De Blasio nominates Meera Joshi to run city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at a Feb. 28, 2014 news conference. Photo Credit: Getty Images / Kevin Winter

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Saturday nominated an attorney with more than a decade in city government to lead the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Meera Joshi, as deputy commissioner of legal affairs for the agency, supported the regulation of more than 160,000 licensees and personally oversaw a portfolio of initiatives that have brought new and better service to thousands of New Yorkers, while prosecuting financial injustices against victimized taxi drivers, the mayor’s office said.

Joshi was the top lawyer for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s taxi commissioner David Yassky — whom then-mayoral-candidate de Blasio vowed last year to replace if elected.

Asked Saturday afternoon about promoting his foe’s deputy, de Blasio said: “Meera Joshi did a lot of things before she went to work at the TLC. She was there the last couple of years. She has a very extensive career before that . . . As I got to know her — and I talked to people of a wide rage of views in various parts of the industry — what was striking to me was, everyone thought she was an honest broker. Everyone thought, regardless of their philosophy, that she was fair she was open, she was smart, she was resourceful.”

In a statement, de Blasio said she had “the experience and energy to move our Taxi and Limousine Commission in a progressive direction, ensuring we prioritize New Yorkers’ safety.” The statement didn’t elaborate.

The nomination is pending the confirmation of the City Council.

Joshi called the nomination “an honor.”

“I am committed to the de Blasio administration’s agenda of providing equitable taxi and for-hire transportation services and safe streets for all New Yorkers,” Joshi said in a written news release.

She was not made available for an interview.

Joshi was also instrumental in the city’s landmark commitment to 50 percent wheelchair accessibility by 2020, and the requirement that all taxicabs be crash-tested to federal standards by the end of 2014, the mayor’s office said Saturday.

As general counsel for the agency, Joshi led dozens of multiparty negotiations of contracts and settlement agreements.

Joshi received her bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.