When the New Orleans City Council voted 7-0 on Sept. 2 to authorize for-hire pedicabs in New Orleans, would-be operators and prospective customers could reasonably have expected the first pedal-powered rickshaws would appear on the city's streets by the end of the year. Since that time, however, a series of bureaucratic foul-ups has caused delay after delay, and it...
When the New Orleans City Council voted 7-0 on Sept. 2 to authorize for-hire pedicabs in New Orleans, would-be operators and prospective customers could reasonably have expected the first pedal-powered rickshaws would appear on the city's streets by the end of the year.
The plan now calls for the bureau to review all the applications submitted. If they meet minimum standards the city has set, they will go into a lottery. Each chosen applicant then will be awarded as many permits as it has requested.Since that time, however, a series of bureaucratic foul-ups has caused delay after delay, and it remains anybody's guess when pedicabs will be able to start picking up passengers.
The city finally is scheduled to hold a much-delayed public hearing Friday on proposed rules and regulations governing the new mode of transportation, but the legality even of that proceeding has been challenged.
The hearing, to be conducted by the city's Ground Transportation Bureau, is set for 1 p.m. in the council chamber at City Hall.
The first major delay occurred when pedicab opponents pointed out that the ordinance approved Sept. 2 had not been published beforehand in the city's official journal, making the vote invalid. By the time the council could properly advertise and re-pass the law, seven weeks had gone by.
It then was up to the Ground Transportation Bureau, the arm of the Safety and Permits Department that regulates taxicabs and other for-hire vehicles, to write a set of policies and regulations for pedicabs' operation, especially the policies for processing permit applications.
The council directed the bureau to submit the rules by Nov. 11.
In presenting its document, however, the bureau overlooked a requirement in the City Charter that before proposing any regulations to the council, a city department must first "publish notice of the intention to adopt such regulation" in the newspaper that serves as the city's official journal.
That meant the council could not consider the regulations in November, as planned, causing another delay.
Meanwhile, top officials in Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration and Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, chairwoman of the council's Transportation Committee and chief sponsor of the pedicabs ordinance, expressed great unhappiness with the policies the Ground Transportation Bureau had proposed.
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Ann Duplessis took the lead in rewriting the document, in the process dropping the bureau's plan for an elaborate scoring and ranking system to decide who would get the permits.
Instead, the plan now calls for the bureau to review all the applications submitted. If they meet minimum standards the city has set, they will go into a lottery. Each chosen applicant then will be awarded as many permits as it has requested. Duplessis said.
The law passed by the council says that during an initial trial period of 12 to 24 months, only 45 permits will be issued, with an owner or company allowed to have as many as 15 cabs.
That apparently means that if the first three applications drawn in the lottery all want the maximum of 15 permits, only three companies will be able to operate pedicabs in New Orleans. On the other hand, if most of the names drawn want only one or two permits, the new industry could potentially involve dozens of operators.
The revised regulations also drop a requirement for business plans, but they still call for applicants to present evidence of "solid financial backing" and retain references to the now-abandoned scoring system.
Notice of Friday's hearing was published three times this month, and Duplessis said recently that she hoped that after it is held, the council's Transportation Committee would approve the regulations and send them to the full council for action next month.
However, Mike Tifft, an attorney for a group of carriage and tour companies trying to block what they see as competition for tourist dollars, filed objections Thursday to today's hearing, saying it would be illegal on several grounds, including that the published notice did not give the text of the regulations, or even a summary of them, and that it did not state their "fiscal impact," both of which he said are required.
Administration spokesman Ryan Berni said late Thursday that the hearing will go ahead as planned but that it is likely not to be the only one. Anticipating a large number of speakers and comments, he said another hearing probably will be needed, adding yet another delay in getting pedicabs on the streets.
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Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3320.