Friday, June 19, 1998
By Meredith OBrien
If Mayor Thomas M. Menino doesn't sign the home rule petition to crack down on bicycle couriers that's sitting on his desk by Monday, the legislation which he asked the City Council to quickly act on will die because the council made minor changes to the measure.
The City Council two weeks ago passed a set of regulations -- which must also receive approval from the Legislature -- to regulate the behavior of reckless messengers by requiring large license plates and insurance and empowering Police Commissioner Paul F. Evans to revoke or suspend the licenses.
Evans, along with members of the Menino administration, business owners and couriers, worked for months to craft the regulations after the crash between a courier and School Committee member William Spring, who was seriously injured in October.
Evans is now reportedly dissatisfied with some changes the council made to the measure, including removing the requirement that couriers wear arm bands and eliminating the provision that would have made messengers pay an additional $25 fee every time they change companies within a calendar year.
The mayor, who in April urged the council to approve the regulations "at the earliest possible date," may pocket veto the regulations if he doesn't sign the measure by Monday. If the measure isn't signed by then, it will automatically die.
"We acted responsibly with this," said Councilor Stephen J. Murphy, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee. "Now they're placing it in jeopardy. To me, it's a bit of an annoyance."
Jacque Goddard, Menino's press secretary, said the mayor is waiting for the Police Department to review the revised legislation before deciding whether 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 the arm band provision. "The arm band is kind of key," said Police Sgt. Margot Hill, police spokeswoman. "I can see us having a problem with that."
Murphy said that after listening to courier testimony, the council decided
that mandating the arm bands would result in a group of "marked people."
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