New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission was sued by taxi-medallion owners over claims the agency is trying to reduce medallion values in retaliation for a challenge to a plan to allow car services to pick up passengers.
The Greater New York Taxi Association, a group representing the owners of about 1,500 medallions, filed the suit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan today, seeking a declaration that recent moves by the TLC and Commissioner David Yassky are “arbitrary and capricious” and asking to have them annulled.
“These illegal actions are all part of a concerted plan concocted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Yassky to severely and recklessly diminish the value of taxi medallions for no reason other than to retaliate against medallion owners who successfully challenged the Mayor’s illegal plans,” the group said in its suit.
The drivers accuse the commission of reaching a secret pact with the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance, a group representing cab drivers, to support the plan to allow car services to pick up street fares in the city’s boroughs outside Manhattan in exchange for a fare increase, a lower percentage fee for credit card charges and a health and disability fund for the drivers.
A medallion is a license from the commission to operate a New York City taxicab.
Borough Plan
A state judge in June blocked the outer-borough plan, saying that three taxi groups had demonstrated it would cause them irreparable injury.
Governor Andrew Cuomo struck a deal with lawmakers in December for the city to permit car services to respond to passengers who hail them on the street outside Manhattan. The state legislature passed the law in February. Rules to implement the legislation were approved by the Taxi and Limousine Commission in April and were to take effect in June.
Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance, which wasn’t named as a defendant in the lawsuit, didn’t immediately respond to a telephone message left at the group’s headquarters today seeking comment on the lawsuit.
The city is awaiting the lawsuit and will review it carefully, Kate O’Brien Ahlers, a spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department, said in a telephone interview.
The mayor is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.
The case is Greater New York Taxi Association v. New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, 103904/2012, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan).
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net
now we the drivers have to file a law suit against medallion owners
for making the lease too expensive and not paying overtime hours and benefits .
Can anybody translate this article? Mayor reducing the price of medallion ? How can he do that ? I thought the price reflects the demand .
As I understand it, is that city owns the medallions and medallion owners are leasing them from the city . The city can let the price loose or it can cap it at certain price . In other words, city said :”we can make you guys reach if you cooperate with us, or you won’t make any money if you’ll become shrewed .
Basically,city made a very generous offer by saying ; Hey,Guys we pay you one million dollars for your medallions, but you let us, also, make few bucks . Medallion owners got greedy and said :”not only we want this money , but we want a complete monopoly” I’m on a city side, let greedy bustards go broke, I won’t miss’em.
These medallion owners assosiations sound like communist party leaders, dictating millions of people how should they live their lives .Who are they to tell us should we use metered cabs in outer boroughs or should we be victimized by unregulated car service cabs ? I thought communism, nazism, mafia are illegal in America .
What is going on in this country ? Judge decides if people can use metered cabs? Maybe judge will decide who is going to be our next president ?Or , should the judge tell me whom I’m going to sleep with tonight? That judge, who made this desicion ,should be stripped of the bench and be checked if he has any connection with taxi mafia .
First question people ask when they get into my cab :”Why Jews are not funny anymore? ” And I tell’em “Tis ’cause they don’t drive cabs anymore,sir,maam “And then I continue “You see,here you practice your jokes and watch ‘em smile or don’t cab is your lab sort of , and cretins destroyed precius jewel , cost you too much money now days to operate one-let them have it ,and they won’t get any movies and anything ,dull boring life that’s all they gonna get and money they make it will all go to IRS “.
Here is the story. Desai came to Mateo “the cuban” and said; “listen, man, I give you $2 billion and I want all your medallions”, then American guy named Michael Bloomberg heard about the deal and he said: “Hey, fellas, you gotta give me some, its my town after all”. Desai replied; “OK man, but you gotta let my boys drive all over town with meters, roof lights and such”. American said “it’s a deal”, but “the Cuban” exclaimed; “it’s not a Cuba anymore, this is a freaking capitalism down here, I don’t sell and all boroughs are mine!” International relationship at it’s best. Oy Vey. To be continued.
This election reminds me a scene from the movie “Fugitive”,when Harrison Ford tries to reason with Tommy Lee Johnes who simply replies “I don’t care”. Obama can be 100% wrong and Romney can be 100% right,it doesn’t matter,poor will always vote for Obama . You can call it a soft revolution, keep charging cab drivers these outrageous fees and that’s what you gonna get!
Just coined another word ” REPLICANS “
City has nobody to blame but itself.By constantly jacking up the price of medaliion it created these giant “bed bugs” which now dictate everybody what to do. It’s like a scene from a Sci-fi movie ,only misiing is a hero, who can fight these weird creatures.City must support strong taxi driver’s union,it should require “bed bugs”to pay salaries by check on hourly basis ,follow all OSHA regulations ,issue medallions which let only owner drive and nobody else, fixed price is a must, strong will and determination on administration side should bring the old glory to taxi industry.
The biggest mistake city made has been to sepparate itself from the drivers.Instead of calling drivers “them” it should say “us”, instead of searching for every $5 missing , it should make sure drivers make livable wages. Drivers are always willing to help, we are not public enemies, as city try to portray us ,we want city to do well, we like adequate police force, we like clean streets and friendly people, but in the past 30 years I have not a heard a single good word about taxi drivers from the administration.Despite 24 hour exelent service,tons of money we generate we are considered outcasts and loosers.