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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!daemon
- From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
- Subject: URBAN Politics/Culture: Life & Death of Cab Drivers
- Message-ID: <1992Aug16.051847.5143@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: ?
- Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 05:18:47 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 80
-
-
- *Subject: URBAN Politics/Culture: Life & Death of Cab Drivers
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- Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 12:34:56 PDT
- From: Hal Muskat <hmuskat@igc.org>
- Subject: Muskat: Cabbie Murder/Giants' Wake
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- /* Written 12:33 pm Aug 14, 1992 by hmuskat in cdp:pn.opinions */
- /* ---------- "Muskat: Cabbie Murder/Giants' Wake" ---------- */
-
- The following has just been sent to the Op-Ed editors of the SF Chronicle,
- SF Examiner and Sunday Datebook.
-
- ------------------
-
- copyright Hal Muskat
-
- While many San Franciscan's grieve the Giants, taxi drivers will also
- mourn Luxor Cab driver Richard Harcos, the third cabbie to be murdered
- here within a year. It's most unfortunate that news of his murder was
- all but lost in the headlines of the Giants' wake.
-
- A Forty-five year old Vietnam Veteran, Rich was murdered last week
- while walking back to his cab after helping three women to their front
- door with groceries. Death is the ultimate threat taxi drivers face.
-
- While the loss of the Giants will have negative financial implications
- for many, the dangers inherent in driving a taxi causes hundreds of
- cabbies to suffer All Star stress. Daily, cabbies are threatened in
- deed and word, physically and economically. Much misplaced aggression
- is constantly pitched our way. A cup of coffee thrown in frustration
- or anger on the windshield is a violent act. We have a limited amount
- of time to negotiate traffic, tourists in rental cars with maps on
- their laps and cameras in their faces, jay-walkers, smoke spewing
- busses and legal and illegal limos stealing our rides. We are expected
- to drive all who are in need of our services, cheerfully and without
- prejudice, to their destinations. Yet, most black men report
- difficulty flagging a cab, any time day or night, no matter their
- destination or appearance.
-
- Sometimes, it seems, everyone has a hand in our pockets or a pistol to
- the back of our heads. We are fleeced daily by a felonious group of
- extortionists posing as hotel doormen, limos pretending to be taxi's,
- and hotel desk clerks who receive kicked back dollars from airport van
- companies forcing cabbies into competition we or the tourists can not
- possibly win. We have been strung out for three years by legislators
- and well-meaning PUC and City bureaucrats over the issues of limo and
- van pirates, licensing and monitoring.
-
- And, just because we do our jobs, we are beat up, robbed and murdered.
-
- We need elected officials to do the right thing without threat of a
- baseball bat to their hides. Door locks, emergency flashers, and radio
- transponders to immediately identify our location to police or taxi
- dispatcher's may help. A comprehensive study of the ugly and
- protective shields used elsewhere couldn't hurt. The City and cab
- companies must play a greater role in driver safety. And, we need a
- Mayor's office that cares about our welfare on several fronts. >From
- lowering the flag for our dead, to offering reward money, to genuine
- interest in our safety, not just our numbers. We need the Giants too,
- but more importantly sports fans, we don't need our cabbies murdered.
-
- Driver safety training and technology offer solutions. Police escorts,
- due to social and budgetary concerns, do not. Whatever device(s) are
- added to cabs, drivers will pay for in the end.
-
- Hundreds of drivers have been threatened, assaulted and robbed this
- year. There are approximately 2,000 of us and while it may be easier
- to replace a cabbie than a ball club, our survival odds must be better
- than those of any professional sports franchise remaining in one
- location.
-
- Rich Harcos didn't even have three strikes. There's more to save in
- San Francisco than the Giants.
-
- (Hal Muskat, a Veitnam Era Veteran, is a 16 year vet of cabbing the
- streets of San Francisco.)
-
- [And regular contributor to PeaceNet's pn.opinions and other
- conferences -- Harel]
-