Hail, No! Judge kayoes Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to let livery cabs make stre

[realizm]

Hail, No! Judge kayoes Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to let livery cabs make street pickups

 

Decision blows a $1 billion hole in city budget

 

By Barbara Ross / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

 

Friday, August 17, 2012, 5:24 PM

Sabo, Robert/New York Daily News

 

Cabbies dressed in yellow shirts joined together to protest plans for looser rules for livery cabs in front of City Hall Monday, June 20, 2011 in Manhattan, New York. TAXI CAB PROTEST

 

 

 

Adams IV, James Monroe (Freelancer)

 

Daily News reporter Ryan Strong hails a livery cab in front of the Atlantic Terminal on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn on January 19, 2011.

 

 

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to allow 18,000 livery cabs to take street hails in the outer boroughs and upper Manhattan got a red light Friday from judge — blowing a big hole in the city’s budget.

 

The ruling, which will likely be appealed, blocks the city from selling 2,000 new medallions for handicapped accessible yellow cabs or authorizing the livery street pickups.

 

The decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron means the city loses out on $1 billion in one-shot revenue it had hoped to generate from medallion sales.

 

Earlier this summer, Engoron temporarily blocked the Bloomberg administration from selling the yellow medallions and taking applications for livery hail licenses after lawyers with the medallion industry argued that the law authorizing the plan was illegal.

 

They said Bloomberg violated the state's home rule law by sidestepping the City Council — which opposes the plan — and going straight to the state Legislature to get it approved. Gov. Cuomo signed the measure after lawmakers added more yellow cabs for the disabled.

 

Opponents also said the mayor had violated the City Charter because the law lets him decide how to spend the $1 billion that the medallion sale will yield — sidestepping the council, which must approve the city's budget. "End runs are legal in football and in politics," Engoron wrote in June.

 

He said the "most basic question" raised by opponents is whether the mayor violated the home rule provision of the state constitution by not going to the Council.

 

"This court has trouble seeing how the provision of taxi service in New York City is a matter than can be wrenched from the hands of city government, where it has resided for some 75 years, and handed over to the state," he said.

 

Engoron signed a temporary restraining order blocking the city from implementing the plan.

 

The judge said the opponents, who now have the exclusive right to pick up street hails, were “likely to succeed” on this issue and they proved they would suffer 'irreparable harm' if the plan were put into effect before the litigation was resolved.

 

Engoron's decision triggered an angry response from Bloomberg who said the judge had blown a $1 billion hole in the mayor's proposed budget and would result in layoffs. Ultimately, the city budget adopted did not have the layoffs he threatened.

 

 

__________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

Entire article can be found here:

http://www.nydailyne...1#ixzz23tdAvrVe

 

 

 

 

Thoughts?

 

 

[lilbluefoxie]

I think the Lincoln Town Car guys should be able to pick up street hails, especially in the outer boros where the regular cabbies refuse to go.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I agree... This is total BS. Folks in the outerboroughs should have access to good car service as well.

[Den]

These livery cab drivers who want this are idiots. They think they will be getting a good deal if they could get these hails but infact they will lose money. They are going to have to pay more taxes and fees. Their cars will be forced for more inspections, which costs more money, they will have to pay to have a meter installed, thats more $$, renewel fees. They will need to buy a new car every certain amount of years and would probably only be from a limited list of cars / manufacturers.

[Far Rock Depot]

But the money needed for all of that could be made from the extra revenue generated from street hails. It also gives riders easier access to cab services that yellow cabs ILLEGALLY refuse on a regular basis (outer boros). And it continues to give yellow cabs a monopoly on street hails. Last time I checked, monopolies are illegal in the US. That was a huge factor in the t-Mobile-at&t merger being denied.

[Den]

But the money needed for all of that could be made from the extra revenue generated from street hails. It also gives riders easier access to cab services that yellow cabs ILLEGALLY refuse on a regular basis (outer boros). And it continues to give yellow cabs a monopoly on street hails. Last time I checked, monopolies are illegal in the US. That was a huge factor in the t-Mobile-at&t merger being denied.

 

 

You cant call it a monopoly. Thats incorrect. Also, Most cab drivers dont want to take people to outer boroughs because they most likely wont get a fare on the way back so they are wasting time and not making money. This is where the livery cabs make their money because people will call them. Ive called cabs to get from Manhattan to outer boroughs, sometimes you have to wait 30mins but its not a big deal. The system should just stay the way it is.