Carr presses on timing and pause for Staten Island CWZ
Carr contends there is still time to pause and minimize unintended consequences for Staten Island, arguing the borough is unique. Anderson responds that the bill being heard on implementation day, after seven years of work and investment by carters, indicates it is too late for that conversation.
Well, a fifth is a pretty substantial number of folks.
I admit it's not a majority, but I think that's a large number of folks who are now looking for a new carter when they didn't feel the need to choose one.
Right.
And I think that, you know, it's about whether or not I or the department or anyone in government wants to substitute our judgment for who the best carding service for a customer is.
Right.
And I think that the.
The concerns that I have is that it's going to end up harming businesses.
And I think that I understand their price controls, but I think ultimately at the end of the day that we're taking away these choices from consumers and we're boxing out local businesses that have been serving these communities for some time.
And I think that that's why we're at this point, because we're on the precipice of implementation, as you say, but there's still two months, as you say, for folks to choose one of the new three carters.
So I don't think that there's no time to turn things around and kind of take a pause and have a conversation.
About how we can minimize the negative consequences, unintended, I think, for a borough that I think you would admit is unique among the other four.
And I think that there's reasons for us to treat our borough differently.
And I think that's one of the things we've been pushing for as a united delegation is to say Staten Island's different, each borough is different, and there's a way for us to justify rationally a different treatment for different places.
avoids the what about me problem that you're describing.
I just think, you know, the fact that this bill is being heard on the day that implementation is starting, I think indicates that it's, you know, we have already invested a tremendous amount of effort and thought.
The Carters have invested a tremendous amount of their time and money into preparing for these, for this program.
And, you know, I think
if that were something that Staten Islanders strongly felt two years ago, five years ago, seven years ago when this bill was passed by the city council, that would have been the appropriate time for that conversation.