MARCHJULY 20102016 •• TAXITAXI INSIDERINSIDER •• PAGEPAGE 11 INSIDER VOL. 17, NO. 3 “The Voice of the NYC Transportation Industry.” MARCH 2016 Letters Page 2, 4 and 16 • EDITORIAL Insider News By David Pollack Page 5 • Equal Justice? Taxi Attorney Inside city hall in lower Manhattan, painted on tion workers and new jobs at virtually every city By Michael Spevack the ceiling of the city council’s main chambers agency. Yes, the yellow taxi medallion industry Page 7 are quotes by famous Americans. Most noticeable was the hidden financial foundation helping to • are quotes from Lincoln, Washington, prop-up the elected officials sitting Puzzle Grant and Jefferson. The moment I inside city hall for decades. read Jefferson’s quote: “Equal and Exact Today investors have shied away Page 7 Justice to all Men of Whatever State or and are no longer willing to buy me- • Persuasion,” my eyes opened wide and dallions from the city for one reason: City Council Testimony I had a epiphany: True hypocrisy has Non-enforcement of existing street-hail Starts on Page 11 become the norm in modern day NYC laws that SHOULD prevent ANY vehicle politics. After a lifetime of regulation from picking up street hails other than • for the yellow taxi industry, the indus- yellow cabs. In fact outside city hall I Ubers Shift-y Work try had transformed from a run-amuck was hailing a cab and more than one Starts on Page 17 unsafe industry in the 1930’s, to one of non-yellow vehicle stopped as though • the greatest business models in America, they were entitled to my hail business. all thanks to equal and just regulation. A model Did you hear that? RIGHT IN FRONT OF CITY Medallion Agents that financially supported the very foundation of HALL! This new transportation segment is now Starts on Page 18 city life with auctioned medallion monies keeping running amuck. • firehouses opened, adding police officers, sanita- (Continued on Page 6) Quotable Quotes fare reductions enacted by Uber over the last two Page 19 Blood On Their Hands years resulting in customer complaints, and driver • By Larry Fisher desperation. Public safety, which is the jurisdiction of our governmental leaders, has been ceded to The horror of the 3rd Annual a rogue company, which has no moral compass. tragedy in Kalamazoo Transportation Summit For elected leaders and their appointees, tasked is unimaginable. The with the responsibility of overseeing our good By Matthew Daus needless and senseless and welfare, to coddle this criminal enterprise is Page 23 murder of innocents is an outrage of epic proportions. It is an abdication too much for the mind • of their duties, and as a result, they now have the to comprehend or the NYC Economy blood of six people in Kalamazoo on their hands. heart to cope with. Blood has been shed. Page 27 While it has unfortu- Around the nation, Uber complies with the low- • nately become trite to est level of regulation it can get away with. There say that gun violence Hotel List is no consistency in how it complies in areas like is out of control in this Page 28 and 30 insurance, year and make of vehicles, and pricing. free country of ours, it nonetheless bears repeat- When local regulators stand up to them, Uber cries • ing, over and over. unfair, threatens to leave the municipality, and so Embassies It was entirely predictable when Uber an- far, in many instances, the governmental entities nounced it would be hiring ex-felons that it would Starts on Page 30 have been bullied successfully. end badly. Although there were taxi industry • And why is it that Uber has been able to circum- warnings about the potential dire consequences Events and More vent local regulations and laws that have been in of Uber’s unwillingness to comply with local effect for years, sometimes generations? How is it Starts on Page 29 laws and regulations pertaining to background that this company has been able to effectively lobby checks, fingerprinting and drug testing, few prog- • local politicians around the globe and continually nosticators were able to foresee the mass murder Insider Directory skirt regulations? Why have politicians gotten into that occurred in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This has Page 33 bed with this illegal and criminal enterprise? Are become the last stop in the race to the bottom in our local politicians that easily corrupted? It has terms of driver quality, and consumer safety. Driver become so obvious. quality has clearly become impacted by the huge (Continued on Page 8) PAGE 2 • TAXI INSIDER • MARCH 2016 JULY 2010 • TAXI INSIDER • PAGE 1 LETTERS INSIDER Publisher & How Many More? Editor-in-Chief David Pollack Dear Taxi Dave, Notice the license plate on the Lyft vehicle...It’s a Columnists straight plate. How many more UBER and Lyft cars are there like this? Matthew Daus, Esq. Abe Tony Falese Taxi Stand Occupied! Larry Fisher Ira Goldstein, Esq. Abe Mittleman then said “I have a Jersey for you.” I proceeded and Alan Plafker said “ok”, he then asked for $15. After I refused and told him no, he sent the passenger to the car Michael Spevack, Esq. behind me. I got out of the car and told him he can’t do that. The dispatcher started to shout and told me to get back to my car and he will give me the next fare. Layout & Graphics I told him to stop shouting and talk with respect. Dragonfl y Graphics LLC This dispatcher did not lower his voice. I asked for his name as his name tag was not present. He refused to give it to me, and then I took out my phone and told him I will just take Taxi Insider his picture and take action. Next, I was stunned as he started posing on front 14 Alexander Drive of the line of passengers. He said “take as many as you want, you will not be able to do anything.” He Washingtonville, NY 10992 was posing with his arms out like a bodybuilder Phone: (718) 706-TAXI(8294) and said go try and report me. It is an embarrassment, that cab drivers are — slaves to corrupt taxi dispatchers like him. Last time I checked they were just dispatchers, not law E-mail:[email protected] enforcers. Why is it that I can’t even report him? What will it take to cleanse the taxi industry from dispatchers that can’t respect cab drivers. Dear Taxi Dave, I hear dispatchers constantly yelling at cab driv- Copyright © 2016 by TAXI INSIDER. All Now it’s so tough to park taxi at the taxi stand. ers for no apparent reason. If anyone ever does try rights reserved. Neither this newspaper nor Uber and other non-taxi vehicles always occupying to talk back, these dispatchers just threaten them any part therof may be reproduced, copied, taxi stands all over the city. Pictures were taken at by refusing to give them a fare. Just sit in the taxi or transmitted in any form, electronic or one taxi stand on 02/13/2016 at 8:47 pm at west lot for an hour and you will hear constant yell- mechanical including photocopying, mi- 53rd Street (between 6th and 7th avenues). Where ing from these dispatchers directed towards cab crofi lming, recording or by any information is the enforcement? drivers. It is about time they finally start giving retrieving system without the express written Sincerely, us some respect. permission of the publishers. The copyright Abul Asad Khan Attached is the dispatcher’s picture. I hope you is extended to the design and text created can provide a way, where appropriate action against for advertisements. This publication will corrupt dispatchers like him can be taken. not be responsible for errors in advertise- Are Dispatchers Asking All The Best, ment beyond the cost of the space occupied For Money? Tal Singh by the error. Bylined articles represent the Hello Dave, sole opinion of the writer and are not neces- I am a big fan of the show and I make sure Poaching By Nassau sarily in accordance with the views of TAXI that I am tuned in every Sunday as I drive around INSIDER. in the city. County Black Cars This Publication reserves the right to Today one of the most humiliating incidents Dear Taxi Dave, limit or refuse advertising it deems objec- happened to me as I was at terminal 2 at JFK air- I spoke to the family getting into this car on tionable. port. At about 2 AM Tuesday morning (2/16/16), 91st St and Lex at 1:45pm Sunday Feb 21. I asked TAXI INSIDER is published monthly at I was at terminal 2 waiting to pick up a fare. them if they were from Nassau county. They said a subscription rate of $48.00 per year. As my turn came, the dispatcher approached “no.” They were clearly using an app. The father my car, signaling me to roll down my window and (Continued on Page 4) MARCH 2016 • TAXI INSIDER • PAGE 3 Life is full of risks! Are you protected? Without the proper insurance protection you could be financially devastated. The insurance experts atMEMBER BROKERAGE SERVICE, LLC, will help protect you from these unforeseen hazards AND save you money in the process. 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