...all we should really need is 50 votes from City Council and ONE VOTE in the Mayor’s office....
Who’s losing out in this sputtering economy?
Not the big cab company CEOs. Not the Mayor. Not the DCS Commissioner. Not the Transportation Committee. Not the City Council.
They have made sure to remain financially and economically secure while hard working drivers and owners face continued soaring fuel costs, more robberies, more theft of services, more harassment and abuse from the people who are supposed serve and protect us, bigger fines, higher-than-ever health care costs, higher denatal care costs, doubled costs for eye-care and eye-wear, less or no care at County Hospital, higher grocery bills, increased rents and mortgage payments, foreclosures, evictions and an uncertain future – with no meter increase or any other relief in sight.
WHAT WE NEED NOW IS A PETITION BY DRIVERS AND OWNERS AS A BASIS TO MAKE THE FOLLOWING CRITICAL EMERGENCY CHANGES:
1.) An EMERGENCY SESSION of the full City Council to DO the following:
2.) A temporary suspension, waiver or other deferment of the laws and regulations regarding enactment of a meter increase,
3.) A temporary suspension of the standard requirement of financial data from drivers to support the need for an increase,
4.) An immediate meter increase of not less than 25% on the start, mileage and waiting time.
The way the Municipal Code regarding these matters is written is for normal economic steadiness and growth – business as usual, in good economic times.
But now it is clear that the law doesn’t account for or include the EXTRAORDINARY ECONOMIC TIMES AND CONDITIONS in which we now live.
Anyone who works for the City who claims he or she does not see any need for a meter increase and a strong public stand for additional safety measures -- such as simple warning of the greater legal risk a potential thief may face -- should be fired on the spot and told to get out and stay our of town.
Cab drivers and owners must act because the City won’t.
These EMERGENCY MEASURES are needed now because this is a REAL emergency, Mr. Mayor, Ms. Commissioner, Members of the Committee on Transportation and Ladies and Gentlemen of the City Council -- and people of Chicago.
We need your help to get our taxi driver economy back on track. To accomplish this we need the big cab company CEOs. We need the Mayor. We need the DCS Commissioner. We need the Transportation Committee. We need the City Council. We need the people of Chicago.
In an unprecedented show of support of their drivers -- and indeed a remarkable show of good faith and understanding by one of the biggest taxi fleets in the Chicago area -- 303 Taxi which operates as Flash and other Chicago cabs -- has taken the lead by negotiating with the Village of Arlington Heights and getting a substantial meter increase for its drivers. Many other suburbs will follow the lead. Other Chicago cab companies need to fall in as well.
For drivers and owners, this is no time to play “We will launch a huge campaign to get thousands of drivers and owners to support these EMERGENCY MEASURES and tell City Council IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE!"
But nothing should be taken off the table just yet. If we have to play the petition and rally game, lets do it. We look to the UTCC and its coalition-building muscle and every able-bodied man, woman and child to participate.
Again, THIS IS A REAL EMERGENCY, not Chicken Little crying the “Sky is falling, the sky is falling.”
HOW MANY WILL SIGN the petition -- there are only about 10,000 of us!
But in these extraordinary times, all we should really need is 50 votes from City Council and ONE VOTE in the Mayor’s office.
We can and must raise living standards, improve health care and stop the City’s forced race to the bottom by its intentional delay and ignoring the realities of our times.
It’s time to put some real fairness into how meter increases are approved. That’s why we need many voices of drivers and owners supporting these EMERGENCY MEASURES. We won’t reach our goal without YOUR help. Without your help we will continue to sink t the bottom.
Do you support these EMERGENCY MEASURES?
Anti-organizing people are mounting a campaign to fight drivers and these EMERGENCY MEASURES. We can prevail if enough people rally to this important cause.
The Chicago cab industry economy should work for all of us, not just the privileged few.
In solidarity,
Wolfgang J. Weiss
Chicago Professional Taxicab Drivers’ Association
how many days have come and gone since the last meter increase?
What was the price of gas then. How about the cost food, clothing and shelter?
how many days have come and gone since the strike?
What was the price of gas then. How about the cost food, clothing and shelter?
How many days have come and gone since the hearings that resulted in another delay?
What was the price of gas then. How about the cost food, clothing and shelter?
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Replying to:
...all we should really need is 50 votes from City Council and ONE VOTE in the Mayor’s office....
Who’s losing out in this sputtering economy?
Not the big cab company CEOs. Not the Mayor. Not the DCS Commissioner. Not the Transportation Committee. Not the City Council.
They have made sure to remain financially and economically secure while hard working drivers and owners face continued soaring fuel costs, more robberies, more theft of services, more harassment and abuse from the people who are supposed serve and protect us, bigger fines, higher-than-ever health care costs, higher denatal care costs, doubled costs for eye-care and eye-wear, less or no care at County Hospital, higher grocery bills, increased rents and mortgage payments, foreclosures, evictions and an uncertain future – with no meter increase or any other relief in sight.
WHAT WE NEED NOW IS A PETITION BY DRIVERS AND OWNERS AS A BASIS TO MAKE THE FOLLOWING CRITICAL EMERGENCY CHANGES:
1.) An EMERGENCY SESSION of the full City Council to DO the following:
2.) A temporary suspension, waiver or other deferment of the laws and regulations regarding enactment of a meter increase,
3.) A temporary suspension of the standard requirement of financial data from drivers to support the need for an increase,
4.) An immediate meter increase of not less than 25% on the start, mileage and waiting time.
The way the Municipal Code regarding these matters is written is for normal economic steadiness and growth – business as usual, in good economic times.
But now it is clear that the law doesn’t account for or include the EXTRAORDINARY ECONOMIC TIMES AND CONDITIONS in which we now live.
Anyone who works for the City who claims he or she does not see any need for a meter increase and a strong public stand for additional safety measures -- such as simple warning of the greater legal risk a potential thief may face -- should be fired on the spot and told to get out and stay our of town.
Cab drivers and owners must act because the City won’t.
These EMERGENCY MEASURES are needed now because this is a REAL emergency, Mr. Mayor, Ms. Commissioner, Members of the Committee on Transportation and Ladies and Gentlemen of the City Council -- and people of Chicago.
We need your help to get our taxi driver economy back on track. To accomplish this we need the big cab company CEOs. We need the Mayor. We need the DCS Commissioner. We need the Transportation Committee. We need the City Council. We need the people of Chicago.
In an unprecedented show of support of their drivers -- and indeed a remarkable show of good faith and understanding by one of the biggest taxi fleets in the Chicago area -- 303 Taxi which operates as Flash and other Chicago cabs -- has taken the lead by negotiating with the Village of Arlington Heights and getting a substantial meter increase for its drivers. Many other suburbs will follow the lead. Other Chicago cab companies need to fall in as well.
For drivers and owners, this is no time to play “We will launch a huge campaign to get thousands of drivers and owners to support these EMERGENCY MEASURES and tell City Council IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE!"
But nothing should be taken off the table just yet. If we have to play the petition and rally game, lets do it. We look to the UTCC and its coalition-building muscle and every able-bodied man, woman and child to participate.
Again, THIS IS A REAL EMERGENCY, not Chicken Little crying the “Sky is falling, the sky is falling.”
HOW MANY WILL SIGN the petition -- there are only about 10,000 of us!
But in these extraordinary times, all we should really need is 50 votes from City Council and ONE VOTE in the Mayor’s office.
We can and must raise living standards, improve health care and stop the City’s forced race to the bottom by its intentional delay and ignoring the realities of our times.
It’s time to put some real fairness into how meter increases are approved. That’s why we need many voices of drivers and owners supporting these EMERGENCY MEASURES. We won’t reach our goal without YOUR help. Without your help we will continue to sink t the bottom.
Do you support these EMERGENCY MEASURES?
Anti-organizing people are mounting a campaign to fight drivers and these EMERGENCY MEASURES. We can prevail if enough people rally to this important cause.
The Chicago cab industry economy should work for all of us, not just the privileged few.
In solidarity,
Wolfgang J. Weiss
Chicago Professional Taxicab Drivers’ Association
