“New York will no longer be anti-business,” Mayor-elect Eric Adams has vowed. He can prove he means it, even before taking office, by announcing he’ll lift his predecessor’s nutty, anti-business vaccine mandates the minute he becomes mayor four days after the orders take effect.
Lame duck Mayor Bill de Blasio sprung the new rules on employers Monday with no warning, leaving them just three weeks to comply, and less than two weeks after the details are set.
That’s right: Hizzoner hasn’t even worked out the details yet for the only-big-city-in-America order requiring all private-sector workers to show proof of vaccination. Businesses will have to scramble to comply — a surprise, unwelcome and large cost — and figure out how to keep going if they lose key unvaxxed workers.
“As many employers, especially small businesses, are still struggling with labor shortages, the mayor’s private-business mandates mean more pain for the city’s economy,” sighs Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Randy Peers. They create “more confusion and problems,” adds NY Hospitality Alliance head Andrew Rigie.
If Adams is going to nix the mandate eventually, he might as well do it now, and spare companies the hassle. Businesses need certainty to operate and plan. Even if de Blasio insists on keeping them for those four days, no one would comply; many already plan to wait to see what Adams will do. (Heck, it’s not even clear if the mandates are legal.)
Yes, Adams may decide to keep the vax rules. A spokesman says he’ll review them once in office. But that would be a mistake, since they have no real point: COVID is no longer a major issue in the city, especially with 90 percent of adults already vaxxed and even more with naturally acquired immunity. And even the World Health Organization sees such mandates as a bad idea. Waiting to decide would miss the chance to avoid de Blasio-caused turmoil.
Plus: By setting rules to take effect just four days before Adams takes office, de Blasio is trying to tie his successor’s hands. It’s a power play — and Adams has no obligation to play along.
New York “is going to be a place where we welcome business and not turn into the dysfunctional city that we have been for so many years,” Adams promised in September. “Government must do its job to create an environment for growth.”
If Adams truly wants to avoid “dysfunction,” he can start by squashing this dysfunctional de Blasio order now.