Al hails Uber, sez don’t cap
Calls it solution to racist hacks
The Rev. Al Sharpton is riding with Uber.
Sharpton delivered a sharp rebuke Saturday to a City Council effort to limit the number of Uber and other app-based taxi services.
“They’re talking about putting a cap on Uber,” Sharpton said via Twitter. “Do you know how difficult it is for black people to get a yellow cab in New York City? This isn’t about Uber. It’s about Us-ah. We need to stand up for us.”
The activist preacher commented after the Council announced a package of bills aimed at capping Uber and similar businesses in a bid to combat traffic congestion, create more balanced competition in the taxi industry and offer support to all drivers in the industry.
A half-dozen struggling drivers committed suicide this year, with the pressure of mounting debts and 12-hours shifts cited in their deaths.
But Sharpton said the African-American population, particularly in some outer borough neighborhoods, relied on the new breed of services for transportation.
“Ain’t no traffic jam for yellow cabs in Brownsville,” said Sharpton at his weekly Harlem rally. “I’m trying to get to work. I’m trying to get to school. I want somebody to go (and) pick me up.”
A similar 2015 Uber-capping effort, pushed by Mayor de Blasio, failed to garner enough support to pass.
Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) argued the proposals would not affect any existing service.
“I understand concerns people of color have about being denied service,” he said Saturday. “This is about fairness, reducing congesting and helping drivers — many of whom are black and brown, and are making such low salaries they are living in poverty.”