhattan, Downtown Express: "As a lesbian and as a Democrat, I've never been more proud of anything in my life."

In 2006, the taxi committee, which represents taxi medallion owners, paid Bolton-St. Johns $98,000 to lobby the council on a variety of issues, including the pedicab bill, according to the most recent lobbyist report on file with the City Clerk. A former state assembly speaker, Melvin Miller, also is a lobbyist at Bolton-St. Johns.

A spokeswoman for Ms. Quinn, Maria Alvarado, said in an e-mailed statement, "No member was urged or pressured to vote one way or another on the pedicab bill."

Ms. Quinn has promised to override the mayor's veto. Mr. Bloomberg has said he agrees with many provisions of the bill, but is opposed to the cap. The mayor has said that the free market, rather than the City Council, should decide how many pedicabs there are in the city. Mr. Bloomberg has also taken a new high profile on air quality and global warming, and some argue that pedicabs are better for the environment than gasoline-powered taxis.

Two-thirds of the council, or 34 members, must vote in favor of the bill to override the veto. The vote is expected to take place on April 23.
A pioneer of the pedicab industry in New York, George Bliss, said the cap was incorporated into the bill to appease the taxi industry.

"She wants to be mayor, she needs their money," Mr. Bliss said, referring to Ms. Quinn. "It is clear there is a quid pro quo between the speaker and the taxi lobby."

"Anyone who has been to Columbus Circle or Times Square in recent years has seen the hundreds of pedicabs that circle around the streets," Ms. Quinn said in a statement responding to Mr. Bloomberg's veto. "While most drivers are responsible, we need to establish clear rider guidelines and passenger rights, and make sure pedicabs don't clog our streets or endanger pedestrians."

The bill "sets a necessary limit to the numbers of operators on City streets to allow the industry to flourish without causing undue traffic congestion, itself a safety hazard," the statement goes on to say.

Two council members of Manhattan, where the city's pedicabs are concentrated, Gale Brewer and Alan Gerson, abstained from voting on the bill in late February. Another member of Manhattan, Rosie Mendez, voted against the legislation.

A council member of Brooklyn, Simcha Felder, said pedicabs are not the most pressing issue before him and added that other members don't feel strongly about it either.

"In cases like that, I support the speaker," he said. "If she feels strongly about an issue, I trust her judgment."

The executive director of the Committee for Taxi Safety, David Pollack, said the bill is not designed to squash the pedicab industry, but keep the bicycle taxis from clogging midtown Manhattan. He receives daily complaints about reckless pedicab drivers and pedicabs that stop to pick up street hails that should be for taxis, he said.

"The goal is to give them some type of structure," he said. "It does sound like the big bully against the little guy, but it's really not."

The executive director of the watchdog group Citizens Union, Dick Dadey, said his organization has always believed that council members should be allowed to vote their conscience and do what they believe is in the best interest of their constituency without fear or favor from the speaker.

"At the end of the day, they should be allowed to vote what they believe on a particular issue," he said.