Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Medallions for Sale! MTA Board Votes to Begin the Pilot Program


This afternoon the SFMTA Board finally gave the go-a-head to Taxi Services to begin selling Taxi Medallions. The action followed a hand-full of speeches where nobody said anything original. And, how could they? The subject has already been talked to death.

Mark Gruberg and Tariq Mehmood spoke against the measure and then got the "politics make strange bedfellows" award by sitting poignantly next to each other after they lost.

Dan Hinds, Hansu Kim, Jane Bolig, Jim Gillespie, Carl Mcmurdo, myself and others spoke in favor.

Barry Korengold probably made the best point of the day when he reminded everyone that, in their enthusiasm to sell the medallions, not to forget the drivers on the waiting list.

Director Malcom Heinicke delayed the vote for several minutes with a series of questions to Director Hayashi revealing that Heincke probably hasn't read text of the Pilot Program for some time.

Director Hayashi said that she had 18 medallions ready for sale and Rebecca Lytle of the San Francisco Federal Credit Union said that she would be able to sell the first two tomorrow morning.

Thus will history, in a small way, be made.

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