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Kalman Yeger explains vote on outdoor dining program and other bills
1:03:03
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100 sec
Council Member Kalman Yeger explains his vote against Introduction 31-C, the bill to establish a permanent outdoor dining program, citing concerns about the policy implementation and one-size-fits-all approach. He also mentions voting against Introductions 5 and 6, while voting in favor of all other items.
- Yeger associates himself with remarks made by Council Members Brewer and Carr
- He criticizes the bill for leaving open issues such as hours of operation, congested streets, and neighborhood-specific concerns
- Yeger emphasizes that New York City is too diverse for a single policy to work across all boroughs
Kalman Yeger
1:03:03
Thank you.
1:03:05
A lot of a lot of the concerns that colleagues, have about this bill, including, members who voted for it, is, with respect to how this will play out.
1:03:17
The wise council member from Manhattan spoke earlier, brought up a number of very important issues.
1:03:25
I agree with every single one of them, although we're coming to a different conclusion.
1:03:29
I do very much want to associate myself with council member Brewer's remarks and council member Carr's remarks.
1:03:35
At the end of the day, we are the policymakers.
1:03:39
We make the policy.
1:03:41
And when we do a bill and we give it over to an agency and say you make the policy, what they're supposed to be doing is executing the policy that we've devised here.
1:03:51
We haven't done that.
1:03:53
We've left open hours of operation issues.
1:03:57
We've left open issues with congested streets.
1:04:00
We've left open issues as Councilman Marte brought out with respect to the particularities of neighborhoods that are 500 years old versus neighborhoods that are 50 years old.
1:04:09
There's a big difference.
1:04:10
I talk about this all the time.
1:04:11
One size fits all rule doesn't work in New York City.
1:04:14
Just doesn't.
1:04:15
We're too big and too complicated of a city.
1:04:17
When we do one bill and it says that this is going to be the policy from the tip of Staten Island all the way up to the Bronx and all the other boroughs in between, it just doesn't work.
1:04:25
Not on this kind of bill.
1:04:26
So I will respectfully, with great admiration for those who have worked hard on this issue, but I do believe that the wrong conclusion has come out of it.
1:04:36
I vote aye on all with the exception of introduction 31 and introductions five and six.
1:04:42
Thank you very much.