LIVERY DEAL IS NIXED
Judge denies street hails
HAIL NO!
A judge flashed the red light Friday at Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to allow some livery cabs to pick up street hails outside Manhattan — blowing a billion-dollar hole in the city’s budget.
The ruling blocks the city from carrying out two key initiatives: selling 2,000 lucrative yellow cab medallions and authorizing up to 18,000 livery cabs to accept street hails in northern Manhattan and the outer boroughs.
The decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron means the city loses out on $1.46 billion in revenue it had hoped to generate from medallion sales.
City Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo blasted the judgment — and vowed to appeal.
“The irrational fear of lost profits by medallion owners and lenders should not be permitted to derail these important programs,” Cardozo said.
Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman David Yassky ripped the decision as a “great loss” to borough denizens and livery drivers.
The ruling also sparked outrage from New Yorkers living in the outer boroughs.
“It’s not right. Yellow cabs don’t come here in the first place,” said Vincent Concepcion, a 48-year-old carpenter from Red Hook, Brooklyn.
“How are we going to get to the rest of the city?”
Justin Acevedo, 18, said he and other Bronx residents have resigned themselves to feeling like second-class citizens.
“Manhattan has everything we don’t,” added Acevedo of Hunts Point.
But medallion owners cheered the decision.
“We are pleased that the court has seen though the rhetorical smoke and mirrors used in the attempt to circumvent the state constitution,” said a rep for the Greater New York Taxi Association, which represents medallion owners.
The long-awaited ruling by Engoron, who himself drove a cab as an undergraduate at Columbia University, caps a high-stakes battle that pitted the Bloomberg administration against the influential taxi fleet owners.
Hizzoner argued that the plan would make travel safer and easier for millions of New Yorkers .
Yellow cab fleet owners countered that the proposal would devalue their investments and cut into their profits. They argued that Bloomberg did an end-run around the City Council in reaching a deal, which passed in Albany in December.
In his ruling, Engoron said the plan violates the state constitution, which says the Legislature can act on local issues only at the request of local legislative bodies.
“When all is said and done, railways are a state concern. Taxicabs are a local concern,” he wrote.