Jackson Heights taxi graveyard is an eyesore

From CBS 2:

If you’re looking for a taxi ride in New York City, you may have to look elsewhere. There are a whole lot of taxis, but none of them parked at the block-long abandoned gas station have license plates or even medallions.

It’s become a makeshift taxi graveyard, and frustrated people who live and work in the area have been unable to get the city to do anything.

Political Reporter Marcia Kramer demanded answers from a number of city agencies. Officials claim many of the taxis were owned by Gene Friedman, a controversial Russian-American businessman once dubbed the “Taxi King.”

In his heyday, Friedman was a major donor to Mayor de Blasio who raised more than $70,000 for hizzoner. He partnered with President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who city officials believe may now own some of the abandoned vehicles.

Transportation between Brooklyn and Queens is pretty bad

From CityLab:

One might think that getting from Brooklyn to Queens—or vice versa—would be easy.

For one, they’re physically connected to each other; they share the same landmass—the start of Long Island, but not technically Long Island. Secondly, they’re New York’s two biggest population centers. And finally, of the five boroughs, they’re both major drivers of population and job growth in the city right now.

But unless you own a car—which most New Yorkers do not—it’s strangely hard to get from one borough to the other. By subway, residents must seek out train lines at the ends of each borough, before backtracking. Bus routes are notoriously circuitous and slow. Both systems are a result of the spoke-hub model, designed at a time when Queens was comparatively pastoral and Brooklynites largely headed into Manhattan for work. So much so that even in 2018, it’s a common refrain in New York City mass transit that if you’re going between the two boroughs, you’re either going through Manhattan, or not going at all.

That’s what made The Great Cross-Borough Mobility Mode Challenge (that was my name for it, at least) on this steamy Tuesday morning during rush hour a bit more interesting.

Just after 8:30 a.m, seven participants simultaneously left a starting point in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and hopped onto their assigned means of transportation: subway, bus, Citi Bike, Uber, UberPool, taxi, or electric moped. Their goal? Pass this goofy made-up finish line—which had a sign, green tape, and all—outside of the Court Square Diner in Long Island City, Queens, where myself and a handful of other transit-beat reporters were waiting beneath the shadows of rapidly rising condos and subway tracks.

The race was put on by Revel, a shared electric moped company that recently premiered in north Brooklyn. The point of the stunt, beyond snagging some media attention, was to highlight the fact that traveling during rush hour between Brooklyn and Queens sucks. And it only stands to get worse once the L train goes offline for 15 months in April of 2019, dispersing hundreds of thousands of riders onto overburdened stations and roads. The big question: Which of these shared-mobility services, old and new, performs best under pressure?

And they wonder why we own cars here...

How we're clearing out Rikers

From NBC:

Two teens accused of cutting off a cab driver's thumb and slashing several other people in the Bronx are out on $200 bail, and that's not sitting well with one of their alleged victims.

Allegations of special favors in CD 19 race

From the Queens Chronicle:

A separate matter involving the race — the Vallone campaign’s usage of the Four Twos taxi service — has also been a bone of contention between the hopefuls.

According to a spokeswoman for the Campaign Finance Board, the dates listed for expenditure filings are supposed to be the day that the money was paid on. Vallone’s campaign paid the Four Twos taxi service to provide rides to polling sites for voters on primary day.

But the filings listed for the councilman’s re-election campaign on the website are for Sept. 6 and 15, neither of which was the day of the primary.

The Vallone campaign did not return a request for comment about the filing dates.

According to Graziano — who has submitted a complaint to the CFB about the issue — the service gave “dozens” of rides to voters.

The payments to the taxi company — which also received city funding to give rides for a senior transportation program organized by Vallone’s office earlier this year, and will do so again for a slightly different version of the initiative that will kick off later this month — are only $58.65 and $78.25.

Saying that those payments would not cover the number of rides that he said the company gave to voters, Graziano is claiming that the business gave the councilman a “freebie.”

A manager for Four Twos named Jim — he declined to give the Chronicle his last name — said that the claim was “150 percent false. ... Vallone got nothing for free.”

Keeping with agency policy, the CFB declined to comment on Graziano’s complaint.

Forest Hills taxi stand is pissing people off

From NY1:

Our Queens Bureau Reporter Shannan Ferry sat down with anchor Kristen Shaugnessy to talk about a cab stand on Queens Boulevard that has some neighbors up in arms. They say allowing cabs to park on both sides of the street trolling for fares causes traffic congestion and noise. One neighbor, who lives in a nearby condominium, started an online petition asking the city to take action and the local Councilwoman has said she supports an effort to address her constituents' concerns.

Crowley protecting taxi owners

From the Daily News:

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."

About those scooter cabs...

From WPIX:

There's a new cab service in the city but it may be illegal.

"Motoconcho" is the city's only known Vespa taxi service.

Customers can order a ride through an app, then a message is sent to a Vespa driver – who arrives within minutes.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission says such vehicles cannot be used as cabs and the company's owner may be violating city rules.

Dustin Rodriguez says the Taxi and Limousine licenses only apply for cars not scooters.

As seen previously.

Uber has some competition!

"I saw this ad while walking up 34th ave around 105th street in Corona, Queens. I'm pretty sure this type of cab service is illegal. Its worth looking into..." - anonymous

LaGuardia taxi bribery scheme uncovered

From the Queens Courier:

Seven airport taxi dispatchers were busted in an undercover sting operation and charged with unlawfully receiving cash bribes in a taxi-dispatching scheme at LaGuardia Airport, prosecutors said.

The seven defendants are all employees of Port Authority contractor Gateway Group One Frontline Services: Louis Evens, 57, of Valley Stream; Delia Gonzalez, 51, of East Elmhurst; Algimir Kabir, 60, of Kew Gardens; Claudine Roberts, 33, of the Bronx; Claude Tobias, 33, of the Bronx; Gary Luc Valerius, 55, of Valley Stream; and Michael Zalt, 66, of Woodside.

According to the charges, between February and June 2015, the defendants allegedly accepted cash payments of $5 to $10 to allow undercover taxi drivers to skip the long lines in the Central Taxi Holding Area, as required by the Port Authority, and instead go straight to the terminals to pick up passengers.

Each of the drivers was charged with second-degree commercial bribe receiving, official misconduct and receiving unlawful gratuities, and faces up to a year behind bars if convicted.

Green taxis want no part of Jamaica

From DNA Info:

Every day, dozens of cabbies drive down Jamaica Avenue, aggressively competing for passengers. As they travel with their windows rolled down along one of the busiest commercial thoroughfares in the borough, they constantly honk and yell "taxi."

Most of them drive the so-called black or gypsy cabs, which carry no city logos and have no meters, but offer cheap fares, locals said.

There are also dollar vans, which take residents to Cambria Heights, Rochdale, St. Albans or Rockaway for $1.50 to $2.

But the green taxis, which launched in 2013 as part of the city's initiative seeking to provide reliable cab service to the outer boroughs, are nearly absent from the neighborhood’s streets.

Several green cab drivers acknowledged that they avoid Jamaica, because it’s hard to compete with so many other cabbies.

Data provided by the Taxi and Limousine Commission leaves little doubt that green cab drivers favor neighborhoods like Long Island City and Forest Hills, while others, like Jamaica and Ozone Park, are left out.

Dromm is go-to guy on banning horse carriages

From the NY Observer:

Councilman Daniel Dromm, a Queens Democrat, will introduce a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages from city streets, according to a source with knowledge of the legislation.

Mr. Dromm, one of the body’s more liberal members, has been at the forefront of the drive to outlaw the carriages and his role in the bill’s introduction comes as little surprise. Last night, the Observer reported that long-awaited legislation will be introduced as early as the next City Council meeting on December 8.

The bill, a de Blasio administration initiative, will offer displaced carriage drivers free green taxi medallions on the condition that they purchase handicapped-accessible cabs. The union representing the carriage drivers panned the proposal while animal rights activists celebrated Mayor Bill de Blasio’s apparent commitment to one of his more high profile and unpopular–according to polls, at least–campaign pledges.

Massive development to be built atop taxi garage

From the Queens Courier:

The trend of converting parking facilities into new sites for residential development has reached Alert Garage Corp.’s massive lot in Long Island City.

The owner of the nearly one block-sized parking garage filed permits with the Department of Buildings on Wednesday to construct a new 10-story mixed-use residential and commercial tower on the site of the lot.

The property, now used for a parking facility at 30-17 40th Ave., will be developed into a new, mostly residential building with more than 290,000 square feet and 428 units, according to city records.

GKV Architects will be designing the new tower, which will have 214 parking spaces — meeting city requirements based on zoning regulations for the area. The site, however, is located adjacent the 39th Avenue N and Q subway station, giving future residents easy access to transportation.

How many more people do they plan to dump on these over capacity subway lines?

NYPD cleans up Jamaica corner

From Clean Up Jamaica, Queens:

Only in Jamaica would some low-life slumlord try to rent out a public sidewalk next to his building for cars. And that is what was happening at 90-03 172nd Street with the landlord of the typical low-class third world apartment building that are all over Jamaica and other parts of Queens like metastatic cancer. Good job leaders for allowing such crap to be built and destroying the essence of communities. Not only are these buildings total eyesores that you would typically see in some third world countries, but are cheaply built, not well maintained, have garbage issues and also house "low-class people" who pretty much do whatever the hell they want.

But this building took it a few steps further. On a recent walk I noticed several cars parked up over the sidewalk next to the building, including a green taxicab. Well of course I took a photo and sent it to Sgt. Cedillo and The Untouchables who immediately made an appearance and spoke with the landlord. It seems this slime bag was renting out the sidewalk next to his building for people to park their vehicles. Well, The Untouchables shut that bullshit down.

NY-born cabbies a thing of the past

From the NY Times:

The cabbies huddled beside space heaters in the break room of a garage in Long Island City, Queens, playing a Ghanaian version of checkers before their shifts were to begin.

“Greek. African. Couple of Haitians,” said Stanley Wissak, the longtime president of the cab company, 55 Stan, gesturing toward each yellow taxi driver he passed.

“Mr. Stanley, how you doing?” one cabby asked. Mr. Wissak nodded as the man walked away.

“Egypt,” the boss said.

The American-born cabby, long a stalwart of the industry even as immigrants began to dominate its ranks, has now just about vanished.

Today, only 8 percent of New York City taxi and for-hire drivers were born in the United States, the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission said. According to records released in December by the commission, the dearth is particularly pronounced among yellow taxi drivers; of them, 6 percent are native-born.

The numbers are a far cry from 1980, when 62 percent of taxi and for-hire drivers in New York City were born in the United States, according to Census figures cited in a 2004 report by Schaller Consulting. By 1990, the figure had fallen to 36 percent; by 2000, it was down to 16 percent.

The shift to a near-uniform immigrant work force has had a profound effect on the taxi industry, reshaping the relationship between driver and passenger.

Archetypes of a generation past have largely receded from view: the New York know-it-all, the fledgling actor making do between auditions, the student working his way through college behind the wheel.

Former and current drivers said the trend could be traced in large part to changes in cab leasing terms in the 1970s. With rules that now often require much of a long day’s work — a standard shift is 12 hours — just to cover the daily rental rate, there is far less latitude for students, performers or other young New Yorkers to drive cabs for part of the day as supplemental income.

“I went into this thinking it was a steppingstone to something,” said John McDonagh, 59, a cabby who was raised in Middle Village, Queens. But his more than 35 years as a taxi driver have led him to instead perceive his job as a springboard “to the end of my life.”

Another consequence of the lease changes: Taxi operators were once far more invested in the success of their cabbies.

How do elected officials not see this?

"Mr. La Mura/liaison for the borough president and Leroy Comrie/Deputy to the borough president. This is what we have to endure on a daily basis. Photos taken on saturday 1/25/14. Mr. La Mura, you said that you wanted a specific location. Well, this is Dr. Auto located on Merrick Boulevard between 108 & 109 Avenues.

This chop shop and many others along Merrick Boulevard have been operating for years. No one believes that you cannot find this location. Get a GPS and stop your irrational excuses.

Do you know who to blame for this epidemic? The law makers, you and Comrie including who are privileged to sit with them and initiate so-called solutions. Another major problem is that the victims (residents) are keep out of the decision-making process.

About three years ago, then Councilman, Leroy Comrie vowed to make sweeping changes. We are yet to see one broom. However, this is the present situation at hand.

As stated before, the chop shops have now taken over side walks. As seen in the following photos, one car is directly on the sidewalk, another is parked on the street partly blocking the yellow hydrant.

As for the green car, half is parked on the street and the other half is on the sidewalk. It is against the law, but you and your political gangsters are allowing this because it is not in your neighbourhood.

We did not choose this inconvenience. We want a stop to this inferior treatment.

Team P/J has provided you with all the evidence, but in your quest TO DO NOTHING, all the evidence is not enough. No one believes you all anymore.

Clean-up Jamaica. We are not satisfied until we get EQUALITY

ALSO LEFT TO FESTER

Garbage epidemic. 4,628 were registered last year.
Mosquito infested high grass.
Abandoned lots.
Abandoned parks.
Amistad Daycare.
BATHROOM GATE.

So, you all are sick of hearing about this damn list over and over. Imagine, we are forced to live in the epidemic.

Clean-up Jamaica. The world has to know how blacks are treated in the black neighbourhood.

WE WILL DO WHAT EVER THE HELL IT TAKES." - Pamela Hazel

And now the Daily News has noticed! Hurrah for Team P/J!

Green taxis rack up the miles

From the NY Post:

More than 1,000 of the apple-colored outer borough cabs are up and running on the streets of New York — offering New Yorkers nearly 300,000 rides since the program launched in August.

“For too long, four and a half of our five boroughs didn’t have taxi service — and now they do,” Bloomberg said at a press conference in Williamsburg on Tuesday.

He added, “If there was ever a demand that showed itself when there was only a little bit of supply, it’s this.”

He then hopped a green cab and took it to a meeting in Midtown.

Taxi and Limousine Commission has so far issued 6,000 green cab licenses, the total available during the program’s first year. All 6,000 are expected to be out on the road by March, Bloomberg said.

In June 2014, 6,000 more licenses will become available.

Bloomberg may tout the figures as a transportation achievement — but mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is outspoken critic of the green taxis.

As public advocate, de Blasio worked with taxi organizations in a failed attempt to stop Bloomberg’s plan to allow the green cabs to answer hails in outer boroughs.

Last month, de Blasio said he wants to go “back to the drawing board” when it comes to a plan for the outer-borough cabs.

The program survived a court challenge and opposition from yellow taxi drivers, who claimed the green cabs will encroach on their turf.

How to spot an illegal cab

From WPIX:

Fernando Mateo President Of The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers describes the so-called “epidemic” of the more than 10,000 illegal livery cabs navigating city streets as “unsafe and it’s unacceptable.”

At a Tuesday afternoon news conference in Flatbush, he asked one simple question to the TLC Chairman, “David Yassky why are you not doing your job? That is our question.”

Mateo along with Tony Herbert, President of the National Action Network Brooklyn East Chapter says that on the same week that legal yellow-cab drivers are being targeted in the city, the TLC should additionally zero in on the illegal cabs and their drivers for the safety of the general public. “Protect our rider. Protect the passengers who just want to get home safely,” said Herbert from sidewalk news conference.

The fake livery cars are easy to spot because they sport plates from nearby states where insurance is much cheaper. Another tell tale sign? Their drivers tend to walk away when a PIX 11 news camera is focused on them.

Outer borough street hails get green light

From the NY Post:

The state Court of Appeals handed Mayor Bloomberg a major victory today by clearing the way for a new taxi system in the outer boroughs to allow street hails.

The yellow cab industry had sued to block the plan, claiming the administration had not gotten approval with the City Council before getting the green light in Albany.

"We conclude that the HAIL Act addresses a matter of substantial State concern. This is not a purely local issue," Judge Eugene F. Pigott Jr. wrote in his decision. "Millions of people from within and without the State visit the City annually. Some of these visitors are disabled, and will undoubtedly benefit from the increase in accessible vehicles in the Manhattan central business district and in the outer boroughs. The Act is for the benefit of all New Yorkers, and not merely those residing within the City."

The appeals court decision also allows the city to proceed with the sale of $1 billion of new taxi medallions.

The new system would create a new class of taxicabs in the outer boroughs and northern Manhattan, to supplement the yellow taxicabs which can cruise anywhere but mostly operate in Midtown and downtown Manhattan.

Many of the current livery cab drivers are expected to join the new livery system and pick up street hails in the outer boroughs. Legally, they can only pick up by appointment but the law is widely flouted.

Taxis creating havoc in Manhattan

From CBS New York:

The New York Times reported that researchers studied more than 1,400 pedestrians and cyclists treated at Bellevue Hospital Center after collisions between December 2008 and June 2011.

Forty percent of cyclists injured by cars in the study were hit by taxis. Among injured pedestrians, 25 percent were hit by taxis.

City officials said the report shows the need for bike lanes and pedestrian plazas.

One website recently compiled the 10 worst intersections in Manhattan. How do you put a pedestrian plaza in the middle of 125th Street or 8th Avenue?

If cabs make up a large chunk of the vehicles involved in accidents, then shouldn't reckless cabs be what's addressed?

Why council members do things against their constituents' best interests

From the NY Post:

Two City Council members who have accepted more than $9,000 in campaign donations from the livery industry yesterday joined the suit against the city to stop yellow cabs from taking smartphone hails.

Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Washington Heights) and Elizabeth Crowley (D-Queens) filed papers in Manhattan Supreme Court in support of the livery industry.

The suit, which was filed by Livery Roundtable, Black Car Assistance Corp. and several car-service firms, claims the city’s e-hail app pilot program violates the law giving livery cabs the exclusive right to accept prearranged trips.

Both pols said the campaign contributions were irrelevant.

From the NY Observer:

However, a source directed Betabeat towards records from the New York City Campaign Finance Board and New York City’s Doing Business Portal, which show that the two Council Members joining the case both received financial contributions from livery and black car lobbyists as well as the plaintiffs in the case. Council Member Rodriguez, a former livery driver himself, received $3,000 during 2010 and 2011 from both Dial 7 and Carmel, two of the lead plaintiffs in the case. Council Member Crowley was given $2,200 between 2010 and 2011 from lobbying firm Constantinople and Vallone, which represents the two black car companies, as well as from their lawyer, Randy Mastro.

For Rodriguez, Dial 7 and Carmel count as some of his top non-Union donors, and Avik Kabessa, Carmel’s CEO, is also President of the Livery Roundtable.

Although Council Member Rodriguez’s office said no official comment would be given until tomorrow morning, Eric Yun, Crowley’s Communications Director, called the donations a coincidence that was diverting attention away from the real issues.

“These donations were made more than two years ago, and Council Member Crowley is close to the Vallone family, having worked with Vallone’s son, Peter Vallone Jr., in the City Council for years. Peter Vallone and Anthony Constantinople’s firm represent many clients in the city,” Yun said.

Reread Mr. Yun's statement and let it sink in for awhile. Whoops.

Now let's think about this from the consumers' perspective. Yellow cabs generally cost less to ride than livery cars. Why would these council members support the public - their constituents - paying more for a service unless they were lobbied and legally bribed by the special interest trying to stop this? And since yellow cabs are not readily available in most outer borough neighborhoods, and most livery service trips occur in the outer boroughs, how much business will the livery drivers really lose because of an app?