Go to hail!
A Manhattan judge yesterday put the brakes on Mayor Bloomberg’s plan for street-hail livery cabs in the outer boroughs, ruling that City Hall’s attempt to bypass the hostile City Council in favor of Albany was unconstitutional.
It’s a sharp blow to the mayor, who had been counting on $1 billion rolling into city coffers from the sale of 2,000 yellow-cab medallions, which were included as a provision in the bill.
Bloomberg had promised in his State of the City address to implement the street hails in upper Manhattan and in the outer boroughs.
But his plan hit a speed bump with the City Council — where many members receive hefty campaign contributions from yellow-cab medallion owners.
Those taxi honchos opposed the plan, saying it diluted the value of their medallions.
When negotiations with the City Council broke down, City Hall turned to Albany to pass legislation.
Furious medallion owners sued, saying the City Council needed to OK the plan.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron yesterday sided with the medallion owners.
“The contents of the subject legislation are all New York City ‘stuff,’ ” he wrote.
“The new medallioned taxicabs and hail vehicles would be picking up passengers, and almost always dropping them off, in New York City . . . The city is up to the task of regulating its own taxicabs.”
Engoron — a former yellow-cab driver — said that the law allowing the outer-borough fleet should not have gone to Albany without a “home rule” vote from the City Council.
That law allows the state to take up a city matter.
“Occasional trips across the periphery of New York City cannot justify the state Legislature in driving a stake through the heart of home rule,” he wrote.
A disappointed Taxi & Limousine Commissioner David Yassky said he would appeal.
“The court’s decision today is a great loss to millions of New Yorkers outside of Manhattan, as well as for the professional livery drivers whose ability to feed their families by providing a popular service their communities want and deserve. . . is now in jeopardy,” he said in a statement.
Michael Cardozo, the city’s lawyer, said, “We are confident that the appellate court will uphold the state law.”