Are you talkin' to ME? You must be talkin' to me.
"On June 15, the Los Angeles Board of Taxicab Commissioners is scheduled to discuss a proposal that would make it illegal for doormen and drivers to exchange money for lining up passengers. Violators would face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine." (L.A. Times, 6/4/06.)I, for one, will sleep better tonight knowing that the power of the government, backed with fines and imprisonment, is moving to protect us from this menace. Let's hope the City's next target will be tip jars in restaurants. Maybe later the City can get around to that hundreds-of-murders-a-year thing.
Posted by Walter Moore @ 6/04/2006 07:00:00 AM
3 Comments:
I don't think the Los Angeles Board of Taxicab Commissioners is responsible for dealing with murders. It's simply responsible for, uh, issues concerning taxicabs.
The power of government must be compartmentailized. The Taxicab Commissioners can't solve crime, just as the LAPD can't solve problems with taxicabs. Do you think the Animal Care & Control should make land use decisions?
The Mayor and City Council are responsible for setting priorities and allocating funds. Regulating the tipping of doormen by cab drivers, and enacting criminal penalties to prevent same, represents, in my opinion, a total failure of leadership in view of the other, more pressing problems the City faces.
The City leaders should ensure the Taxicab Commission is not wasting taxpayer dollars on trivial, niggling regulations. To the extent we have staff and city attorneys researching, drafting, implementing and enforcing idiotic ordinances, we are wasting the opportunity to redeploy those resources to more pressing matters, like, say, life and death.
And yes, I think the Animal Control Department should make land use decisions. Is that wrong?
I understand your point.
If Animal Control Officers start making land use decisions, planners like me would be out of a job! Well, I suppose we could start charter schools...or maybe run for Mayor...
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