Taxi drivers and medallion owners are in a state of panic over Speaker Corey Johnson’s axing of the council’s for-hire vehicle committee, which had been Ruben Diaz Sr.’s pet assignment.
“We are really worried and concerned after eight suicides,” said medallion owner Carolyn Protz. “The one avenue in four years that offered relief for medallion owners has been eliminated, so what is the speaker going to do now to uphold the rights of taxi drivers?”
Johnson got rid of the committee last week after Diaz refused to apologize for saying city government is controlled by the “homosexual community.”
“I wish the compassion he showed to drivers held true in all of his beliefs,” New York Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi Desai said of Diaz while critiquing the committee nix.
“Dissolving the committee was wrong,” said Desai. “This industry is too big, too wealthy and too unregulated to get second billing behind something as massive as the MTA. Albany enacted a suicide surcharge on taxis, and Uber and Lyft both filed lawsuits to undo new driver protections. Meanwhile, drivers have barely had time to breathe, let alone recover.”
Johnson’s office said the City Council will continue to try to help taxi drivers.