Noach Dear
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Noach Dear is the current Taxi and Limousine Commissioner for New York City. Appointed to his current position in 2002, Dear is slated to serve a seven year term. A former member of the New York City Council from 1981-2001, Dear headed the powerful Transportation Committee and promoted commuter vans, otherwise known as "dollar vans," as a transportation alternative while in office.
While representing City Council District 44 Dear served as an advocate on a host of subjects, including strong support for the state of Israel and concern for the issues impacting the primarily Jewish-and heavily Orthodox-residents in his community, which included Midwood, as well as large swaths of Borough Park and Bensonhurst.
Dear was widely seen as a political rival of Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents many of the same constituents that Dear once represented while in office, and comes from an Orthodox Jewish heritage.
Term-limited out of office, Dear launched an uphill campaign for the New York State Senate seat now held by Kevin Parker in 2002. In a five candidate field Dear narrowly lost to Parker by a margin of 909 votes. [1] Dear also ran in a Democratic congressional primary that chose the successor to Charles Schumer in 2000, which saw him face three other candidates, including the eventual winner, Anthony Weiner. After losing that primary Dear went on to contest the general election as the Republican nominee, a race in which he was overwhelmingly defeated.
