COMMISSIONER’S LETTER

By New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission Commissioner/Chairman David Yassky



So, by the time you read this, we will have been comfortably settled in our new 33 Beaver Street headquarters for a week, or maybe longer. Maybe we will even have had our first public Commission meeting scheduled for April 21. If so, I hope you were there to see the new digs for yourself. The lowdown is that the space is fresh, bright, comfortable, technologically up to date and very conducive to the business we conduct on a daily basis. Industry feedback has been exceptionally positive thus far, and we look forward to many productive years of serving both the public and our licensee customers here at our new offices. Here's a photo of our gala ribbon cutting…..

Sharing in the festivities are (left to right) TLC Chaplains Monsignor Robert Romano and Archbishop David Hartman, Assistant Commissioner Nicholas Venezia, Commissioner/Chair David Yassky, Staten Island Board Member Elias Arout, Deputy Commissioner Conan Freud, Executive Assistant to the Chair Brian Switzer, Deputy Personnel Director David Pearlmutter, and Clerical Associate Shaniqua Payne.

Actually, there are those in the taxi industry out there reading this who will remember that the TLC's very first offices were at 87 Beaver Street, made famous, among other reasons, for the image below of the hack license used by Robert DeNiro to learn the cabbie's craft in preparation for Scorsese's masterpiece Taxi Driver. So, in a way, we're coming full circle. It feels right.

More news from home…it is with some bittersweetness that I share with you the fact that Deputy Commissioner Pansy Mullings, our head of Uniformed Services, has informed me of her intention to retire after 25 years – a quarter century - of serving the people of New York City with distinction. She will have been here at the TLC for nearly six years overseeing the men and women of New York's Proudest whether they were in field enforcing our rules and regulations, or in our state of the art inspection facility making sure our regulated vehicles are the safest on the road. Pansy had previously served with the Departments of Sanitation and Consumer Affairs, both agencies that continue to sing her praises long after her having left them. Pansy's leadership will be difficult to replace. I greatly admire her intellect, good sense, and prodigious work ethic. It is characteristic of Pansy's professionalism and commitment to our enterprise that she is giving us ample opportunity to plan an orderly transition. While I have no doubt that we will find the right person to take the reins at the USB hers will be big shoes to fill.

Before I go, let me take this moment to wish all those who are celebrating holy days in April a most healthy and joyous Passover, Easter and Wesak (Buddha's birthday).

Until next time, stay off those cell phones, and have a great month…..more news soon!