COURIER L 10 IFE, AUGUST 7-13, 2020
OPINION
Our Democrats’ double standards
In recent weeks, we have
seen the clear hypocrisy of
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and
Mayor Bill de Blasio.
King Cuomo continued his
war on our small businesses
that are trying to stay afl oat
with this pandemic. On July
30, the governor proudly announced
more violations that
his state Liquor Authority issued
to bars and restaurants
for violating his edicts related
to the novel coronavirus.
We must remember that
many of these businesses are
owned by our neighbors and
friends. They have done all
they can to survive this ordeal.
At fi rst, they were ordered to
close. Eventually, they were
permitted to open for delivery
and take-out only. If they
survived up to this point, they
were then able to serve their
customers outdoors. They
were under the impression
that in the next phase, two
weeks later, indoor dining
would be allowed again.
Unfortunately, this last
part has not happened yet, and
who knows if and when it will.
Therefore, businesses have to
make the most out of their delivery,
take-out, and outdoor
dining options.
Cuomo is seemingly intent
on creating as many obstacles
as possible for bars and restaurants.
Now, these establishments
must also serve food
with any alcohol ordered. The
defi nition of what qualifi es as
as food is purely up to Cuomo,
and it has evolved over the
past two weeks.
But, the contagiousness of
the coronavirus goes on hold
for protests. How else do you
explain the governor’s cracking
down on small businesses,
and not permitting New Yorkers
to go to church and celebrate
family events? Yet, he
and the Democrats continue
to cheer on mass protests.
To make matters worse for
these entrepreneurs whose
business skills are getting the
test of a lifetime, Cuomo has
requested that the NYPD step
up its enforcement of social
distancing and other regulations
at these businesses.
Perfectly summarizing
Cuomo’s misplaced priorities
and mixed messages, Andrea
Catsimatidis of the Manhattan
Republican party tweeted,
“So now the Democrats want
the police? I’m confused…or
do they just want the police to
shut down businesses but not
to protect people from criminals.”
Not to be outdone, the
mayor bluntly said that matters
surrounding the Black
Lives Matter movement get
preferential treatment and do
not have to follow the same
rules as everyone else.
When it was revealed that
the city ignored its own permit
process when painting “Black
Lives Matter” on streets across
the fi ve boroughs, de Blasio
responded by saying that this
cause “transcends all normal
realities, because we are at a
moment of history when that
had to be said and done. That’s
a decision I made”
Meanwhile, he said, “the
normal process continues” for
everyone else.
We should not be okay with
our city and state’s executives
freely exercising such double
standards.
Bob Capano has worked
for Brooklyn Republican and
Democrat elected offi cials,
and has been an adjunct political
science professor for over
15 years. Follow him on twitter
@bobcapano.
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano
‘Dumb money’ investments are
wrecking New York City
In just a bit I’ll continue
last week’s column about
global warming and transportation
and mobility startups.
Next week, I’ll be back to
writing about the Brooklyn
Democratic Party. But fi rst I
want to touch on coronavirus
and New York state.
Seven weeks ago, I wrote a
column called, “Coronavirus
is coming back to New York
City.” Since then, unlike
most of America, we have so
far kept new cases low. We
are testing over 60,000 people
a day and currently getting
only a 1 percent positive rate,
so we are doing almost as
well as South Korea. About
20 percent of our new cases
are currently coming from
out-of-state.
I think New York is still
more likely to see a resurgence
in coronavirus rather
than a continued successful
quarantine, but we shall see.
New Yorkers and Gov. Andrew
Cuomo should be commended
for watchfulness
these last several months.
No commendation for Mayor
Bill de Blasio, who this week
forced out his Health Commissioner
Dr. Oxiris Barbot.
If he’d listened to her earlier,
fewer people in our city
would have died.
Back to last week’s topic:
transportation. In addition
to public transportation
— airplanes, bikes, and
taxis — the newest ways to
get around are different pretentiously
named “mobility
startups.” I’ll briefl y discuss
Zipcar, Revel, Citibike/Lyft,
and Uber.
Zipcar is a car-sharing
service that lets you rent cars
in half-hour increments. This
week I used it to drive a Mercedes
Benz from the Lower
East Side to Nick’s Lobster
House in Marine Park. I like
it and am all for it.
Revel is like Zipcar but
for electric scooters. As our
own Ben Verde has reported,
Revel has now suspended its
service in New York City after
two of its users died in
separate fatal crashes. Who
could possibly have anticipated
the downside risk of
giving people scooters with
no training?
Lyft is a ride-sharing service
(an unmarked car with
a driver you order on an app)
and also the owner of Citibike,
New York City’s bikesharing
service. I don’t see
how Citibike will ever turn
a profi t.
Uber’s another ride-sharing
service. Uber strikes me
as somewhat more evil than
Lyft. For instance, many
Uber drivers seem to be dying
by suicide these last couple
years, though I suppose
that’s also true for taxi medallion
holders. Neither Uber
nor Lyft has ever turned a
profi t.
Neither Uber nor Lyft has
ever turned a profi t. Many of
these startups’ whole business
models seem to be about
getting around regulations
that exist for a reason.
This week, our own Kevin
Duggan reported that a
building on Bedford Ave in
Williamsburg collapsed. The
one next to it will probably
have to come down, too. This
sounds unrelated to the mobility
startups, but I think it
is. The buildings are owned
by two guys named Ben who
went to Cornell and spent
over a billion dollars buying
North Brooklyn property
at clearly overvalued rates.
Their real estate portfolio
lost a lot of value in the last
few years.
What has this to do with
Uber and Revel? “Dumb
money” investments that lose
money for the owner but can
still kill people in the meantime
as they crash.
Nick Rizzo is a Democratic
District Leader representing
the 50th Assembly District and
a political consultant who lives
in Greenpoint. Follow him on
Twitter @NickRizzo.
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo