Queens Rep. Joseph Crowley wants Mayor de Blasio to step in to help the struggling yellow taxi industry and its lenders.
"I believe the city can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to this matter," Crowley, the vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and chairman of the Queens Democratic party, wrote in a letter Wednesday to fellow Dem de Blasio.
New app-based car services like Uber have led to a big drop in value of the yellow cab medallions and have put pressure on the industry lenders, including one that was recently seized by the state and put into conservatorship.
Crowley wrote that without swift city help, the situation will lead to a "further demise of taxi medallion lenders, disruption for depositors, potential taxpayer exposure and the loss of good-paying jobs for hard-working people."
He called on de Blasio to find local legal or financial solutions to assist the industry and its lenders during the transition to more ride-sharing options and "rapidly changing market conditions."
25 comments:
"Hard-working people". "Hard-working people". That's all you ever hear. Now here's someone who really works hard.
This guys has done squat for us. Can someone look into how much money he has harvested from the taxi industry for the Democratic Party?
Remember that money could have gone for good causes in your community - now its going to be used for mind numbing attack ads so Hillary can get elected.
This is the same a-hole who stood by and did nothing while my VHS tape business went bust. He also did nothing while my horse carriage buggy whip business went bankrupt!
The taxi business needs to evolve or die. Getting one of their paid spokesman (Crowley) to try to use our tax dollars to kill its competition is a typical politician move. He obeys his masters (his donors, not the people).
Typical politician. No risk of ever getting voted out of office. This was the reason for term limits.
I am sure Virginia Joe gets a lot of his campaign contributions from the taxi owners.
Who has to work hard being a Congressman?
Instead of pushing all of that crap about , "In the USA anyone can become president" stuff , my grade school teacher shoud have urged me to become a member of Congress. That surely beats the headaches of being the commander in chief, and you get to retire with some golden pension and health coverage.
Virgina Joe showing once again how living in Virgina while pretending to represent Queens has made him an out of touch dumbass.
Medallion values were far too high to begin with, and their drop is one of very few good things Uber has done. The city should have kept with the times and made their own taxi app 4 years back. Instead they missed the boat and now the medallion owners are crying because their no one wants to drive their taxis for below average wages.
You get the government you elect. This asshole needs to go.
Pandering for votes again.
Crowley joins the gang of usual suspects.
From Times Ledger July 23 2015:
The original Uber cap bill, pushed by de Blasio and sponsored by Council members Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest), Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), Paul Vallone (D-Bayside), Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria), among others, would limit Uber to about 200 new drivers in 2015 until the completion of a traffic impact study. Uber supporters pointed out that new jobs would be in jeopardy with the limit on drivers.
Most of the yellow cab garages/businesses are housed in Astoria to be close to Manhattan and yet none service the area's constituents.
Momentum against Uber is growing, or should I say donations.......
All due to UBER!
Taxi owners are all immigrant these days most and are from India and nearby nations. Arabs and Russians too. Many live in Queens so this is why this Queens hack is speaking up for them. Have medallion prices sunk yet due to Uber?
http://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-rise-presses-taxi-lenders-1445471757
Uber’s Rise Presses Taxi Lenders
The values of taxi medallions are plunging, as passengers and drivers increasingly turn to ride-sharing services including Uber and Lyft
By ROBIN SIDEL
Oct. 21, 2015 7:55 p.m. ET
54 COMMENTS
The ride-sharing revolution is causing a pileup in the banking business.
As startups like Uber Technologies Inc. put more pressure on the taxi industry, big and small lenders are being pressed by a steep drop in the value of cab licenses, known as medallions.
Florida lender BankUnited Inc., which has lent $214 million against 577 medallions, was the latest bank to bemoan the reversal. Most of the bank’s medallion loans are in New York City.
“We are all concerned about the value of the collateral,” Chief Operating Officer Raj Singh said Wednesday on a conference call with analysts.
As of now, BankUnited said its medallion borrowers aren’t delinquent, but other lenders can’t say the same.
********** So the Indian owner of a Florida bank lent millions to NYC taxi owners. What a coincidence. Prolly charged his fellow countrymen rip-off interest rates
He looks like Voldemort in that picture.
Add to that his lack of a soul and you have a dead ringer.
he does not even live in NY maybe if he did he would know how hard it is to get a yellow cab in the outer boor's. How he stays in office living in Virginia is shocking to me
Reality is that a large percentage of medallions were owned by only a few billionaire businessmen.
The drivers slaved 12-16 hr days to pay them rent.
Investments do go down in the real world. Cry me a river.
appoint dizzy lizzy to head a committee to help the taxi industry
Chairman of the Queens Democratic Party.
Well, folks, there's our boy. Tha' Kingpin of our all miseries.
Like the English, he doesn't even live here but shows up to collect his taxes.
Reminds me of Giuliani and the Fish Market. Time to break open the cabal and make free enterprise the dominant factor! The kingpins who sold medallions for a million dollars can stand to take one for the team.
Crowley sure looks like he's working hard. Gained 15 pounds perhaps. Check that photo.
when is he going to do something for Irish American constituents and give a couple of them jobs in his offices?
How is this a federal issue? Isn't he a congressman? (of sorts.....)
when is he going to do something for Irish American constituents and give a couple of them jobs in his offices?... If you want a job from Joe you will have to join his band or become a drinking buddy
We need an Uber type form of government to rid ourselves of these career gansters.
Crowley joins the gang of usual suspects.
From Times Ledger July 23 2015:
The original Uber cap bill, pushed by de Blasio and sponsored by Council members Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest), Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), Paul Vallone (D-Bayside), Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria), among others, would limit Uber to about 200 new drivers in 2015 until the completion of a traffic impact study. Uber supporters pointed out that new jobs would be in jeopardy with the limit on drivers.
----
Yet another example of the Vallones (and their boy Costa) working for their interests against that of their constituents.
Uber is awful. The Web 2.0 entrepreneurs care only about being funded by their venture capital partners and being the next Facebook by not hiring employees but contractors. That's why they're getting in trouble in states like California and in other countries. The model is not to hire employees with any benefits and for some being a freelancer is great but there's also little accountability. That's why Uber got a bad rap with an Uber driver who was a potential rapist. Do you really want Uber freelancers driving around with no training, no insurance or limited insurance, and accountability? I don't fell sorry for medallion owners losing value in their investment but then again if your goal is to buy one and you pool your resources with friends and family to own one which is a form of govt monopoly why should your investment be devalued by a bunch of young Web 2.0 entrepreneurs that produce few jobs like hedge fund managers? There are now green taxis serving the outer boroughs and there were always black livery cabs in Queens. The yellow cabbies get robbed, shot, work grueling hours but we're all for Uber. I guess if you work for the govt or private sector and they tell you you're now a contractor withe no pension, 401k, health insurance I guess you all will sign up for that?
Wherever there's a monopoly created by the government, there's always a Democrat there to protect it.
Uber's success in New York is precisely because the Yellow Cabs were (and are) not supplying the services that New Yorkers demanded.
Doesn't this asshole live in Virginia?
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