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Taxi Task Force Arrives at 'Wish List' for Cabbies

By Ted Cox | May 22, 2015 11:21am
 Cabbie Peter Enger said the task force has finally given taxi drivers a voice at City Hall.
Cabbie Peter Enger said the task force has finally given taxi drivers a voice at City Hall.
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

CITY HALL — A Taxicab Driver Fairness Task Force has delivered a "wish list" of reforms to the Emanuel administration, but with few specifics on how and when they might be implemented.

The Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection released a list Friday of 10 recommendations arrived at by the task force. And though it was light on specifics, some members said the details on reforms are already being worked out.

"At first I thought, 'Oh, that's a wish list,'" said Peter Enger, a cabbie and an organizer for the United Taxidrivers Community Council, which he said remains the closest thing the city has to a cabbie union.

Yet he added that the task force of about 12 people, including himself, had worked out many of the details on needed reforms, and he expected the city to take action on them, perhaps after a town-hall meeting set for June 17.

"It's something I can hold the city accountable for if they fail us," Enger said.

For now, however, he endorsed the findings of the task force, which will be an ongoing body to negotiate with City Hall. Enger called it "an incredible improvement" in the sometimes contentious dialog between cabbies and city officials.

"We have a voice with the Mayor's Office," Enger said, adding that it was "developing trust where there's never been trust before."

"It was important that we bring together city employees, chauffeurs and medallion owners to address current issues within the industry," said Maria Guerra Lapacek, commissioner of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

"The outcome when everyone works together are several proposed solutions that address public safety, recognize innovation within the industry, reflect the diversity of the group and its strong knowledge of the taxicab industry."

The task force grew out of taxi reforms endorsed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and passed by the City Council in December in response to competition from the ride-sharing industry. That measure was intended to "even the playing field" between cabbies and less-regulated ride-sharing drivers.

In addition to establishing the task force as an ongoing body to work between the city and cabbies, it recommended increased cabbie safety, diminished regulations, updating the license process and the responsibilities cabbies are charged with, and improved day-to-day operations across the city and especially at the airports and McCormick Place.

"It means a lot to all taxicab drivers for the city to engage us in developing these recommendations to improve the taxicab-driver work environment," said Tarig Kamill, a taxi driver and member of the task force who specializes in handling disabled riders, and winner of the 2013 Taxicab Driver Excellence Award. "I would say the recommendations are almost a dream for drivers."

On Friday, the Department of Business Affairs invited all city chauffeurs to a town-hall meeting from 1:30-3 p.m. June 17 at the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities Building, 2102 W. Ogden Ave.

"I think they want a lot of P.R. on this," Enger said. "I think we'd like to see something more concrete."

Yet he added that he expected those proposed reforms to be formally presented to the City Council for passage after that June meeting.

"I feel confident that most of our recommendations will result in rule changes and policy changes," said George Kasp, a cabbie with 42 years of experience and also a member of the task force. "This being the first time that a group of drivers and taxi owners have been brought together as a task force, I'm encouraged that the task force will continue to hold regular meetings after our initial recommendations have been presented to the mayor."

Taxi drivers, led by the Taxidrivers Community Council, have been taking steps to unionize, but Enger said it got embroiled in "politics." He said that, with cabbies considered "independent contractors," it was difficult to get them to form a union, but that council membership had peaked at more thn 500 members as they seek to get 1,000 to sign on to the union effort.

Until then, however, Enger said the task force was serving its purpose, adding, "The city is finally forming a formal relationship with an entity that represents all taxi drivers."

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