Mayor Michael Bloomberg railed against the court system Friday, blaming lawsuits for railroading his agenda in his final term.
“We’ve got to do something about our court system. Because they just stop everything,” Mr. Bloomberg lamented during his weekly radio interview Friday morning with WOR’s John Gambling.
Mr. Gambling chimed in in agreement: “Everything gets stopped–everything the city does.” Read More
“Apple Green” taxis will soon be traveling the streets of the outerboroughs and Upper Manhattan that have long been ngelected by yellow cabs. Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled the bright new “Boro taxis” at a press conference at City Hall this morning accompanied by Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman and Commissioner David Yassky who described the new color scheme as “pleasing to the eye.”
“Apple Green is very fitting for the new Boro Taxis,” Mr. Yassky said. “It’s pleasing to the eye, easy to see from a distance and blends well with the urban landscape. Just as the yellow taxi and the black car were once new services that became a trusted part of their users’ lives, the Boro Taxi, too, will take its long-awaited place as a part of the city’s comprehensive transportation network.” Read More
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio continued his aggressive campaign to get Nissan to cease selling vehicles to Iran this afternoon.
Although Mr. de Blasio’s office is asking many car companies to boycott Iran, he is focused on Nissan specifically because of the company’s new taxi contract with the city. Indeed, today’s event was in front of the Jacob Javits Center where Nissan will soon be touting its “Taxi of Tomorrow” car.
“Our Mayor was celebrating with Nissan last night, and today Nissan is in Iran selling its products … through companies associated with the Iranian military and helping to prop up the Iranian regime no matter how bad its activities,” Mr. de Blasio said. Read More
Now that the city has given Nissan a $1 billion contract to manufacture New York’s “Taxi of Tomorrow,” public advocate and likely 2013 mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has launched an offensive against the automaker for doing business with Iran. Mr. de Blasio sent out a statement and a string of Tweets today demanding the car company stop selling its wares to the Iranian regime.
“You cannot do business with the people of New York City with one hand, and prop up the dangerous regime in Tehran with the other,” Mr. de Blasio said in his statement. “For our billion dollars, taxpayers and taxi riders deserve a guarantee that Nissan will stop selling its vehicles to Iran.” Read More
Congress is poised to narrowly avert another shutdown.
Senator Liz Krueger discussed the possibility of a Republican coup in the state senate.
Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t think people in wheelchairs are capable of taking cabs. Read More
Gov. Andrew Cuomo made a rare public appearance in Brooklyn today and afterwards was bombarded by reporters about the status of a Mayor Bloomberg backed bill that would permit livery cars to make outer borough curbside pick-ups.
“The taxi bill is a very complicated bill that we have been working on for months to try to negotiate,” Gov. Cuomo. “There are a number of parties that are involved–the yellow cabs, what they call the black cars, the livery cabs, the radio base operators and we’ve been trying for months to try to forge a consensus among these groups. The concept behind I think it is right and is bonafide. We want to get more taxi service to the outer boroughs.It would also generate revenue for the city which is very important. But we want to do it in a way that respects everybody’s rights.” Read More
As a bill to allow livery cabs to pick up street hails in the outer boroughs languishes on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s desk and hearings begin in a lawsuit against the city over disabled yellow cab access, taxi industry members slammed Mayor Michael Bloomberg today for fuzzy math they claim threatens their business. Read More
Mayor Bloomberg said he expects Governor Cuomo to sign the mayor’s taxi plan that would allow livery cabs to make street hails, something only permitted now by yellow taxis, who primarily service Manhattan.
“I believe the governor will look at this and sign it,” Bloomberg said, on his weekly radio show this morning. “I’ve had conversations with him. I’m not worried about that.” Read More
Photo via Azi Paybarah
If you have trouble catching a cab in midtown Manhattan today, it may be because a goodly number of them are up in Albany for a Capitol rally against Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to allow livery drivers outer-borough pick-ups.
Although the plan has the support of the drivers’ primary Read More
9/11: Obama will be in NYC. [Javier Hernandez]
Bin Laden Book: Peter Begen gets it started. [Ujala Sehgal]
Bin Laden Photos: White House may release them. [Helene Cooper]
Bin Laden Photos: Some seem to be out already. [Flickr]
Bin Laden Fallout: Will this spark a debate about the death penalty? Read More
