New York City Taxicab Problem

I should be honest here and say that I was offered the position of Commissioner of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities by former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani. That was a long time ago. I declined the offer. The politics of disability access vs. business interests in NYC is a difficult and often terrible process. Now I have received the following email from my friend and fellow advocate, Christoph Keller, which I share in its entirety:

COME AND SPREAD THE WORD!

spread the word about this meeting. note – you have to RSVP to be admitted.

I would like you to know about this proposed meeting on May 3. After the official unveiling of the new Nissan NV 200–The Taxi of Tomorrow, this meeting has been organized by the acting Commissioner of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, Jason Mischel. The original unveiling was planned a few days before the opening of the International Auto Show. There was a big announcement at the NV 200 would have a wheelchair accessible model. Not a single disabled person was invited to the unveiling. Four people from The Taxis for All Campaign were there and asks to be admitted. We were told “no”. I think that that was a tactical error on the part of Nissan. As the press left Nissan’s event, many of them stopped to speak with us and we wound up getting a significant amount of press coverage. The fact is that in order to make the NV 200 wheelchair accessible, the passenger seat in the cab must be folded down and moved forward in order to make room for the wheelchair which will enter from the rear. It has been decided that one additional passenger can sit on the other side of the partition next to the driver. There will no longer be room for three passengers as in every other taxi. After the conversion, the cost of this vehicle will be the same as any other converted minivans that will hold three passengers and a wheelchair user. I know that Jason Mischel is very enthusiastic in his support of this plan. We had a rather lengthy discussion about this. Meanwhile, this is an opportunity for our voices to be heard– or at least spoken to both the TLC and Nissan. I hope that the results of this meeting make it to the mainstream press. I hope that you will be able to attend.

Sincerely, Ronnie

If you know anyone else who might be interested in attending this meeting, please do give them this information

Ronnie Ellen Raymond
New York, New York

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Mischel, Jason <JMischel@cityhall.nyc.gov>
Date: Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 4:13 PM
Subject: please post (revised)
To: EM Prentiss <prentissem@gmail.com>, marvinwssrmn@aol.com, Ronnie Ellen Raymond <rone327@gmail.com>, Jean Ryan <pansies007@gmail.com>

On Thursday May 3, 2012 at 9:30 AM at Lighthouse International, the NYC Mayor’s Office for People With Disabilities and the Taxi & Limousine Commission will be hosting a presentation by Nissan and its wheelchair accessibility partner, The Braun Corporation, regarding the wheelchair accessible version of the Nissan NV200 that will be available for use as a NYC taxi in October 2013.

The presentation will take place on the 2^nd floor of Lighthouse International, 111 E. 59^th Street between Park Ave. and Lexington Ave., NYC, and will be accessible by four (4) working elevators.

In order to attend this event, you must RSVP to Inat German by no later than 12pm on Wednesday May 2, 2012 at the Mayor’s Office for People With Disabilities by the following:

email at igerman@cityhall.nyc.gov

phone at 212-788-6729

TTY at 212-788-2838

Fax at 212-341-9843

Please note that this is a closed event, and only those who have RSVP-d will be admitted. Thank you.

From: Mischel, Jason
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2012 3:28 PM
To: 'dnnyc@yahoogroups.com'
Cc: 'EM Prentiss'; 'marvinwssrmn@aol.com'; 'Ronnie Ellen Raymond'; 'Jean Ryan'
Subject: please post

The presentation will take place on the 2^nd floor of Lighthouse International, 110 E. 59^th Street between Park Ave. and Lexington Ave., NYC, and will be accessible by four (4) working elevators.

In order to attend this event, you must RSVP to Inat German by no later than 12pm on Wednesday May 2, 2012 at the Mayor’s Office for People With Disabilities by the following:

email at igerman@cityhall.nyc.gov

phone at 212-788-6729

TTY at 212-788-2838

Fax at 212-341-9843

Please note that this is a closed event, and only those who have RSVP-d will be admitted. Thank you.

Jason R. Mischel

Acting Commissioner/General Counsel

Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities

100 Gold Street, 2nd Floor

New York, NY 10038

Tel: 212.788.0273

Main: 212.788.2830

TTY: 212.788.2838

Fax: 212.341.9843

Email: Jmischel@cityhall.nyc.gov

URL: www.nyc.gov/mopd

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P please do not print this e-mail unless necessary

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail communication and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information for the use of the designated recipients named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this communication in error and that any review, disclosure, dissemination, distribution or copying of it or its contents is prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify me immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer. Thank you.

–
Ronnie Ellen Raymond
New York, New York

–
Christoph

Author: stevekuusisto

Poet, Essayist, Blogger, Journalist, Memoirist, Disability Rights Advocate, Public Speaker, Professor, Syracuse University View all posts by stevekuusisto