Messing Around

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We’ve seen in the neighboring state of Maryland that politicians can make so much money promoting gambling that they’ll eagerly drag their reputations through the mud to champion vice and corruption. Councilmember Michael Brown was certainly willing to pay that price to be an Internet gambling promoter in the District last year, and this year Councilmembers Jack Evans and Marion Barry have acted to tie their reputations to Brown’s. See Jonetta Rose Barras’ column in The Examiner, http://tinyurl.com/9oghspe.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Taxi Smart Meters and Uber
Matthew Forman, Matthew.Forman2@verizon.net

I am grateful for Taxicab Commission Chair Ron Linton’s reply [themail, September 23] to my posting about the new “taxi smart meter system” (TSMS). He states that the TSMS will be paid for solely by the fifty-cent user surcharge and driver fees, and not by taxpayer dollars, but I wonder if that is completely accurate. The legislation is sketchy, but I gather that the contract with the vendor will legally commit the taxpayers to the $35 million (over $5,000 per cab). Whether or not the surcharges collected will be sufficient to cover that obligation remains to be seen, especially given that the surcharges will also be used for the host of other activities that Mr. Linton mentions. But whether TSMS is to be paid for by tax dollars or rider surcharges, I don’t think Mr. Linton makes a persuasive case that “passengers are best served by a single designated product” (which he suggests is in use in New York City, although I understand there are three vendors there) or that the product is worth $35 million. What evidence does he have for that conclusion, such as consumer surveys? Do passengers really care whether credit card readers look the same from one cab to another? I went to the newly reopened Union Market this past weekend, and many of the vendors (butchers, bakers, cheese purveyors, etc.) were using iPads to process payments with Square Card Readers [https://squareup.com/card-reader]. The week before, I noticed the Harris Teeter was accepting payment by smart phone. If grocery store customers don’t care about uniformity from one store to the next, why would they care about it in a taxi? Indeed, Square Readers and smart phone payments are now apparently being considered for use by the New York City taxicab commission. Perhaps Mr. Linton’s best argument is that certain TSMS functions might not be otherwise individually obtained, such as the data collection and safety features. As to data collection, yes, that would be nice, but not thirty-five million dollars nice. As to safety devices, don’t most drivers (and/or passengers) already have cell phones from which they can dial 911 for assistance? Meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder who drafted the part of the legislation requiring the new meters to “provide audiovisual content, including advertising.” Were taxi riders really demanding to see advertising, and do they want to pay fifty cents per ride for the privilege?

Meanwhile, I caught bits of Monday’s multi-hour city council hearing on Uber and related matters, conducted by the masterful Mary Cheh, and with outstanding contributions from Jim Graham, Muriel Bowser, and various witnesses (including a crack by Mr. Graham about Uber’s requirement for black on black vehicles, a sore point with the council). Unfortunately, I do not have much good to say about the opaque rulemaking relating to “sedan vehicles” (e.g., Uber) issued by the taxicab commission last week. Unlike federal rulemaking, proposed rulemaking in the District need not bother to provide a preamble explaining the rule’s rationale, supporting data, or even a definitions section. Proposed section 1401.5 requires a “sedan company,” which is not defined, to have no fewer than twenty vehicles, about which Uber complains, as that would trigger 10 percent of the fleet to be ADA compliant. But according to Mike DeBonis’ Washington Post blog, Mr. Linton denies that the provision would apply to Uber. I suspect he means that Uber is not a “sedan company” but rather a “sedan vehicle reservation service,” to which the twenty-vehicle rule doesn’t apply (although section 1405 fails to make the distinction between the two categories). Other bizarre provisions of the proposal include the requirement that a license applicant obtain a “Certification of Tax Compliance” from the IRS, about which I can find no information on the IRS web site, except with respect to departing aliens; a lengthy list of permitted “luxury” vehicles, including the prosaic Chevrolet Impala and Chrysler PT Cruiser; and the requirement to maintain a local administrative office with furniture, a telephone, and a valid certificate of occupancy, including a home occupancy permit if in a residentially zoned area, with the name of the business prominently displayed outside.

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Political Humor: Nonpartisan Quotations
Gabe Goldberg, gabe at gabegold dot com

The fourth one here made me think of DC and sending these to themail! I haven’t verified quote sources.

“Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.” Oscar Ameringer, “the Mark Twain of American Socialism.”

“A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.” Texas Guinan, 19th century American nightclub hostess and actress.

“I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.” Charles de Gaulle, president of France

“Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.” Doug Larson, Olympic gold medal winner at the 1924 Olympic Games

“The problem with political jokes is they get elected.” Variously attributed to Will Rogers and George Bernard Shaw

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

James H. Johnson, From Slave Ship to Harvard, October 2
Pat Bitondo, PBitondo@aol.com

The Woman’s National Democratic Club will present a speaker luncheon with James H Johnson, author of From Slave Ship to Harvard, on Tuesday, October 2, 11:30 a.m. at 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW. The bar will open at 11:30 a.m., lunch will be at 12:15 p.m., and the presentation and question and answer session will be from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. The price is $20 for members, $30 for nonmembers (includes lunch), and $10 for lecture only.

An unusual portrait painted in 1819 by the major American artist Charles Willson Peale is on the cover of this book and tells much about its contents. The portrait is of a former slave, Yarrow Mamout, who was brought to Maryland on a slave ship in the mid-eighteenth century; and forty years later, earned his freedom, a house in Georgetown, and enough local renown to be painted.

This book focuses on six generations of Yarrow’s family and shows the complexities of slavery, emancipation, and integration from the colonial period through the Civil War and into the present. Using books, oral histories, diaries, court records, and legal documents, Johnston goes beyond the cover portrait to the story of farmers, property owners, and eventually a Harvard University graduate in 1927. Historians reviewing the book noted its attraction for general readers by calling it “a masterfully researched detective story with a wealth of detail about the rise of an African-American family” and also solid scholarship that is both “disturbing and elevating.”

James Johnston is a Washington, DC, lawyer whose practice deals with telecommunications, intellectual property, and appellate litigation. He is also a writer, with articles in the Washington Post, Legal Times of Washington, the Maryland Historical Society Magazine, and other publications. His previous book, The Recollections of Margaret Cabell Brown Loughborough: A Southern Woman’s Memories of Richmond, VA, and Washington, DC, in the Civil War was published in 2009. The book will be available for purchase and signing.

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Transit Oriented Development Meeting Rescheduled, October 2
Anne Renshaw, mlrddc@aol.com

The DC Federation of Citizens Associations’ rescheduled Assembly on “Transit Oriented Development” will be held on Tuesday, October 2, at 6:45 p.m., at All Souls Memorial Episcopal Church, 2300 Cathedral Avenue, NW (entrance off Woodley Place parking lot behind the church; closest Metro, Woodley Park on the Red Line).