The Uber vs. Yellow Cab war will never be over. On Tuesday, the de Blasio administration, along with the City Council, presented a proposal to temporarily cap the number of new vehicle licenses—by yesterday, Uber already had a statement. Josh Mohrer, the company’s New York City general manager, told Crain’s that the proposal would hurt the entire app-based vehicle system. “It’s going to break it,” he told Crain’s. Some possible repercussions of this proposal, Mr. Mohrer said, included Uber cars taking longer to respond to passengers, increasing fares, and customers fleeing the service. In addition, everyone’s favorite: surge pricing would become more common. (Crain’s New York)
Did Mayor de Blasio reject a deal on Wednesday to raise the city’s minimum wage to $11.50? The Daily News says yes. But why? The deal, offered on Tuesday, would have hiked the minimum wage by nearly three dollars, but in return, Senate leaders wanted Mr. de Blasio to agree to support a bill that would give newly hired cops and firefighters three-fourths of their salaries if they retire on disabilities. (Daily News)
Good news for all New Yorkers. On Wednesday, MTA Chairman Thomas Pendergast promised to continue fighting the rats in the subway system. According to Mr. Prendergast, the MTA is currently removing trash to starve rodents, but in the future, the it plans to buy vacuum drains that would ideally suck all the rubbish from the tracks. (New York Post)
Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt of Riverdale Jewish Center, who has been accused of taking boys as young as 12 to a sauna, will still remain the synagogue’s spiritual leader. Last night, at a members-only event, Mr. Rosenblatt told the 700-member synagogue that he intended to stay in charge, despite the scandal. “This is a crisis created by my own lapses of judgment,” Mr. Rosenblatt said on a transcript of recording of last night’s speech acquired by the Times. “I have brought pain to people, shame to my family and I have caused a desecration of the divine name.” He’s been the head of the synagogue for over 30 years. Mr. Rosenblatt’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said on Wednesday that the rabbi will remain in his position because “this is the rabbi’s life and he didn’t want to leave the pulpit.” (New York Times)
Keizo Shimamoto––the genius behind Smorgasburg’s Ramen Burger––will be opening a food shack serving ramen at the forthcoming Queens Smorgasburg on July 11th. Ramen Shack will present new styles of ramen every week, even cold ramen at some point. “Ramen Shack will be a way for me to showcase all the things I’ve learned about ramen over the years after quitting my job in finance and living the ramen dream in Japan,” Mr. Shimamoto told the Gothamist. (Gothamist)
