LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF DC CAB DRIVERS, AUG. 28 (Audio only includes the first half-hour of the program):
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[In addition to listening to The Voice of DC Cab Drivers live on the radio, you can listen live online at wust1120.com or on your phone at (712) 432-6620.]
In both Prince George’s County and in the District of Columbia, drivers are moving forward with petitions.
Yesterday, as the rain poured down and Hurricane Irene barreled north, five members of the Taxi Workers Alliance submitted more than 4,600 signatures to the Prince George’s County Board of Elections.
The drivers were required to submit 3,300 valid signatures from Prince George’s County registered voters by yesterday in order to meet the first threshold of getting the anti-driver legislation known as CB-3 placed on the ballot as a referendum in Nov. 2012.
The Prince George’s County Board of Elections stayed open specifically to collect the signatures from the drivers, according to Elections Administrator Alisha Alexander. “We will review and verify the signatures and then we’ll go from there,” she said. Ms. Alexander explained that the Board of Elections has 20 business days to process the signatures, but, she said, “we’re going to try and get them processed within seven to ten [business] days.”
Drivers, however, don’t have the luxury of being able to wait around for the Board of Elections to rule on whether they have submitted enough valid signatures. Instead they must immediately begin collecting additional signatures because on Oct. 11, 44 days from now, they must submit an additional 6,700, for a total of 10,000 signatures from Prince George’s County registered voters.
Earlier in the week, in a phone conversation with Elections Administrator Alexander, I asked if the Board of Elections would take into consideration the fact that drivers have been prevented from collecting signatures at public events throughout Prince George’s County. Ms. Alexander said that wasn’t the role of the Board of Elections. Drivers say they are considering pursuing a legal challenge.
Visit TheFightBack.org for reports on drivers being kicked out of public events on Aug. 2, National Night Out, in Bowie, New Carrollton, Morningside and Temple Hills.
Yesterday, after they submitted more than 4,600 signatures, I spoke with Henock Wogderse, Dele Omonijo and Isidore Asucquo, all three members of the Prince George’s County Taxi Workers Alliance. I began by asking Wogderse to describe what had just taken place.
[Interview with Henock Wogderse, Dele Omonijo and Isidore Asucquo]
For more information visit taxipetitions.com.
This petition effort is being conducted in order to put the recently passed, anti-driver legislation known as CB-3 on the ballot as a referendum in Nov. 2012. Here, on The Voice of DC Cab Drivers, Prince George’s County Councilmember Mary Lehman offered her thoughts on CB-3 and described the county’s taxi industry as “being like a system of indentured servitude.” Lehman went on to say, ““It’s shocking, really, that any industry in this day and age can operate legally in that fashion.”
[Interview with Councilmember Mary Lehman]
In a July 3 op-ed in the Sunday Washington Post, Lehman wrote, “This is a classic David vs. Goliath struggle… While cab companies pay the county $200 per year per licensed vehicle, drivers who affiliate with those companies pay a staggering $335 per week – or about 50 percent of their earnings – to essentially rent the license from the corporate holder.”
Appearing here on The Voice of DC Cab Drivers, Lehman invoked the work of Martin Luther King Jr. in discussing the taxi workers struggle for economic dignity in Prince George’s. “It reminded me of Martin Luther King’s words back in 1968, right before he was assassinated when he went down to Memphis to talk to sanitation workers, and he talked about what a travesty it is for a man to work a full day for essentially half a day’s pay. I can’t think of a better analogy for these cab drivers.”
48 years ago today, with Abraham Lincoln behind him and hundreds of thousands before him on the National Mall, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Today was supposed to mark the official unveiling of King’s memorial, which, as Democracy Now! noted, “is the first memorial on the National Mall not dedicated to a war, [a] president or [a] white man.” Due to Hurricane Irene, the official unveiling has been postponed.
Today, on the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, we turn to Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words.
[Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech]
This is The Voice of DC Cab Drivers, brought to you by Dominion of Cab Drivers, a member of The Small Business Association of DC Taxicab Drivers.
The Small Business Association consists of the following driver-owned cab companies and associations: Allied Cab, Ambassador, Black Pearl, Camel, DC Professional, Dominion, Grand, Luxury, Pleasant, Seasons, Swift, Travelers, UCC, Washingtonian, Welcome, and Wonder Cab.
Unfortunately, as the days get shorter and shorter, WUST must operate at reduced power earlier and earlier. The FCC requires the station to do so in order to prevent interference with other stations’ signals.
I’m hopeful that The Voice of DC Cab Drivers will stay on the air through September here on WUST, but after that the show will have go off of these airwaves because the time slot is no longer available. It is also possible that this will be the last show, at least for the next several months. But, again, I’m hopeful that the show will continue on here for the next four Sundays.
As always, you can continue to find my reporting at TheFightBack.org. Additionally, you can tune into the Saturday night phone conference to find out the latest updates regarding the taxicab industry.
The phone conference, which is conducted in both Amharic and English, is from 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. Saturday nights. I work with Ermias Wosenu to produce the English portion of it, which is from 10:15 – 11:00 p.m. every Saturday night. To join in, dial (712) 432-3100, then enter the pass code: 140 465.
We now turn to the D.C. Taxicab Commission which is supposed to have nine members, but currently has at least four vacancies. This past week, I called Taxicab Chair Ron Linton and asked him about the rumor that former District Department of Transportation employee Scott Kubly had resigned from the Taxicab Commission.
Linton said, “He hasn’t formally resigned, but he is relocating to Chicago… For all practical purposes he’s leaving the Commission.” Linton was unsure whether Kubly would be attending the Sept. 21 meeting of the Taxicab Commission. I then called Ron Collins, director of the Office of Boards and Commissions. Collins said he had “not received a letter of resignation from [Kubly].”
Like Kubly, at least until recently, Ralph Burns both serves on the D.C. Taxicab Commission and works for DDOT. Director Collins said of Burns, “He is a government employee serving on the Taxi Commission for a term [but] he shouldn’t have been in a term [in the first place].” Apparently, government employees are not supposed to serve on boards and commissions.
Collins went on to say, “On Sept. 16, when the [D.C.] Council returns, the mayor will transmit his nominees [to the Taxicab Commission] to the Council… I expect that folks who work in the industry will be included among that [group],” he said.
I also asked Collins about the composition of the D.C. Taxicab Commission and whether it’s in accordance with the 1985 Taxicab Commission Establishment Act, which calls for three industry representatives to be on it. Presently, by any reasonable definition, there are none. Collins said he wasn’t able to offer his position on the definition of “industry” at that time, but I could contact him this coming week.
It’s worth noting that Taxicab Chair Ron Linton believes that by “industry,” the 1985 law in fact is referring to the hospitality industry and not the taxicab industry.
Despite the lack of industry representation on the Taxicab Commission, Chair Linton is attempting to move forward with major changes to chapters 6 and 8 of Title 31.
Interestingly, at an August 17 press conference, Mayor Vincent Gray and City Administrator Allen Lew said that before moving forward with any vote on chapters 6 and 8, the Taxicab Commission should hold an additional hearing. The first hearing was marked by irregularities.
Here’s my Aug. 17 exchange with Mayor Gray, City Administrator Lew, and Brian Flowers, general counsel to the mayor.
[Q&A from mayor’s press conference]
The following day I interviewed Taxicab Commission Chair Ron Linton, who had a different take on how to proceed with chapters 6 and 8. Here’s what Chair Linton had to say.
[Interview with Chair Ron Linton]
Drivers have begun circulating a petition in response to Chair Linton’s attempt to move forward with the controversial amendments to chapters 6 and 8 of Title 31. This is the second petition on chapters 6 and 8 that drivers have circulated. The first one was signed by more than 900 drivers, and, amazingly, Linton was not even aware of it when I asked him about it during our recent interview.
The second petition begins with these words: “We the undersigned licensed taxicab drivers in the District of Columbia strongly oppose the composition of the Taxicab Commission and it’s rulemaking process, since this is at odds with the 1985 Taxicab Establishment Act. We firmly believe that the current Taxicab Commission, itself, is not legally constituted.”
Earlier today, I spoke with Haimanot Bizuayehu, board member of The Small Business Association of DC Taxicab Drivers. Haimanot has been part of the signature collecting effort for the petition. I began by asking him to discuss why a second petition on chapters 6 and 8 was necessary.
[Interview with Haimanot Bizuayehu]
Special thanks to Mark Taylor for engineering tonight’s show.
Past shows:
- Taxi Chair’s First Extended Interview; PG’s Troubling Pattern, August 21, 2011
- Taxi Drivers Barred From Collecting Signatures at Public Event in New Carrollton, August 14, 2011
- Taxi Leader Haimanot Bizuayehu, August 7, 2011
- Gray Names New Taxicab Commission Chair, July 31, 2011
- Examining Taxi Issues in D.C., Prince George’s and Arlington, July 24, 2011
- A Discussion on Service Animals in Cabs; Wells Removed as Chair of Transportation Committee, July 17, 2011
- A Debate on the Future of the D.C. Taxicab Commission, July 10, 2011
- P.G. County Pushes Forward with Anti-Taxi Driver Legislation, July 3, 2011
- Journalists Arrested at Public Meeting of Taxicab Commission, June 26, 2011
- Wells Calls Off Hearing on Medallion Bill, June 19, 2011
- John Ray Continues His Private Meetings on the Medallion Bill, June 12, 2011
- The Freedom Plaza Rally, June 5, 2011
- DCTC Locks Drivers Out, May 29, 2011