Make a plan
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Daily Point
Uber is heading back to Albany with a plan
Uber is trying to share a ride with the next state budget.
Owners of the popular app, which allows passengers to connect with drivers in many states and in New York City, failed in the waning days of the legislative session to win permission to operate statewide. They had spent much of 2016 working with individual legislators and running petitions in upstate cities to garner support.
The strategy now is to get Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to put regulatory approval for ride-sharing apps in the state budget, and that means persuading him to champion the issue. So a media blitz has started.
Last week, Uber released a poll that said 80 percent of New Yorkers support standardized rules for ride sharing and that 85 percent agree Uber-like car services take drunks off the road.
Monday’s PR release was a bit of an eye-opener as well. Thanksgiving eve is a well-known night for college students to get together with old friends while back at home for the holiday. And Uber was ready, not with a car, but with a counter. It found that on Wednesday night, 43,000 people in the state outside of the five boroughs tried to use the service.
To really be convincing, though, Uber should see how many of those millennials used absentee ballots to vote in the Nov. 8 election.
Rita Ciolli
Talking Point
The Nassau Coliseum is hiring . . . a little
A year and a half ago, the state Department of Labor notified 2,500 people that they were losing their jobs because Nassau Coliseum was shutting down for renovations. However, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano promised last November that when the Coliseum reopened, it would employ 2,700 people.
As the new Coliseum inches closer to a scheduled opening in April, its new management is beginning to hire again. For 1,300 jobs. Job-seekers can head to labor.ny.gov/coliseumjobs, and Uniondale residents will get priority.
But why is the number about half what it once was?
Sources noted that state law may have required layoff notices to those who weren’t part of the regular arena staff — those who worked only at a single special event, for instance. But the reality is that without the New York Islanders, or any major-league professional team, the Coliseum won’t require the same number of workers. And the arena will have fewer seats when it reopens, which will mean fewer patrons and fewer staff members needed to accommodate them.
Some back-office jobs were eliminated because tasks are being handled by the Barclays Center or Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment.
Mangano’s promise of 2,700 jobs came from the original economic analysis that included a multiplier effect of off-site jobs, according to his spokesman, Brian Nevin.
Whatever the reason, the lower job total is the first sign that the new Coliseum may have a lesser overall economic impact than the old arena.
Randi F. Marshall
Quick Points
On the other hand...
- If Donald Trump won’t put his businesses in a blind trust and let someone else run them, perhaps he should put the American government in a blind trust and let someone — say, Mike Pence — run it.
- First, a close adviser said Ben Carson didn’t think he had the experience to receive a Cabinet post and he didn’t want to “cripple the presidency.” Now, he’s tweeting he’s up for HUD secretary and might accept. Maybe his first thought was his best thought.
- Pope Francis wants to heal the rift that has divided the Catholic Church in China for decades. Pulling that off would be a miracle worthy of sainthood.
- After a wait of more than three decades, Leonard Cohen finally hits the Billboard Top 100. Hallelujah.
Michael Dobie
Pencil Point
Viva la revolución!
Click here to see more cartoons responding to Fidel Castro’s death.
