Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Cuomo Offering Ultimatum On Soon-To-Expire Taxi Bill
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Dec 19, 2011
Modified Dec 19, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Dec 19, 2011
Modified Dec 19, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Governor Cuomo has two more days to sign Mayor Bloomberg's taxi bill that would put 1,500 more yellow cabs in the city, allow livery cabs to pick up street fares almost everywhere in the city and (in thoery) generate more than $1 billion in revenue. But Cuomo has pushed back against the legislation, countering that it doesn't do enough to provide cabs for the disabled. According to the Daily News, Cuomo spent the weekend devising a plan that he finds acceptable, or the legislature can try their luck in January. "This could be 'Gov. Steamroller again steamrolling on behalf of the yellow cab medallion owners who oppose the bill," one statehouse source said.
On David Paterson's radio show on Friday, Cuomo asserted that his opposition was strictly derived from the fact that the law wouldn't pass muster with the disabled community or the courts. “My counsel believes, David, that if we pass a bill that is along the lines of the current discussion, that it’s going to violate the A.D.A. and it’ll be thrown out anyway." And it's true that the disabled are underserved by taxis: only 232 of the 13,000 taxis in the city can accommodate fares in wheelchairs.
But it's also true that the Governor's father Mario sits on the board of Medallion Financial, and many medallion owners are millionaires who believe that the bill would cut into their competitive advantage.
A spokesperson for the governor said yesterday that Cuomo was coming up with "a fair disabled accessibility plan—and [the Legislature] can choose to either support it or not. If they don’t, they can come back in January and pass their own plan." One of the bill's supporters tells the paper that they're worried Cuomo's plan "will be designed to be unacceptable in order to give him cover for a veto or contain enough poison pills that it will make the program unworkable.”
What else is set to expire this week? The TLC's temporary moratorium on citing livery cabs that pick up street fares outside Manhattan. The reprieve was granted in anticipation of Cuomo signing the bill. But according to the Post, if that doesn't happen, "beefed-up teams of enforcement agents will be out bright and early Thursday morning."
Tagged
andrew cuomo
disabled
governor cuomo
livery cabs
mario cuomo
mayor bloomberg
medallion owners
taxi
tlc
wheelchair-accessable
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Tompkins Square Park is getting a makeover. Some say it's too much.
Some regulars at the East Village park want to preserve its not-so-fancy offerings.
By
Willow Higgins
Published Oct 17, 2026 at 7:00 a.m. ET
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
News
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .