This story was originally published on JUN 2, 2021 by THE CITY
Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
By Christine Chung and Maher Sattar for THE CITY
Some seeking office have been shaped by family suffering in the yellow-cab medallion financial collapse — or their own experiences driving cabs. They say only a bold bailout will avoid calamity
A new generation of South Asian City Council candidates is reviving momentum to support cab drivers in crisis, after a year of little action to pull them out of staggering debt.
The candidate lineup includes a taxi driver and an organizer running in Brooklyn and two daughters of drivers in Queens.
Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the 21,000-driver New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said the Council hopefuls represent a “fighting chance” for cab drivers.
“They’ve seen their parents struggle or they themselves struggle and they’ve seen the necessity for working-class voices,” Desai said.
Prior to the pandemic, the taxi industry was already in freefall. The resale price of city-issued taxi medallion permits zoomed to over $1 million, only to plummet as Uber and other ride-hailing services zipped in. continue reading