Here’s one for the record books: When it comes to a key business issue, the City Council gets it — and the mayor doesn’t.
The council last week voted to cut in half the maximum fine (currently $1,000) that can be imposed on street vendors for violations of the city’s sidewalk codes.
The mayor vowed to veto it, calling the bill “one of the stupider things I’ve ever heard.” Given that it passed by a 44-3 vote margin, the mayor’s going to lose this one.
As well he should. The council seems to understand that people trying to make an honest living should not be harassed.
Take the cellphone-cover vendor hit with $2,250 in fines because his table was one inch too high and two inches too close to the nearest store entrance.
Or the food vendor cited because it took him too long — two minutes — to produce his permit while he was cooking to serve customers during the busy lunch hour.
Or the Queens barber fined $250 for not posting a refund policy.
To balance the cut in fines, the council also passed bills meant to crack down on vendors who evade fines by changing company names or moving locations.
We’re not against all regulation or fines. But the principle should be that they are reasonable, clear and fair.
Our problem with New York is that its system seems arbitrary in its application — and a revenue enhancer akin to the speed traps some small towns set for unwary visitors.
Mayor Mike admitted as much in a recent outburst of candor. “Fines,” he says, “are just a replacement for taxes. If you don’t have the fines, you have to raise taxes.”
No wonder businesses complain about being treated as an ATM machine.
If people are being fined because they are doing something bad, that’s one thing. But if they are being fined because the city can’t make it on its tax revenues, it only reduces New York to some Third World nation.