He’s no Mr. Softee!
Far-left Brooklyn Councilman Lincoln Restler is pushing new legislation that would require Mr. Softee and other Big Apple ice cream trucks to stop powering their soft-serve machines and freezers with generators that use fuel.
The bill would require the vendors to switch over to environmentally friendly alternatives like electric or solar power — likely at a cost of $5,000 or more.
The ice-cold measure, introduced Thursday, is already under attack from Restler’s riled-up colleagues who fear it could put some vendors out of business and have kids screaming about ice cream of the lack thereof.
“In the dog days of August, it’s hard to imagine more of a killjoy than putting one’s climate bullseye on our iconic ice cream man, but behold, I give you Councilman Lincoln Restler,” quipped Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island).
“That’s not the ice caps melting, kids, it’s your summertime tears.”
Added Borelli: “Sometimes I try to convince myself that hipster Brooklyn is part of the real world, with real-world problems, and then Lincoln Restler goes and reminds us of priority number one: banning the ice cream man.”
A Mr. Softee vendor parked in front of Pier 34 on the Lower East Side said there was no need for a meltdown.
“I’m not worried about it – it’s not gonna happen. It’s too expensive,” said the vendor, who has owned two trucks for 20 years. “They would have to make all of the construction sites and food vendor trucks do the same thing and that’s just not gonna happen.”
Restler, a notorious hater of cars, didn’t speak about the bill at Thursday’s Council meeting but confirmed to The Post that it’s in response to complaints he’s received about diesel-spewing ice cream trucks stinking up Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO and other neighborhoods.
The bill would give trucks three years to switch over to electric or solar energy.
“I promise you there is not a member of the City Council who loves ice cream more than me and we are committed to supporting every small business owner and Mr. Softee seller in the city of New York,” Restler told The Post. “If there’s a need for including a loan program or grants into this legislation, I’m happy to consider it.”
Some critics on X got straight to the pint of the loony legislation.
“I’m sure the small business owners that will require this conversion will be getting a fat check from the city, right?” snarked PoliticallyAnnoyed@MillieOfferman.
“Great use of your time, thanks for this brilliant piece of legislation,” posted Alec Raggio@Skridaggio, adding, “Way to stick it to the working class again. Go get ’em!”
Marveled another tweeter: “$8 million a day on migrants sleeping in the streets and this [clown] wants to cancel ice cream trucks?”
Restler had at least one ally. Lower East Side resident Leon Frierson, 63, who has been working his Mr. Softee truck since 1968, “didn’t think it was a bad idea” to make the environmental switch, before adding, “I’m ready to retire.”
Additional reporting by Georgia Worrell and Sofia Barnett
