Results tagged “newyorktaxiworkersalliance”

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a home invasion robbery on 11th St. in Brooklyn, an unusual rescue on Selwyn Ave. in the Bronx, and a shooting on Rugby Rd. and Foster Ave. in Brooklyn.
• The 30-year-old homeless man charged with raping and torturing a Columbia student in her apartment in April was found mentally fit to stand trial.
• Negotiations between Thor Equities and several Coney Island boardwalk tenants are nearly settled, allowing many attractions to remain through next summer.
• New York magazine notes that NYC may soon receive a movie theater that has a no-children-under-the-age-of-six policy.
• Norman Hsu, one of Sen. Clinton's primary fundraisers during her run for the Presidency, is being charged by federal prosecutors with running a Ponzi scheme and defrauding people of tens of millions of dollars.
• A Brooklyn car salesman scammed rides on a fire truck with members of a Bed-Stuy firehouse after producing a forged letter and bearing stolen FDNY gear.
• Not getting too far by striking, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance is now suing the city to prevent the mandatory installation of GPS equipment in cabs.
• As he led cops on a 70 mph chase through the streets of Flatbush before allegedly shooting officer Dillon Stewart, accused killer Allan Cameron was watching a porn movie on the DVD player in his Infiniti.
• Best use of 9/11 in a new fall season program (so far): Kitchen Nightmares, when a Long Island restaurant "owner," upon Gordon Ramsay criticizing him about the state of a kitchen, "blame everything on me! Blame fires in Chicago, Hurricane Katrina, 9-11" (via Television Without Pity)

Here we are - day two of the taxi strike by a group of taxi drivers upset with the changes that the Taxi and Limousine Commission has enacted. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which organized the strike, claimed that 90% of -owned cabs were on the streets (versus 93% last Wednesday), but that doesn't include owner-operated cabs (fleets comprise only 30-40% of cabs). A taxi industry group reported that 72% of the city's 3,200 cabs were on the road.

Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city was prepared for the possible two-day taxi strike that some taxi driver groups have threatened for tomorrow morning, starting at 5AM. About 7,000 of the city's 44,000 taxi drivers (there are about 13,000 cabs in total) have reportedly promised to strike over new technology that the Taxi and Limousine Commission wants to install in all cabs. Some drivers' issues with the technology, which includes GPS tracking systems and credit card payment systems, are that (a) the GPS has no navigational capabilities and (b) when the technology breaks down, the taxi fare meter breaks down, too, costing them money. The city,though, views these measures as necessary customer service initiatives.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance said that it definitely will strike on Wednesday and Thursday to protest the city's plans to put new technology, including GPS systems, in all taxi cabs. NYTWA spokeswoman Bhairavi Desai said, "Leave the car parked at home or at the garage. No yellow cabs for hire."

Remember way back in May when the Taxi and Limousine Commission announced plans to add a number of high-tech improvements to the cabs in our fair city? Yeah, well, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance does and they are still nonplussed about the whole deal. The plan, which would mean installing video screens, credit card readers and GPS in all the cities cabs, has been a stickling point for some hacks. Especially the GPS part which they say would cost cab owners $3k to install and $125-175 to maintain. Further the GPS likens them to criminals according to NYTWA executive director Bhairavi Desai, "GPS is used by cops to track common criminals, by companies to track emplyees. But taxi drivers are independent contracctors, and we don't think the city has the authority to do this."

While protesting downtown yesterday, Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (which represents 4800 taxi drivers) said there may be a strike by taxi drivers in the future if the TLC continues to drag its feet over a fare hike. Taxi fares haven't been raised since 1996.

The Taxi & Limosine Commission is looking at two possible proposals to increase taxi fares. With the fare increase in 1996, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance wants to "give drivers something," even though their proposal is different from the group that represents 13 taxi garages.