City cabdrivers are ready to battle Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, who raked in thousands in campaign donations from an exploitative taxi honcho — causing concern among hacks that he will unravel all of the progress they’ve made under the current Taxi & Limousine Commission.
“We are preparing ourselves to go to war,” said veteran cabby Beresford Simmons, 60.
“I think he will be for the brokers and owners, not the drivers. He’s gotten a lot of money from them.”
Cabbies are considering boycotting New York City tourist areas to show just how important they are to the city’s economy.
The de Blasio campaign took donations from crooked taxi-fleet boss Gene Freidman, who was slapped with a $ 1.2 million penalty by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the TLC for ripping off drivers.
Freidman bundled more than $ 50,000 in funds to the campaign, making him one of de Blasio’s biggest donors.
His four companies own almost 900 medallions, which go for about $ 1.2 million a pop.
During the campaign, de Blasio said he would immediately fire current TLC Commissioner David Yassky — and Yassky is officially stepping down Tuesday.
“It’s very bad news for the drivers,” said Simmons. “
I’ve never seen a commissioner so responsive to the drivers.”
Yassky was hailed by cabbies. In the four years he headed up the TLC, Yassky adjusted regulations so drivers could take home more money from their fares and cracked down on fleets cheating drivers.
“We’ve done a lot to make driving a taxi a better job,” Yassky said during an exit interview with The Post.
“I do think it’s a better job than four years ago.”
He said the green outer-borough taxi program is a major part of his legacy, as is new technology like e-hail apps.
Yassky also doubled the number of TLC inspectors, who go after dangerous illegal cabs.
But Yassky said his four years “were not without flaws.” He wished he had rolled out the outer-borough taxis sooner and was disappointed that a judge struck down the TLC’s power to make the Taxi of Tomorrow the uniform car throughout the city.
Yahoo Local News – New York Post
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=19846
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