Friday, June 19, 1998
By Meredith OBrien
If Mayor Thomas M. Menino doesn't sign the home rule petition to crackdown on bicycle couriers that's sitting on his desk by Monday, the legislationwhich he asked the City Council to quickly act on will die because thecouncil made minor changes to the measure.
The City Council two weeks ago passed a set of regulations -- whichmust also receive approval from the Legislature -- to regulate the behaviorof reckless messengers by requiring large license plates and insuranceand empowering Police Commissioner Paul F. Evans to revoke or suspend thelicenses.
Evans, along with members of the Menino administration, business ownersand couriers, worked for months to craft the regulations after the crashbetween a courier and School Committee member William Spring, who was seriouslyinjured in October.
Evans is now reportedly dissatisfied with some changes the council madeto the measure, including removing the requirement that couriers wear armbands and eliminating the provision that would have made messengers payan additional $25 fee every time they change companies within a calendaryear.
The mayor, who in April urged the council to approve the regulations"at the earliest possible date," may pocket veto the regulationsif he doesn't sign the measure by Monday. If the measure isn't signed bythen, it will automatically die.
"We acted responsibly with this," said Councilor Stephen J.Murphy, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee. "Now they'replacing it in jeopardy. To me, it's a bit of an annoyance."
Jacque Goddard, Menino's press secretary, said the mayor is waitingfor the Police Department to review the revised legislation before decidingwhether to sign it. "The mayor won't sign it until we get word back(from the police)," she said.
Sources say Evans is particularly upset that the council removed thearm band provision. "The arm band is kind of key," said PoliceSgt. Margot Hill, police spokeswoman. "I can see us having a problemwith that."
Murphy said that after listening to courier testimony, the council decidedthat mandating the arm bands would result in a group of "marked people."
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