Chair Abreu questions WJP on acceptable street enforcement

And before it's closed, I just want to show you the amount of tickets and delivery stackings.

You're speaking out of order.

You're speaking out of order.

I do have questions for you, though, yeah.

Do you support any street enforcement whatsoever?

Of course we support street enforcement.

Actually, you have a line of tickets of, actually, this is for one worker.

A worker spends around $4,000 to $5,000 every two months just in tickets, in fines every single day.

And the leveristas, actually, not only that,

In top of tickets, most of them, they actually have to replace their own device every time they're confiscated, which is anything between $3,000 and $4,000.

NYPD is already doing a massive amount of enforcement on delivery workers.

The problem is not the enforcement.

The problem is the lack of infrastructure in our streets.

We have an algorithm.

that is exercising an enormous amount of pressure, actually page 9 and page 10, will tell you how much the apps actually control.

They control the routes that they take, where do they move, how they move, how many deliveries they have to complete, and the amount of time that they have to complete that delivery.

That's the actual...

Part of the problem.

So, yeah, no, and we have bills that tackle the app regulation.

That's Len Shulman's bill on licensing, which hopefully they don't do much.

And so we'll try to make those bills stronger.

But what street enforcement is acceptable?

The street enforcement that is already happening on the street.

No, no, I'm asking what street enforcement is acceptable.

Well, we're talking about 70,000 delivery workers that are already getting a stream amount of enforcement, which is civil summons every day at the delivery center.

I'm simply asking, is there an enforcement role that WJP would be okay with?

It's already happening.

I'm trying to understand what other enforcement you're requiring when you have NYPD.

Parking in a corner just to give civil summonses.

And when they're already doing back confiscation, that's already the reality of delivery workers.

Are you asking me if you want them to go to jail?

Is that what you're asking?

That's a straw man argument.

But what I will say is this, is that NYPD testified today that they're not going to be outsourcing their

DOT also testified that they don't want to be enforcing street safety laws, right?

And so given that the enforcement is already here and they are not outsourcing that, dynamometers would actually be helpful for your workers to keep their devices from NYPD.

They won't.

Speedometers would also be helpful so that workers can know how fast they're going.

And I think removing the ways that apps perversely incentivize workers to have to drive unsafely or do their job will reduce the need for enforcement.

I don't think we have a problem with enforcing the legal speed limits and things like that.

But we also need, on the other side, to regulate the algorithms that are pressuring.

I agree with that.

And I think we need to do more bike lane infrastructure.

I think we need to expand the network so that your workers are actually not having to be on sidewalks, not having to be sharing the road with cars.

I'm with you on that.

The other thing I wanted to ask before I turn it over to Councilmember Hanif and Brewer is the admin testified that there is pending legislation at the state level that would classify anything over 20 miles per hour.

Basically classified as a motorcycle, and that would require registration, the same way that we do for mopeds.

Is that something WGP would support as an alternative to an outright ban?

So we strongly support reducing the speed of e-bikes.

That's something that we have worked very closely with the previous administration.

We have made a commitment to this administration that reducing the speed should be the right track.

That's why we're thinking less.

figured out a system how to reduce the speed of these e-bikes, right, rather than making them illegal or putting cops to chase workers to identify whether they are legal or not.

We will strongly support the idea of figuring out how we can create a system to reduce the speed.

We have concerns, obviously, with registration for a couple reasons.

One is the operating cost that it takes to that, navigating a complicated DMV bureaucracy where many deliveristas or immigrant workers or workers in general have to navigate.

And then where is the ownership and the responsibility of also delivery companies?

Thank you.

Councillor Mahani, followed by Brewer.