The Taxi Link: Driver killed; Council wants data; taxi commission doesn’t have any

Posted on June 9, 2013 by TheFightBack

Screen Shot 2013-06-09 at 2.13.03 PMThe Taxi Link airs Sat. 7-8 pm on WUST 1120 AM. Listen here: 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download mp3

Solomon Okoroh, a 57-year-old father of five, was shot and killed while driving his cab early Tuesday morning in D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. “He’s a good father. He’s a good provider. He’s friends with everyone,” said Evelyn Ruiz, owner of Classic Cab, the company for which Okoroh drove for fifteen years. “If you need help, he comes running to help you out,” Ruiz said, using the present tense to describe her recently deceased friend.

Okoroh, who was originally from Nigeria, was known to pick up all fares, which may have got him killed. While many are quick to label cab drivers as racist, there’s scant attention paid to the very real dangers they face, as a D.C. Council hearing made clear.  Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Labor/Jobs, Taxicab | Comments Off on The Taxi Link: Driver killed; Council wants data; taxi commission doesn’t have any

The Taxi Link: National Harbor fight heats up; DC taxi chair apologizes for disparaging two drivers

Posted on June 2, 2013 by TheFightBack
Fisseha Tesfaye and other drivers gather outside Gaylord National before delivering a letter calling for the hotel to provide a taxi stand in view of hotel guests

Taxi drivers, including Fisseha Tesfaye, gather outside Gaylord National before delivering a letter calling on the hotel to provide a taxi stand in view of hotel guests

The Taxi Link airs Sat. 7-8 pm on WUST 1120 AM. Listen here: 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download mp3

Just over the District line, Prince George’s County taxi drivers are stepping up their fight to continue servicing guests at National Harbor, the upscale mini-city, resort and convention center on the Potomac River. While the construction of National Harbor required hundreds of millions of public dollars for roads and other infrastructure needs, The Peterson Cos.-run operation appears to be on the verge of handing over Prince George’s County taxi jobs to Veolia, a French multinational water and transportation company.  Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Labor/Jobs, Prince George's County, Taxicab | Comments Off on The Taxi Link: National Harbor fight heats up; DC taxi chair apologizes for disparaging two drivers

The Taxi Link: DC drivers suspended without due process? PG drivers fight to stay at National Harbor

Posted on May 26, 2013 by TheFightBack
photo-9

D.C. taxi chair Ron Linton lectures a driver

The Taxi Link airs Sat. 7-8 pm on WUST 1120 AM. Listen here: 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download mp3

“That’s what you people do all the time. You got a lousy system out there. I’m trying to help you save it.” – D.C. taxi chair Ron Linton

The D.C. Taxicab Commission appears to have a policy of suspending drivers over alleged violations before their guilt or innocence is determined, thereby depriving them of their right to earn a living while their case remains open. The Taxi Link spoke with a driver facing this situation but he asked to remain anonymous because he fears speaking out may hurt his case. “Drivers are just presumed to be guilty. It’s like they’re just second-class citizens,” said Tony Norman, co-host of The Taxi Link and chairman of D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B.  Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Prince George's County, Taxicab | Comments Off on The Taxi Link: DC drivers suspended without due process? PG drivers fight to stay at National Harbor

The Taxi Link: Are drivers at National Harbor being pushed out? Should Alexandria drivers choose their own company?

Posted on May 19, 2013 by TheFightBack
photo-8

Taxi leader Fisseha Tesfaye speaks with Pete Tucker in the parking garage opposite Gaylord National

The Taxi Link airs Sat. 7-8 pm on WUST 1120 AM. Listen here (imperfect audio in first minute): 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download mp3

Just over the District line at National Harbor, the upscale mini-city and resort on the Potomac River, Prince George’s County taxi drivers say they’re being pushed aside to make way for Veolia, the French transportation giant.

Drivers say they’ve been informed that beginning June 1 they’ll no longer be able to pay a monthly fee to park at National Harbor. Unable to afford the high $3 an hour parking meter rates, drivers say they’ll effectively be cut off from accessing National Harbor hotel guests. “I believe they are trying to get rid of us,” National Harbor taxi leader Fisseha Tesfaye told The Taxi Link.  Continue reading →

Posted in Northern Virginia, Prince George's County, Taxicab | Comments Off on The Taxi Link: Are drivers at National Harbor being pushed out? Should Alexandria drivers choose their own company?

The Taxi Link: AFL-CIO looks to organize DC drivers; credit card mandate passes; Philly driver killed; Jon Liss on NoVa’s taxi struggles

Posted on May 12, 2013 by TheFightBack
photo-6

Stained glass mural of Philly taxi leaders

The Taxi Link airs Sat. 7-8 pm on WUST 1120 AM. Listen here: 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download mp3

The National Taxi Workers Alliance, which became the 57th national union of the AFL-CIO less than two years ago, is looking to work with The Small Business Association of DC Taxicab Drivers to organize cabbies in the nation’s capital. “If it was done in a city like New York, if it was done in a city like Philadelphia, it can damn sure done in Washington, D.C.,” Philly taxi leader and NTWA vice president Ron Blount told The Taxi Link.  Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Labor/Jobs, Taxicab | Comments Off on The Taxi Link: AFL-CIO looks to organize DC drivers; credit card mandate passes; Philly driver killed; Jon Liss on NoVa’s taxi struggles

The Taxi Link: Fairfax driver assaulted; Commissioner Stanley Tapscott; DC drivers accused of racism

Posted on May 6, 2013 by TheFightBack
Mohamed Salim, left, talks with reporters. Photo courtesy of the Council on America-Islamic Relations

Mohamed Salim, left, talks with reporters. Photo courtesy of the Council on America-Islamic Relations

Listen to The Taxi Link: 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download mp3

An aviation executive’s racist remarks and assault of a Fairfax taxi driver have caused an outcry. The driver, Mohamed Salim, recorded the conversation with his late-night passenger, Ed Dahlberg, president of Manassas-based Emerald Aviation. “If you’re a f—-ing Muslim, flying jets into the World Trade Center, then f—- you! I will slice your f—-ing throat right now!” Dahlberg told Salim.  Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, Taxicab | Comments Off on The Taxi Link: Fairfax driver assaulted; Commissioner Stanley Tapscott; DC drivers accused of racism

The Taxi Link: Alexandria drivers protest; D.C. drivers testify

Posted on April 28, 2013 by TheFightBack
Taxi-Link-Alexandria-Protest

Daniel Berhane and fellow drivers protest outside Alexandria city hall

Listen to the Taxi Link here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download mp3

In Alexandria, taxicab drivers associated with Tenants and Workers United protested outside city hall this past week to call on the council to ensure drivers’ right to select their own credit card processors as the city moves to mandate credit card acceptance. “[Drivers] have been ripped off of our independent contractor role in this city and we’re trying to take that back,” said taxi leader Daniel Berhane, who told his fellow protesters their efforts had pushed back the council’s vote, now scheduled for May 14.  Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, Taxicab | Comments Off on The Taxi Link: Alexandria drivers protest; D.C. drivers testify

The Taxi Link: Will smart meters end up in court, again?

Posted on April 21, 2013 by TheFightBack

Taxi-StandListen to The Taxi Link:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.


 Download mp3

The D.C. Taxicab Commission is moving full steam ahead with implementing a so-called “Modern Taxi System” (MTS). Yet in several areas MTS resembles the commission’s push last year to install one company’s credit card processors and screens in the back of all cabs, which ultimately failed when the D.C. Court of Appeals overturned the city’s $35 million contract with Verifone because of irregularities in the procurement process. Nevertheless, at last week’s standing-room-only commission hearing on MTS, D.C. taxi chair Ron Linton expressed a willingness to once again take an act-now-ask-questions-later approach.  Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, Taxicab | Comments Off on The Taxi Link: Will smart meters end up in court, again?

Pacifica’s leadership crisis: Summer Reese shouldn’t hold both of the foundation’s top spots

Posted on April 18, 2013 by TheFightBack

logo001_500

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download mp3

The Pacifica Foundation is in trouble and the problem starts at the top. The listener-sponsored, progressive, anti-war radio network – which operates five stations in as many major markets and has more than 100 affiliates – is experiencing widespread upheaval. Up to this point I’ve kept my concerns about Pacifica interim executive director Summer Reese to myself, but after what I witnessed in D.C. Superior Court last week, I must speak out.

Continue reading →

Posted in Media | Comments Off on Pacifica’s leadership crisis: Summer Reese shouldn’t hold both of the foundation’s top spots

The Taxi Link returns to the air

Posted on April 16, 2013 by admin

Listen to The Taxi Link here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

photo-3

Taxi leader Haimanot Bizuayehu speaks at a protest in front of the D.C. Council last year

The Taxi Link – which is sponsored by The Small Business Association of DC Taxicab Drivers (SBA) and hosted by TheFightBack’s Pete Tucker and D.C. advisory neighborhood commission member Tony Norman – returned to the air Saturday on WUST 1120 AM.

Appearing on the program, SBA board member Haimanot Bizuayehu discussed the taxi commission’s upcoming hearing (see below for details) on the Modern Taximeter System, which appears to be a scaled down version of the controversial $35 million Verifone contract that was overturned by the Contract Appeals Board last year. “The proposed rulemakings have many provisions that [won’t] be fair to the drivers, especially when it comes to the tracking device,” said Bizuayehu.  Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Taxicab | Comments Off on The Taxi Link returns to the air