‘I’m not going to have anything to do with a bill that does not respect the rights of the disabled community,” Gov. Cuomo said Friday, dissing a measure that would notably boost the number of wheelchair-friendly city taxis.
Welcome to the world of New York City taxi politics, where hidden (and often corrupt) agendas are the order of the day — and riders come dead last.
Just as they likely will again this week, should the bill be dramatically altered — or go down in defeat altogether.
It’s been this way for decades. As far back as 1932, Mayor Jimmy Walker wound up quitting after he couldn’t explain how $26,000 from a taxi fleet turned up in his pocket.
By 1937, industry power — exploiting concern for drivers’ low wages — led the city to pass the Haas Act, which capped the number of legal taxis via a medallion system.
The idea was to purposely eliminate the competition among taxis that was hammering down fares and making riders scarce for the guys behind the wheel.
It worked: The number of legal taxis shrunk, and for decades just 11,787 medallions circulated — well below what the growing city needed.
Cabs got hard to come by. Indeed, most areas outside Manhattan rarely ever saw a yellow taxi — even as many of the 50,000 licensed medallion-cab drivers sat sidelined for lack of cars.
On the other hand, competition for riders waned and fares stabilized. Of course, the medallion owners — notably, the fleets — reaped more of the income rewards than the drivers. (That’s why, unlike cities like London, so many New York cabbies are immigrants.)
Oh, and the price of a medallion started shooting up, from $10 back then to $1 million today. And we got a host of work-arounds — gypsy cabs, illegal street pickups by livery cars, dollar vans and the like.
Today, the industry remains one of the most potent forces in city politics — strong enough, it seems, to defeat even a billionaire mayor’s bid for a minor reform.
Mayor Mike did get state lawmakers to pass his bill, but it dies unless Cuomo signs it by tomorrow — and he’s dug in his heels.
The bill would let 30,000 livery cars pick up street hails in the outer boroughs and north of 96th Street in Manhattan. It would also hike the number of medallions by 1,500. Small steps, but progress.
Cuomo claims that it fails the disabled community. Huh? Eight million New Yorkers long for more legal cabs, particularly in the poorly served outer boroughs — and the governor is fretting about folks with non-foldable wheelchairs? That’s just 6,000 people, according to city figures.
Besides, the bill already reserves a third of the new medallions for wheelchair-ready taxis.
In other words, by holding up the measure, Cuomo’s reducing opportunities for those he says he wants to help.
What’s he really after? Well, he’s demanded “incentives” for livery-car owners, supposedly to get them to pay for expensive wheelchair-ready cars. He hasn’t publicly detailed what he has in mind, but one sticking point, reportedly, is the “marketability and transferability” of livery-car permits.
In English, that means making the permits more like . . . yup, medallions — complete, perhaps, with their own government-made shortage.
Riders, who now at least can often (illegally) hail a non-medallion car, could well wind up with fewer options. Yet again.
And why would Cuomo want that? Perhaps he really cares about “the disabled community” — all 6,000 of them.
Then again, maybe the industry’s army of lobbyists, including power-hitters like ex-Sen. Al D’Amato, and their juicy political contributions figure into it. And it remains that the governor’s dad, ex-Gov. Mario Cuomo, sits on the board of a company that lends big bucks to the industry.
No one but the gov knows exactly what he wants or why. But given the industry’s record, dating to Jimmy Walker, here’s some free advice: Whatever the bill’s fate, if it’s raining and you need a cab, be sure to have a really good umbrella.