Drivers Protest Limo-Hotel Corruption

A seemingly endless stream of taxis passes by the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Nov. 3 to protest kickbacks by limousine drivers to hotel doormen in exchange for airport rides. The caravan began at City Hall and snaked through the downtown, passing by a number of the hotels drivers named as most corrupt. click here to view more pictures (Photo: Thomas George-Williams)

Kickbacks to Doormen Are Focus of Taxi Caravan Over 100 cab drivers took two hours from their shifts Nov. 3 to participate in a noisy and spirited protest against management-condoned collusion between drivers of limousines and doormen at major San Francisco hotels. United Taxicab Workers organized the caravan of cabs, which targeted the steering of hotel guests into limousines and luxury sedans in return for kickbacks. click here to read this article

The Dirty Dozen United Taxicab Workers recently conducted an informal survey of San Francisco taxi drivers to determine which 12 hotels they saw as the worst offenders for steering passengers into limousines and luxury sedans. The top vote-getters were: 1. Hyatt Regency 2. Grand Hyatt 3. Omni 4. Hilton 5. Sheraton Wharf 6. Serrano 7. Argent 8. Hyatt Wharf 9. Parc 55 10. Pan Pacific 11. Sir Francis Drake 12. Mandarin Oriental Drivers named these hotels as the best for fair treatment of taxis: 1. Fairmont 2. Westin St. Francis

In Memoriam Zareh Soghikian 1929-2005 Long-time Yellow Cab driver and UTW Executive Board member Zareh Soghikian was killed in his taxi along with a passenger, Duke University student Tyler Brown, the night of Oct. 9 at Broadway and Webster when the cab was struck by a pickup truck driven by Kevin McGuinness of San Francisco. Two other passengers, Tyler’s brother Adrian and a friend, were injured in the collision. click here to read this article

Zareh-Tyler Memorial Fund UTW has set up a fund in memory of Zareh Soghikian and Tyler Brown. Proceeds will be divided three ways. A portion will go to an Armenian family Zareh was helping after they lost their home in a recent earthquake. A second share will help a village in Banda Ache province, Indonesia, where Tyler recently worked on tsunami relief. The remainder will benefit cab drivers. Contributions may be sent to: Zareh Soghikian and Tyler Brown Memorial Fund Mission Area Federal Credit Union 2940 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94110

Proposed Ordinance Would Allow
For Inspection of Limo Waybills
Police will have new authority to examine limo waybills to verify prearranged transportation under proposed legislation introduced at the Board of Supervisors by Supervisor Sean Elsbernd. The ordinance also would give the city the authority to impose stiff penalties for operating a taxi without a permit, similar to penalties in state law that are rarely imposed.
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At the Taxi Commission
The Taxi Commission meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 6:30 p.m., in room 400 of City Hall. Special meetings may be scheduled as needed. The following is a summary of significant commission proceedings at recent meetings:
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Commission Proposes Surcharge
to Compensate for Gas Prices
The Taxi Commission has asked the Board of Supervisors to enact a fare surcharge to compensate for high fuel costs. Although gas prices have come down some in recent weeks, at their height they were over $3 a gallon, more than $1 above the average price at the time of the last meter increase in Jan. 2003.
While the commission didn’t recommend any specific amount for the surcharge...
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Board Upholds Revocations
The Board of Appeals has upheld Taxi Commission decisions revoking taxicab permit #1100, held by Jamie Yuen, and #1147, held by Diane Cohen. Both permits were operated by National Cab. Yuen and Cohen failed to comply with the full-time driving requirement for several years and both admitted to falsifying waybills.

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Heidi Machen @ candel light memorial for Zareh & Tyler

New Executive Director Sets Ambitious Goals In late July, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Heidi Machen as executive director of the Taxi Commission. She succeeded Interim Executive Director Kelly Castagnaro, who left to accept employment with a non-profit organization in New York. Machen, an attorney, is a graduate of San Francisco State University and Hastings College of the Law. She previously worked as an aide to Newsom when he was ... click here to read this article

Companies Finally Furnish
Missing Financial Reports
It took some doing, but most all San Francisco cab companies have now furnished the city with annual financial reports required by law.
The issue surfaced when an analyst hired by the Department of Public Health was unable to complete a study of funding options for a taxi driver health care plan in the absence of the reports. As a result, work on the health care plan has suffered months of delay.
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Commission Approves Settlement Of Veterans Permit Dispute

Remaining Corporate Medallions Reportedly Moving to National

After years of inaction, the Taxi Commission has approved a legal settlement of a long-standing dispute over 25 corporate permits held by Veterans Cab Co. (The corporation that controls the Veterans permits is distinct from the company that runs the Veterans and Arrow color schemes, Speck Cab Co.)
According to the settlement agreement, Veterans will surrender eight permits on...
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Hearing Held on UTW Appeal
UTW’s appeal of a Taxi Commission decision awarding eight taxicab permits to children of deceased Yellow Cab shareholder Georgette Welch had a hearing Nov. 2 in San Francisco Superior Court before Judge Ronald Quidachay. Although Quidachay did not make an immediate ruling, he indicated he was strongly leaning in favor of ...
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thE SHORT linE
A San Francisco cabbie has proposed "Operation Taxi Poacher" as a way to fight out-of-control crimes committed by limo drivers...
Cho Gyeong-Shik, sprayed himself with paint thinner in Seoul, Korea in a demonstration of allied taxi labor unions, before setting himself on fire with his cigarette lighter...
Charges have been brought against suspects in a corruption scandal based on the illegal granting of taxi driver licenses in Prague, Czech Republic...
The feud over a fare rate increase between Florida taxi mogul Jesse Gaddis and his drivers intensified as he began towing the cabs of striking workers...
Staff working night shifts at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Bogota, Colombia have called for more troops and police to patrol the zone and get rid of the bad guys once and for all...
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