position:deputy commissioner

  • How New York could respond to the taxi medallion lending crisis | CSNY
    https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/policy/infrastructure/how-new-york-could-respond-to-taxi-medallion-lending-crisis.html

    Experts and lawmakers weigh in on easing the pain of burdened medallion owners and preventing predatory lending in the future.
    By ANNIE MCDONOUGH
    MAY 22, 2019

    After a two-part New York Times investigation into predatory lending practices for taxi medallions delineated how industry leaders and government agencies participated in, encouraged or ignored risky lending, calls for action sprang forth – sometimes from the very same officials or agencies that had been asleep at the switch.

    Various deceptive or exploitative lending practices contributed to the rise and precipitous fall of taxi medallions in New York City. Medallions worth $200,000 in 2002 rose to more than $1 million in 2014, before crashing to less than $200,000. The bubble was inflated by loans made without down payments, requirements that loans had to be paid back in three years or extended with inflated interest rates, and interest-only loans that required borrowers to forfeit legal rights and give up much of their income. Borrowers – typically low-income, immigrant drivers – were left in the lurch when the bubble burst, an event that the taxi industry has long blamed primarily on the rise of app-based ride hail services like Uber and Lyft. While the rise of app-based ride hail did contribute to the now-ailing taxi industry, the revelations in the Times show government officials – including the Taxi and Limousine Commission which acted as a “cheerleader” for medallion sales – ignored the warning signs.

    Since Sunday, when the first Times story was published, New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced an inquiry into the business and lending practices that “may have created” the crisis, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a joint probe by the TLC, Department of Finance and Department of Consumer Affairs into the brokers who helped arrange the loans, Sen. Chuck Schumer called for an investigation into the credit unions involved in the lending, and members of the New York City Council and state Legislature, and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, have called for hearings and legislation to resolve the issue.

    The various proposals raised thus far are unlikely to fully address the damage caused to many medallion owners, some experts say. The Times investigation found that since 2016, more than 950 taxi drivers have filed for bankruptcy, with thousands more still suffering under the crippling loans. This is combined with a string of taxi and other professional drivers who have committed suicide in the past year and a half.

    Some of the solutions offered have focused on preventing the kind of reckless lending practices exhibited for taxi medallions. Stringer called on state lawmakers to close a loophole that allows lenders to classify their loans as business deals – as opposed to consumer loans, which have more protections for borrowers. A bill introduced last week by state Sen. Jessica Ramos would also establish a program to assist medallion owners who are unable to obtain financing, refinancing or restructuring of an existing loan through a loan loss reserve. State Sen. James Sanders and Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, who chair the state Legislature’s committees on banks, declined to comment.

    But classifying loans for medallions as consumer loans might not be appropriate, said Bruce Schaller, a transportation expert and former deputy commissioner at the New York City Department of Transportation. “I think the difficult question with the individual drivers is that they are in business, they are planning to make money off of their increase in medallion prices. Should they have the same protections as someone who is taking out a mortgage on a house, who is presumed to be very vulnerable?” he asked. “That may well be the case, but (drivers) are also in a business in a way that the prospective homeowner isn’t.”

    The TLC told the Times that it is the responsibility of bank examiners to control lending practices, while the state Department of Financial Services said that it supervised some of the banks involved, but often deferred to federal inspectors. “The TLC is gravely concerned that unsound lending practices have hurt taxi drivers and has raised these concerns publicly,” Acting Commissioner Bill Heinzen said in an emailed statement. “Banks and credit unions are regulated by federal agencies that have substantial oversight powers that the TLC does not have. The TLC has taken steps within our regulatory power to help owners and drivers by easing regulatory burdens and working with City Council to limit the number of for-hire vehicles on the road. We have pushed banks to restructure loan balances and payment amounts to reflect actual trip revenue.”

    Seth Stein, a spokesman for de Blasio, also mentioned interest in preventing risky lending practices. “We are deeply concerned about predatory lending in the medallion business,” Stein wrote in an email. “While TLC has no direct regulatory oversight over lenders – that is squarely under the purview of federal regulators – we continue to look for every means of helping owners and drivers make ends meet. We’ve discontinued medallion sales, secured a cap on app-based for-hire-vehicles, and we strongly urge federal regulators to do more as well.”

    But remedies at the federal level may not be realistic, according to David King, a professor of urban planning at Arizona State University, with a speciality in transportation and land use planning. “There doesn’t seem to be any appetite for what would be reasonable lending standards. Reasonable standards that would include verifiable collateral or values that were based on something other than made-up dollar amounts,” King said, adding that he doesn’t see those changes being made under the current administration. “The housing bubble of 11 years ago, I think that was a sufficiently national concern that has inspired some movement from Washington. Whereas I think something like an asset bubble in New York, just like an asset bubble in one region, isn’t going to be enough to spur federal legislation.”

    Schaller said that while lending regulation fixes could be beneficial for preventing this kind of crisis in other industries, there’s action that can be taken now by the city to alleviate some pain. “The real question is, if the city now decides that they were part of the fraud, then they should refund the money,” he said. “It’s one thing to close a loophole, it’s another thing to decide that you need to make restitution.”

    City Councilman Mark Levine, who has been working on legislation along those lines for nearly a year, agreed that the city needs to take responsibility. “There has been a lot of attention to the whole industry of lenders and brokers who push these loans on the drivers in ways that were not transparent and really deceived them, and may very well constitute some sort of legal fraud,” he said. “But the city itself also bears responsibility for this, because we were selling medallions with the goal of bringing in revenue to the city and we were promoting them and pumping them up in ways that I think masks the true risks that drivers were taking on. And, most egregiously, we had a round of sales in 2014 when it was abundantly clear that we were headed for a price drop, because by that point app-based competitors had emerged and there were other challenges.”

    Levine’s vision for immediately helping those drivers still suffering under unsustainable loans would involve the city acquiring the loans from lenders who either cannot or will not be flexible with borrowers, and then forgiving the debts. Though the bill hasn’t been introduced yet, the idea is to partially finance the buy-back by placing a surcharge on app-based ride-hail companies like Uber and Lyft. Levine’s office is still working on confirming that the City Council would have the authority to levy that kind of surcharge. If it doesn’t, they would encourage that action be taken in Albany.

    But, as the Times’ investigation into the issue has revealed, much of the damage to drivers and medallion owners has already been done – including to the hundreds of medallion owners who have declared bankruptcy. “If someone paid $800,000 for a medallion loan and paid part of that off, and has had their house repossessed, now Mark Levine is saying, ‘well, we’ll just refund whatever’s left dangling out there,’” Schaller said. “If I were on the losing end of that bargain, I’d say I want my $800,000 back.”

    The idea of a buy-back, Levine admitted, is not a perfect solution, but it’s one he said can help the thousands of medallion owners stuck right now. “It would not address that kind of horrible, horrible hardship,” he said, referring to those owners who have forfeited assets and sustained other losses.

    If there’s any upside to the stories relayed in the Times about medallion owners financially devastated by bad loans and the failing taxi industry, it may be that it’s a call to action – even if it’s coming too late for some. “It’s had a dramatic impact on the interest in the Council about finding solutions,” Levine said of the heavy punch packed by the Times’ investigation. “It gives new impetus to this effort, which is good, because it’s complicated, and it’s going to require a political push to make it happen. The revelations in this article made that more likely.”

    Annie McDonough is a tech and policy reporter at City & State.

    #USA #New_York #Taxi #Betrug #Ausbeutung

  • Indigenous man who lived on tree for two years in India given land for home | PLACE
    http://www.thisisplace.org/i/?id=adffd15f-57f6-4540-92ac-f4724deb87c6

    An indigenous man who lived in a tree house for two years after his home was damaged in a south Indian forest, has been given a plot of land, an official said, in a case that highlights the slow progress in recognising the rights of forest dwellers.

    Gajja, who belongs to a tribal community in the southern state of Karnataka, has lived on a platform he built on a mango tree in the forest to keep safe from elephants.

    This week, following a local newspaper report about his plight, officials gave him a plot of land.

    “He had already been conferred with forest rights, but he was unaware of the fact, and had continued to live on the tree,” said D. Randeep, the deputy commissioner in Mysuru city.

    “We have now allocated some land near that tree, so he can build a hut. If he is willing to live outside the forest, we can give him compensation and allot him a proper home,” he said.

    Gajja, who gathers honey and other forest products, is among millions of people who depend on forests for a living.

    More than a fifth of India’s 1.3 billion people were expected to benefit from the 2006 Forest Rights Act covering vast areas of forest land roughly the size of Germany.

    The law gives indigenous people and forest dwellers rights to manage and govern their traditional forests and resources, individually and as a community.

    #inde #forêt #foncier #peuples_autochtones #territoire

  • Uber data breach “raises huge concerns”, says UK watchdog | TechCrunch
    https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/22/uber-data-breach-raises-huge-concerns-says-uk-data-watchdog

    The fallout from Uber’s disclosure yesterday of a massive data breach affecting 57 million users and drivers that it concealed for a year continues: The UK’s data protection watchdog has put out a strongly worded statement saying the company’s announcement “raises huge concerns around its data protection policies and ethics”.

    It has also warned that deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens “could attract higher fines”.

    It’s not yet clear exactly how many UK Uber users have been directly affected by the October 2016 breach — although Uber disclosed yesterday that some international users are affected.

    At the time of writing the company has not responded to requests for a more detailed breakdown of which markers are affected by the breach, including whether UK Uber users’ data was compromised.

    In a blog post yesterday Uber said that “some personal information of 57 million Uber users around the world” had been in the files downloaded by hackers, including “names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers”.

    “Our outside forensics experts have not seen any indication that trip location history, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, Social Security numbers or dates of birth were downloaded,” it added.

    The UK regulator’s remarks are a clear warning shot for a company that has already been censured by a US federal agency on data security and privacy grounds — agreeing in August to 20 years of privacy audits by the FTC to settle a probe into privacy and security complaints that pre-date this new and larger data breach.

    The comments are also significant because Uber is currently appealing a decision this September by London’s transport regulator to strip it of its license to operate in the UK capital. (Though it can, and is, continuing to operate in the city during the appeals process.)

    Among Transport for London’s cited concerns for withdrawing licensing from Uber is its approach to explaining its use of internal software, Greyball — which Uber used in the US to try to monitor and block regulatory bodies from gaining full access to its app, in an attempt to sidestep regulators and law enforcement agencies. Earlier this year the DoJ was reported to be investigating Uber’s use of Greyball.

    It is also facing a string of other federal probes relating to various aspects of its business operations.

    Here’s the full statement on the Uber breach from ICO deputy commissioner James Dipple-Johnstone:

    Uber’s announcement about a concealed data breach last October raises huge concerns around its data protection policies and ethics.

    It’s always the company’s responsibility to identify when UK citizens have been affected as part of a data breach and take steps to reduce any harm to consumers. If UK citizens were affected then we should have been notified so that we could assess and verify the impact on people whose data was exposed.

    We’ll be working with the NCSC plus other relevant authorities in the UK and overseas to determine the scale of the breach, how it has affected people in the UK and what steps need to be taken by the firm to ensure it fully complies with its data protection obligations.

    Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies.

    The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of the GCHQ domestic intelligence agency, has also put out a statement about the Uber breach, in which it says: “Companies should always report any cyber attacks to the NCSC immediately. The more information a company shares in a timely manner, the better able we are to support them and prevent others falling victim.”

    The agency also notes that it’s working closely with the UK’s National Crime Agency and the ICO to investigate “how this breach has affected people in the UK and advise on appropriate mitigation measures”.

    “Based on current information, we have not seen evidence that financial details have been compromised,” the NCSC adds.

    #Uber #Grossbritannien #Europa #Recht

  • Palestinian shot dead after Beersheba attack kills Israeli, wounds 9
    Oct. 18, 2015 8:00 P.M. (Updated: Oct. 18, 2015 10:35 P.M.)
    http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768337

    BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A suspected Palestinian was shot dead in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba after he allegedly opened fire in the city’s central bus station, killing one soldier and injuring at least nine other Israelis, Israeli police said.

    Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told Ma’an that nine Israelis had been hospitalized following the attack.

    He said the attacker was shot dead, although he was unable to confirm that he was Palestinian.

    He initially said that there had been two attackers, one of whom was apprehended.

    Although it remained clear who the second individual was, Israeli media suggested the second man may have been an Eritrean asylum seeker.

    Israeli news site Haaretz reported that the asylum seeker was shot by Israeli police after they “misidentified him as a terrorist.”

    Haaretz quoted the southern district chief of police, Deputy Commissioner Yoram Levi, as saying that after killing the Israeli soldier, the attacker “took the soldier’s gun and continued shooting in the central bus station.”

    “Forces in the area responded quickly, he managed to escape the central bus station but ran into forces, was shot and killed. In his belongings we found a knife and a pistol with ammunition.”

    Rosenfeld said that the area around the central bus station was closed off.

    The attack follows a series of stabbing attacks that have left seven Israelis dead since the beginning of the month.

    Some 42 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the same period — some after carrying out the alleged attacks, but others at demonstrations.

    There have been clashes across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

    They were prompted by Israeli army and settler reprisals after four Israelis were killed in two separate attacks at the beginning of October, although tensions had been mounting for weeks.

    #Palestine_assassinée

    • Au moins un mort et huit blessés après une attaque dans le sud d’Israël
      18/10/2015
      http://www.france24.com/fr/20151018-israel-territoires-palestiniens-attaque-gare-routiere

      L’attaque d’une gare routière dans le sud d’Israël a fait au moins un mort et huit blessés, dimanche. L’assaillant, qui a été tué, n’a pas encore été identifié.

      Un homme armé a attaqué dimanche 18 octobre la gare routière de Beersheba, dans le sud d’Israël, tuant une personne et en blessant huit autres, rapporte la police. Il s’agit d’un des épisodes les plus violents de la vague de violence qui secoue Israël et les territoires occupés depuis le début du mois d’octobre.

      Selon les premières informations, les assaillants étaient au nombre de deux mais le chef de la police régionale israélienne, Yoram Halévy, a déclaré par la suite que l’enquête avait conclu à l’action d’un seul homme. Ce dernier, dont l’identification était en cours, a pénétré dans la gare routière, abattu un militaire à l’aide d’une arme de poing avant de lui prendre son fusil d’assaut, dont il s’est servi pour tirer sur ses autres victimes.

      Les islamistes du Hamas, qui contrôlent la bande de Gaza, ont qualifié l’attaque de Beersheba de « réaction naturelle aux exécutions de Palestiniens par Israël ».

      Depuis deux semaines, 42 Palestiniens et sept Israéliens sont morts dans des heurts et des agressions en Cisjordanie, à Jérusalem-Est, à la frontière entre la bande de Gaza et l’Etat hébreu ainsi que dans des villes israéliennes.

    • One Killed, 11 Wounded in Shooting Attack in Southern Israel

      Gunman goes on shooting spree at central bus station in Be’er Sheva before he is shot down; security guard shoots asylum seeker after misidentifying him as an assailant.
      Almog Ben Zikri Oct 18, 2015 9:56 PM
      http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.681069

      An Israeli soldier was killed and 11 others were wounded in a shooting at the Central Bus Station in the Southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva on Sunday evening.

      Among the wounded, two are in serious condition. The others sustained light to moderate wounds. An Eritrean asylum seeker was shot and wounded by a security guard after he misidentified him as a terrorist. The terrorist was shot and killed.

      According to the police, the identity of the terrorist is currently being ascertained.

      The bus station is a closed compound with security guards posted at the entrances. It is unclear how the gunmen managed to get past the guards.

    • Israeli security identify Beersheba attack suspect, detain relative
      Oct. 19, 2015 10:41 A.M. (Updated : Oct. 19, 2015 11:06 A.M.
      http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768344

      BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli security forces have identified a Palestinian suspect who opened fire at a Beersheba bus station on Sunday killing an Israeli soldier and injuring nine other people, detaining one of the man’s relatives in relation to the incident.

      The suspect was identified as Muhannad al-Aqabi , 21, a Bedouin citizen of Israel from the Negev town of Hura, Israeli police said.

      Israel’s Shin Bet security agency have questioned al-Aqabi’s relatives on suspicion that he had help, including weapon training, to carry out the attack.

      One family member was detained on suspicion of helping to plan the attack.

      Al-Aqabi attacked Israelis at the central bus station in the southern Israeli city after entering the terminal with a knife and gun, killing an Israeli soldier and injuring nine people, including four other soldiers.

      He was shot dead at the scene.

      The Israeli soldier was identified as Omri Levi, 19.

      Meanwhile, an Eritrean man who was shot after being suspected of being a second attacker died from his injuries on Monday.

      The man was identified as Haftom Zarhum, 29, and had traveled to Beersheba to obtain a visa, Israeli news site Haaretz reported.

      Graphic video footage shows Zarhum being assaulted and kicked in the head as he lies bleeding on the ground, with several benches thrown at him as an angry Israeli mob surrounds him, believing the asylum seeker to be involved in the attack.

      Israeli police have not said whether anyone has been detained for the attack on the Eritrean.

    • Gunman Behind Be’er Sheva Shooting Attack Identified as Bedouin Man

      Israeli soldier was killed and 11 people were wounded in Sunday’s attack; Eritrean asylum seeker, who was shot after being mistaken for terrorist, dies of wounds.
      Almog Ben Zikri and Ido Efrati Oct 19, 2015 9:51 AM
      http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.681151

      Among the wounded in the attack, two suffered serious wounds, with another said to be in critical condition. The soldier who was killed in the attack has been named as 19-year-old Sgt. Omri Levy from Sdei Hemed.

      The asylum seeker who was killed in the attack was identified as Haftom Zarhum, 29, of Eritrea. He had traveled to Be’er Sheva to obtain a visa and was on his way home when he was shot in the Central Bus Station. In videos captured at the scene, the asylum seeker is seen attacked by the people around him, including a soldier, after being shot. People are seen kicking him, throwing a bench at him and pinning him to the ground with a chair. Some of the witnesses made efforts to stop the attackers.

  • #India to charge Israeli diplomats who assaulted airport official
    http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/india-charge-israeli-diplomats-who-assaulted-airport-official

    Indian police have lodged a criminal case against three Israeli diplomats for allegedly abusing and injuring an airport immigration official, despite them enjoying diplomatic immunity, an officer said Monday. A scuffle broke out late Saturday when the consular officials were clearing immigration at New Delhi airport to catch a flight to Kathmandu, the police deputy commissioner in charge of airport security said. read more

    #Israel #Top_News

  • J Street Conference Attendees Applaud Fatah Representative’s Call For Right of Return –
    Tablet Magazine
    http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/147016/j-street-attendees-show-support-for-right-of-return

    During an otherwise mundane session on new voices and perspectives in Israeli and Palestinian societies, Fatah’s Husam Zomlot controversially won the support of the floor for expressing the demand that Israel give “full recognition of the Nakba” and present the right of return as an option to Palestinian refugees.

    Describing the refugee question as the easiest issue to resolve, Zomlot, executive deputy commissioner for the Commission for International Affairs of Palestine, said:

    As for the refugee issue, how do you want me to sign a deal with my own hands that would compromise the rights of two thirds of the nation? How am I doing to build cohesion and eternal peace on such a compromise? Why do I have to compromise?

    …What do the refugees want? Some of them want to stay where they are. Some of them might want to resettle somewhere else in a third country. Some of them might want to come back to the State of Palestine. And some of them might want to return to their original homes. But all of them want one thing: full recognition of the Nakba that has befallen our people.

    Zomlot’s call received sustained and sure applause from the delegates in the hall. Zomlot got further affirmation for his argument when, while speaking about his father who resides in London, he stated that he “has a right” to return to his former home in Israel. “He has to be given that option.” The applause was lighter the second time around, however, but no less noticeable.

    Such approval for the right of return departs from J Street’s official position on the subject, which is in line with the Zionist mainstream. “The refugee issue should be negotiated and resolved as part of an agreement between official Israeli and Palestinian authorities and endorsed by both peoples. J Street would support the approach outlined in commonly accepted models of a two-state solution under which the vast majority of refugees would be resettled outside the internationally recognized borders of Israel, while receiving compensation.”

  • FOCUS | Monsanto Has Taken Over the USDA
    http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/448-farm-and-food-policy/17377-focus-monsanto-has-taken-over-the-usda

    USDA = U.S. Department of Agriculture

    The takeover has been thorough. Monsanto’s growth hormones for cows have been approved by Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto lobbyist turned USDA administrator and FDA deputy commissioner. This was after Margaret Miller, a former Monsanto employee, oversaw a report on the hormones’ safety and then took a job at the FDA where she approved her own report.

    Islam Siddiqui, a former Monsanto lobbyist, wrote the USDA’s food standards, allowing corporations to label irradiated and genetically engineered foods as “organic.”

    The recently passed and signed law nicknamed the Monsanto Protection Act strips federal courts of the power to halt the sale and planting of genetically engineered crops during a legal appeals process. The origin of this act can be found in the USDA’s deregulation of Roundup Ready sugar beets in violation of a court order. The USDA argued that any delay would have caused a sugar shortage, since Monsanto holds 95% of the market.

    The #revolving_door keeps revolving. Monsanto’s board members have worked for the EPA, advised the USDA, and served on President Obama’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

    Clearly, an investigation of large-scale #government_corruption by this singularly destructive corporation is long overdue.

    #porte_tournante #corruption_légale et même #corruption_illégale #qu'est_ce_qu'il_ne_faut_pas_écrire

  • Samaha to be indicted for Lebanon « terror plots »
    http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/samaha-be-indicted-lebanon-terror-plots

    Judge Sami Sader, the Lebanese deputy commissioner of the Military Tribunal, was expected to indict Michel Samaha for charges including transporting explosives from Syria for use in northern Lebanon.

    Syrian security chief Ali Mamluk was also to be indicted on suspicion of “forming a group to provoke sectarian killings and terrorist acts using explosives,” a judicial source told AFP.

    The men, if found guilty, could face the death penalty.

    À cet instant, je n’ai pas encore trouvé de retranscription exacte des charges officielles retenues, et je n’ai trouvé aucune confirmation claire (notamment par son avocat) de ce que Michel Samaha aurait avoué. Pas de mention non plus de la ligne de défense qu’il entend adopter (reconnaître, récuser, etc.).

  • Saudi diplomat found dead in Bangladesh
    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/03/20123681051199838.html

    A Saudi diplomat has been shot dead in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, authorities said.

    Police found the body of Khalak al-Ali on Tuesday at an interesection near his apartment building in the Gulshan district and rushed him to a hospital where he died three hours later, Lutful Kabir, a local police deputy commissioner, told the AFP news agency.

    “He was hit by a bullet in the left chest,” Kabir said.