Re: [Mpls] city purchased security equipment

[Michelle Gross]

I happened to be downtown yesterday afternoon and talked with a some 
cabbies who are part of a leadership group that has been meeting with the 
city.  Among their concerns are security equipment, of course, but also 
police services to cabbies.  They told me that they get hassled by police 
and ticketed for silly reasons (their term) like wearing sandals but when 
they call for the cops, they take forever to show up.  One woman talked 
about being robbed on the Northside.  She called police (via her 
dispatcher) and then waited for about 40 minutes.  Of course, the perps 
were long gone.  She finally got tired of waiting (and losing livelyhood) 
so she drove down to the service station at Lyndale and Broadway and tried 
to get cops there to take a report.  They refused, since she had left the 
scene.  She then decided just to brush it off and get back to work.  When I 
mentioned N.I. Krasnov's idea about the floor operated emergency button, 
they really liked it and said they had been talking about something 
similar.  They said police would probably ignore it but other cabbies would 
likely come to their rescue.

When you consider that cabs make up part of the public transportation 
infrastructure of the area, it makes sense to me that the city would assist 
cabbies with their security needs.  Clearly, the city sees cabs as part of 
the transportation system or they would not regulate this industry so 
heavily--everything from fares to dress code of drivers, where and how they 
provide services, etc. is controlled.  So even though cab companies are 
privately owned, they are quasi-public in the same way as power companies 
and other necessary parts of our infrastructure.  (This is the same 
rationale used by the feds to prop up the airlines.)  Target, on the other 
hand, is not even close to being necessary for the functioning of this city 
(except, perhaps, for providing some jobs) but City Hall is happy to fill 
their hand every time they stick it out.  Go figure.

The cabbies I spoke with told me the strike is pretty much a done 
deal.  They said it will happen as early as first of this week.  Maybe it 
will help the city to see how necessary cabs are to the functioning of the 
city, especially to tourism.

Michelle Gross
Bryn Mawr
At 11:57 AM 8/10/03 -0500, N.I. Krasnov wrote:
<snip>
Please don't tell me that government can't find $1,000,000 to protect the 
lives of cab drivers. Both the City and State can find justifications for 
direct and indirect subsidies for real estate, business development, and 
all sorts of social programs,  but not for the lives of cab drivers? One 
of the primary duites of government is to preserve the public peace. If 
there are no robberies and murders of cabbies, the police, district 
attorney's office, coroner, and HCMC will not have to expend any further 
resources and money to investigate, prosecute and recover from the damage. 
If saving the lives of cab drivers isn't enough justification, perhaps the 
stench of the money saved by preventing the crimes in the first place will 
convince those who need an economic incentive.

I've previously suggested a number of ways to prevent further robberies 
and murders of cab driver.
The Mayor and City Council should take note.

You have been so advised, be guided accordingly.

N.I. Krasnov
Loring Park
**
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TEMPORARY REMINDER:
1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject 
(Mpls-specific, of course.)
________________________________

Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls