MAY 2021 www.taxiliverytimes.com Vol.22 No. 5 Share this issue with a friend & An Insider’s Look at Both NYC TLC Regulated Industries PPROTECTROTECT YYOURSELFOURSELF AANDND HHELPELP SSTOPTOP HHATEATE CCRIMESRIMES PROTÉJASEPROTÉJASE YY AYUDEAYUDE AA DETENERDETENER LOSLOS DELITOSDELITOS PORPOR DISCRIMINACIÓNDISCRIMINACIÓN FUND PAYS FOR RIDES TLC CHIEF SPARS WITH NYC LAUNCHES $30M GETTING BACK TO LIFE FOR SCARED ASIAN AG, COMPTROLLER ON AD PUSH TO LURE WITHOUT PANDEMIC- NEW YORKERS MEDALLION BAILOUTS BACK TOURISTS RELATED ANXIETY 2 • TAXI & LIVERY TIMES • MAY 2021 TLC DRIVER SERVICES, INC. All TLC Summonses TLCTLC DRIVERDRIVER SCHOOLSCHOOL DMV Traffic Tickets Offering AALLLL Required TLC Driver Classes The TLC Driving Institute was founded by industry experts to provide the highest level of education A dedicated team of lawyers for Black Car / For-Hire Vehicle (FHV), SHL and providing the necessary expertise, knowledge and Taxi Drivers. 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Choose From 4 Convenient Locations: Bronx 1765 Carter Ave. Bronx 2nd Floor 4309 3rd Ave. Brooklyn Bronx, NY 10457 (at the corner of 179th St.) 270 43rd St. Queens Bronx, NY 10457 Brooklyn, NY 11232 31-00 4ththe Ave. 718-618-0972 718-618-0972 LIC, NY 11101 718-618-0972 4 • TAXI & LIVERY TIMES • MAY 2021 BY NEIL WEISS EDITOR’S NOTES RESOURCES AND ADVICE RECURSOS Y CONSEJOS PARA HACER FRENTE AL AUMENTO DE FOR DEALING WITH THE LOS DELITOS POR DISCRIMINACIÓN SPIKE IN HATE CRIMES Aunque los informes de “delitos por discriminación antiasiáticos” han aparecido en las noticias recientemente, el inspector del Departa- Although reports of “anti-Asian hate crimes” have been in mento de Policía de Nueva York (NYPD) Tommy Ng, comandante en the news recently, NYPD Inspector Tommy Ng, commanding of- jefe de la fuerza especial para delitos por discriminación contra asiáticos ficer of the city’s Asian Hate Crimes Task Force, told WABC New de la ciudad, dijo a WABC New York que “ocurren desde hace bastante York they have “been happening for quite some time.” This, of tiempo”. Esto, por supuesto, no sorprende a muchas de las personas de course, comes as no surprise to many of the people in our indus- nuestra industria que han sido intimidadas, insultadas y agredidas sim- plemente por su apariencia o su vestimenta. try who have been targeted, insulted and assaulted simply for Según la policía, para mediados de abril, se reportaron 40 delitos the way they look or dress. por discriminación antiasiáticos en Nueva York, motivados específica- According to police, by mid-April, there were 40 reported mente por la raza de las víctimas, una cifra que es al menos un 30 % anti-Asian hate crimes in NYC, motivated specifically by the vic- más alta que la cantidad total de delitos por discriminación en todo tims’ race – a number that is at least 30% higher than the total 2020. Muchos de los delitos fueron motivados por la pandemia de number of hate crimes in all of 2020. Many of the crimes were COVID-19, incluidos informes de personas que gritaban insultos racis- motivated by COVID-19, including reports of people shouting tas y tosían o escupían intencionalmente a las víctimas, un nuevo fenó- racist slurs and intentionally coughing or spitting on victims, a meno horrible que, al menos en parte, puede atribuirse a la retórica horrific new phenomenon that can at least be partially blamed racista lanzada por personas en los niveles más altos de nuestro gob- on racist rhetoric spewed by people at the highest levels of our ierno. government. Los expertos concuerdan en que, sea cual sea la cantidad, en reali- dad es mucho mayor que cualquier cifra reportada porque muchas per- Experts agree that, whatever the number, it’s actually much sonas, especialmente los inmigrantes, tienen miedo de presentarse ante higher than any reported figure because a lot of people – partic- la policía. ularly immigrants – are afraid to come forward to police. Según un artículo de Patch New York City, “Si es víctima de un According to an article in Patch New York City, “If you are delito por discriminación en la ciudad de Nueva York, o ve o escucha the victim of a hate crime in New York City, or see or hear one, uno, puede llamar al 911 para denunciarlo a la policía. Si no habla in- you can call 911 to report it to the police. If you do not speak glés, diga el nombre del idioma que habla en inglés y se le conectará English, say the name of the language that you speak in English, con un traductor (es posible que deba esperar). Luego se le pedirá que and you will be connected to a translator (you may have to hold). indique su ubicación y describa lo que está sucediendo... y que propor- You will then be asked to state your location and describe what cione tantos detalles como sea posible sobre el aspecto de los agresores, is happening… and give as much detail as possible about what qué dijeron y qué ocurrió”. they looked like, said, and what happened.” Quienes deseen permanecer anónimos, llamen a la línea para in- formantes de Crime Stoppers del NYPD al 800-577-TIPS para aportar For those who wish to remain anonymous, call the NYPD datos. También puede denunciar actos de prejuicio o discriminación a Crime Stoppers tip line at 800-577-TIPS to leave a tip. You can la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la Ciudad de Nueva York, also report acts of bias or discrimination to the New York City disponible en línea aquí. Commission on Human Rights, available online here. De acuerdo a las leyes del estado de Nueva York, se comete un delito According to New York State law, a hate crime is committed por discriminación cuando una víctima es escogida intencionalmente when a victim is intentionally selected because of their race, skin debido a su raza, color de piel, nacionalidad, ascendencia, género, re- color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious prac- ligión, práctica religiosa, edad, discapacidad u orientación sexual. Para tice, age disability or sexual orientation. To learn more about obtener más información sobre lo que se define como delito por discrim- what is defined as a hate crime in New York, click here. inación en Nueva York, haga clic aquí. Editor’s Notes ................................................4 & From Where I Sit ............................................6 An Insider’s Look at Both NYC TLC Regulated Industries Questions & Comments ................................7 EDITOR: Neil Weiss TRANSLATIONS: Email: [email protected] The Language Center and NYC TLC 714 Crestbrook Ave. Taxi News ......................................................8 Cherry Hill, N.J. 08003 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Tel: 800-723-9119/856-751-0656 Matthew Daus, Esq. Livery News..................................................10 Larry Fisher PUBLISHER: David Pollack Dawood Mian E-mail:[email protected] David Pollack Features........................................................14 Phone: 718-706-TAXI (8294) Steven J. Shanker, Esq. Michael Spevack, Esq. Directory ......................................................17 ADV. SALES MGR./ ART & DESIGN: Michele Norton: 856-262-2368 ITAR Outlook By Matthew W. Daus ............20 Copyright © 2021 by TAXI & LIVERY TIMES. All rights reserved. Neither Defensive Driving ........................................26 this newspaper nor any part therof may be reproduced, copied, or transmitted in any form, without the express written permission of the publishers. The copyright is extended to the design and text created for advertisements. This The Fishbowl By Larry Fisher ......................23 publication is not responsible for errors in advertisement beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Bylined articles represent the sole opinion of the writer and are