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The New York City Council is considering a bill that would make ticket-selling web sites admit to charging significant handling fees before you buy the tickets. Speaking on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program, City Councilman Joe Borelli says transparency is crucial to the city’s economy.
“This is sort of a bait-and-switch,” Borelli (R-Staten Island) told Berman and Riedel. “Companies will compete for your business online. Oftentimes, these companies are selling second-hand tickets to the very same shows in the very same part of the theater, and the last-minute, you get popped on these fees, which could add up not just five or ten per cent of the cost, but you’re talking fifty or sixty per cent of the actual ticket cost going to the venue being added on.”
The bill is being sponsored by Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) and has overwhelming support in the City Council. The bill will come up for a vote on Tuesday; it proposes the fee coming up on the screen before the purchase is made, so that buyers will know the final price before buying.
Borelli also fretted about New York’s shift to a more progressive climate that has led to many Republican voters relocating to other states, and why this is making the GOP’s job harder in the Big Apple. “We don’t lose any votes to Kathy Hochul. We don’t lose any votes to Eric Adams. I lose votes to Brian Kemp in Georgia, or to Ron DeSantis in Florida, or to Greg Abbott in Texas. Those are where my voters actually go, so it’s more important for us to try and keep people here, if that’s possible, than trying to convince people who are progressives to vote for us.”
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