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Airport cab drivers may have licenses suspended for refusing to carry fares
St. Paul Pioneer Press ^ | January 3, 2007 | TAD VEZNER

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.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airport; cabdrivers; islam; minneapolis; muslim; muslims; stpaul; taxicabs; taxidrivers; taxis
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To: dennisw
These useless godless Somalis will merely go back to welfare. Which is where they prefer to be. Somalis and Hmong are about the worst immigrants we get. Plus they are all refugees which gives them immediate access to welfare programs and lo lo lo interest SBA loans which they quite often use to engage in fraud and ripping off the USG

Those reasons should qualify them for amnesty through a guest worker program in the eyes of our socialist politicians.
21 posted on 01/03/2007 11:01:08 PM PST by Man50D (Fair Tax , you earn it , you keep it!)
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To: Man50D
The goal of Islam is to do have ordinances based on religous issues by ultimately enforcing Sharia Law. To them religion is the state. The proposed ordinance prevents that from happening.

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.

22 posted on 01/03/2007 11:05:18 PM PST by AndyTheBear (Disastrous social experimentation is the opiate of elitist snobs.)
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To: amchugh
Anyway, I have a hard time finding the Muslim prohibition against the consumption of alchohol to be all that offensive when applied by individuals rather than at the state level. I think this country would benefit from a culture of responsible drinking or even one of abstention. After all, look what happens to spider's web building when exposed to drugs or alchohol.

That would be a valid point if their intent was that simplistic. Unfortunately their goal is far greater than merely banning alcohol. Their goal is to enforce Sharia law. They know it would be impossible to enforce all at once so they will settle for incremental ism.

If your goal is to boil the frog you don't put it in a pot of hot water otherwise it will jump out. Instead you place it in cool water and slowly turn up the heat. The frog will not realize the difference until it is too late. Muslims are attempting the same strategy in this country.
23 posted on 01/03/2007 11:08:38 PM PST by Man50D (Fair Tax , you earn it , you keep it!)
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To: Man50D

Bring a pig next time!


24 posted on 01/03/2007 11:12:09 PM PST by television is just wrong (Our sympathies are misguided with illegal aliens...)
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To: Man50D
That would be a valid point if their intent was that simplistic. Unfortunately their goal is far greater than merely banning alcohol. Their goal is to enforce Sharia law. They know it would be impossible to enforce all at once so they will settle for incremental ism.

If your goal is to boil the frog you don't put it in a pot of hot water otherwise it will jump out. Instead you place it in cool water and slowly turn up the heat. The frog will not realize the difference until it is too late. Muslims are attempting the same strategy in this country.

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

25 posted on 01/03/2007 11:25:41 PM PST by dennisw (Allah has no son and no prophet unless a false prophet qualifies)
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To: Man50D

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.


26 posted on 01/03/2007 11:49:42 PM PST by amchugh
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To: dennisw

Third world immigrants turning Minnesota into a third world state quickly.

All because of our hand-outs.


27 posted on 01/04/2007 12:01:28 AM PST by Lijahsbubbe
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To: Lijahsbubbe

Immigration in Rochester

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 -
Cached - Similar pages

 

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

28 posted on 01/04/2007 12:06:23 AM PST by dennisw (Allah has no son and no prophet unless a false prophet qualifies)
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To: dennisw

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.


29 posted on 01/04/2007 12:14:19 AM PST by Lijahsbubbe
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To: Lijahsbubbe

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


30 posted on 01/04/2007 12:20:37 AM PST by dennisw (Allah has no son and no prophet unless a false prophet qualifies)
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To: Man50D

Minneapolis is the new France.


31 posted on 01/04/2007 12:26:01 AM PST by rogue yam
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To: Man50D

Muslim cabbies refuse to carry alcohol or puppies, Christian pharmacists refuse to provide aboritfacients. Whose ox, eh?


32 posted on 01/04/2007 1:17:06 AM PST by flowerplough
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To: Man50D

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.


33 posted on 01/04/2007 1:20:22 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: supercat

Great. So the airport decides not to do business, with another business that doesn't provide adequate service to the airport's customers.


34 posted on 01/04/2007 1:23:39 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: Man50D

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


35 posted on 01/04/2007 1:27:43 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: Man50D
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.

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.

36 posted on 01/04/2007 2:15:31 AM PST by LibWhacker
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To: amchugh
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.

All Muslims are bound by Sharia law otherwise they are subject to the same fate as non Muslims who Muslims consider infidels. It is more than just a slippery slope theory. It is fact they will not assimilate as stated in Islamic Scholar Warns U.S. of 'Two-Faced' Muslims It is based on a Muslim born and raised in Syria. Our country will be no more effective assimilating Islam than it would have been if it attempted to assimilate Nazism. The fact that you aren't worried is exactly the false sense of security Muslims hope people in this country have until they become aware after it's too late.
37 posted on 01/04/2007 2:18:46 AM PST by Man50D (Fair Tax , you earn it , you keep it!)
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To: Man50D

These are the kind of cultural laws that will send the vermin scurrying back into their hellhole countries.


38 posted on 01/04/2007 2:32:39 AM PST by tkathy (Sectarian violence? Or genocidal racists? Which is a better description of islamists?)
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To: supercat
Yes, it's a private business, but all taxis operate under licenses granted by the local government with strict operational rules. If you don't comply with the rules, you can lose your license. In St. Paul, the rule regarding fares is very easy to understand:
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:

39 posted on 01/04/2007 7:29:35 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: supercat
I would propose something much simpler: if a driver at a taxi stand refuses a fare without good cause ... the driver should forfeit his turn at the front of the line and have to drive around to the back.

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.

40 posted on 01/04/2007 8:00:15 AM PST by jiggyboy (Ten per cent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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