The following letter was sent to the Chicago Dispatcher by Michael Foulks. It appears in the September 2007 issue of the Chicago Dispatcher.
To all cabdrivers:
I can't describe all of the events of the last few weeks in detail in just one letter to the editor, but know this right now - if you want to know the truth, the whole truth, I will answer any question you ask. I will let any of you see a complete copy of my copy of the petition for a hearing on a meter increase, which I filed with the City Clerk on August 30, 2007.
I was given responsibility of keeping it safe by George Kasp minutes before the City Clerk office closed on August 29, 2007. Because George Kasp and Melissa Callahan began loudly arguing about some lease cap amendment, which was not part of the petition I was holding, I believed that the integrity of all 104 pages I held was in jeopardy, and I was not about to allow neither the hard work of all the people who gathered petitions to be wasted nor the will of the cabdrivers who signed their names to be delayed any longer than necessary. Ted Budzynski, who personally collected 400 signatures, and I were left alone while the dispute spilled out onto the streets of the loop. I talked with Ted about the likelihood that we were going to have to figure out how to file this thing, and figure it out quick, if it was going to be filed that day. The problem was that the required cover letters were “missing” and would have been incorrect if Ted and I were the ones actually submitting it to the Clerk.
The office closed before we could solve such a simple problem, because George Kasp and Melissa Callahan didn't trust either one with the document, and I couldn't either. I was on neither side. I just wanted to keep the petition intact and I wanted it filed. So I stayed up all night and all morning with it and tried to convince Melissa to hand over the last 160 or so signatures that I had collected myself and with other drivers and had given to George Lutfallah. I wasn't demanding anything. She refused and expected me to hand over the 1833-1862 signatures I was holding. I refused, because I couldn't be 100 percent sure that she was going to file them, and by high noon I decided that it was in all of our interests to file what I had, and I did so that afternoon.
We are all “just” cabdrivers. There is no organization that gives any of us more rights or power over any of us. Melissa Callahan seems to be very passionate about forming an organization or union. She is a tough cookie. If you get behind her, you will be a lot better off than if you get in her way. If any cabdriver wants to help form an organization or union, they should talk to Melissa Callahan. I am only concerned with making sure that we get a hearing for the meter increase as soon as possible. If for any reason, we (all the cabdrivers) need to collect more signatures on more petitions to make that happen, I am taking personal responsibility to make that happen, and make it happen quickly. Being the submitter of a petition doesn't give me any power over anybody. I didn't do anything just to “put my name on it.” I did what I did because it needed to be done.
