Bloomberg Senior Advisor Tim O'Brien on AM Joy

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15. It wasn't just one quote

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bloomberg-suit-add-handicapped-accessible-cabs-unfair-average-riders-wastes-gas-money-article-1.965033

Mayor Bloomberg Wednesday brushed off the feds' effort to make more cabs handicapped-accessible - saying it would inconvenience able-bodied passengers.

Bloomberg was sounding off on a civil suit filed last week by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office, which claims the city isn't close to complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The mayor maintained the Justice Department is off base.

"It just doesn't work in a city like ours, and I don't know that the [U.S. attorney's office] understands how people live in the city and the traffic patterns and that sort of thing," he said of street hails by wheelchair users. Champions of the handicapped immediately ripped Bloomberg's "insulting" riff.

"The mayor's completely out of touch," said Assemblyman Micah Kellner, a Manhattan Democrat who was born with cerebral palsy. "When was the last time Mayor Bloomberg used a New York City taxi or a wheelchair?"

Added Edith Prentiss of the Taxis For All Campaign: "It's a sad day for New York City when a mayor works so hard to deny people like me the right to take a taxi. It's wrong, it's indefensible,and it won't stand."

It's not the first time Bloomberg has panned accessible cabs, noting last week that hacks don't like them because they are so spacious that the drivers can't establish rapport with riders - and get smaller tips as a result.