Traffic & Transit
West Village Pol's Fake Golf Carts-Only Law Goes Over Weirdly Well
Council Member Erik Bottcher broke out a dad joke for April Fool's Day, but the golf cart idea quickly gained traction on Twitter.
WEST VILLAGE, NY — A West Village rep's joke idea on Friday about replacing all cars in Manhattan with golf carts received more approval than expected.
Council Member Erik Bottcher tweeted a clear April Fool joke Friday morning stating he was introducing legislation to replace cars with golf carts in Manhattan.
"Golf carts will be the only permitted type of motor vehicles in Manhattan, a major step toward making NYC the first "golf carts only" municipality in the USA," the Council District 3 representative wrote.
Find out what's happening in West Villagefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: COUNCIL MEMBER BOTTCHER TO INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO REPLACE CARS WITH GOLF CARTS IN MANHATTAN
Golf carts will be the only permitted type of motor vehicles in Manhattan, a major step toward making NYC the first “golf carts only” municipality in the USA pic.twitter.com/RxlkUduPba
— Erik Bottcher (@ebottcher) April 1, 2022
The press release is just detailed enough to trick a person who was not paying attention to the date.
"Seriously though, how cool will this be?" Bottcher said in the release. "Who wouldn't want to cruise down Fifth Avenue in a golf cart at 14 miles an hour? No one, that's who."
Find out what's happening in West Villagefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The release also features comments from the "sole employee" of the phony Carts Not Cars Campaign and specific components the golf carts would have such as headlights, seat belts, drink holders, seat warmers, SiriusXM radio, and vehicle identification numbers.
Twitter ate the idea up.
"When you think you're making an April Fools joke but realized most of your constituents actually would prefer this model," one person wrote in response to the tweet.
"I know this is a joke, but it's hard to overstate how much this would actually improve New York safety, noise, air quality, city aesthetics, usable land and probably traffic too," another person wrote.
"Please actually do this," pleaded Build Brooklyn Better.
Their pleas appear to have been heard by Richard Gottfried, the longtime and now-retiring Assembly member.
"I will immediately introduce in the NYS Assembly," the lawmaker replied.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.