Beneath a statue of Harriet Tubman, some civil rights advocates had a message for the City Council.
"I am here to urge the City Council to delay tomorrow's vote," said one.
"What the City Council is voting on and proposing to do tomorrow is a rush job. It's a discriminatory job, in our opinion," said another.
Their message was clear: legislation the Council is set to pass on Wednesday will make it more difficult for black and brown New Yorkers to get a cab.
"And you know that yellow don't pick up black. You know yellow don't pick up brown," said Kirsten John Foy of the National Action Network.
"If we thought in the Council that this legislation was going to take us backwards or do harm to communities of color, we wouldn't be passing it," said City Councilman Brad Lander.
Rival press conferences were held at different ends of Manhattan on Tuesday in the final hours before the City Council moves to limit the number of for-hire vehicles like Uber and Lyft. It will put a cap on licenses for a year as the city studies the impact the cars have on congestion.
Just hours after civil rights advocates addressed the press in Harlem, a taxi workers' group rallied outside of City Hall.
The Taxi Workers Alliance supports the measure. It sees it as an answer to the financial stress companies like Uber and Lyft have put on drivers. They point to a jarring fact, that six drivers have committed suicide since November.
"We know there is going to be six angels smiling upon us when that moment of victory comes," said Bhairavi Desia of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.
Their families rallied alongside the union.
"The decision for the Council to go ahead and put the vote on the table is just a start. It's not going to be enough to bring back lives," said Ceorge Schifter, whose brother took his own life.
There is not much time left for the public to weigh in on the proposal. The City Council is not expected to take any public testimony when it votes on the legislation on Wednesday.