New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wrote an editorial in the New York Daily news promoting his restrictive position against the car service, Uber.
Blaming the businesses for additional street congestion and pollution, De Blasio proposed legislation that would halt expansion of ride-hailing companies, such as Uber and Lyft. Today, he backed down, but not before celebrities, who would usually side with the progressive populist NYC mayor, took to social media to criticize his handling of the new shared economy.
Actor Ashton Kutcher took to social media to defend the companies. TheBlaze reported a post Kutcher made on Facebook on:
“I am beside my self with the regulation that Mayor DeBlasio is trying to force upon Uber and the citizens of NYC,” Kutcher wrote on his Facebook page Monday night. “He clearly has his pockets lined by the cab co’s.”
“He talks about discrimination in NYDailyNews OP ed but has no idea how hard it is for ethnic people to get a cab. He talks about protecting drivers but has no idea about the people who drive for Uber to subsidize their income,” Kutcher continued. “He talks about congestion but doesn’t even recognize that Uber is a fraction of a fraction of the traffic in the city. He talks about data but fails to recognize that he has none. He’s trying to regulate a problem with out providing a single solution other than putting a target on a companies back so he can keep getting political funding from another. This is the kind of corrupt shortsighted politics that is destroying innovation.”
Kutcher isn’t the only one none-to-pleased with de Blasio’s editorial. Uber NYC General Manager Josh Mohrer also slammed de Blasio’s claim that Uber needed stricter regulation. TheBlaze continued:
“When your proposal to cap Uber was introduced, your administration said it was about congestion. The op-ed you wrote in the New York Daily News this weekend was about everything but congestion,” Mohrer said in a letter to de Blasio. “If you have new concerns, we want to discuss them, face-to-face, and invite you to do so in a live-streamed conversation so all New Yorkers can watch.”
WNBC-TV reported that de Blasio has declined Uber’s offer to debate, claiming that he doesn’t debate private corporations.
“Uber is a multibillion-dollar corporation, and they’re acting like one,” he said.
And then, there was Kate Upton.
De Blasio, obviously, had no intention of debating a private corporation, anyway, but I would have placed my bets on Mohrer. I would have made a killing. After all, he collapsed at the thought of angering movie stars, which he was clearly more afraid of than cab companies and unions.
