Mad. Square shelter residents demand
city pause disruptive transfers
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
City Councilmember Carlina Rivera
repeated calls for the city to impose
a moratorium on moving around
homeless New Yorkers until a COVID-19
vaccine is developed on Monday outside of
The MAve Hotel in the Flatiron District.
Rivera is one of four Democratic city
councilmembers that fi rst demanded the
moratorium last week ahead of the city’s
transfer of Lucerne Hotel residents after
repeated complaints from Upper West
Siders.
Rivera was joined by over a dozen shelter
residents outside of the midtown shelter
just hours after City Hall decided to pause
its contentious plan to relocate over 200
shelter tenants of the Lucerne Hotel.
The city had planned to start relocating
235 residents of the Upper West Side shelter
to the former Radisson Hotel in Lower
Manhattan on Monday but the move was
blocked after a judge granted tenants a
temporary restraining order in the early
afternoon.
“It’s dangerous, it’s unnecessary and
it’s risky,” said Rivera. “We are exposing
families to transmission.”
Scattering families in shelters across the
city also makes potential contact tracing
efforts challenging, she added.
The shelter is currently home to roughly
70 families, at least 30 of whom have young
children.
Shelter resident Kevin Weaver, 34, lives
at The MAve with his two sons Kalib, 5,
and Kyrin, 6. Both boys are enrolled in
hybrid learning and take classes in-person
three days a week and are fortunate enough
to have working iPads for their remote
learning days.
Kevin Weaver worries that a move will
undo the little stability that they have been
able to get during the last year and worries
that they could possibly miss class.
“It’s going to be rough,” said Weaver.
“It’s like we got to start from scratch all
over and that’s interfering with their
education.”
The MAve residents are scheduled to
begin being transferred out of the hotel
Tuesday morning, according to Mike
Bonano, a resident of the nearby Harmonia
Hotel who was among those urging the city
to stop all shelter transfers. In September,
Mayor de Blasio tried to kick out residents
at the Harmonia to make room for soonto
be displaced residents of the Lucerne.
Oftentimes, the Department of Homeless
Services does not tell residents where they
are being transferred to until the day of
their move and none of The MAve residents
know where they could potentially land.
The process is exhausting, said Bonano,
and often traumatic. Some shelter residents
at The MAve reported being given 30
Protestors gathered at The MAve Hotel on Madison Avenue in the Flatiron District
on Oct. 19, 2020 to call on the city to keep residents in the current hotel to
maintain continuity.
minutes before being packed to a bus and
moved to another borough to gather their
belongings. Residents are normally told
that they are only allowed to bring two bags
with them to their next shelter.
“It’s hard to see people that have so little,
have basically nothing after it’s tossed out
to the streets,” said Bonano.
“During the pandemic, a top priority
has been protecting the adults we serve,
who otherwise would have been in congregate
settings, through the strategic
use of commercial hotels as temporary
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
relocation sites,” said DHS spokesperson
Isaac McGinn. “We continue to use this
vital, life-saving strategy so we and our
provider partners are able to implement
best health practices and social distancing
while our City combats the COVID-19
pandemic. Our actions on this front will be
guided by the science and data in determining
when it is safe to return to congregate
shelters, including closely monitoring
health indicators with health experts at
the New York City Health Department
and following their lead in all that we do.”
City taxi drivers finally get a ‘brake’ from financial pain
BY MARK HALLUM
New York City Council’s
stated meeting on Oct.
15 saw a vote to approve
three bills expected to bring relief
to taxi drivers and medallion
holders experiencing hardship
from debt by fi ghting off predatory
lending.
The taxi industry was struggling
prior to the pandemic with
2018 seeing an increased number
cab driver suicides linked to outstanding
medallion debt and COVID
19 has not been any kinder
to them as medallion prices have
dropped considerably and profi ts
are down.
As part of the package, the
city will be creating an Offi ce
of Financial Stability within the
Taxi and Limousine Commission
(TLC) which will evaluate the
industry and provide oversight of
income and expenses for medallion
owners, medallion loan terms
and market manipulation.
“We cannot afford to have the
TLC auction off medallions at
speculative prices or approve medallion
transfers with speculative
loans,” the bill’s sponsor, Councilman
Richie Torres said. “This bill
will create a new offi ce that will
have the statutory obligation to
oversee and regulate the fi nancial
stability of the medallion market.
We must ensure that taxi drivers
are not driven into another fi nancial
crisis cause by a medallion
bubble and predatory lenders.”
Int. No. 1584-A by Councilwoman
Adrienne Adams would
require those applying for a
taxi license to disclose fi nancial
reports on income and any loans
secured, as well as any other
interests the person fi ling the
disclosure has in any taxi, livery
or for-hire vehicle business.
“Unfortunately taxi drivers
in New York City were sold the
American dream that not only did
not materialize but placed them
in severe fi nancial debt,” said
Adams. “Taxi drivers desperately
need assistance and Introduction
1584 will be a step forward toward
transparency and an end to
predatory behavior. As a city, we
must do all that we can to end the
suffering for taxi drivers.”
These two bills would go into
effect 120 days from being approved
by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The third bill, introduced by
Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez,
would require the TLC to take
into account the character,
honesty and integrity of brokers,
agents and licensees when they
either submit for a new license
or renew an old one. The TLC
could, in the future, reject an application
if the individual is found
to lack these qualities upon taking
into account any prior fraudulent,
deceitful or unlawful acts while
engaged with the commission in
the course of obtaining a license.
“We saw what happened
when taxicab brokers, agents,
and taxicab licensees were left
to their own discretion. They
took advantage of vulnerable and
mostly immigrant New Yorkers
who were trying to make an honest
living,” Rodriguez said. “With
this bill, any taxicab broker, agent
and licensee who violates TLC’s
prescribed rules and regulations
on this matter will face serious
consequences, including denial
or nullifi cation of their license.”
This bill will go into effect 180
days after being signed into law.
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
Schneps Media October 22, 2020 3