I posted it to you on 9/26

Do you still have it, George?

I am reluctant to say that I am on your side, that I support you wholeheartedtly, and do everything you want me to do. I am not ready to take sides like that. I would ask, 'Yes, I am ready to take your side, but are you ready to take my side? I am a human being like you. Do you know what my side is? I want to act, I want to have compassion, but I don't want to act out of anger, violaence, and discrimination. If you take my side, I will be with you one hundered percent.'

When you support someone, you bring whole being to support him or her. In your being is your wistom and compassion. Without that wistom and compassion you cannot support someone. If I take your side, it does not mean I am going to help you build a fence, destroy a town, or take a bomb on a bus in order to blew up passengers. I can not be with you in those kinds of acts. For me, there is a path that is quite clear. If we keep the poisons of despair, anger, and violence within us, we will continue to suffer, and whatever action we take will not benifit anyone.

Imagine a family of ten people. If two brothers were fighting each other, what would the other members of the family think and do? If a member of your family is killed, you suffer as a family. You cannot stand there and allow your brothers to kill each other.

Standing outside and observing, we see that joining one brother against another is not wise. You need to say that we should behave like a family and should allow the family to take care of us.

From 'Peace Begins Here' by Thich Nhat Hanh

Yi,

Correct me if I'm wrong but you are basically saying that it's important to compromise. And you are also echoing Abraham Lincoln's words that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Did I read you correctly?

And if so are you trying to correlate that somehow to my position with respect to the AFSC?

George Lutfallah

Our industry is faced, like many, with the same struggle to make ends meet and at the end of the day keep the lights on. I know well the financial burden fuel costs alone create for a fleet or individual driver. Regular maintenance and upkeep costs slowly rise, then there is the almost yearly increase in insurance and suddenly fuel prices skyrocket. It’s like getting into the business or staying yet another year makes the average hack a gambler. The pressure to reduce costs, so you can buy lunch or take the kids on vacation, forces nearly ridiculous decisions to be made. All of the corners you can cut save you dollars at the end of the day! But as Mother Nature shows anyone who dare test her – you can only enjoy those benefits until the laws of average make a drastic adjustment against your high average. Risk vs. Benefit right back in your face.

Simple things like keeping your headliner clean (nobody looks there anyway) can make a fare tip less. Why buy that $1.00 bottle of window cleaner – those windows will just get dirty again, cheap gas burns real fast and I imagine might have some impact on the tune up and associated parts. Let’s wait until inspection to get the tires changed and the alignment done – we can squeeze just a few more miles out of the thing. The streets are bad anyway – nobody will notice the tires – I’ll blame the owner anyway. (I know not everyone thinks this way but…) You know it’s the very beginning of a spiral which unless arrested makes us all look bad.

It’s the darn nickels and dimes that add up fast and kill a driver’s momentum. Right now we are faced with a “Confluence of influence” as Tom Skilling likes to say. From the bottom we have costs rising, from the top we have our regulators holding the price down. What can we do? Work more hours, burn the candle at both ends – get tired and grumpy never see the kids have a fight with the spouse and then run into a starter or customer along our travels in the same “frayed” state – BAM! We have the consequence.

I cannot help but think that raising prices will really help, but somewhere in here the economics of the cost will depress rider ship. Can we improve our look and reputations, hold on to the client pool we have and increase it? Will all the CTA service cuts present a new and positive rider opportunity. If we could get more rides in less hours… is there a smarter more efficient way to work the deal, sweeten the pot as it were? How can we think out of the box and make positive cash flow decisions? Certainly we have buying power, Costco for cabs! Let’s take some middle-men out of the picture and increase profitability – which area’s allow for this opportunity? Is there some scope of regular purchase we can exploit in our favor? What common denominator can we get better at which will net fast results? Is there something we can afford to give away to “get some positive attention?” Something we could all do…. It’s kind of like finding a smile out there, **** that’s inexpensive – so is that helping hand – and the payback is a tip. We should really work on SERVICE levels – it’s the cheapest fastest payback CITY WIDE. Of course this important thing will totally set us apart from the rest. Smile, carry the bags – officer stand down he’s helping this lady to the curb. While we are thinking about other area’s to improve – this one will get a whole lot of attention. I know it’s “ a little thing” – barely worth the mention – yeah I’m old school. It’s “goody two shoes,” it’s one thing we have we can give away and end up getting paid for. How does that song go? “A little less talk and a lot more action.” I offer this only as food for POSITIVE thought. Together now, Big smile - Show teeth!

WOMDERFUL, SIR.

LADIES & GENTLEMEN, ALL WHO SEE THIS SHOULD read IT DAILY!

MEMORIZE IT:

Our industry is faced, like many, with the same struggle to make ends meet and at the end of the day keep the lights on. I know well the financial burden fuel costs alone create for a fleet or individual driver. Regular maintenance and upkeep costs slowly rise, then there is the almost yearly increase in insurance and suddenly fuel prices skyrocket. It’s like getting into the business or staying yet another year makes the average hack a gambler. The pressure to reduce costs, so you can buy lunch or take the kids on vacation, forces nearly ridiculous decisions to be made. All of the corners you can cut save you dollars at the end of the day! But as Mother Nature shows anyone who dare test her – you can only enjoy those benefits until the laws of average make a drastic adjustment against your high average. Risk vs. Benefit right back in your face.

Simple things like keeping your headliner clean (nobody looks there anyway) can make a fare tip less. Why buy that $1.00 bottle of window cleaner – those windows will just get dirty again, cheap gas burns real fast and I imagine might have some impact on the tune up and associated parts. Let’s wait until inspection to get the tires changed and the alignment done – we can squeeze just a few more miles out of the thing. The streets are bad anyway – nobody will notice the tires – I’ll blame the owner anyway. (I know not everyone thinks this way but…) You know it’s the very beginning of a spiral which unless arrested makes us all look bad.

It’s the darn nickels and dimes that add up fast and kill a driver’s momentum. Right now we are faced with a “Confluence of influence” as Tom Skilling likes to say. From the bottom we have costs rising, from the top we have our regulators holding the price down. What can we do? Work more hours, burn the candle at both ends – get tired and grumpy never see the kids have a fight with the spouse and then run into a starter or customer along our travels in the same “frayed” state – BAM! We have the consequence.

I cannot help but think that raising prices will really help, but somewhere in here the economics of the cost will depress rider ship. Can we improve our look and reputations, hold on to the client pool we have and increase it? Will all the CTA service cuts present a new and positive rider opportunity. If we could get more rides in less hours… is there a smarter more efficient way to work the deal, sweeten the pot as it were? How can we think out of the box and make positive cash flow decisions? Certainly we have buying power, Costco for cabs! Let’s take some middle-men out of the picture and increase profitability – which area’s allow for this opportunity? Is there some scope of regular purchase we can exploit in our favor? What common denominator can we get better at which will net fast results? Is there something we can afford to give away to “get some positive attention?” Something we could all do…. It’s kind of like finding a smile out there, **** that’s inexpensive – so is that helping hand – and the payback is a tip. We should really work on SERVICE levels – it’s the cheapest fastest payback CITY WIDE. Of course this important thing will totally set us apart from the rest. Smile, carry the bags – officer stand down he’s helping this lady to the curb. While we are thinking about other area’s to improve – this one will get a whole lot of attention. I know it’s “ a little thing” – barely worth the mention – yeah I’m old school. It’s “goody two shoes,” it’s one thing we have we can give away and end up getting paid for. How does that song go? “A little less talk and a lot more action.” I offer this only as food for POSITIVE thought. Together now, Big smile - Show teeth!

Haven't we who 'deserve' this fare increase been behaving like a good cabdriver should all along? We can always 'try harder' with our passengers, but the indirect impact on the decisions that the Transportation Committee will make can be influenced more directly... by 'trying harder' with negotiating with them. What do we have to offer except empty promises if we don't organize an organization? 'Try harder' to organize.

Politicians care about voters. When they say 'tax-payers', they mean those who vote in their elections. We have a ticking clock until this thing falls off the table. Even then, we have 'moves' that can be made, but the point is that this thing is still on the table right now.

There's no reason for any committee to vote no to anything right after a public hearing. When the time comes to vote, the decision will already have been made, yea or nay. How do you all think that happens? Here's a clue... they still smoke back there.

Despite the headlines, we must make it clear to all that we were not "denied" anything at the public hearing, nor are we "begging". Every action or inaction has a consequence for everyone involved here. Let's quit coming up with game theory and start playing. Who do you think the Transportation Committee will listen to?

-MIKE FOULKS

Being “Deserving” has got to be tough. What were you wearing while driving yesterday? Did you look like an ambassador?

What is the average opinion of cab drivers? “Watch it here he comes!” – “He must not have seen you, he was on the phone.” – “Hey look at the big fight and the honking horns! Those cabbies!” – “I don’t own the car – I told the owner.” Who said ANYTHING when the Taco Bell cab driver commercial came out? Speeding, jumping hills in Seattle, cutting corners, sliding and breaking hard. The guy with the sandwich was wearing his – the Taco Bell Wrap lunch guy had his under control – even thru the “Crazy Taxi Ride.”

Who do I think the Transportation Committee will listen to? Public opinion, our public's!

Let's take some ownership. Ownership includes responsibility, it may not be my job, but it is our collective job – ah… so it is my job. Might be my collective job to get to meetings too, if I felt it mattered. Why don’t I feel it matters? I probably cannot find a parking place, It’s ok I deserve it anyway. Ever heard a child in the store screaming about the thing they want? They feel they deserve it. We never heard or saw the one in line with the thing. They did what it took to get the thing, clearly they had the objective in mind and set the goal and attained it. They worked in the environment they were in and adapted to achieve the thing.

Why is there no perspective? "We" transport influential folks everyday. "We" deliver everyday people, everyday. You just never know who is in the back seat. "We" have a captive audience. Where else can a candidate or his people have "One on One" time with the masses? What other industry can afford it? "We" are the ambassadors. We open as many doors as possible, not sit on the phone in the front seat disinterested. We hand a nice respectful printed card to each passenger we open the door for, can we do that? Is there enough room in my cab for a little “Hope you had a great ride, I’d like you to go to this website and tell the city what you think – it’s REALLY important to me and my family.” A little Public Opinion, no?.

This Union / Association / Committee idea with elections - getting organized take it to the next level. If we all followed our chosen leader - respectfully - a new phone operator at the local dispatch office could lead us into the next phase of public awareness. With all the great talent looking to improve our position in the world – giving freely the precious time they are willing to forfeit - We will pay them nothing and little or no respect. Maybe there are dues, maybe we want our own website? Maybe we start in your garage and end up on LaSalle Street in 10 years, we will never know until WE start. WE is who? Kill the apathy you see everywhere.

Whose in charge here anyway? How do we earn the trust? How can we get the drivers together and following the lead? How about a little politics’ anyone? I don’t smoke but I can get my suit cleaned – but so can you – Mr. Ambassador.

One more thought, ever have a sales person with a great idea - worth millions - come to you about the huge driver population? I tell them not to worry - the drivers will decide if it sells, not him not me. It's great good fast rapid impact - but unaccepted it sits gathering dust. You know it's true. Let's build it so they will come, not sit on the shelf- there's enough dust here anyway.