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Taxi Drivers Slam Mayor de Blasio’s Lender Bailout, Demand Debt Relief

HeadlineMar 17, 2021

In more labor news from New York, taxi drivers have led daily protests for over a week against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan he claims will offer relief to heavily indebted taxi medallion owners, who have suffered even more economic loss during the pandemic.

Taxi drivers: “No more suicide! No more bankruptcy! No more bankruptcy! No more suicide!”

De Blasio’s plan does not provide any debt relief, and instead offers modest loans to taxi drivers to pay off their debt, accrued largely because of the artificially inflated cost of taxi medallions. Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance said, “It’s a cash bailout for lenders while drivers are left to drown in debt, foreclosure, and bankruptcy. … The mayor’s plan is a disgraceful betrayal from a city that already has blood on its hands.”

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