The Meter's Running

The early 1970s were a very interesting time in New York.  I bought my first taxi – a 1971 Ford, for $3,000.  (My most recent vehicle cost me $23,000.)  Gas was 30 cents a gallon, and on Friday nights my wife and I played Monopoly and Scrabble with my son.

You could still get a meal at the last remaining Horn and Hardart restaurant on 3^rd Avenue for about $ 1.00.  Gimbels, Korvettes, Kleins and Mays department stores were still around, and the Astor Theater and the New Yorker Hotel were still in operation.  Little did we know that we were standing on the edge of era that was soon to come to an end.  Before the decade was over, many of the great buildings that housed these New York institutions would fall to the wrecking ball.

As the decade began Richard Nixon was President, John Lindsay was Mayor, and traffic in New York City was not as bad as it is today.  Lindsay, who was the Mayor from 1966 to 1973, got into office by sheer luck. The vote split almost 1/3 for each candidate (Republican, Democrat and Liberal parties) and Lindsay was able to just squeeze in and win on the Liberal line.  He was a mayor that really divided the city.  He forced historically white neighborhoods in Corona to accept low-cost, low-income housing projects.  He formed the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which was terrible for the industry -- it was supposed to help, but it was too heavy-handed in its enforcement activities.  Years later I learned that hundreds of inspectors have been indicted for taking bribes and other activities amounting to corruption.  But what did John Lindsay in was a tremendous snowstorm in the winter of 1972 -- almost two feet of snow fell in that storm.  Brooklyn and Queens had hardly any equipment coming in to clean the streets.  My taxi was stuck in the street for a week before a plow came through and made it possible to move.  The people didn’t forget, and he wisely decided not to run for a third term.  The people of Brooklyn and Queens spoke. 

As I mentioned, Lindsay managed to push through a proposal to establish what is now called the Taxi & Limousine Commission.  In my opinion it was a terrible step for the taxi industry.  The Commission (known now as the TLC) was full of corruption, bribery, and political appointments.  It was terrible.  Before that, the taxi industry was regulated by the New York City Police Department.  Beginning in the year 2000, the New York City Police Department is also back in the enforcement business for New York’s yellow taxis.  The problem is, the police have been told by the Mayor to give tickets to taxis for even the smallest violation, which is what is making the taxi industry in the year 2000 terrible.  Tickets are handed out for “violations” such as not being 12 inches from the curb when discharging a passenger, and the fines have increased from $50 to $200 or $300 dollars.  This has made it almost impossible to make a profit from driving a cab for a lot of drivers.  Consequently, everyday there are nearly 2000 yellow cabs sitting idle because there is no one to drive them.