Updated 12/14/2012 01:37 PM
Comptroller Liu Wants To Block Contract For New Taxis
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City Comptroller John Liu said Friday that he intends to block the contract the city wants to sign for the "Taxi of Tomorrow," but Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his efforts will go in vain.
"It doesn't matter," Bloomberg said on his radio show Friday morning. "We can go ahead and do it anyway, which we will."
Liu said he wants to block the contract because it violates federal disabilities laws. He said that after Sandy, there is a greater need to have safe evacuation procedures, something the new taxis won't have.
"By mandating a taxi of tomorrow that is not wheelchair accessible, the city has disregarded the civil rights of the disabled community and put the city at unnecessary financial risk," Liu said.
Liu's signature is required to actually get the money flowing, which opens this up to the possibility of a lawsuit.
Activists for the disabled say that currently, only 233 of 13,000 cabs in the city handicap accessible.