I like the Mayor of New York. A lot of people say he's a bum, and of course this is NY so they're entitled. But I like him. He's his own man, he's smart and he thinks like a businessperson, because he is one. NY has two kinds of mayors. No matter how much you like them, some of them are pretty good and others are really awful. And like NY itself, there aren't too many mediums. It's mostly extremes. Some examples. John Lindsay was very likeable, but a bad mayor. Abe Beame -- a disaster. Ed Koch, who I happen to like, was a very good mayor. Rudy Giuliani -- bad. Bloomberg, well of course he's still mayor, so the jury's still out -- but so far -- good! Anyway, here's my idea for Hizoner the Mayor. I'm going to a meeting uptown later today. It's a fifteen minute bike ride. A half-hour subway ride. The weather isn't good enough yet, but in a couple of weeks it will be. I'd like to ride my bike. And I know that the mayor wants me to too. So how about offering a tax break to office buildings that provide on-site bike checkin and checkout. I'm not good enough at locking these things up when I get there to be willing to take the chance on losing my bike. But I would love to ride there if I knew in advance that they would hold my bike downstairs while I went to my meeting upstairs. Maybe no tax break is needed, if there's a surplus of office space in NYC. It could be a differentiator. Locate your company here because you'll hire healthier employees. |