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 ...
Airplanes, taxis . . . Those gas-guzzling Democrats, raping and pillaging Mother Earth in their selfishness and lust for power.
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.
pretty good.....and you?
BTW, if you think THAT one is tricky, try this one:
Gesamstskunstwerk. (means: total work of art)
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.
I do like German that way --- big ol' words.
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.
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???
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!
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.
And what happens if the taxi drivers go on strike? The car rental places and parking lot operators make the money.
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...
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.
Yes. :)
The taxi drivers deserve their $45.
Oh I agree.
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.
You may be too young to understand this, but is Charlie still riding it?
I love it when a plan comes together!
(Actually I didn't plan it, but it couldn't be going better if I did!)
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.
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