TLCMKT News (09.17.20): NYC Taxi Drivers Halt Traffic to Demand Debt Relief, NYC Schools Delay In-Person Instruction, ~50% of NYC’s Top Earners Have Considered Leaving, Tourism Agency Looks to Locals
Top NYC headlines for Thursday, September 17th 2020
Select TLCMKT news headlines for Thursday, September 17th 2020.
NYC cabbies halt Brooklyn Bridge traffic in bid for debt relief (NY Post)
New York City yellow cab drivers stalled traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge Thursday afternoon to demand debt relief from medallion lenders and the city.
Video posted on Citizen app shows the caravan of yellow cabs stalled out on Manhattan-bound side of the Brooklyn Bridge at around 12:40 pm.
Protest was led by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), a union representing professional drivers in the city.
The demonstration comes days after Greenwich, Conn.-based Marblegate — which owns 4,000 of the city’s 13,500 medallions — offered to reduce driver debts to $300,000.
“The number of $300,000 is the same as what was discussed pre-pandemic…What Marblegate and all these lenders are doing us continuing to prey on the desperation of this workforce.” - Bhairavi Desai, NYTWA Director
An alternative proposal from city councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) would revalue each medallion at $250,000, with the city acting as guarantor. A finance industry report obtained by The Post valued an individual medallion at $435,000 right before the pandemic.
“Based on math, Torres’ number looks way more reasonable even when factoring in the pandemic,” said one industry insider who has reviewed the report. “Asking lenders to go down to $125,000 after they’ve provided $70 million in relief isn’t just unrealistic, it’s absurd.”
Link to story
New York City Schools Delay In-Person Instruction for Second Time (WSJ)
NYC schools will delay in-person instruction for a second time, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday, after complaints from teachers over classrooms being unsafe and understaffed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The mayor and chiefs of the teachers union and principals union said teacher shortages were the key factor that led to the decision to delay.
Preschool children will start on Monday, with children in K through fifth grade and K through eighth schools starting on Sept. 29. High school students and students in middle schools serving grades six through eight will begin on Oct. 1.
Link to story
Nearly half of NYC’s top earners have considered fleeing the city: poll (NY Post)
Researchers with the Siena College Research Institute and Manhattan Institute (MI) surveyed 782 city dwellers making $100,000 or more.
The survey, conducted between July 13 and Aug. 3, found that 44 percent have thought of leaving the city in the past four months, with 69 percent citing cost of living as the main reason to move.
Just under 4 in 10 respondents said quality of life is now “excellent or good” — a plunge from 79 percent who felt that way pre-coronavirus.
Link to story
“Residents who make $100,000 or more make up 80 percent of New York City’s income-tax revenue, making the city government vulnerable to tax-base erosion” - study’s author, Michael Hendrix, MI’s director of state and local policy.
City's tourism agency looks to entice New Yorkers to spend money in their own backyard (Crain’s)
Longest campaign since 9/11 began Tuesday and will run through the end of the year—NYC & Company’s neighborhood getaways program will offer deals to encourage city dwellers to spend more money in their own hometown.
Campaign has enlisted 195 hotels, restaurants, tour companies and other leisure-oriented businesses to offer deals to entice New Yorkers.
Link to story
“We want people from Brooklyn to come into Manhattan to vacation [and vice versa]” - Chris Heywood, executive vice president of global communications for NYC & Company
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