The components of D.C.’s new smart meter for taxicabs, including the meter, GPS, credit card payment option, and TV.

When D.C. residents want nice things, you can count on Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) to step in and make them harder to get.

The Examiner reports that Barry has filed a disapproval resolution over a plan by Mayor Vince Gray to pay to install smart meters in the city’s 6,500 taxicabs. Gray recently announced a $35 million contract for the smart meters, and after protest by drivers over the costs of installing them agreed to put $1.3 million in city funds towards installation.

Barry’s resolution delays the installation by at least 45 days, unless he withdraws it before then. Alternatively, cab drivers could pay to have the meters installed themselves, which is estimated to cost around $400 per cab. City officials were hoping to have the smart meters installed in the next few months.

The smart meters could also be delayed by the protests of two firms who lost out during the bidding process; the companies insist that the winning bidder was given preferential treatment, a claim that city officials reject.

Barry has in the past used contract disapproval resolutions to extract concessions from his colleagues. In June, Barry filed a disapproval resolution over a $50 million contract for the construction of a streetcar maintenance facility; he lifted the disapproval a week later after he said he was promised that construction jobs would go to D.C. residents. Barry has inveighed against plans for modernization of the city’s taxicab fleet, saying that the costs of implementing measures like credit card readers and a uniform cab color would drive local cabbies out of business.