Pizza policy angers local NAACP head, others:Delivery Descrimination Claimed

Charlottesville Daily Progress (Virginia) ^ | 02/11/05 | Claudia Pinto

[LarkNeelie]

By Claudia Pinto / Charlottesville Daily Progress February 11, 2005 -----------------------

Two pizza delivery chains refused to send drivers to a public housing community Thursday afternoon, shocking and angering members of the AIDS/HIV Services Group and the president of the local NAACP.

Kathy Baker, ASG’s executive director, said that when Domino’s and Papa John’s were called to deliver to an HIV testing event at Westhaven public housing community, the businesses responded that they don’t deliver to Hardy Drive.

Managers from Domino’s and Papa John’s said they don’t deliver to certain areas of the city out of concern for their drivers’ safety.

Zak Flagle, manager of the Ivy Road Papa John’s, said the business keeps a list of streets it doesn’t deliver to because they are deemed “bad areas of town.”

“They get put on the list because a driver has been robbed there or a shooting has happened there,” he said.

Alan Asef, Domino’s area manager, said the pizzeria hasn’t delivered to Hardy Drive in two years. He said the rule went into effect because pizzas and car signs were stolen and, most importantly, drivers were harassed.

“Once the kids had blocked the area,” Asef said. “They surrounded the driver and wouldn’t let her leave.”

M. Rick Turner, president of the Charlottesville-Albemarle chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the practice “reeks of racial discrimination.” He’s calling for a community investigation.

[LarkNeelie]

Should PC trump safety????

[stylin19a]

A few years back the MSM was up in arms because cab drivers in Chicago wouldn't pick-up or drop off in certain black areas of Chicago.

The story dropped off the face of the earth when it was found out that a good many of the cabbies doing the refusin were black.

[theDentist]

Please! Hold an investigation. Get some delivery kid to stand up there and say "I refuse to get shot, raped, or killed for trying to deliver a pizza and getting a $2 tip. Deal with it Reverend."

[isthisnickcool]

I see opportunity. Some enterprising person has a ready market available. These pizza places are very high tech and they can be built in a small footprint. Get Dominoes to put up the dough (pizza joke!) for some sharp young black guy to serve the area from INSIDE the area.

Maybe get some storefront space for the pizza place and convince the local police to put a storefront shop in next door.

[teenyelliott]

I'm sure if there are hideous crime ridden areas that are white, they would not deliver there either. But if that were the case, I would not complain just because I am white. I don't understand any minority sticking up for another just because they are of the same race. The policy is don't go to the places where you might get robbed or shot, not don't go to the places where the black people are. Sheesh!

[CISSnarl]

"Please! Hold an investigation. Get some delivery kid to stand up there and say "I refuse to get shot, raped, or killed for trying to deliver a pizza and getting a $2 tip. Deal with it Reverend." As someone with a history in the business many years ago...this is nothing new at all. The business be it Papa Johns or a small independent such as I worked at, whoever, has a right to refuse to deliver to certain areas where drivers have been robbed or endangered. The business itself is in a catch-22 If they ignore previous warning signs that a certain area is dangerous and continue to deliver there anyway, say a driver is seriously hurt, stabbed, shot, beaten for his 50.00 change fund; what's going to happen? The business is going to get sued by the injured party!! Saw it happen ...and the business, a rival of the shop I worked at lost it all, the owner was utterly wiped out. In this age of frivoulous lawsuits and mega million awards of punitive damages, these places have no choice in the matter but to protect thier interests. Yet on the other side they are slapped with the good ol race card if they refuse to endanger thier drivers... Maybe the folks complaining about not getting thier pizza should instead , you know, get active in thier own neighborhoods and CLEAN them up..you know...maybe instead of closing the blinds on the crimes being committed on thier sidewalks... and instead say..."Oh look ...a Guy selling crack..darn whats that number..Oh yeah here it is...911"...hello? Oh yeah thats right...I forgot..taking responsibility for your life and doing something to effect change for the good is a hopelessly outdated concept...silly me. Sorry!! Oh and by the way....2 dollar tips in the areas in question?? HA..HAHAHAHAHA...(wiping tears of laughter from his face) be lucky (and thankfull)your not getting out there with your car vandelized, all your body parts intact, your wallet gone, or your life endangered by some with a .25 and a few hours into REALLY needing his next fix.....SNARL!!

[taxesareforever]

All these people complaining about the policy should volunteer to be delivery drivers. Until then, Shut UP!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Way too many drivers called into ambushes, and they are not allowed to carry weapons. To Hell with PC! I live in a small, fairly safe city, but there are places I don't go after dark, and never without Smith and Wesson.

[_katie_scarlet]

I used to work at Pizza Hut. We had several drivers robbed and one was beaten so badly he had to be hospitalized. After this happened, the store decided not to deliver to that area anymore. The driver who was beaten was robbed of two pizzas and about fifty bucks. He made $6 an hour.