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This article orginally appeared in Cranes New York Business on August 13, 2020 at 
https://www.crainsnewyork.com/transportation/taxi-commission-fails-regulate-uber-and-lyft-under-two-year-old-city-law

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Taxi commission fails to regulate Uber and Lyft under two-year-old city law
BRIAN PASCUS

The city’s taxi enforcement agency known for its heavy hand with drivers has neglected to implement a two-year-old law aimed at helping yellow taxis compete with Uber and Lyft as the ride-hail apps roiled the industry.

Local Law 149, signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio and enacted Aug. 14, 2018, created the category of High Volume For Hire Services—companies that handle more than 10,000 rides a day—and required them to apply for a special permit through the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Under the regulation they must turn over records, including driver compensation, environmental impact, financial impact and other information, that could result in further restrictions on them.

So far, both Uber and Lyft have applied for the permits, but the TLC has not approved their applications.

“The TLC failed to timely enact regulations and enact the legislation which their chair asked for,” said Christopher Lynn, a TLC commissioner from 1996 to 1998. “In other words, the TLC did everything else except level the playing field and hold Uber accountable.”

The law sought to provide greater transparency of companies, such as Uber and Lyft, whose fleet of cars had risen exponentially in the city beginning in 2011 at the expense of traditional yellow taxi drivers and livery black car taxis, leading many of these drivers to fall into bankruptcy and despair. There were several taxi-industry suicides before the law’s passage.

For taxi medallion owners, the TLC’s lack of enforcement is nothing short of a betrayal of its mission to regulate and protect the yellow cab medallion industry.

“I expected the TLC to enforce the rules that they’ve had on the books for many years, which would’ve prevented many of the excessive for-hire vehicles from ever being on the road,” said Carolyn Protz, a taxi medallion owner. “The TLC hasn’t done anything. They haven’t held the app companies to the rules they were supposed to create.”

More than that, industry insiders say, the city could be leaving money uncollected during an extreme budget crisis. The penalty for companies operating without the High Volume For Hire Service license is a $10,000 fine each day the violation is in place.

The law explicitly states it is unlawful for these types of companies to operate unless licensed by the TLC.

But emails and legal documents obtained by Crain’s show that Uber and Lyft have been operating in New York without an approved high-volume license for two years.

During a July 23, 2019, public hearing before the TLC, Uber noted that the status of its high-volume license, which had been submitted to the TLC, was still pending. That September the TLC testified that it was in the process of implementing the law.

Not much changed nearly a year later.

An email exchange from June 18 of this year between Kala Wright, the TLC's deputy commissioner for policy, and Protz confirmed that Uber, Lyft and Via were still operating without an approved license as late as 20 months after the City Council passed the bill.

“Hi Carolyn, thanks for following up, the [high-volume] licenses are still under review, all of the company's (sic) have submitted their application materials,” Wright wrote at the time.

Lyft confirmed that it has not heard back from the TLC on its application.

"The TLC has yet to issue formal [high-volume] licenses or provide indication of when those should be expected," Lyft representative Campbell Matthews said.

Uber and Via did not respond to a request for comment.

For its part, the TLC has said that it’s done nothing wrong, but the agency failed to make clear why it has delayed subjecting the ride-hail apps to the law.

“Uber and Lyft are indeed fully licensed and will remain so while their HVFHV applications are being processed,” said Allan Fromberg, a spokesman for the TLC, using the designation for high volume for-hire vehicles.

Medallion owners, such as Protz, can’t understand how the TLC could turn a blind eye to the regulations established under a new law explicitly passed to level the playing field among all drivers and ride-share companies.

“The TLC is really rogue. They just ignored what they were told to do by the City Council,” she said.

Baked into Local Law 149 are a few different licensing requirements that Uber and Lyft must comply with to be licensed under the law. These requirements include a list of bases through which the companies will dispatch trips, a business plan with trip volumes, a vehicle count, accessibility requirements and an impact analysis.

The impact analysis assesses the effect of a prospective licensee’s operation on the environment and documents the applicant’s impact on traffic congestion, public transportation, private motor vehicles and noise in the city area.

It is thought that these regulations—notably a comprehensive account of the environmental impact tens of thousands of Uber and Lyft vehicles have on the city's environment—would complicate, if not prove detrimental, to the ride-share companies.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said agency representatives testified to the council in September 2019 that they were working on implementing the law.

“The council passed laws regulating for-hire vehicles with the expectation that the TLC would implement and enforce them as soon as possible, so it's frustrating to hear this is taking so long,” Johnson said. “I urge the TLC to take action quickly to fix this situation and comply with the law we passed.”

Bronx Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr., who introduced the bill, has called on Attorney General Letitia James to investigate what he said is lack of oversight by the TLC.

Councilman Ritchie J. Torres, who chairs the Oversights and Investigations Committee, said he was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations that the TLC is circumventing local law.

“No agency gets to pick and choose the laws it wishes to follow,” Torres spokesman Raymond Rodriguez said. “The TLC has an obligation to faithfully follow all local laws, and Local Law 149 is by no means an exception.”

For medallion owners, who have seen their livelihood altered in the face of the ride-share onslaught, the failure of the TLC and the de Blasio administration to implement Local Law 149 has dramatically altered the city’s transportation landscape.

“They damaged public transportation, increased pollution, increased congestion, destroyed a $15 billion taxi medallion franchise and created poverty among all the drivers,” Protz said. “And they’ve done all that for nothing.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Times at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/nyregion/nyc-economy-chain-stores.html
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Retail Chains Abandon Manhattan: ‘It’s Unsustainable’
Some national chains, both retail and restaurants, are closing outlets in New York City, which are struggling more than their branches elsewhere.

A Gap store near Rockefeller Center. Many companies have kept their stores closed in New York, even as they have opened stores in other parts of the country.

A Gap store near Rockefeller Center. Many companies have kept their stores closed in New York, even as they have opened stores in other parts of the country. Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

By Matthew Haag and Patrick McGeehan

Aug. 11, 2020

For years, Bryant Park Grill & Cafe in Midtown Manhattan has been one of the country’s top-grossing restaurants, the star property in Ark Restaurants’ portfolio of 20 restaurants across the United States.

But what propelled it to the top has vanished.

The tourists are gone, the office towers surrounding it are largely empty and the restaurant’s 1,000-seat dining room is closed. Instead, dinner is cooked and served on its patio, and the scaled-down restaurant brings in about $12,000 a day — an 85 percent plunge in revenue, its chief executive said.

Five months into the pandemic, the drastic turn of events at businesses like Bryant Park Grill & Cafe that are part of national chains shows how the economic damage in New York has in many cases been far worse than elsewhere in the country.

In the heart of Manhattan, national chains including J.C. Penney, Kate Spade, Subway and Le Pain Quotidien have shuttered branches for good. Many other large brands, like Victoria’s Secret and the Gap, have kept their high-profile locations closed in Manhattan, while reopening in other states.

Michael Weinstein, the chief executive of Ark Restaurants, who owns Bryant Park Grill & Cafe and 19 other restaurants, said he will never open another restaurant in New York.

ImageA Uniqlo store on Fifth Avenue. Many businesses in Manhattan are struggling because of a lack of tourists and a relatively small number of office workers.

A Uniqlo store on Fifth Avenue. Many businesses in Manhattan are struggling because of a lack of tourists and a relatively small number of office workers. Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Of Ark Restaurants’ five Manhattan restaurants, only two have reopened, while its properties in Florida — where the virus is far worse — have expanded outdoor seating with tents and tables into their parking lots, serving almost as many guests as they had indoors.

“There’s no reason to do business in New York,” Mr. Weinstein said. “I can do the same volume in Florida in the same square feet as I would have in New York, with my expenses being much less. The idea was that branding and locations were important, but the expense of being in this city has overtaken the marketing group that says you have to be there.”

Even as the city has contained the virus and slowly reopens, there are ominous signs that some national brands are starting to abandon New York. The city is home to many flagship stores, chains and high-profile restaurants that tolerated astronomical rents and other costs because of New York’s global cachet and the reliable onslaught of tourists and commuters.

But New York today looks nothing like it did just a few months ago.

In Manhattan’s major retail corridors, from SoHo to Fifth Avenue to Madison Avenue, once packed sidewalks are now nearly empty. A fraction of the usual army of office workers goes into work every day, and many wealthy residents have left the city for second homes.

An H&M store on Fifth Avenue is open, but other stores along the famous thoroughfare are still shut.

An H&M store on Fifth Avenue is open, but other stores along the famous thoroughfare are still shut. Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Many stores are still closed, some permanently, while those that are open have very little foot traffic.

For four months, the Victoria’s Secret flagship store at Herald Square in Manhattan has been closed and not paying its $937,000 monthly rent. “It will be years before retail has even a chance of returning to New York City in its pre-Covid form,” the retailer’s parent company recently told its landlord in a legal document.

“In the prime real estate areas, all the stores rely on having half international tourists and half local tourists or those from the local neighborhoods,” said Thiago Hueb, a founder of a jewelry company who had decided to close his flagship store on Madison Avenue before the pandemic struck because of high rents.

Now brokers are calling him trying to lure him back to the block, but Mr. Hueb, whose jewelry is sold in 80 department stores nationwide, is not interested.

“The avenue is no longer what it used to be,” he said.

J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus, the anchor tenants at two of the largest malls in Manhattan, recently filed for bankruptcy and announced that they would shutter those locations.

The Neiman Marcus at Hudson Yards, the first in New York City, had only opened last year, with its name adorning the outside of the luxury mall — the centerpiece of the country’s largest private development.

Image

Victoria’s Secret’s flagship store in Midtown Manhattan has remained closed for months, and its owners have stopped paying rent.

Victoria’s Secret’s flagship store in Midtown Manhattan has remained closed for months, and its owners have stopped paying rent. Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Some popular chains, like Shake Shack and Chipotle, report that their stores in New York were performing worse than others elsewhere, investment analysts said. A few dozen Subway locations have closed in New York City in recent months. Le Pain Quotidien has permanently closed several of its 27 stores in the city and plans to leave others closed until more people return to the streets, said Andrew Stern, co-chief executive of the chain’s parent, Aurify Brands.

A Gap Store near Rockefeller Center has stayed closed and has not paid its $264,000 monthly rent. Two T.G.I. Friday’s in prime locations, one near Rockefeller Center and another in Times Square, have remained closed while its restaurants elsewhere in the country have reopened.

Anyone in the food and dining business is really suffering right now,” said Vin McCann, a restaurant consultant with Heyer Performance in Lower Manhattan. “I think that’s true in all the boroughs.”

New York’s stringent lockdown and methodical reopening may have brought the virus to heel, Mr. McCann said, but it is also wreaking havoc on businesses with so few people going to work, virtually no visitors and many residents “a little loath to go out” and worried for their health.

“There’s going to be a lot of pain,’’ he added.

Landlords have started filing lawsuits against commercial tenants for not paying rent, accusing some national brands of trying to take advantage of the crisis.

A Zara store in Manhattan. J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus, which anchor two of Manhattan’s largest malls, have declared bankruptcy and are closing their stores there.

A Zara store in Manhattan. J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus, which anchor two of Manhattan’s largest malls, have declared bankruptcy and are closing their stores there. Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

“SL Green and landlords across the city have worked with retailers large and small to protect jobs and New York’s tax base during this crisis,” said Stephen Meister, a lawyer representing SL Green, which leases the Herald Square store to Victoria’s Secret.

But, he added, “Victoria’s Secret is a multibillion-dollar, publicly traded conglomerate exploiting the situation in an attempt to avoid paying its contractual rent obligations.’’

The store’s parent company, L Brands, did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman for Related, the developer of Hudson Yards, said the company remained bullish on the future of retail in New York City despite the closing of Neiman Marcus and the economic downturn.

“Retail at Hudson Yards was off to a strong start before this crisis hit, and we firmly believe that fashion and retail will always remain core to the vibrancy of New York,” the spokeswoman, Kathleen Corless, said.

New York’s shutdown dealt an especially painful blow to chains like Shake Shack that were born in the city and thrived as urban oases, said Nicole Miller Regan, who follows food chains for Piper Sandler in Minneapolis.

“That’s always been their core strength from a home-field advantage,” Ms. Regan said.

Shake Shack reported on July 30 that it had experienced a 40 percent decline in revenue in the second quarter and that its stores in big cities like New York “were most impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak.”

They eventually reopened to serve takeout and deliveries, but they did not rebound as well as the company’s suburban locations that have drive-up windows where customers can avoid all but the briefest interaction, Ms. Regan said.

“The drive-through is the channel that consumers feel most comfortable with,” she said.

Like Shake Shack, Chipotle told investors that its stores in the Northeast, including New York, were underperforming the rest of the chain, said Nick Setyan, an analyst with Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

The main reason. Mr. Setyan said, is that “people just aren’t going to work” in much of Manhattan.

For Veggie Grill, a California-based chain of 35 restaurants, New York is “the most difficult market for us to operate in right now,” said Jay Gentile, the company’s chief operating officer.

After three years of planning, Veggie Grill, which serves plant-based sandwiches and salads, opened its first New York restaurant in the Flatiron district in December.

Now it’s struggling to keep the place open with a pared-down staff, and sales that have fallen about 80 percent from before the pandemic, Mr. Gentile said.

“In New York City, there is next to no lunch business,” he said. “No one’s coming in from Connecticut. No one’s coming in from New Jersey.”

And, there are no tourists wandering the streets, he added.

The story is different at some of the company’s restaurants on the West Coast, which are now doing as much business lately as they did a year ago, he said.

The shutdown and phased reopening of the city presented challenges that derailed Veggie Grill’s expansion plans.

Three months after opening, Mr. Gentile had to lay off all 70 of its New York employees, including a general manager who was supposed to oversee the addition of three locations in the city. In May, the company hired back about 24 of the workers with expectations that business would pick up as the city reopened.

Now, the staff is down to 16 employees, only two of whom work full-time.

“We have two hours at lunch and 2½ hours at dinner to make our money,” he said. “We’re still paying very high rent. It’s unsustainable.”

Despite all the hardships, Mr. Gentile said he’s determined to keep the doors open. “If we close New York down,’’ he said, “then we would have to close it for good.’’

If you’re filing for personal bankruptcy, the bankruptcy code provides two main options: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. If you want a “straight” bankruptcy wherein you allow the bankruptcy court to liquidate your assets in order to pay back your creditors, the bankruptcy chapter for you is Chapter 7, also known as liquidation bankruptcy.
Going through this bankruptcy process allows you to pursue debt relief by eliminating almost all of your debts after your bankruptcy trustee sells some of your personal property and uses the proceeds to pay off one creditor after another.
How Can a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Help You?
The following are the most known benefits of declaring bankruptcy under Chapter 7:

1. A Way out of Debt

Federal bankruptcy law regulates bankruptcy proceedings, which in Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases result in the virtual elimination of unsecured debt. Unsecured debts are those that do not have collateral attached to them, e.g. store charge card or credit card debt, medical bills, and personal loans.

2. Bankruptcy Protection

Filing bankruptcy triggers the automatic stay, which effectively halts the collection efforts of creditors, collection agencies, and other debt collectors. All attempts to collect the debt, from phone calls and letters to wage garnishment and mortgage liens, must be stopped. This gives a debtor some breathing space while he or she works out her financial problems and plans for a better financial future.

3. Credit Negotiation Tool

Bankruptcies have a way of softening the stance of unbending creditors. A debt collector is more willing to negotiate and strike a deal in the face of an impending bankruptcy discharge and the possibility of ending up with nothing. This kind of negotiation, however, can get tricky, so it is best handled by an experienced bankruptcy attorney.
How Can a Bankruptcy Lawyer Help You?
While engaging the services of a lawyer is not required, bankruptcy filers are encouraged to hire legal help so they can be advised and guided on their bankruptcy filing toward the best possible results. An attorney who specializes in bankruptcy law can help a bankrupt client make informed decisions throughout the process. 
How can you benefit from getting legal assistance?

• You can better understand the different bankruptcy options and how the means test works so that you can have an idea of what assets you could lose and how the bankruptcy petition could turn out for you.
• You can be guided on how to file for bankruptcy properly, by filling out bankruptcy forms and collecting accompanying documents so that you avoid unfortunate mistakes.
• You can be counseled on the different bankruptcy exemptions available to you so that you end up choosing which ones best suit your bankruptcy case.
• You can count on support and representation throughout your bankruptcy journey.

Considering a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy? Contact a Texas Bankruptcy Attorney Today!
The decision to declare bankruptcy is a serious one. Let us advise you on the best solutions to your situation and help you take action. Call us at Allmand Law Firm, PLLC to speak with a skilled and experienced bankruptcy lawyer about your case.
The post Texas Bankruptcy – Chapter 7 Cases appeared first on Allmand Law Firm, PLLC.

If you’re filing for personal bankruptcy, the bankruptcy code provides two main options: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. If you want a “straight” bankruptcy wherein you allow the bankruptcy court to liquidate your assets in order to pay back your creditors, the bankruptcy chapter for you is Chapter 7, also known as liquidation bankruptcy.
Going through this bankruptcy process allows you to pursue debt relief by eliminating almost all of your debts after your bankruptcy trustee sells some of your personal property and uses the proceeds to pay off one creditor after another.
How Can a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Help You?
The following are the most known benefits of declaring bankruptcy under Chapter 7:

1. A Way out of Debt

Federal bankruptcy law regulates bankruptcy proceedings, which in Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases result in the virtual elimination of unsecured debt. Unsecured debts are those that do not have collateral attached to them, e.g. store charge card or credit card debt, medical bills, and personal loans.

2. Bankruptcy Protection

Filing bankruptcy triggers the automatic stay, which effectively halts the collection efforts of creditors, collection agencies, and other debt collectors. All attempts to collect the debt, from phone calls and letters to wage garnishment and mortgage liens, must be stopped. This gives a debtor some breathing space while he or she works out her financial problems and plans for a better financial future.

3. Credit Negotiation Tool

Bankruptcies have a way of softening the stance of unbending creditors. A debt collector is more willing to negotiate and strike a deal in the face of an impending bankruptcy discharge and the possibility of ending up with nothing. This kind of negotiation, however, can get tricky, so it is best handled by an experienced bankruptcy attorney.
How Can a Bankruptcy Lawyer Help You?
While engaging the services of a lawyer is not required, bankruptcy filers are encouraged to hire legal help so they can be advised and guided on their bankruptcy filing toward the best possible results. An attorney who specializes in bankruptcy law can help a bankrupt client make informed decisions throughout the process. 
How can you benefit from getting legal assistance?

• You can better understand the different bankruptcy options and how the means test works so that you can have an idea of what assets you could lose and how the bankruptcy petition could turn out for you.
• You can be guided on how to file for bankruptcy properly, by filling out bankruptcy forms and collecting accompanying documents so that you avoid unfortunate mistakes.
• You can be counseled on the different bankruptcy exemptions available to you so that you end up choosing which ones best suit your bankruptcy case.
• You can count on support and representation throughout your bankruptcy journey.

Considering a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy? Contact a Texas Bankruptcy Attorney Today!
The decision to declare bankruptcy is a serious one. Let us advise you on the best solutions to your situation and help you take action. Call us at Allmand Law Firm, PLLC to speak with a skilled and experienced bankruptcy lawyer about your case.
The post Texas Bankruptcy – Chapter 7 Cases appeared first on Allmand Law Firm, PLLC.