After getting grief from everyone, with the exception of
Kenner’s Taxi Companies, over their ill-fated ordinance to regulate
Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft, Kenner Mayor Ben
Zahn called an “Emergency” meeting of the Kenner City Council to reconsider the
ordinance and amend it.
Instead, before a packed council chamber filled with Uber
and Lyft drivers, as well as taxi drivers and members of the community, the
Kenner Council voted to defer adding any amendments to the ordinance.
It is expected that, at the next council meeting, the
council will amend the ordinance to remove the imposition of a $50 “Occupational
License” on TNC drivers, pushed by District 2 Councilman Mike Sigur, as well as
the mandating of trip fees to and from points in Kenner.
The ordinance will still include a $.50 per trip fee imposed
on TNC fares. Mayor Zahn has long pushed for a fee, any fee, that would raise
money for Kenner.
Since the $.50 per trip fee is identical to what New
Orleans, Jefferson Parish and other governmental entities already charge TNCs,
Uber and Lyft will not contest this fee.
District 4 Councilman and Council President Lenny Cline said
that the reason for the deferral was because two council members,
Councilman-At-Large Maria DeFranchesch and District 1 Councilman Greg Carroll,
were absent.
The reality is that the council had a quorum and all three
members of Cline’s Transportation Committee (Cline, Sigur and
Councilman-At-Large Tom Willmott) were present.
Zahn, Cline and Sigur simply didn’t want to listen to comments from the TNC and Taxi drivers that
filled the council chambers.
Without any public comment, the Council voted to defer any
amendments and adjourn the meeting.
As a resident of Kenner, I want to apologize to all of the
Uber/Lyft and Taxi drivers, and members of the community that took time out of
their day (and possibly lost revenue) to attend an “Emergency” meeting, not
have the ability to offer their comments on an ordinance that will impact their
livelihood, and for viewing the dysfunction that is Kenner City Government with
Lyin’ Ben Zahn as Mayor and an impotent Council that can’t get out of its own
way.
By refusing to sit there and listen to the public that they
were allegedly elected to serve and represent, Zahn, Cline, Sigur and the rest
of the Kenner City Council proved once again that they are cowards who care
little about the people of Kenner.
In the end, the “Emergency” Meeting was a colossal waste of
time since this ordinance as written, should never have seen the light of day.
And it wouldn’t have if Kenner City Government had any true
leaders instead of clowns and cowards.
