What You Should Know...by Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz

 

Gail Brewer Comes to the Bronx

You should know that the Honorable Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President came to the Bronx to be a part of the fifth meeting between the leaders of the Green Car and Livery industry, elected officials, and New York City Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Meera Joshi.

You should already know that the City of New York’s Green Car and Livery industry has been faced with many problems and difficulties, from summonses, double fines for the same infraction, taxi and limousine drivers being entrapped by Taxi and Limousine officials, and exorbitant fines of $2,000 to 3,000 thousand dollars – among other things.

To add salt to the wounds, the Green Car and Livery industry now finds itself in the middle of a dispute among the Mayor of the City of New York, the Yellow Taxi Industry and Uber.

There is an old saying in Puerto Rico that goes like this: “El pez grande siempre se come al mas pequeño,” meaning: “The big fish always eats the smaller one.” To deal with this situation and try to prevent this old saying from happening, a group of elected officials has gotten together and has been conducting a series of fact-finding meetings.

The elected officials who have never missed even one of the five meetings are: Senator Adriano Espaillat, Assemblymen Marcos Crespo, Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda – and myself.

It is important to also recognize the other elected officials who have attended some of our meetings.  These include: Congressman Charles Rangel, Assemblymen Victor Pichardo, José Rivera, and NYC Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez who attended the first meeting.

It was an honor and a privilege to see the Manhattan Borough President taking time out of her very busy schedule to come to the Bronx and sit down for three hours and patiently listen to the problems and critical situations that Green Car and Livery driving drivers are confronted with  - to the point that one of them publicly cried while explaining his situation.

It is well known by everyone that when elected officials attend meetings, they just speak and go. It is commendable to see the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and the rest of the elected officials sit down for three hours on August 17, 2015 and put aside all of their other responsibilities to hear first hand directly from the mouths of the Green Car and Livery Industry leaders.

It is very important for you to know that the unity that has been achieved through this series of meeting where more than dozens of leaders from the Green Car and Livery industry have joined together like never before to form a strong coalition to protect an industry that for more than 30 years has been providing door-to-door services in minority community areas - where big industry has refused and rejected.

These that meetings started with a few leaders: Marco de la Cruz, José Viloria, Cira Angeles and Francisco Roa has grown to include almost every single leader of the Green Car and Livery Industry, to the point that the Manhattan Borough President traveled to the Bronx to join us.

I am excited and sure that with this unity – and with the willingness that the Honorable Meera Joshi has shown not only to attend every meeting but also to engage with us all - the Green Car and Livery Industry will see some issues solved in the near future.

I am State Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz and this is what you should know.

Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz represents District 32, Bronx County, in the state of New York.