Credit unions opposed to a plan from the mayor of New York’s office to create up to 18,000 livery cabs recently received good news.
One June 1, New York State Acting Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron issued a temporary injunction against Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2011 plan to create a new class of up to 18,000 liveries authorized to pick up street hails in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and much of Manhattan.
Engoron said the plan likely infringes on the plaintiffs’ constitutionally guaranteed right to have their local government representatives decide issues relating to the local taxi industry, in which they are longtime and central participants.
Among the plaintiffs is the Taxicab Service Association, a group of credit union lenders that finance taxi medallions: the New York-based $1.7 billion Melrose Credit Union, $578 million Progressive Credit Union, $133 million Montauk Credit Union and $232 million Lomto Federal Credit Union.
In addition to the TSA, two other groups, the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade and the Greater New York Taxi Association, filed separate lawsuits.
The TSA claimed that that HAIL Act would devalue yellow taxi medallions and potentially trigger a credit crisis for the $5 billion medallion lending industry. According to the suit, New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission had illegally begun to implement the act without a proper review of the potentially impact of 18,000 street hail livery vehicles on the city's air and noise quality, traffic congestion and neighborhood character.
Engoron’s ruling reportedly came days before the New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission was to issue its first licenses for a new fleet of taxis.
