The Latest from NYC
So what’s new in New York City? Well prior to this weekend, some clever sports pundit had pointed out that the Jets, Giants, Knicks, and Nets together won fewer games in the month of November than did the Yankees. Um, the Yanks only won 2. Michael Bloomberg, who was supposed to be a shoe in for reelection as mayor, had to break the record for campaign dollars spent (held by Michael Bloomberg coincedentally) in order to eke out a win. He spent over $100 Million in the effort. Much of it, according to the article, on pizza and coffee. Hmmm. And the information age has hit the gang set, as Twitter has become the means of choice for trash talking bangers. Columbia University, from whose graduate school of business this blogger did graduate, is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons (ever since the antisemetic incidents a few years back I told them to consider me a non-alum), and, most importantly, thanks to the financial crisis in Dubai, Barney’s New York may once again be owned by Americans, albeit not New Yorkers (Barneys USA?).
But while all that is more than mildly interesting, what I know you are just itching to hear is what is going on in the New York City taxicab industry? Prices? Hybrids? Sales Tax? Law Suits? We have it all, and rest assured it will be coming to a municipality near you real soon. Here’s the update.
It all started with the hybrid mandates as reported here back in November of 2008. The new regulations were struck down in Federal Court since they were preempted by Federal emissions regulations, so the city then changed the lease cap so that if you did not have a hybrid you lost $15.00 of income per shift. Ouch. The same Federal Court judge shot that down as well. The City is appealing that ruling as we speak.
On a more alarming note, Mayor Bloomberg has convinced New York’s federal lawmakers that the preemption statutes are keeping him from properly running his city. They have taken the fight up in Washington D.C., and there is currently pending legislation to exclude taxicabs from preemption statutes. The Taxi Livery and Paratransit Assn. is closely following this issue in Washington.
In the meantime the Taxi and Limousine Commission suddenly realized that for the last ten years or so the lease cap governing what fleet owners can charge drivers did not include the sales tax (not that it should). In other words, the Monday am lease cap of $105.00 was actually $105.00 of lease money plus sales tax, which was charged separately to the drivers much like every other industry charges sales tax. The TLC wanted the $105.00 to include the sales tax. At the same time the state raised the sales tax by almost a buck and a half per shift. So the TLC restated their lease cap regulations to specifically unclude the sales tax, even the new sales tax, and fleet owners lost four and a half dollars per shift. The industry sued in federal court over this issue as well, saying that it was a punitive measure in response to the city’s defeat in court. In court the general counsel for the TLC compared the lease cap to prices at the gas pump, where the taxes are included. The industry would be perfectly happy with that scenario, since the prices at the pumps are not capped, and gas station owners are free to raise their prices should sales taxes increase.
Anyway, the federal court judge ruled that this was a state matter, and remanded the case to state appelate court. The state judge’s first comment was in the vein of, “Gee, my case load is really huge right now. Wish there were more judges.” Needless to say, she did not take the time to try to understand the actual issues, and we lost. We are currently appealing this decision. Keep you posted.
So to recap, won the hybrid case, lost the sales tax case, city is appealing hybrid case, we are appealing the sales tax case, and the lawyers are very happy.
Stay tuned.