KOPPELL HAILS HIGH COURT DECISION ON TAXI SERVICE
Council Member Oliver
Koppell hailed the unanimous decision of the state’s highest court to
reverse a lower court ruling and allow street hails for car services in
the outer boroughs and above 96th Street
in Manhattan, where yellow cabs rarely visit.
Within a month, a fleet
of “apple green” livery taxis will be available for street hails in
those neighborhoods where livery cabs were formerly not allowed to
respond to passengers hailing
cabs from the street. The city will be allowed to issue up to 18,000
“hail licenses” over 3 years for these taxis, which will have a roof
light, meters and the capacity to accept credit cards, making their
services equal to those of yellow cabs. One fifth
of these cabs will be wheelchair accessible.
Koppell, a longtime proponent of more available and accessible taxi service for all New Yorkers, said,
“This decision will bring safe, reliable taxi service to all five
boroughs, something people in the outer boroughs, such as the one in
which I live, have wanted for a very long time. Further, by ensuring
that a fifth of these cabs are wheel-chair accessible,
the plan makes taxi service more available to disabled individuals.”
The court ruling further
increases taxi accessibility by clearing the way for the city to
auction off 2,000 medallions for wheelchair–accessible yellow cabs,
which will command prices of $700,000
to $1 million, generating as much as $1 billion in revenue. It is
expected that the yellow taxi medallion sale will begin in October.
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KOPPELL URGES INCREASE IN FUNDING FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN CITY BUDGET
Petitions for Permanent Funding for School-Based Health Centers
As
negotiations between the Mayor and the City Council concerning the NYC
budget for the next fiscal year begin, Member Oliver Koppell, Chair of
the Committee on
Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse and
Disability Services, urged Speaker Christine Quinn to restore and, if
possible, to increase the funding for mental health initiatives cut by
the Mayor’s Executive Budget.
Koppell specifically urged funding for three mental health initiatives that he considered of prime importance, Geriatric Mental Health Services, the
Children Under Five Mental Health Initiative and the Autism Initiative.
“There
has been a tremendous demand by users of these services and non-profit
providers for additional funding to meet the needs of their clients,”
Koppell said.
Locally,
geriatric mental health services are provided by the Riverdale Mental
Health Association, in partnership with Riverdale Senior Services. The
Early Childhood
Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine has a large Children
Under Five Mental Health Program, administered by Susan Chinitz, a
Riverdale resident and The Jewish Board of Children and Family Services,
in addition to conducting a program for Autistic
children and their parents, also provides services to children aged
five and younger.
“Given
the limitations in funding in the last few years, we have been unable
to add any significant number of new providers for these services and
existing providers
have unmet needs, Koppell said. “I am, therefore proposing a 25% increase in funding for these three initiatives.”
Advocates for Permanent Funding For School-Based Health Centers
Koppell
also requested $5 million in permanent funding for school-based health
centers and mental health clinics and the restoration of $937,377 in
funding for the
four school-based health centers cut in the FY ’14 Executive Budget,
one of which is in the Bronx at the Roosevelt High School Campus.
“Schoo
–based health centers are being recognized at a national level for
their critical service to children, especially those from low-income
families, and I
have seen the benefits to students at schools in my own district,”
Koppell said.
With
respect to mental health services, studies have shown that by removing
barriers to care, school based mental health programs increase student
utilization relative
to non-school-based programs. Over 95% of students referred for mental
health services in a school setting will follow through compared to
only 13% of those referred to community health centers.
“The
tragedy in Newtown has made us keenly aware of the need to provide
mental health services to young people. School-based health centers play
an essential
role in delivering these services, and I am urgently requesting that
they not be subject to the vagaries of the budget process, but be given
permanent funding to assure that they receive adequate support,”
Koppell concluded.
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