Chris Hayashi on the Amnesty Program

The SFMTA send shock waves though the medallion holder community with a letter that said it would be, "YOUR ONLY NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SFMTA'S MEDALLION AMNESTY PROGRAM."

This gentle message appeared a third of the way down the letter but it was the first thing that I read. Only later did I lean that the "amnesty" was being offered to drivers who were "under the age of 70" as of 12-31-2010 and had not fully met the full-time driving requirement of 156 shifts or 800 hours each year.

Under this amnesty, a medallion holder who had not followed the rules would still have to turn his or her medallion back into the city but would not have a pay a fine of $24,000 a year or $30 for each hour that is "short of satisfying the requirement" ... if the medallion is returned by April 2, 2010.

This follows in the wake of medallions that were turned in by four former members of Royal Cab who were made infamous by Dan Noyes for allegedly never working a single shift: Lauretta Tacchini (a police captain's wife), muli-millionaires Jack and Sylvia Dudum, and Martha Barrakah (a paralegal).

The incident and the letter raised a some questions that I was able to put to Director Hayashi after Mayor Newson's hybrid sound-bite yesterday. I forgot my tape recorder (amateur!), so what follows is a summary of the conversation.

1. Taxi Services is going after the medallions (which no previous director has done) in order to make the Pilot Program work. The permits are needed to move The List and give the SFMTA medallions to sell.
2. Although she would not tell me how many medallions the SFMTA is going after, Hayashi said, "30 revocations are already in the works and 30 more are on the front burner."
3. Director Hayashi is mainly going after "egregious offenders."
4. If the medallions are not turned in by April 2nd, Taxi Services will revoke the permits and hit the violators with the above fines.
5. Although the Dudums, Tacchini and Barrakah have turned in their medallions, the SFMTA still wants it's money, which could be as much as $240,000 each. A hearing is set on the matter for early April.
6. Minor violations (like being a little short of 800 hours) will be dealt with by fines, not revocation.
7. Hayashi wants to emphasize that although the companies must also keep records, the main responsibility for proving that they have met the driving requirement belongs to the drivers.

Jarvis Murray, Enforcement and Legal Affairs Manager for Taxi Services, added that his "main emphasis is to clean up this situation once and for all" so that by next year "we won't have the perpetual problem of medallion holders who don't follow the rules."

Hayashi finished by saying that the "goal and mission" of her department is to make San Francisco a place where people from all over the world praise the quality of the taxicab service. "That starts, " she said, "with having general compliance with enforceable laws."

Millionaire Mayor’s Plan to Bail Out San Francisco by Soaking Its Cab Drivers. Part II

My first blog on this subject ended up on an high note with angry cab drivers apparently backing down Mayor Gavin Newsom. But I think this created a false impression - at least with me. As it turns out the Major actually didn't back back off. He simply re-strategized - or maybe not. This is San Francisco politics: the subject is convoluted.

• Mayor's original plan had been introduced and withdrawn by Malcom Heinicke as the chair of the Taxicab Charter Reform Working Group which is now disbanded.
• Heinicke, who is a member of the MTA (see A Micro History of ...), reintroduced the plan as one of nine or ten Proposition K reform proposals to be discussed and considered by the Taxis and Available Services Town Hall Meetings. (Whew! No wonder these people use acronyms.)

The Mayor's plan is one of the stranger documents that I've seen - especially when you consider that it's supposed to end up as a law. The most striking thing about it is that it contains no hard figures or percentages.

• It states, for example,  "The City would call in a small percentage of the medallions (perhaps 10% per year) for re-issuance ... " and "current medallion holders will receive some portion of the ... proceeds."
• Even stranger is the idea that the buyer of the medallion could only own it "for a set term." If I understand this correctly, it means that the new medallion owner (or not) would "hold" it for, say, three to five years (or whatever) when he or she would be forced to re-sell it. 
• While the original medallion holders would receive a "minority of the proceeds," the new medallion holders would "receive a set percentage," which sounds better but might not be.
• In addition, "The MTA would have the authority to issue new medallions of a different nature ... " apparently at any time. This would necessarily lower the value of the medallions that had already been sold. In other words, the MTA would be able to change the rules whenever.
• Newsom and Heinicke seem to have been so mesmerized by their fantasy of endlessly milking their "cash cow" medallions that they failed to realize that no one in his or her right mind would buy a medallion under such conditions. 

Or not. The plan is so unworkable that it may have been drawn up simply to scare the shit out of the taxicab drivers - in which case it has succeeded admirably.

S.F. Taxi Drivers Outraged by Mayor Newsom's Duplicity

Last week's Taxi Town Hall Meeting turned emotional when driver after driver expressed outrage at their callous and duplicitous treatment at the hands of Mayor Gavin Newsom. 

The drivers are ordinarily divided between those who own medallions and those who don't, those who manage companies and those who merely work for them, but they were united in their hostility toward the Mayor's plan to steal (calling a spade a spade) their medallions for political purposes.

• Mark Gruberg of the United Taxicab Workers (UTW) attacked the Mayor for sneaking the rider into Proposition A that put taxicabs under the control of the Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) "without public discussion."
• Using words like "traitor" and "liar," other drivers condemned Mayor Newsom for going back on his word not to make changes in Proposition K which forbid the sale of medallions. 

1. Fact - Newsom did sign an agreement together with the then President of the Board of Supervisors Aaron Peskin not to change Proposition K and made verbal statements to the same effect on several other occasions.
   
2. Fact - Newsom announced his plan to auction the medallions, with the City keeping from 51% to 99% of the profits from the sale, in January 2009 - two months before Proposition A even took effect on 3/01/09.
3. Fact - In New York City the transfer of a taxicab medallion is taxed at a rate of 5%.

• Ruach Graffis of the UTW said that she'd worked as a driver for 37 years and, despite the fact that she is already partially disabled, is given no medical or disability benefits under the current system; and that Mayor Newsom's plan would leave her with nothing.
• Other drivers who have been waiting up to 13 years on the list to own  a medallion said that the Mayor's plan would leave them without a retirement or a future when they were unable to work. 
• Chris Hayashi, the director Taxis and Available Services, attempted to calm the drivers down by telling them that she wanted to find a solution that would help all the taxicab workers whether they owned medallions, were on the list or were simply ordinary drivers. She further said that the purpose of the Town Hall Meetings was to find such a solution.

1. However, Hayashi admitted that, while she was independent, she wouldn't "have a job in 2011" if she didn't find some revenue from the taxicab industry for the MTA.
2. She also said that the only way to raise revenue from taxis was to sell the medallions and that:
3. The board of the MTA is appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

• The manager of Desoto Cab, Jane Bolig, lost her usual coolness and wit as she blasted Newsom and the MTA, expressing her fears that the Town Hall Meetings were nothing but a farce designed to make the Mayor look democratic. 
• Medallion Holder Mary McGuire seconded this thought and pointed out that she had been fired from the board of  the Taxi Commission by Mayor Gavin Newsom for voting to fire the director, Heidi Machen, after Machen had hired her ex-con roommate to look into the personal records and finances of cab drivers, medallion holders and the cab companies. 

Chris Hayashi closed the meeting by telling the drivers that they had six months to come up with a plan that would give the MTA money and still benefit the drivers. But, she didn't say by what right the MTA is demanding the revenue.