An Appeal To Help A Hate Crime Victim

There are many terrible crimes that one person can perpetrate on another....and a hate crime is certainly one of them. When Ahmed Sharif was brutally stabbed by an intoxicated and belligerent young man last week, the very worst of humanity was shown to a cab driver who's only crime was his faith. That is not the United States that our founders envisioned and it is certainly not how the great majority of Americans feel about religious tolerance currently.

While most of us shook our heads at the news last week, and were grateful that Mr. Sharif was not killed in the act, the aftermath is still serious. Currently Mr. Sharif is out of work and the benefits afforded to him by the Taxi Worker Alliance does not go the distance for his wife and children..

CNN has more on this:

"Ahmed is a strong man, but mentally he has limits," said Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. "The trauma he's experienced will last for a long time."

Desai spent time this weekend with Sharif. She said his most pressing worry is how he'll provide for his wife and four children -- including a 10-month-old --without a job. Sharif is receiving 2/3 of his salary, about $30,000 a year, in workers' compensation. Union members do not get health insurance or disability payments, Desai said.

"My guess is that he'll be unable to work for at least four months," Desai said. "He can't even pick up his baby because of the wounds to his arms. He can't turn his neck."

An assistance fund was set up for Ahmed and his family, but sadly not much has been contributed to it. Perhaps there hasn't been too much in the way of publicity other than the initial newscasts covering the story. Hopefully it is not due to a lack of compassion on the part of New Yorkers. Instead of simply lamenting about it, I have donated $10.00 dollars and would like all those that read to give the same, or even $5.00 to help out. If you can't cover that, ask someone else to contribute. America is bigger than this heinous act, and I for one believe we should prove it.

Donate here now.

Two Strikes Are More Than Enough

I took a break from posting as I was in Los Angeles over the weekend visiting family. What was a beautiful weekend at first turned smoky as a dozen blazes started up in the hills around the city and in Malibu. The Kashan Castle that I drove by Saturday night was burned to the ground only a few hours later. As we were staying in West Hills, the family was worried about another fire coming close to the house as it had done only two years ago. The firefighters over there are fantastic as I remembered they were saving the house in 2005, but now they are stretched thin as the humidity in So Cal is in the single digits.

Needless to say, I was glad to come back to more humid air without massive smoke plumes here in NYC. However, we were greeted with the taxi strike. A few cabbies were screaming and yelling at those that decided to work today despite the second strike in a month's time. Even though they gave a few good reasons (pensions, etc) after a while, the real concern is still having to install GPS trackers in their cars.

Bhairavi Desai and his New York Taxi Workers Alliance is claiming some sort of victory this morning, but I managed to hail a cab near Penn Station in about two minutes by dodging the taxi stand line. As the AM NY reporter mentioned, there are tons of cabs operating this morning, so there really is nothing to fear if you need to hail a yellow cab.

I am sticking to my position as I have over the last couple of months. While Desai and others complain that GPS trackers are an invasion of privacy, the real issue is accountability. Plenty of businesses use certain methods to hold their employees accountable and if cabbies don't like it, they should find something else to do. There are plenty of drivers out there today that do not care whether or not they are being watched while on the clock. If the GPS units were being used when they are off-duty, that would be another matter.

Taxicab Strike Set For October 22nd

Strike No.2 for (some of) the cabbies of New York City. After the first strike last month and the failed attempt in the courts didn't work, the NY Taxi Workers Alliance voted unanimously (500 votes out of 13,000 drivers in the city) to stop their meters and sit the day out on the sides of the avenues, streets and highways. The difference this time is that there is more to the strike. Union workers want health care, union rights and a pension fund. Those are all admirable items that workers should have, but after the last couple months of PR battles, cabbies have been on the losing end and getting to the top of this hill is a longshot.

From AM New York:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city will probably institute a contingency plan again. Last time, passengers shared cabs for flat fares. He also reiterated Tuesday that drivers agreed to the technology years ago when fares were raised.

"I've never thought that strikes lead any place," Michael Bloomberg said.

Another work action would be no more effective in bargaining with the Taxi & Limousine Commission or city than the last one, said Edward Rogoff, a Baruch College management professor who's studied the taxi industry.

"If it doesn't have a significant chance of winning, which it doesn't, it doesn't help anyone," he said.

There are others that believe in the cause and that the Alliance "holds weight" but personally I fail to see it. Bloomberg is wrong to say that strikes aren't effective but in this particular case I agree. The additional requests by the cab drivers are valid but this whole brouhaha makes the new developments look like a PR stunt.

Another Taxi Strike?

After last month's "crippling" strike and a rejection for a temporary block on GPS trackers by the Federal court, NYC might be in for another round from a few yellow cabs that want to lose business by striking. The Taxi Workers Alliance is on the losing end of a battle to have credit card machines and GPS trackers in their cabs.

Some cabs have already installed the machines despite the cries from the union. There are reports that some cabbies have had declined cards after the passenger jumps out but that can be fixed without throwing out the machines. You can't just swipe and run at businesses around the city, so why should that have to be an issue in the cabs.

Another argument, the argument really, is that this is all an invasion of privacy instituted by the city. Now to that I say tough. The cabs are working because of the city's issuance of their medallions. If such drivers want to buy an old towncar and become gypsy cabs, then by all means, go ahead. New Yorkers trust yellow cabs because they are (more or less) regulated by the city. The GPS units afford customers more accountability when riding in a cab and that is a good thing.

Taximan's Last Stand

Well the half-hearted strike didn't do much to the city earlier in the month and the city hardly batted any eye, but taxicabs are still trying to fight the installation of GPS trackers in their cars. Their last stand will be before Judge Richard M. Berman in the U.S. District Court here in Manhattan. While the cabbies whine about invasion of privacy and the trackers being too expensive, their case seems to be built more so out of cards than bricks.

From The New York Times:

Joseph Sanscrainte, a lawyer who specializes in privacy matters at the law firm Bryan Cave and is not involved in the case, said he believed the city had the stronger legal argument. Consent to the G.P.S. system is implied by the drivers’ agreement to take part in the highly regulated taxicab industry, he said.

“New York courts have already determined that there’s a reduced expectation of privacy on the part of the drivers,” Mr. Sanscrainte said, citing a 1993 case in which a state court found that “any person who displays an official shield has a reduced expectation of privacy.”

City lawyers also claim that the information is being processed by contractors that will not monitor off hour driving. When a cab is working, its a different story. As one Cityroom reader wrote in the comments, many employees in different lines of work have their computers monitored and some have to do drug tests.

So, the case law is on the side of the city and their complaints about the fourth amendment seem to be much ado about nothing. So what is the real reason? Sounds like they just do not want to be held accountable to me.

UPDATE (9/28/07 - 2:04 PM): The judge makes it official, the cabs will be required to have GPS trackers as of Monday, October 1st.

NYC Cabbies "Strike" Out, Opt For Court Instead

Bringing their case to the people of New York really didn't work out for them a couple weeks ago. Only a fraction of Yellow Cabs actually sat out for a measly two days for their so-called strike. They still hate the idea of GPS, who wants to be held accountable while on the job anyway? Doesn't everyone want to be lazy and jerk tourists around who don't know the streets? Well if that doesn't sound fair to you then wait till you get a load of their latest stunt.

From 1010 WINS:

MANHATTAN (AP) -- A group of cabbies sued city regulators Wednesday in an attempt to block a new requirement that all taxis be outfitted with global positioning systems and software that will record where they drive.

The move comes two weeks after thousands of cabbies went on strike for two days to protest the rule, which some have blasted as an invasion of privacy.

In the suit, the drivers argue that the city overstepped its authority and acted unconstitutionally when it mandated the units.

The suit also makes an unusual claim that the GPS devices will give away trade secrets by disclosing the cabbies' driving patterns.

These guys aren't just cruising the streets, they make a living by taking customers from point A to point B. GPS trackers are bad news if the city wanted to install them on private vehicles, but they are not ordinary cars. It is easy for them to take advantage of tourists and even locals that might not be aware of ways to add to the fare by driving a certain way.

If you need to head uptown during the afternoon, it is common sense to take Park instead of Third Avenue....but only if you know that. Sitting on Third, especially in midtown is hellish to say the least. That is just one example of many. The ins and outs of New York City are vast and if technology allows them to be held accountable for their actions, then so be it.

You Call This A Strike??

So I've been hearing that NYC cabbies were going to strike today and tomorrow, bringing New York City to a standstill. No one would be able to go anywhere, no cabs ruthlessly plowing through the streets, no drivers busy on their cellphones while paying little attention to the road and at the end of the day we would be begging on our knees to give in to their every demand.

Oh wait, that isn't the case at all. I still see cabs zooming around from my current vantage point at 34th and Park. Still being rude, driving like bats out of hell and from 50-100 feet away, the drivers look like they are talking to themselves thanks to all of those little headsets. So what was the big deal anyway? Not being paid enough? Dire working conditions? Not enough space to go from zero to 100 in 10 seconds between 5th and 6th Ave?

Hardly.

The few cabs that are protesting, hiding their cabs sporadically throughout the city, do not like the new GPS trackers. They do not want to have the cab someone else generally owns to know where they are going nor allowing customers (especially tourists) to see if they are going out of the way to the destination for extra cab fare. The new technology also comes with credit card readers, touch screen devices giving riders the news, weather and sports and basically something to play with while being stuck in rush hour traffic.

No wonder they couldn't mount a half-decent strike. No one would believe their cries. I'm always up for a good strike if the cause is worthy. I was fully behind the MTA workers when they shut down the city nearly two years ago. That was worthy. Having GPS on your cab....give me a break.