COURIER L 36 IFE, APRIL 12–18, 2019 M BR B G
he perils of one-party
rule in New York will be
felt by all New Yorkers
after the recently passed $175
billion state budget.
Last November, Democrats
gained control of the state Senate
in Albany with significant
victories. While in power, the
GOP majority in the upper
house was an effective check
on many radical pieces of “progressive”
legislation. Now,
without this foil in place, the
emboldened Democrats have already
pushed through laws that
will make everyday New Yorkers
pay the price — with their
wallets and quality of life.
What these politicians
don’t get is that in their quest
to implement their progressive
legislation in the name of
protecting the environment,
reducing Manhattan traffic,
or finding revenue for our subways,
the real costs and burdens
will trickle down to those
already struggling to make
ends meet in New York City.
For example, let’s take a
look at the plastic bag ban and
the congestion pricing scheme
that was included in the
budget.
In May 2016, this columnist,
as a Republican candidate for
City Council in Brooklyn, appeared
on Good Day New York
on Fox 5 with Rosanna Scotto
and Greg Kelly to make the
case against a plastic bag tax
when it was first proposed by
City Hall.
Having managed supermarkets
both upstate and in
Manhattan, I argued that requiring
a nickel fee on plastic
bags would be a burden on
consumers and businesses.
Thankfully, the GOP-led
state Senate led the way to
block this city legislation from
taking effect in February, 2017,
as the local law mandated.
However, Democrats in Albany
took it a step further last
week by banning plastic bags
and placing a nickel fee on paper
bags.
In 2016, the goal was to
discourage the use of plastic
bags by taxing them, and push
folks to use paper bags to protect
the environment. Now, we
are banning plastic and placing
a fee on paper bags, which
shows this was always just another
scheme to collect more
of our money.
Think about it. We were
told plastic bags were so
harmful to the environment
that we had to move to paper
and reusable bags. Indeed,
paper bags decompose much
more quickly and leave less
toxic waste. Now, Albany has
banned plastic bags altogether
and is allowing local municipalities
to require a nickel fee
for paper. Of course, Mayor
de Blasio and many Council
members have already said
they will take advantage of
the ability to literally nickel
and dime us some more.
In making New York only
the second state behind California
to ban plastic, Albany
lawmakers ignored the fact
that 1,800 working families
in our state rely on the plastic
bag manufacturing and
recycling sectors for their
paychecks, as well as the inconvenient
truth that plastic
bags only comprise less than
two percent of the New York
City waste stream.
Meanwhile, reusable bags,
which our nanny state legislators
want to force us to use,
are produced overseas and go
for about $3 each to purchase.
Also, a main argument of
ban supporters was that plastic
bags are just single-use;
however, anyone who has a cat
or dog will confirm there are
many other uses.
The most basic question is
how are we supposed to get our
groceries home? We can carry
around reusable bags. So, that
as we go to work in the morning
and prepare to be crushed
like sardines on a subway or
bus, we must remember to
carry our reusable bags in
case we need to stop at the supermarket
on the way home.
Who wants this extra burden?
Otherwise, we can just pay the
extra fee for each paper bag
used, which will add up.
Relating to congestion pricing,
drivers will be hit with a fee
for traveling in Manhattan below
60th street.
Of course, legislators punted
the details of the plan to a panel
to try and insulate themselves
from criticism. It is reported
that trucks will pay approximately
$25 for each trip delivering
food and produce to our
stores and supermarkets.
Many of these trucking
companies are already saying
that they will have to pass
the additional costs on to their
customers and the retail establishments
where we buy
our groceries. Of course, these
businesses will then raise
their prices to cover their
extra costs. So, anyone who
lives, eats, or shops in New
York will have to pay more. No
matter the details, the buck
will stop with each Democrat
who voted for this plan.
All of this lunacy could
provide a path for the GOP
to bring much-needed sanity
and balance to Albany
in next year’s elections. For
this, many of the borough Republican
parties need to get
their acts together, or prepare
for new, independentminded
reformers to pick up
the slack.
Bob Capano is a professor
of political science of more
than 15 years.
THE RIGHT
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