By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — City and hotel officials say they will investigate allegations that doormen are making cabbies fork over cash in exchange for fares, the New York Post reported.
City Councilman James Vacca (D-Manhattan) and the managing director of The Paramount Hotel are speaking out against the practice following a stinging expose by the paper, which included video, photographs and reporter eye-witness accounts of the shake-downs in progress.
"It's unfair," Vacca, who serves as chairman of the Transportation Committee, told The Post. "I want to explore legislation that would make it illegal for any business to allow or request solicitation of money for providing taxi service."
Paramount managing director Geoffrey Allan Mills told the paper he has already launched an internal investigation.
"We are examining these claims and will take the necessary steps to rectify the situation. Hotel policy prohibits the solicitation of funds from taxi drivers," he reportedly said.
"We in no way condone it, and we will take action in due course."
The kickbacks, which cost cabbies as much as $15 a fare, has already sparked a Taxi and Limousine Commission investigation, the paper said.
"I've heard too many complaints about this for it not to have basis in fact," TLC Commissioner David Yassky told the paper.
