This story was originally published on Feb. 20, 2002 by THE CITY. Join here to get the most recent tales from THE CITY delivered to you each morning.
By Jose Martinez
Mohammed Motaleb had simply pulled his 2012 Toyota Prius out of the JFK Airport taxi lot final month when he observed a Ford Crown Victoria tailing him.
“They adopted me honking, honking, honking, prefer it was a police automotive,” is how he described the January 16 encounter with a person who he stated tried to grab the taxi medallion he has owned since 2009. “They stalked me like 200 meters.”
The airport run-in ended, Motaleb stated, with him calling police after the opposite driver blocked his yellow taxi and tried to repossess the once-coveted metallic plate that authorizes drivers to choose up avenue hails.
A Port Authority spokesperson confirmed that law enforcement officials responded to the dispute between “a medallion driver and a repo firm worker,” however stated they didn’t develop into concerned as a result of it was not a felony matter.
“I stated, ‘You can not take my medallion,’” Motaleb informed THE CITY. “I stated, ‘You probably have the authorized authority, you may present me,’ and he didn’t present me.”
Lower than three weeks later, the Bangladeshi immigrant obtained a letter from a regulation agency informing him that his medallion will likely be bought at a non-public sale on or after February 18 “to implement the rights of OSK,” a Minnesota-based lender that has roughly 400 medallions, in accordance with the town’s Taxi and Limousine Fee.
The encounters spotlight the continued pressures dealing with taxi medallion homeowners — even after many celebrated the town’s November commitment to ensure medallion loans. The pledge ended a hunger strike and is designed to ease the devastating monetary burden on many within the business by means of decrease month-to-month funds.
“Oh my gosh, it was a second of hope and triumph,” stated Bhairavi Desai, govt director of the New York Taxi Employees Alliance.
However for some medallion homeowners, that second of hope has confirmed to be fleeting.
‘Dangerous-Religion Gamers’
TLC records reveal that 94 medallions had been foreclosed on in January, 87 in December and 72 in November. That’s 253 of them seized months after the town gave the inexperienced mild in March to an preliminary $65 million medallion owner relief program that restructures loans and offers monetary assist to pay down debt.
The deal — which is meant to work in tandem with this system introduced final spring — got here after years of collapsing worth for medallions that when had been valued at $1 million, a determine that fell to a fraction of that, pushed by the rise of ride-hailing app firms like Uber and Lyft.
“The aim of the assure is to incentivize extra lenders to take part within the [medallion owner relief program] and to supply phrases which can be as favorable as attainable to particular person medallion homeowners,” Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk, the TLC chair and commissioner, stated on the fee’s February public listening to.
Underneath the settlement, Marblegate Asset Administration — the non-public fairness agency that’s the largest holder of medallion loans — will restructure loans to a most of $200,000 every. That quantity will then lower to $170,000 with a $30,000 grant from the town.
Whereas the TLC says that greater than a dozen lenders have agreed to take part within the aid program, the cabbies’ supporters say medallion homeowners are nonetheless topic to harassment from what Desai referred to as “bad-faith gamers.”
“These are the dying breaths of an business of exploitation,” stated Zohran Mamdani, a Queens assemblymember who final fall joined taxi drivers in a 15-day starvation strike.
“They’re hoping to seize as many tens of 1000’s of {dollars} as they will earlier than they undergo a program that may really present drivers with the peace of thoughts that they won’t must face a repossession agent.”
After paying off $100 to $200 a month throughout the early phases of the pandemic, Motaleb stated he stopped making his month-to-month $2,200 cost in July whereas making an attempt, unsuccessfully, to settle his mortgage.
He stated he’s now subjected to “stress in each attainable method.”
“Till this program is underway, I consider that every one lenders should cease taking motion towards debtors to pursue possession of medallions,” Mamdani informed THE CITY.
Curbed
Taxi journeys plummeted throughout the pandemic, with simply 6,908 of the 13,587 medallion taxis — or 51% — on the highway no less than as soon as in December, in accordance with TLC data.
Kumar Dhiren’s yellow Prius isn’t amongst those who have returned to the highway.
Since its medallion and meter had been repossessed whereas parked on a Sunnyside avenue in September, the taxi has been stashed in a Queens Village driveway.
“If I’ve the medallion proper now, my automotive’s operating on the road,” Dhiren informed THE CITY. “However till we get the medallion again, there’s nothing taking place.”
Dhiren stated he obtained a name from AmeriNat, a agency that handles foreclosures for lenders, two weeks after the medallion seizure.
“They stated we are able to do your non permanent modification,” he stated. “I used to be informed to pay $10,000 upfront after which $300 every week.”
Dhiren stated he declined and that he obtained a notification in October that the medallion had been bought.
“I stated, ‘What’s going on?’” stated Dhiren, who paid greater than $600,000 for the medallion in 2011. “This was very surprising information for me.”
An AmeriNat spokesperson declined remark, and OSK didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The town didn’t launch the variety of medallions presently in storage.
Within the meantime, the Prius stays within the driveway, with Dhiren at the hours of darkness on the standing of his medallion.
The Bangladeshi immigrant stated he figured proudly owning one can be “a life changer” when he purchased it greater than a decade in the past, however now views it very in a different way.
When requested if he regrets the funding, he stated, “Oh, yeah. You don’t have good sleep now.”
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