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CityREVIEW NewRochelle April 28, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 12 | www.cityreviewnr.com
Westchester in driver’s seat on Uber, Lyft policy
Liberty or death!
By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer
The New Rochelle Historical Association and Thomas Paine Cottage Museum hosted its annual Colonial Fair for children and their families on April 22. The event featured reenactments of colonial-era activities spanning the years of the American Revolutionary War. For more, see page 6. Photo/Jen Parente
Rye City files beginning stages of Playland appeal By JAMES PERO Staff Writer In an executive session late last week, the Rye City Council voted to file a notice of appeal that could mark the beginnings of another legal battle between Westchester County and the city of Rye over Playland. The notice of appeal, which was filed on April 21, comes as a result of a denial by a state judge in March who threw out an initial Article 78 filed by the city last year that sought lead agency status on planned capital projects at the park, which sits adjacent to some of Rye’s residential neighborhoods.
The notice serves as the first step toward filing an official appeal, and from that point the council will have approximately five months to finalize its decision to enter back into litigation with the county. Rye City Attorney Kristen Wilson said that while the city has been in consistent contact with the park’s new manager, Standard Amusements, including a recent executive session meeting between the two parties in the hopes of coming to some type of agreement, there has been little contact with representatives from the county. This week, Dan Branda, a spokesman for County Executive Rob As-
torino’s administration, reiterated the county executive’s hard stance against Rye’s litigation over Playland. “There’s no merit to the lawsuit, either then or now,” he told the Review. “The court’s decision was a decisive victory for the county and it’s not going to change. Westchester is continuing to move forward on Playland.” City Councilwoman Julie Killian, a Republican, said that the city looks to change the dynamic between parties, giving the city a more active say in the park’s future. “We would like to be more involved going forward and have PLAYLAND continued on page 8
While mobile ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft could legally expand their coverage areas across New York state by early summer, it will ultimately fall on Westchester County lawmakers to accept the state’s regulations, or to push for even tighter restrictions. Included in the state budget adopted earlier this month was a law allowing ride-hailing services like Lyft and Uber—which allow customers to order and pay for a ride with a few taps on a smartphone— to operate across New York state, expanding beyond New York City, where those companies have been operating through the city’s taxi and limousine laws since 2011. The state law would require a list of insurance coverage during different stages of the service, and would require drivers to undergo state background checks. Drivers are required to have at least $1.25 million personal liability coverage, and the same amount in supplemental uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. The state law also puts a 4 percent tax on ride revenue. But the ride-hailing legislation also allows the state’s counties and its largest cities to decide for themselves whether to accept the state’s provisions, to block the services altogether, or to further expand on the requirements made by the state. Any municipality with a population of 100,000 or more—in Westchester, that list includes only Yonkers and the county at large—has the option to accept or reject the state’s provision. According to county Legislator Ken Jenkins, a Yonkers Democrat who plans to run for county exec-
utive, county lawmakers are not certain whether Westchester will remain in or opt out of the program. He said the decision will be based on if the county can adjust the law to fit Westchester’s individual needs for fairness and safety. “The taxi and limousine folks would be at a competitive disadvantage,” Jenkins said, explaining that taxi and limo drivers pay state and county sales tax totaling more than 7 percent, higher than the 4 percent ride-hailing tax included in the new state law. Taxi groups like the Upstate Transportation Association have pushed to add fingerprinting to the list of requirements for Uber and Lyft drivers in fairness to taxi and limo drivers, who are fingerprinted as a requirement of taxi and limousine commissions across the state, including Westchester County. But that provision was not included in the final draft of the law. Dan Branda, a spokesman for Republican County Executive Rob Astorino, said the administration was reviewing the legislation while the state DMV works to release its official ride-hailing regulations. Meanwhile, he said, “Our focus continues to be on passenger safety, including that vehicles will be properly insured and maintained and that drivers will be vetted with fingerprint-based background checks and drug and alcohol testing.” Earlier this year, Jenkins proposed a county law which would have allowed ride-hailing in the Westchester. However, the state legislation fulfills nearly every provision recommended in that draft, which proposed that drivers maintain $1 million in personal liability insurance and undergo county
INSIDE A new spin on Italian food Story on page 7.
UBER continued on page 8