Sunday, October 30, 2011 |
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After the Justice Department urged a federal judge to make New York City’s taxi system accessible to wheelchair users, Mayor Bloomberg has tried to defend the city’s violation of civil rights with ill-informed and dismissive comments. But he and the TLC are off the mark on virtually every point they’ve made about wheelchair-accessibility. Take a look. (All direct quotations below.) Bloomberg: The Justice Department’s view doesn’t mean the court will agree. [Citation: “Number one, I don’t know that just because the Justice Dept. says something that we wouldn’t find something different if it were to go to court and I’m not sure what the city’s going to do yet.” (News availability, October 19, 2011)] FACT: The Justice Department held that the city is engaged in discrimination. A federal court is unlikely to ignore this or dismiss this easily. Bloomberg: Accessible taxis just won’t work in a city like New York. [It just doesn’t work in a city like ours and I don’t know that the Attorney General understands how people live in the city and the traffic patterns and that sort of thing.” (Oct. 19th.) “The cabs that we picked so far [for the Taxi of Tomorrow] are easier for handicapped people that are not wheelchair bound [sic].” (WOR interview, October 14th)] FACT: Wheelchair accessibility works in London, where every taxi has a ramp that allows wheelchair users (and people with walkers and strollers) to get in easily. London started its move toward accessibility in 1989. Why wouldn’t it work here in New York, other than a lack of will by the mayor? Bloomberg: Our dispatch plan makes more sense. [“We have a plan that we think makes a lot more sense than what the Attorney General suggested.” (Oct. 19th)] FACT: The city’s dispatch plan would offer separate and unequal service. Under the plan, we’d wait 20 minutes, 40 minutes or even more than an hour for a taxi (according to the TLC) after making a phone call to a special dispatch line. Bloomberg: Drivers won’t pick up wheelchair users. [“A lot of the cab drivers just would, I think, pretend that they didn’t see you [wheelchair users trying to hail a taxi].” (WOR interview, Oct. 14, 2011)] FACT: It’s up to Mayor Bloomberg and the TLC to enforce the law. TLC regulations and city law prohibit such service denials. In testimony before the City Council on April 11, TLC chair David Yassky described the TLC’s extensive efforts to combat service refusals and its support for a bill to increase penalties for refusals. Bloomberg: It’s hard for wheelchair users to flag down a taxi. [“If you’re in a wheelchair, it’s really hard to go out in the street and hail down a cab and get the cab to pull over and get into and so, forget about the other reasons, just for that alone, we think there’s a better ways to do it.” (Oct. 19th)] FACT: Wheelchair users are quite able to hail a taxi. Our groups – the city’s leading disability rights and service organizations (list below) – and the men and women we represent are strongly in favor of accessible taxis and liveries. Bloomberg: The cab industry will fight accessible taxis tooth-and-nail. ["I think the cab industry will fight that [accessible taxis] tooth-and-nail." (Oct. 14th)] FACT: The Greater New York Taxi Association condemned the mayor’s “divisive” comments and stated: “Let us be clear: We’re for accessibility.” Bloomberg: Accessible cabs are too big, so drivers “can’t establish a dialogue, and they get lower tips.” [“When the cabs are big enough for a wheelchair…cab drivers say that the passengers sit farther away and they can’t establish a dialogue, and they get lower tips.” (Oct. 14th)] FACT: C’mon. What can you say to this? Yassky (TLC chair): Our goal is 100% accessibility and the Taxi of Tomorrow will get us close to that. [“With one of our long-term goals being 100% accessibility of all our fleets, we believe that the Taxi of Tomorrow Request for Proposal will help us get very close to that goal.” (Testimony of David Yassky before Assembly committees, July 14, 2011)] FACT: The TLC selected a non-accessible Nissan NV2000 as the Taxi of Tomorrow on May 3rd. This vehicle would be in use as the exclusive model for yellow taxis for a decade. That means that the TLC has no short- or long-term goals for 100% accessibility. Bloomberg: There’s no demand for accessible taxis. [“…There are cabs right now that are accessible and there’s virtually no demand for them and the reason I think, more than anything, cause certainly there are people in wheelchairs who need service, but they just can’t go out and flag ‘em down.” (Oct. 19th)] FACT: Only 230 yellow taxis are accessible out of 13,237 cabs – one in 54. Why would wheelchair users try to hail a taxi with those kinds of odds? This is a similar argument to those made in the 1980s when wheelchair-accessible buses were proposed. Yassky: We don’t know of any vehicle that is accessible and “ecology-friendly.” [“To our knowledge, there currently is no vehicle that exists on the market today or even in production that is both ‘ecology friendly’ and wheelchair accessible and would meet the needs of the taxicab industry.” (July 14th)] FACT: At the time, the TLC was engaged in negotiations concerning the MV-1 vehicle, which is accessible, has a compressed natural gas (CNG) option and was designed with the needs of the taxi industry in mind. Its backers include taxi fleet owners from Chicago. Bloomberg: Accessible taxis sell for about $15,000 more. FACT: Most wheelchair-accessible taxis are available at far less than the extra $15,000 the mayor claims. In addition, there are federal tax credits and a potential state tax credit (passed by both houses of the legislature) that will lower the real price of accessible vehicles significantly. Bloomberg: Accessible vehicles aren’t as comfortable for “handicapped people that are not wheelchair bound [sic]” or for the “average” rider. [“Their suspension is much worse so the average person riding in them finds them really uncomfortable and they use a lot more gas.” (Oct. 19th)] FACT: Just what is an average rider? Many riders find non-accessible minivans hard to get in because they’re too high off the ground and say there’s too little legroom in many cabs. Beyond that, the new MV-1 is factory-built in the U.S. as an accessible taxi. Structural concerns from retrofitting don't apply to this new vehicle. Bloomberg: The street-hail bill would make a big difference for under-served neighborhoods. [“The bill that would give taxi service to four boroughs and everything north of 96th street in Manhattan that have not had taxi service ever is a bill that will really make a big difference.” (Oct. 19th)] FACT: The city’s street-hail bill perpetuates a system in which an under-served group is shut out, even while it is intended to increase service to ‘under-served’ neighborhoods. PRODUCED BY THE TAXIS FOR ALL CAMPAIGN. Visit http://taxisforall.blogspot.com. Taxis For All Campaign members include: Bronx Independent Living Services • Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled · Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York · Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York · Disabilities Network of New York City · Harlem Independent Living Center · National Multiple Sclerosis Society, NYC-Southern New York Chapter · United Spinal Association · VetsFirst · 504 Dems-North Star · 504 Democratic Club |
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10/30/2011 10:48:00 PM 0 Comments (post your comments) email this post  |
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 |
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From The Wall Street Journal The Justice Department said Thursday that the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission has failed to provide fair service to the disabled, and until it does, every new yellow cab in the city should be wheelchair accessible. In a 23-page court filing, the federal government sided with four disabled-rights groups that filed a lawsuit in January. Assistant U.S. Attorney Natalie Kuehler said the Taxi and Limousine Commission must have
As part of an ambitious attempt to remake the city's taxi fleet, the TLC chose the Nissan NV200 as the city's exclusive new cab model. But the vehicle isn't wheelchair-accessible. In a statement, David Yassky, the chairman of the TLC, called the lawsuit The TLC had asked U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels to give it until mid-2012, when the agency expects to have implemented a dispatch system for wheelchair-accessible cabs, and the state legislature to pass a bill to increase the number of taxi medallions for wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Currently, about 2% of New York City's roughly 13,000 yellow taxis have equipment that allows wheelchair users to get in and out. The Justice Department said the likelihood of a nondisabled person hailing a cab within 10 minutes is 87%, compared with just 3% for a disabled person. The Justice Department said the TLC has an important regulatory role in managing the taxi fleet and must take action to make more of the fleet is accessible. It isn't enough, the department argued, for the city to say a dispatch system is in development to direct yellow taxis to customers. The TLC A number of groups advocating for the rights of the disabled — United Spinal, the Taxis for All Campaign, 504 Democratic Club, and Disabled in Action—filed a lawsuit against the TLC, alleging the taxi fleet violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. Recent moves to add more sport-utility vehicles and hybrid vehicles has only made the access problem worse, the suit charges. The lawsuit's supporters hailed the Justice Department's move, saying it adds heft to the allegations. State Assemblyman Micah Kellner of the Upper East Side, who asked the Justice Department to intervene, said, |
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10/19/2011 02:25:00 AM 0 Comments (post your comments) email this post |
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From The New York Times October 13, 2011 The United States attorney's office in Manhattan said on Thursday that the lack of wheelchair-accessible taxicabs in New York City violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and it urged a federal judge to force the city to quickly address the problem. The remarks, issued in support of a lawsuit brought against the city in January by several disability rights groups, amounted to a strongly worded criticism of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which has struggled to find ways to accommodate travelers who use wheelchairs. It is unusual for the United States attorney to formally present a position on a pending lawsuit, but in a letter to the judge, the prosecutor, Preet Bharara, wrote that the federal government had The city does not require yellow-cab owners to purchase wheelchair-accessible taxis, and only 232 vehicles in the 13,000-strong fleet can currently accommodate wheelchairs. The city recently selected a Nissan minivan that cannot accommodate wheelchairs to replace the entire taxi fleet over the next decade, prompting harsh criticism from disability advocates. Mr. Bharara's office argued that it was The taxi and limousine commissioner, David S. Yassky, said in a statement on Thursday that the lawsuit was misguided. But federal lawyers, who have been investigating the issue since May, said the city's plans to unveil a new dispatch program by early 2012 were A ruling in the suit is not expected until November. Even if the judge, George B. Daniels of Federal District Court in Manhattan, rules against the city, it is unclear how soon a new policy fitting the requirements of the disabilities act could be created. But the Nissan minivan might have to be reconsidered. The remarks from the United States attorney were welcomed by politicians and advocates.
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10/19/2011 02:22:00 AM 0 Comments (post your comments) email this post |
Sunday, October 16, 2011 |
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Statement of Edith Prentiss, Taxis For All Campaign, on Mayor Bloomberg's comments about Justice Department support for wheelchair-accessible taxis October 14, 2011 "Mayor Bloomberg has got to be kidding if he believes the City can discriminate against wheelchair users because taxi drivers 'can't have a good dialogue' with them. There's no excuse for the mayor's ill-informed and outrageous attempt to defend years of unjustified resistance to wheelchair-accessible taxis by his administration. When the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District -- whose Chambers Street office is a block from City Hall -- calls on a federal judge to rule in favor of wheelchair users, the mayor should wake up and listen. As former TLC chairs Diane McGrath-McKechnie and Christopher Lynn wrote recently to the mayor, it's time to reverse the 'shameful lack of progress' and make all taxi and car services wheelchair accessible." |
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10/16/2011 03:01:00 PM 0 Comments (post your comments) email this post |
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TRANSCRIPT John Gambling Show WWOR Friday, October 14, 2011 http://www.wor710.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=5515156 21:56-25:20 Gambling: United States Attorney’s office here in Manhattan yesterday said that the lack of wheelchair-accessible taxicabs is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They want to force the city to have more accessible taxicabs of the 13,000. That’s going to be difficult? What’s your reaction? Bloomberg: I think the cab industry will fight that tooth-and-nail. When the cabs are big enough for a wheelchair, a lot of the cab drivers say that the passengers sit farther away and they can’t establish a dialogue, and they get lower tips. But the real answer to that, John, is the cabs that we picked so far [for the Taxi of Tomorrow] are easier for handicapped people that are not wheelchair bound [sic] and if you are in a wheelchair -- just, you know, the Justice Department I don’t think ever’s been to New York – you go out to the streets, you just cannot take generally a wheelchair out into the streets and try to hail a cab. It’s dangerous and a lot of the cab drivers just would, I think, pretend that they didn’t see you. Some will, but some won’t. And it’s very hard to get them to stop, pull over and safely get you and your wheelchair in. So what we’ve come up with is a system where there would be a lot of wheelchair-accessible cabs but they would be, ummm, what’s the word I’m looking for, called by… Gambling: A dispatch system. Bloomberg: Dispatch, that’s the word I’m looking for. Ummm…the dispatch would be to pick you up when you need a wheelchair [-accessible taxi]. And we have this borough taxi bill that we’re trying to get through Albany, the governor’s helping us, many people oppose because it adds hundreds of new wheelchair-accessible cabs. And they just, a lot of these drivers don’t want to do it – it’s more expensive for them and they say, you know, not our responsibility. But the bottom line that we want to make sure that everybody, those that need extra help get it and those that don’t get it, and all the services are provided at a price that people can afford and in all boroughs. Our problem at the moment is the yellow cabs really only operate south of 96th Street in Manhattan. Gambling: Any new updates on that bill, that new bill? Bloomberg: Passed by the senate, passed by the assembly. The governor I talked to recently, a few days ago, says there’s a few tweaks that he thought might improve the bill, and if it does that’s great. But I have no reason to think that this bill isn’t going to come into law. If you take a look, it’s interesting, some of the yellow cab drivers don’t like it because they say it will hurt their revenues. A taxi medallion today sells for six-seven hundred thousand dollars. I think that when we originally gave out medallions and somebody made them transferable, nobody ever thought there’d be this enormous windfall. And there’s actually a company, the ticker symbol is TAXI, appropriately, that owns a bunch of medallions, and I just looked at their stock yesterday, or the day before, and it was at a record high, so the marketplace doesn’t think that this is going to hurt the yellow cab. Gambling: But the governor says he thinks it’s going to go? Bloomberg: The governor was very encouraging, is a nice way to phrase it. |
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10/16/2011 02:17:00 PM 0 Comments (post your comments) email this post |
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 |
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Taxis For All Campaign For wheelchair-accessible taxis and liveries in New York City, based upon universal design principles For Immediate Release: October 5, 2011 Contact: Joseph G. Rappaport, 646-284-1078 New ad opposing mayor’s taxi plan to hit New York City and Albany TV stations today Taxis For All Campaign ad to run on cable TV over the next week New Yorkers who are disabled tell Mayor Bloomberg: Your livery street-hail plan “leaves wheelchair users stranded” A new 30-second TV ad taking aim at Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to create 30,000 street hail permits without adding one new wheelchair-accessible vehicle is set to run on New York City and Albany TV stations starting today. The Taxis For All Campaign is running the ad as part of its drive to convince city and state leaders that a street-hail system must be fully accessible to wheelchair users. Taxis For All is a coalition of New York City’s leading disability groups and some individuals. “New Yorkers who are disabled are treated like second-class citizens under Mayor Bloomberg’s street-hail proposal,” said Edith Prentiss, chair of the Taxis For All Campaign. “It’s just plain wrong to triple the number of cars that can pick up passengers on the street, while leaving New Yorkers who use wheelchairs stranded.” The 30-second commercial features New Yorkers in wheelchairs and dramatically illustrates how they wouldn’t be able to hail taxis if state legislation pushed by City Hall earlier this year is signed. (See link and script, below.) It will be broadcast over the next week on CNN, MSNBC, NY1, and YNN, in New York City and Albany. The Taxis for All Campaign, formed in 1996, has been a strong supporter of a fully accessible taxi and livery fleet and has protested legislation to increase street hails outside of the Manhattan business district without providing full accessibility. In July, the organization wrote Governor Cuomo asking that he block the legislation, noting that the bill “would continue to shut wheelchair users out of using New York City's vast taxi system." (See letter in previous post on this site.) The ad focuses on Mayor Bloomberg because the city has thus far opposed requiring wheelchair-accessible taxis as a part of its street-hail plan. “The mayor’s plan aims to increase taxis for ‘underserved’ neighborhoods, but meanwhile the people who are really not served – wheelchair users – are left at the curb,” said Terry Moakley, chair of VetsFirst. His group is a project of the United Spinal Association in Queens, the ad’s sponsor. Wheelchair-accessible taxis, which use a simple ramp, are widely available; London’s system is fully accessible. The ad may be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/user/TaxisForAll ----------- Script for “Not Even One More Car” :30 Sound: Bustling, energetic sounding street noise. Visual: Fairly crowded street / sidewalk. VO: Making more taxis available in New York could be a good thing. But not Mayor Bloomberg’s plan. Sound: Street noise fades to music; sad/ominous Visual: Person in wheelchair on corner sidewalk, looking out at street forlornly VO: Rather than making sure people who are disabled can get a ride, Mayor Bloomberg’s flawed plan lets livery cars pick up passengers from the street – without making even one more car wheelchair-accessible in the boroughs. Visual: Woman on phone VO: The mayor’s bill also means fewer cars available for those who can call for one. So those who already have trouble finding a ride will find it even harder. Visual: Close on a sad-looking person, looking to camera VO: Tell Mayor Bloomberg his livery bill leaves wheelchair-users stranded. Visual: Tell Mayor Bloomberg his livery bill leaves wheelchair-users stranded. Call 311 Taxis for All Paid for by the United Spinal Association # # # |
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10/05/2011 09:25:00 AM 0 Comments (post your comments) email this post |
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Taxis For All Campaign For wheelchair-accessible taxis and liveries in New York City, based upon universal design principles Members include: Bronx Independent Living Services & Disabilities Network of NYC • Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled • Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York • Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York • Harlem Independent Living Center • National Multiple Sclerosis Society, NYC-Southern New York Chapter • United Spinal Association • VetsFirst • 504 Dems-North Star • 504 Democratic Club July 29, 2011 Hon. Andrew Cuomo Governor, State of New York Executive Chamber, State Capitol Albany, New York 12224 Re: Opposition to A.8496/S.5825 – focus on liveries Dear Governor Cuomo: We are writing to reiterate in greater depth our opposition to A.8496/S.5825 as it concerns the livery system’s expansion into legal street hails. In addition, we write to ask to meet with you to discuss how this legislation should be amended before it becomes law. In our June 12, 2011 letter to you, we urged you not to sign this bill without major revisions, since as written it would continue to shut wheelchair users out of using New York City’s vast taxi system. Only one in 18 yellow taxis would be accessible, and virtually no livery cabs would be useable by those who use wheelchairs. It is particularly striking and distressing that a bill purportedly intended to expand taxi service to underserved neighborhoods actually does the opposite when it comes to New York City’s wheelchair users. This represents a step backwards, not forward, in a state in which equitable access for all to transportation should be a basic goal. As many as 30,000 street hail permits -- but not one new additional accessible vehicle For those wheelchair users who live in neighborhoods now served primarily by liveries, A.8496/S.5825 is particularly onerous. The bill’s writers didn’t even make a token effort, as they did for the yellow taxi system, to improve taxi service for wheelchair users: there is no attempt to add accessible liveries whatsoever. In our original letter, we mistakenly referred to a system in which only 1,500 street-hail permits would be allowed. Actually, the legislation would permit up to 30,000 street-hail permits, a vast transformation of the livery and taxi system. That means that a livery system already known by wheelchair users to offer little to no service would expand that service extensively to street hails. Wheelchair users, already at a disadvantage in finding service in neighborhoods like Washington Heights, Flushing and Bay Ridge through the current radio dispatch system, would now find their neighbors able to hail taxis while they continue to have few options for wheelchair-accessible transport. Coupled with a yellow taxi system with only one in 18 accessible vehicles (under the legislation), this is a classic illustration of the phrase “adding insult to injury.” Accessible livery service today and the City’s lack of enforcement While the City advocates for more livery service outside of the central business, it has a very sorry record of ensuring that accessible livery service in provided in those same neighborhoods. This is in spite of the City’s own legal commitment to accessible livery service. Since 2001, the Taxi and Limousine Commission has had a regulation that requires equivalent service for wheelchair users (Taxi and Limousine Commission Rulebook, Section 59B-17), stating: “Whether the Base dispatches its own Accessible Vehicles or contracts with another Base, the Base Owner must provide ‘equivalent service’ to persons with disabilities.” The TLC then defines equivalent service, which includes comparable “response time to requests for service,” hours and days of service availability” and the “ability to accept reservations” for those who request a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. Unfortunately, this regulation is routinely ignored by livery operators, and the TLC has rarely enforced it. Our members typically are told by livery operators that there is no accessible vehicle available, or they are told to call another number to reach a separate livery company, which is on contract with the base to provide accessible service. Service often is not available from the contracted company either, which can be very far away. For example, one individual in our group found that her local livery operator in Bay Ridge has contracted with a company in Astoria, Queens – about a 90-minute trip just for the pick-up. Since other livery taxi users can call for a ride and get one in a matter of minutes, this surely does not meet the TLC’s own rules. The City has long known of the lack of accessible service for livery users. Over the past 15 years, we have met repeatedly with Taxi and Limousine Commission officials, mayoral representatives, city council members and taxi industry representatives to advocate for increased livery (and yellow taxi) service for wheelchair users. In fact, the lack of livery service is one of the reasons our groups – composed of the region’s largest disability groups – formed the Taxis For All Campaign in 1996. Our members had observed in their travels that cities like Boston and Las Vegas offered a substantial number of accessible hail and radio-call taxis. We also talked with colleagues in London, where every single taxi is accessible, a transition that started in 1989. We note also that affordable accessible vehicles are readily available (and a new, purpose-built accessible taxi, the MV-1, is expected to come off the factory line later this year). In our earlier letter, we proposed ways of funding the purchase of accessible vehicles if necessary. The city’s failed dispatch program Instead of moving forward so that all New Yorkers have taxi service wherever they live and whether or not they use wheelchairs, the City of New York proposes instead to offer dispatch service, in which wheelchair users would call a central number and a wheelchair-accessible vehicle would be sent their way. Unfortunately, there are serious practical drawbacks to this proposal. Chief among them is that the City has already tried to offer dispatch service in a two-year “pilot” between 2008-2010. In “Stranded,” a 2009 analysis of the dispatch program after its first year of operation, Assembly Member Micah Kellner found that: • callers were often told that no vehicle could be dispatched to them; • callers often waited long periods for pick-ups, if a vehicle was actually dispatched; • the service was generally not available on evenings and weekends; and • the TLC did not advertise the program, leading to minimal demand. In spite of the assembly member’s report, no improvements were made in the final year. We are justifiably doubtful that a new version of the program would work. Beyond that, however, is a fundamental question of fairness. Why should one group of New Yorkers and visitors find themselves unable to use the regular system of livery vehicles, merely because they are in wheelchairs? Why, instead, does the City want to relegate wheelchair users to a separate and unequal system of transportation? The government rightly would reject attempts to restrict fair access to the transportation system to other groups based on their appearance or physical characteristics. Wheelchair users should be treated no differently. A.8496 and S.5825 would make a fundamental change in the taxi system. But it should be done right the first time. As you consider this bill, we request the chance to meet with you to discuss how this legislation can get equal access on New York City’s taxis and liveries for everyone. To arrange a meeting, contact Edith Prentiss at 917-733-3794. We hope to meet with you soon. Yours truly, Edith Prentiss, Chair Taxis For All Campaign c/o 739 West 186th Street, Apt. 4E New York, New York 10033 Cc: Lawrence Schwartz Mylan Denerstein |
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10/05/2011 09:22:00 AM 0 Comments (post your comments) email this post |