Posted on 06/18/2004 5:01:18 PM PDT by visagoth
BOSTON (AP) Boston taxi drivers are angry over a city proposal that they accept vouchers from delegates to the Democratic National Convention instead of using their meters for rides to and from Logan International Airport.
The city first offered vouchers worth $8, then raised the amount to $10, taxi drivers said.
''If you take one person to town, it's usually about $30, and I'm going to take one person for $10?'' said 45-year-old Jean Abrahm, a cabbie for 16 years. ''And I have to pay the toll, too? With gas now up, this is just a rip-off.''
The vouchers, combined with convention traffic and road closings, could mean they would lose money going to and from the airport, the drivers said.
Cab drivers and city officials are expected to meet at noon Friday at police headquarters to discuss the proposal, but the drivers already are raising the possibility of taking the week off during the convention, scheduled for July 26 to 29 at the FleetCenter.
''If the city won't go up to at least $45 to take three passengers, we'll go on strike,'' said Balwinder Gill, 37, a 10-year veteran driver from Everett. ''We're just not going to take it. We're going to lose money.''
The voucher proposal is not final, but Carol Brennan, director of external affairs for the Massachusetts Port Authority, said representatives of Massport, the police department's Hackney Unit, and the convention host committee are discussing ways taxi drivers can get a share of the business in transporting the 5,000 convention delegates.
She said conventions historically have moved the business to private contractors. City officials have the taxi industry's ''best interests at heart,'' Brennan said, in proposing the vouchers.
Karen Grant, a spokeswoman for Boston 2004, the host committee, said convention organizers are also looking at using the airport's existing shuttle system or hiring a private carrier to ferry delegates between Logan and downtown Boston.
Cab drivers said the city's proposal includes some incentives, such as allowing drivers who accept vouchers to move to the front of the airport taxi pool line and waiving the $1.75 Massport fee paid whenever a cab takes a fare into the city. Drivers would still pay the $4.50 commercial toll, however.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Yep, and Liberals always have the best interests of working people at heart if they'd just shut up and pay their taxes.
Well I hope it makes them angry enough that they and the rest of that state start voting out the limousine liberals infesting it.
In a communistic society, the elite have certain--er--privileges.
Hey, somebody has to pay for the Boston Big Dig. Might as well start with the lowly taxi drivers. That is next in line right after taxpayers.
Between the cabbies and the cops on strike, this is going to get amusing.
I find it really amazing the the Democrats always state that they are the working man's party but every time it comes to spending their own money they act like "Do you know who I am?"
Try some "stratenschadenfreudery"
"Schadenfreude." You were close. It's a tough word.
Exactly!!!
btw....how you doin'
The people's republic of Taxachussets supports Kerry's liberal agenda. It is not coincidence that their senators are Kerry and Kennedy. They will not rebel, they have long accepted the leash of government around their neck. It is the rest of the country Kerry has to worry about.
I have to bookmark this just to keep that word on hand.
Thanks!
On my last stay it cost $25 to take a cab from the airport to the hotel. It cost $1 to take the train back to the airport.
But then I try to watch out for my (and my employer's) bottom line. I don't pretend I am one of the ruling elite, zipping about in my yellow limousine (by Checker).
If German were easy we might not have fought so hard in WWII to keep from having to learn to speak it.
Right, like we're supposed to kiss their ring or something. The whole Northeast is filled with these losers.
Might as well, Democrat delegates don't tip.
Why you ask is the City of Boston trying to save delegates money, when the purpose of a city hosting a convention is to make money off of the delegates? I'll tell you why.
43% of the delegates will be traveling on AFL-CIO expense accounts. The AFL-CIO owns the Boston city council and is looking for ways to pass their expenses on to the taxpayers. Next will be hotel and restaurant and hooker vouchers.
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