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Taxi drivers blast convention voucher plan (Dems rip off drivers)
Associated Press ^ | 6/17/2004 | Associated Press

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 ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: boston; convention; demorats; dncconvention; taxi; voucher
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To: visagoth

Airplanes, taxis . . . Those gas-guzzling Democrats, raping and pillaging Mother Earth in their selfishness and lust for power.


21 posted on 06/18/2004 5:55:12 PM PDT by Cultural Jihad
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To: visagoth
''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.''

Can't they just put a little sign in their windows, "Say No to Vouchers"? After all the Dems don't like vouchers some I am sure they would be happy to pay cash or take the mass transit or... that most green of all options... just walk from the airport to the hotel.

22 posted on 06/18/2004 5:57:34 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Latine loqui coactus sum)
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To: Focault's Pendulum
F.P. !!! Long time no post!

pretty good.....and you?

23 posted on 06/18/2004 5:59:02 PM PDT by EggsAckley (........John Kerry: The talking Barbie of the 21st Century.........)
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To: freedumb2003
Heheheh. There MUST be an easier way. Maybe write it on a post-it, and stick it next to the monitor. Eventually you'll be able to throw it away.

BTW, if you think THAT one is tricky, try this one:

Gesamstskunstwerk. (means: total work of art)

24 posted on 06/18/2004 6:02:26 PM PDT by EggsAckley (........John Kerry: The talking Barbie of the 21st Century.........)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Yeah, I mean we all know how the Dems feel about school vouchers, so "Say No to Vouchers" signs on the taxis would make them feel right at home.


25 posted on 06/18/2004 6:04:32 PM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: EggsAckley

I do like German that way --- big ol' words.


26 posted on 06/18/2004 6:09:41 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (I want to die in my sleep like Gramps -- not yelling and screaming like those in his car)
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To: freedumb2003
One of my problems is a terrible case of "Weltschmerz." Means "pain for the world."

These big German words are quite unique, as we English speakers don't really have singular words for these concepts. It's an interesting phenomenon about the German language.

27 posted on 06/18/2004 6:12:10 PM PDT by EggsAckley (........"John Kerry changes positions more often than a Nevada prostitute".........)
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To: visagoth
The taxi drivers should consider it a privilege to drive the ruling political elite.
28 posted on 06/18/2004 6:14:48 PM PDT by BJungNan (Stop Spam - Start Charging for Email - You get 2000 a month for free, then you pay!)
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To: EggsAckley
F.P. !!! Long time no post!

Working insane hours living the American Dream. I worked only twelve hours today...feels like I'm on vacation.

I've been busy trying to figure out why the government wants %50 of my money when I die.....which could be any minute now......you need a loan???

29 posted on 06/18/2004 6:15:07 PM PDT by Focault's Pendulum (Simple physics: Heat sand hot enough...it becomes Glass!)
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To: visagoth
Easy enough problem to solve. They just made it legal for trucks from Mexico to drive into the U.S. Just extend the law to include Mexican taxis.


30 posted on 06/18/2004 6:19:09 PM PDT by BJungNan (Stop Spam - Start Charging for Email - You get 2000 a month for free, then you pay!)
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To: Focault's Pendulum

FP. My folks worked very hard to leave a nestegg to my bro and I, and then the IRS demanded 1.2Mil when they died. It left us with some property, which is highly taxed and therefore is threatened. And THAT was with a very complex Family Trust. I feel your pain........(sorry, yet another bit of language that Clinton TARNISHED for us!)


Keep the faith!


31 posted on 06/18/2004 6:20:54 PM PDT by EggsAckley (........"John Kerry changes positions more often than a Nevada prostitute".........)
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To: Reaganwuzthebest
Well I hope it makes them angry enough that they and the rest of that state start voting out the limousine liberals infesting it.

Come November, 90 percent of these pissed off cabbies (the ones that bother to vote, anyway) will faithfully pull the levers for John Kerry and every other Rat running for office. I hope they'll understand if I have a hard time working up much sympathy for the tooling they are about to receive.

32 posted on 06/18/2004 6:22:12 PM PDT by CFC__VRWC ( "While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future. " - R. Reagan)
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To: visagoth
Hmm... party of the working man.

And what happens if the taxi drivers go on strike? The car rental places and parking lot operators make the money.

33 posted on 06/18/2004 6:34:18 PM PDT by Frohickey
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To: CFC__VRWC
Come November, 90 percent of these pissed off cabbies (the ones that bother to vote, anyway) will faithfully pull the levers for John Kerry and every other Rat running for office.

Most likely they will keep shoving these liberals down our throats for many years to come. The Camelot mentality has them brainwashed in that state and living in the past. Not that NY is much better...

34 posted on 06/18/2004 6:51:56 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear
or... that most green of all options... just walk from the airport to the hotel.

You ever been to Boston?

You're not going to be walking from the airport to the hotel. I don't even want to drive it. It's a protracted series of chutes & ladders that makes the actual game by that name seem simple.

A more screwed-up city is hard to imagine. I don't think there is one. Tiajuana maybe. Perhaps Mexicali.

The taxi drivers deserve their $45.

35 posted on 06/18/2004 6:58:41 PM PDT by The Other Harry
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To: The Other Harry
You ever been to Boston?

Yes. :)

The taxi drivers deserve their $45.

Oh I agree.

36 posted on 06/18/2004 7:01:38 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Latine loqui coactus sum)
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To: EggsAckley
FP. My folks worked very hard to leave a nestegg to my bro and I, and then the IRS demanded 1.2Mil when they died....

And that doesn't count the attorney and the rest of it.

Well, my kids will get exactly nothing from me. They're a pair of spoiled brats. My daughter is better than my son, but neither one is worth a ****.

I'm working on this currently. Doing a trust, and they ain't the beneficiaries.

37 posted on 06/18/2004 7:05:10 PM PDT by The Other Harry
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To: sionnsar
Sheesh!! Boston has a perfectly good (subsidized, no doubt) mass-transit subway system called the "T" (once "MTA")...

You may be too young to understand this, but is Charlie still riding it?

38 posted on 06/18/2004 7:12:38 PM PDT by The Other Harry
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To: visagoth

I love it when a plan comes together!


(Actually I didn't plan it, but it couldn't be going better if I did!)


39 posted on 06/18/2004 7:23:03 PM PDT by thoughtomator (The New York Times: All the Lies that Fit the Socialist Agenda)
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To: visagoth

Would the $4.50 commercial toll be one way or round-trip? If they have to pay $9.00 to get to the airport and back that may present a slight profitability obstacle.


40 posted on 06/18/2004 7:32:42 PM PDT by Rockpile
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