EDITOR'S NOTE: The City Council's rush to please lobbyist Ken Spiker Jr., who represents taxicab operators and billboard companies, by giving taxis an exemption from the ban on long-term parking on residential streets has stalled thanks to community opposition. Here's the email:
Subj: Taxi Parking in Residential Areas.
The Department of Transportation, which
opposed this last September, now says next week's hearing was canceled and has not be rescheduled.
Subj: Taxi Parking in Residential Areas.
The Department of Transportation, which
opposed this last September, now says next week's hearing was canceled and has not be rescheduled.This is to inform you that this item will not be heard at the May 6
Special Meeting of the Transportation Committee. This will give
you more time to schedule discussion of this proposal by your NC and/or your
Transportation Subcommittee.
The next regular meeting of the Transportation Committee is scheduled for May 13; this item may appear on the May 13 agenda. I will let you know if this item will be considered by the Transportation Committee on May 13 as the agenda for that meeting takes shape.
Yours in public service,
Carolyn Jackson, Senior Management Analyst
Department of Transportation, Office of the General Manager
The next regular meeting of the Transportation Committee is scheduled for May 13; this item may appear on the May 13 agenda. I will let you know if this item will be considered by the Transportation Committee on May 13 as the agenda for that meeting takes shape.
Yours in public service,
Carolyn Jackson, Senior Management Analyst
Department of Transportation, Office of the General Manager
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
Cabs parking for a long time is one problem, one that I do not experience in my neighborhood. I live across the street from El Camino High School. Another problem about taxicabs is the city ordinance that forbids them from picking up passengers while roving. In most other large cities, one can see an empty cab moving in the street nearby, hail it, and get in and go to one's destination. Here one has to phone for a cab and wait perhaps half an hour.
Is there some safety reason for not allowing roving cabs to pick up passengers?