Uber threat

Mayor and council must stand strong.

Uber says that its drivers make great pay, and we don’t doubt it. Former Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell is getting $ 50,000 for his job with Uber — good work if you can get it.

But don’t expect him to pick you up after last call on Sixth Street. Leffingwell is only doing a few months of consulting work in an election that’s shaping up to be the most expensive in the history of Texas municipal politics.

The fight revolves around an Austin city referendum to strike down certain regulations, such as fingerprint background checks, on Uber, Lyft and other transportation network companies. By the time the ballots are counted on Saturday, Uber and Lyft will have spent more than $ 8 million — six times larger than Austin’s previous record and about four times what Sylvester Turner spent to tack mayor onto his title. This unprecedented cash pile from only two sources is the system at its worst, a reprehensible slap at the democratic process. And soon, it’s coming right here to Bayou City.

Last week, Uber threatened to leave Houston if City Hall didn’t get rid of fingerprint checks for drivers, a system designed to protect passengers.

For too long, Houston’s ride-for-hire business was dominated by a taxi cartel that used restrictive ordinances to keep out competition. Uber’s arrival smashed that status quo and brought Houstonians a quicker, cleaner and cheaper free-market alternative to rickety taxis.

Sure, Uber willfully disobeyed local laws and used every trick in the book to put political pressure on City Hall, but it was worth it so that Houstonians wouldn’t have to wait two hours to learn that a cab wasn’t coming. In the end, City Hall hammered out a deal to remove the regulatory barriers that prohibited Uber from entering the market.

But apparently that wasn’t enough. Now, as Turner and council tackle a budget crisis, a pension mess and all the f allout of recent floods, Uber expects them to drop everything and put its bizarrely specific pet issue on the immediate agenda.

Don’t let them take you for a ride, Mayor Turner. Don’t give in to their threats.

In the world of political carrots and sticks, Uber deserves a good bop on the nose for its tone-deaf and entitled attitude toward our city.

And if the company decides to leave? We’re sure someone else will fill the niche in the open vehicle-for-hire market. Houstonians are willing to pay for a clean, quick ride across our sprawling city, and it’s good work if you can get it.