Karl Rudder Posted May 4, 2007 Report Share Posted May 4, 2007 Mr. Catania, At Large DC City Council Several weeks ago I left copy of what I have worked hard at sharing with DC residents and is now finally available via google.com under various topics such as, "The Inequity of the DC Taxicab Zone System" and "The History of the Corrupt DC Taxicab Zone System." www.dcmessageboards.com/index.php?automodule=blog blogid=12&&req=printentry&eid=31 - 36k - is my favorite version of my research In respect to your position as one of the At Large DC City Council members I have appealed to you to assist the general public in coming to know the little known facts of this issue. You've insisted in the past to only express a very bureaucratic escapist approach of either, " I'm sorry but I am not on that committee.", or "The majority of taxicab drivers and public that I've talked to prefer the zone system and do not want to have meters in DC taxicabs." The regulation of the DC Taxicab Industry and the very unique and corrupt zone taxicab fare system is not a popularity issue Mr. Catania. The merit of the preference of the public and DC taxicab drivers on what kind of taxicab fare structure should be judged by their level of insight into the social, economic and political facts of the issue and right now very few DC residents and taxicab drivers know that 75 years ago the DC government had listed 20 reasons to, "deny any version of the zone system to replace the meters in DC taxicabs." (PUC order nol 956 11/06/31. How many know that this initial government decision by the DC Public Utilities Commission is still standing due to two Court decisions that completely upheld that initial denial of,"any version of the zone system to replace meters in DC taxicabs," Near the very end of my short research paper I refer to the fact that several DC City Council members have failed to have expressed the educational skill of knowing that the merit of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as well as countless laws are not dismissed as having any merit only due to the fact that the date on which that legal document or Court decision had been issued. Many DC City Council members, if not Mayors and Delegates as well have chosen to respond to my sharing copies of the initial and still standing government and Court decisions by running from the facts while trying to dismiss their having any merit by their expressing, "Well look at the date Mr. Rudder, that decision was made better than 70 years ago! How could such an old court decision have anything to do with today's effort at regulating the DC taxicab industry?" DC City Council member Jim Graham has enjoyed two meetings of his Public Works Committee so far this year that I was aware of and testified before and just like Carol Schwartz and many other previous Chairs of the Public Works Committee he just sat there by himself with no members even providing their staff to express some indication on just how that DC City Council member stood in respect to DC being the only major city in this country and in this world that does not use a meter to equitably compute local taxicab fares as well as used as a reliable means to record and tax the income of the local taxicab industry. I look forward to being of any assistance to any DC City Council member(s) that care to do their best at educating DC residents of the corrupt facts of this issue. Not everyone "addressing" or "studying" or "researching" the DC Taxicab Zone System can refer to their material being made available to the public via google.com. www.dcmessageboards.com/index.php?automodule=blog blogid=12&&req=printentry&eid=31 - 36k I look forward to coming to meet a DC City Council member who will stimulate a stronger team effort from the DC City Council and DC Taxicab drivers and DC residents at much more openly and effectively addressing the corrupt regulation of the DC Taxicab Industry. After 75 years of a corrupt operation I will not expect the regulation of the DC taxicab zone system to change overnight. Please inform me if you care to employ any of your time at openly exposing the corrupt history of the DC Taxicab Zone System or will all of your time be invested into many other issues and to what Vincent Gray, Chair of the DC City Council has assigned you to address. Karl Rudder 202-249-8083 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See what's free at AOL.com. ----------------- Forwarded Message: Subj: Fwd: "Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?" Date: 5/2/2007 10:48:38 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time From: krudder222 To: MCheh@DCCOUNCIL.US Ms. Mary Cheh, I assure you that my address to you in concern of the very corrupt DC Taxicab Zone System is only a fraction of my sincere address to DC City Council members, Mayor and Delegate in respect to the corrupt history and address to the unique and corrupt DC Taxicab Zone System. The many local and national politicians as well as the many elements of the local and national news media have failed for 75 years to ever sincerely address the corrupt history of the very unique DC taxicab zone system fare structure. The attached addresses to Harry Thomas Jr. of Ward 5 and Marion Barry in Ward 8 are additional examples of my address to local politicians who have refused for years in ever having sincerely employed themselves at sincerely and effectively addressing the 75 years of a very corrupt "regulation"of the DC Taxicab Industry. I will not impose on your time or that of your staff's time and submit all copies of my addresses to Mayor Fenty and all DC City Council members and local and national news "reporters". I am sure that DC City Council member Cheh can be far more effective in exposing and confidently referring to the initial and still standing government and Court decisions of this matter. Please inform me if I can be of any assistance to DC City Council member Cheh addressing the corrupt "regulation" of the DC Taxicab Industry for the benefit of DC residents, taxicab drivers and national and international tourists to Washington DC. Karl Rudder American Citizen aka Ward 5 resident Washington DC 202-249-8083 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See what's free at AOL.com. ----------------- Forwarded Message: Subj: Fwd: "Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?" Date: 5/2/2007 9:36:46 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time From: krudder222 To: mbarry@dccouncil.us Mr. Marion Barry, I remain amazed at your complete failure to having even tried to make issue of the Congressional corruption of the DC Taxicab Zone System with such insulting "taxicab zone boundaries as Alabama Ave SE. Should you care to begin to try and address the corrupt regulation of the DC Taxicab Zone System I submit the attached to assist you with an ability to refer to the initial and still standing government and Court decisions that were made 75 years ago to, "deny any version of the zone system to replace the use of meters in DC taxicabs." Now I have seen you show initiative to ask permission to address DC Council committees that you were not assigned to in respect to your concern on the matters that they were addressing. What will it take for you to show a similar level of initiative in addressing the DC City Council Public Works Committee in respect to the corrupt regulation of the DC Taxicab Industry? In my scale of values the still standing government and Court decisions were all I needed to keep me motivated to openly and honestly address the corrupt regulation of the DC Taxicab Zone System. What do you need Mr. Barry to address the failure of the news media and local and national politicians at responsibly addressing or "reporting" on the undeniable yet little known facts of the corrupt DC Taxicab Zone System fare structure? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See what's free at AOL.com. ----------------- Forwarded Message: Subj: Fwd: "Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?" Date: 5/2/2007 9:10:05 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time From: krudder222 To: hthomas@dccouncil.us Mr. Harry Thomas Jr., Your father was part of the problem in that he was a member and Chair of the DC City Council Public Works Committee in the past who refused to responsibly inform DC residents, taxicab drivers and tourists of the legislative tricks have pulled to force Washington DC to use a corrupt taxicab zone system. Vincent Gray assignment of DC City Council members resulted in your not being a member of the Public Works Committee. Please inform me if you will only respect your fathers subservience to Congress and will do your very best to only do what Vincent Gray tells you to do. Will you only mimic your fathers subservient failure to address the still standing government and Court decisions that had, "denied the zone system to replace meters in DC taxicabs."(PUC order no. 956 11/06/31) or will you express an ability to employ yourself and responsibly address your colleagues of the current Public Works Committee in respect to the little known facts of this issue? I will carry on in addressing this issue just as sincerely and as responsibly as my father had taught me to do when addressing the social, economic and political oppressors of the DC community. "John Rudder, president of the United Brotherhood of DC taxi drivers told Inouye's panel,"The case for meters is so apparent that it begs the question of sanity to think otherwise." ("Ban on Taxi Meters in Force Since 32 Will Be Challenged" Washington Post 12/07/71) A response to this email to your office will be appreciated even if you should ask an assistant to one of your top assistants to prepare it. Karl Rudder Ward 5 Resident -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See what's free at AOL.com. ----------------- Forwarded Message: Subj: "Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?" Date: 5/2/2007 8:46:23 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time From: krudder222 To: MCheh@DCCOUNCIL.US DC’s Unchallenged Taxicab Zone System The District of Columbia (Washington, DC) is the only major city in this entire world not using some modern version of a meter to equitably compute taxicab fares and used as a reliable means to record and tax the income of the local Taxicab Industry. It has remained only general knowledge that DC was stuck with the unique DC Taxicab Zone System by several legislative tricks from Congress. The objective has been reached in that the unique DC Taxicab Zone System has continued to provide the cheapest and most reliable taxicab service in only the downtown and NW area of DC. There has yet to be one DC Delegate, Mayor or City Council member (other than John Wilson in 1975) to ever use any of their well paid time or staff to honestly research and try to responsibly address this issue for the benefit of DC residents, taxicab drivers and tourists. Very few are aware that 75 years ago DC did initially use meters to compute local taxicab fares. Bell and City Cab Company were the major taxicab companies at that time. The weekly rental fee in DC for the new invention of the automobile had since 1928 been an agreed percentage of the weekly earnings of the drivers as indicated by the meter. The Depression in 1931 motivated many DC taxicab drivers and passengers to start to give Bell and City Cab Company a big headache by making quick oral contracts and not at all engaging the meter. Hack Inspectors were writing loads of tickets to cab drivers as they were observed to pick up a passenger but would fail to engage the meter. Bell and City Cab Company began to lose a lot of money every week. Many cab drivers started to argue over their rental fee due to many reporting back at the end of the week with the meter showing little income and Bell and City Cab Companies insisting that they had to have made more through the course of the past week. Without any authority Bell and City Cab Companies chose to solve this new problem by suddenly removing the meters in their cabs and started using an unapproved "Zone Map" to calculate taxicab fares while charging the drivers a flat rental fee each week. Due to some cabs having a meter and many others using various versions of a Zone Map the DC Public Utilities Commission(PUC) responded to the confusion of the public by holding extensive public hearings through August and September of 1931. On November 6, 1931 the PUC issued order no. 956 and listed 20 reasons to,"deny any version of the zone system to replace the use of meters in DC taxicabs." Among the reasons given in 1931 to deny the use of the zone system it is fascinating to know that in the overtly racist society of 1931 the zone system was initially denied for reasons such as, "that under the zone fare system operators have frequently refused to render service where long hauls were involved - that the zone fare system unduly favors certain riders, and unduly discriminates against others -that proper accounting records cannot be secured under the zone fare system - that taximeters can be secured and installed without undue expense - That under the rates at present in effect operators are not able to earn a reasonable wage without working for such long hours as to impair their efficiency and thereby endanger their passengers and the public- that approximately 40% of the mileage is not revenue producing.(PUC order no. 956 11/06/31) I find it very insulting that over the course of 75 years local and national politicians and the news media have refused to ever "report" or "address" for the benefit of DC residents, taxicab drivers and tourists that not only had the unique Taxicab Zone System been initially denied for 20 very impressive reasons by the DC government but this very important decision was completely upheld by a very detailed decision by Judge Adkins. (1932 PURC pg. 1) Judge Adkins ruled that in 1931 that the proposed Zone system was, "only a means to exploit the labor of the cab driver." (1932 PURC pgs. 17,19) The third strike against the use of the Zone System was the fact that Judge Adkins decision was completely upheld by the DC Appeals Court.(1932) F2d 1005 This last decision by the DC Appeals Court however shows the power of Congress. The Appeals Court upheld Judge Adkins decision however a very puzzling sentence was included in their decision. The DC Appeals Court denied any enforcement of the order to eliminate the use of the zone system until after Congressional legislation on the matter had been completed. I trust that it will be very hard to find another Court decision that delayed the enforcement of a law until after Congress considered legislation on the matter. Congress cannot overrule a Court decision so after Bell and City Cab Company promised Capital Hill a huge Zone One Congress began to reach into their legislative pockets in 1934 and for the past 76 years have pulled out several legislative tricks that has resulted in the continued use of the Zone System. In 1971 my father, John E. Rudder, organized a Union of DC taxicab drivers to engage in a successful strike against Capitol Hill in protest of the unique DC taxicab zone system. John E. Rudder was quoted by a Washington Post reporter as having expressed to Sen. Inouye's committee, "The case for meters is so apparent that it begs the question of sanity to think otherwise." ("Ban on Taxi Meters in Force since '32 Will be Challenged" Washington Post 12/07/71). The results of these 1971 Senate hearings ended with revealing reports from the Senate Appropriations Committee supporting further study on the Zone System vs. Meter issue. A Professor from the School of Business of the University of Maryland was awarded a contract by Congress in 1971 to "study" the use of the Zone System vs. Meters in DC taxicabs. This study on using the Zone System vs. Meter issue in DC turned out to be nothing more than a quick and very shallow popularity survey from a very small group of respondents. The design of the 1972 University of Maryland study on the DC Taxicab Zone System and all others since 1972 have all failed to responsibly research and refer to the initial and still standing Court decisions against the use of the zone system as well as refer to just a few of the many tricks that Congress began to pull since 1934 forcing the computation of DC taxicab fares by the use of a very unique Zone System. The first Congressional legislative trick on this issue was "reported" only by the 11/13/71 Washington Post editorial, "The Taxicab Rider". This editorial made referral to a strange legislative provision that was authored by Rep. Cannon in 1934 and had become a "rider" attached to every annual, insulting DC Appropriations Act between 1934 -1987. This legislative provision ignored the merit of the initial and still standing government and Court decisions and simply stated, "The DC government no longer has the authority to consider or enforce any rules or regulations made in regards to installing meters in DC taxicabs." The DC government was now forced to adopt a uniform Zone Map due to on one hand they had laws against the use of any version of the zone system and on the other hand they had to respect restrictive legislation from Congress. The Second Congressional trick in relationship to the regulation of the DC Taxicab Industry occurred in 1987 when Congress removed the "Taxicab Rider" from the DC Appropriations Act yet suddenly created a very expensive DC Taxicab Commission. Since 1987 the annual budget of the DC Taxicab Commission has cost hundreds of millions of dollars to operate yet there is not even one report on the tax revenue that the DC Taxicab Commission had been able to record and collect from DC Taxicab Companies and drivers while "regulating" the DC Taxicab Industry! The third Congressional legislative trick on this issue occurred in 1996. The DC City Council had passed legislation in 1996 that was signed by Mayor Barry and ordered for DC Taxicabs to be installed with meters by 1998. ( The Washington Post 09/07/96 "New Cab Fares - but Old Problems") Congress played their third legislative game in respect to this issue in 1996 when they simply refused to appropriate the necessary funds to allow that legislation to go into effect. The 4th and most recent Congressional insult has been the Senate DC Appropriations Committee quietly informing newly elected Mayor Adrian Fenty to install meters in DC taxicabs within the first year of his administration. Senator Carl Levin (D -Michigan) had an opportunity to confess of Congress having very irresponsibly limited the DC government for 75 years from even considering this issue. Rather then responsibly trying to employ himself at correcting just one wrong that Congress has expressed to the DC community for more than 75 years we see Sen. Levin and his colleagues passing their 75 year old trash over to Mayor Fenty and ordering him to clean it up for them within one year. DC City Council members Schwartz, Brown, Catania and many other supporters of the zone system have used an indifferent and unfortunately very frequently heard insistence that only due to an alleged "preference" by DC residents and cab drivers is the zone system still being used. How valid is any alleged "preference" of the respondents to a "study" on an issue when the respondents have a very low level of common knowledge about the basic facts of the issue being studied? It is very important that American citizens are not taught to relate the merit of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the many very important laws of this country to only the year that those documents were issued. The significance to this basic educational skill is that DC City Council member Carol Schwartz and other supporters of the Zone System have tried to hide from the Truth of this issue by insisting that the legal facts of this issue "were made too long ago and don't relate in any direct manner to the present need in regulating DC taxicabs." Zone System supporters ignore the popularity and great need of the DC subway and bus service. Supporters of the zone system are only good for coming up with costly and very creative "New Findings" in their effort to keep the Zone System in operation. The quality of all past efforts or any future efforts on the part of Congress, Mayors, DC City Council members as well as the DC Taxicab Commission to "study" this issue can be easily calculated by seeing just how well any refer to the initial and still standing government and Court decisions that 76 years ago denied, "any version of the zone system to replace the use of meters in DC taxicabs." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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