ALBANY — Chalk up another big win for Gov. Cuomo to cap what has been a dominant freshman year.
The governor dug in over changes he wanted to be made to the stalled taxi bill. In the end, he managed to broker a last-minute deal that saved the controversial measure and, at first glance, appears to have given a win to nearly all involved.
Mayor Bloomberg — who seemed to have been headed for his latest embarrassing Albany defeat (see congestion pricing, West Side stadium, etc.) — gets a promise of upward of $1 billion in needed revenue for the cash-strapped city.
He can also claim credit for boosting cab service in the outer boroughs and in upper Manhattan — a year after people in those neighborhoods were snowed in and feeling irrelevant.
For Cuomo, bringing a major transportation upgrade to those neighborhoods helps to improve his image with his weakest constituency — minority voters.
The two powerbrokers can also share applause for pulling the livery industry into the mainstream.
Advocates for the disabled — whose position was an afterthought in the original bill passed by the Legislature in June — made out big
. Under the deal, thousands of yellow and livery cabs will now be wheelchair-accessible.
And, more importantly, the city now has to come up with a long-term plan to make the yellow cab fleet more wheelchair-accessible, or it won’t be able to sell the bulk of the new medallions to raise big bucks.
But no one scored bigger than Cuomo, who had threatened to veto the bill by Wednesday’s deadline without major changes addressing issues of access for the disabled.
Cuomo, who continues to enjoy sky-high approval ratings, was able to close the deal because he knew Bloomberg needed the bill, and the cash it would bring the city, more than he did.
The hard-charging governor, who is said to harbor aspirations of a 2016 presidential bid, showed himself as a leader who gets results. And he also pleased Tom Harkin, U.S. senator from Iowa, who had advocated for Cuomo to respect the needs of the disabled. That may come to help Cuomo in the state’s caucus five years down the road.
Kenneth Lovett is the Albany bureau chief of the Daily News.
klovett@nydailynews.com
