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Coventry Connections president Hanif Patni says City Hall should consider compensating cabbies who would suffer a financial hit with the legalization of Uber, but Mayor Jim Watson isn’t interested in having that discussion.

The values of city-owned taxi plates, which can be transferred on the open market, have increased into the six figures because the city controls the number of plates in the market. Plate owners fear the value of those plates will plummet if Uber can operate in the city without having to obtain such licences.

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“If you’re going to destroy the value of these (taxi) licences, somebody should at least talk about it,” Patni said Tuesday.

That’s not the city’s problem, the mayor says.

“I don’t believe it’s a good use of tax dollars to subsidize plates of individuals who may have bought these at a relatively low price and through a number of years seen the value go up,” Watson said. “It’s like anything, whether it’s the stock market or your house or an investment in anything. It’s not up to the government to subsidize a loss in that investment.”