Posted on 01/03/2007 10:26:53 PM PST by Man50D
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport officials say too many cabdrivers are refusing to carry airport travelers, apparently due to religious beliefs.
So during a Wednesday meeting of the Metropolitan Airports Commission's management and operations committee, officials suggested a heavy-fisted solution drivers who refused such fares would have their airport licenses suspended.
Airport director Steve Wareham asked the committee to suggest to the full commission that they slate public hearings on whether to revise its taxi ordinance. The revision would suspend the airport license of any cabdriver refusing a passenger who is not life-threatening or intoxicated. Suspension would last 30 days on the first offense, and two years for each offense after that.
The committee unanimously approved the request for public hearings. The next meeting of the full commission is at 1 p.m. Jan 16 in the Commission's chambers at the Lindbergh Terminal.
About three-quarters of the airport's taxis are driven by Somalis, said airport spokesman Patrick Hogan; such drivers are commonly Muslim, and many believe their religion strictly forbids the transport of alcohol or dogs.
Hogan said that one year ago, 77 people a month were refused transport due to alcohol, and others were refused because they only had to go short distances. He added that about a half-dozen people a year were refused transport because they had animals traveling with them, including service animals such as guide dogs.
Hogan said that since September, when the government placed restrictions on liquids carried aboard airplanes, the number has dropped (to what, he was not certain), but it was "still a problem."
No members of the taxi industry were present during Wednesday's committee meeting.
A formal discussion between airport officials and those in the taxi industry began last summer but have yet to produce results. In October, airport officials were firming up plans to allow Muslim taxi drivers to alert potential fares of their beliefs with a different-colored light atop their cabs. But following a barrage of negative public feedback, they scrapped the idea.
A memo from Wareham and assistant airport director Arlie Johnson to the committee stressed a need to set a deadline for discussions "to provide eventual closure to this process."
Hogan said airport officials hope to have a new ordinance in place before May 11, when cab drivers must decide whether to renew their airport licenses.
Islam in general and Sharia Law specifically seem incompatible with our Constitution. But allowing cab drivers to make poor economic decisions based on their own conviction is not the same as enforcing Sharai Law.
Bring a pig next time!
Good observation. Same applies to Keith Ellison and his Muslim wrecking crew. They want to have every Muzz swearing on their damnable Koran whether in court or a Congressional hearing. Muzz are cruising for a lawsuit the first time they are denied
Jihad and expansion of Sharia can be fast and violent or take place slowly as in the USA
Muslim imams support sharia, and I'm sure that a lot of Muslims support it. What I'm not sure of is that the majority of Muslims in this country will support it generations down the line. Our country is good at assimilating foreign cultures. Your slippery slope argument may be relevant, but at 1% of the population, I'm not yet worried about it.
Third world immigrants turning Minnesota into a third world state quickly.
All because of our hand-outs.
Catholic and Lutheran resettlement agencies, acting as subcontractors to the U.S. government, sponsored the first groups of Somali refugees to Minnesota in ... www.mcgillreport.org/Rochester%20Immigration.htm - 150k - |
Blame the churches for your state being inundated by primitives. There are Jewish refugee agencies that have no more Russian Jews to sponsor and resettle. So they sponsor others such as Balkan Muslims. Otherwise they would go out of business
A thousand Somalians in Mpls. were protesting the attack on the Islamic terrorists in Somalia the other day.
The picture in the paper was depressing. It looked like a picture from an Arab country.
Bet they keep your firemen busy due to jacking up the heat (undoubtedly paid by welfare) in the winter to near tropical temps and not knowing the dangers of using electric and gas space heaters
Minneapolis is the new France.
Muslim cabbies refuse to carry alcohol or puppies, Christian pharmacists refuse to provide aboritfacients. Whose ox, eh?
Who the heck is Tad Vezner, and why is this suggestion "heavy fisted? It seems to me to be badly needed to maintain proper taxi service for air travellers, who are largely business people with an inordinate influence on a city's economy.
More "objectivity" from medidiots.
Great. So the airport decides not to do business, with another business that doesn't provide adequate service to the airport's customers.
Looks like the muzzies up there are getting awfully pushy. Time to push back, MN.
Muslims warn of 'problems' in shared prayer room
(also at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1762155/posts
Y'know... I think I'll go into business training seeing-eye pigs. They're very smart and I'll bet they could do about as well as dogs. Plus, it'd be a great test (sting operation) to catch koranimal cabbies who should have their licenses revoked and are already on probation for refusing to carry passengers.
These are the kind of cultural laws that will send the vermin scurrying back into their hellhole countries.
Sec. 376.11. Regulations. (h) Refusal of service. No driver of a public vehicle shall refuse or neglect to convey any orderly person or persons upon request anywhere in the city, unless previously engaged or unable to do so, provided such person or persons agrees or agree to pay the legal rate of fare.
I fail to see the addendum to this section that says "No driver of a public vehicle shall refuse any orderly person unless such orderly person is carrying unopened containers of alchol."
Licenses to operate taxis are expensive and, in many cities, are scarce and increase in value. Hence, the taxi driver can realize a good profit from selling his license. A person granted a public license that is making a profit from the sale of such license should not have the right to refuse fares for reasons other than cited in the regulation.
Here is the market price for a taxi medallion in NYC:
I think that is already in place. It opens a can of worms: the Muslim drivers get their way, then redneck drivers can refuse to take blacks, etc.
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