Taxi drivers protest PPA budget hikes
A line of taxi cabs circled around City Hall about 11 this morning and blared their horns incessantly for what seemed like a small portion of forever to protest proposed fee increases from the PPA.
Taxi drivers protest PPA budget hikes
David Gambacorta
If you listen closely enough, even now, you can still hear the honking.
A line of taxi cabs circled around City Hall about 11 this morning and blared their horns incessantly for what seemed like a small portion of forever.
The aim wasn't to drive pedestrians and passersby to madness -- it was to protest the Philadelphia Parking Authority's proposed fiscal year 2013 budget, which would levy a bevy of increased fees on taxi cab owners and drivers, according to Ronald Blount, the president of the Unified Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania.
"We organized the protest. The PPA is hurting our drivers' ability to make a living," said Blount, whose union represents 1,200 drivers in the city.
Blount said the 2013 budget for the PPA's Taxi and Limousine Division would allow the agency to charge drivers $200 to physically transfer the rooftop medallions from an old cab to a new one.
The budget would also raise the medallion transfer fee -- which cab owners pay when they sell their medallions -- from 2 percent to 5 percent, said Jeff Hornstein, the executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Taxi Association.
If a medallion owner sold his medallion for $400,000 -- which Hornstein said is not far-fetched -- the owner would have to pay the PPA $20,000.
The PPA's proposed budget also calls increases in other medallion and certificate fees, Hornstein said.
Blount said his union will likely organize another protest next week.
Cabbies better stop protesting before they get charged for landlord's license next. They way some of these cabs smell there must be a few immigrant drivers living in their cars too.— gilligan
Comment removed.
The PPA is an absolute disgrace, take the money you make from that crappy TV show and put it to good use— cmoney- There is absolutely nothing good at all about the PPA. It needs to be completely abolished.— justinnachod
- Parking wars.... part 7— STEVE5444
- The PPA should be ashamed of their very existance! Knuckleheads who fine, torment, and outright lie to keep their jobs, especially those at the top who are paid outragous salaries at the expense of residents and visitors! When will an intelligent City Council official have the brains to propose an alternate system to enforce parking rules (which, by the way are rarely clearly posted, acceccessible via their worthless website and a joke to logically contest). Ever consider modeling after successful cities? Have they ever considered the insidious image protrayed to visitors and the lost reveneue to business and the City? No wonder they think it their right to overstep their bounds and slap taxi drivers (insert "riders")with even more ridiculous ways to continue to fund their paycheck with a blatant disreguard for the ramifications! Unconscionable...which accurately describes their existance!— PhillysTruth
- the PPA does one thing: extort money from poor citizens who do not pay parking bills on time.
- Comment removed.
- It's a pathetic grab for more cash on the backs of people who have been hit hard with gas prices and fare hikes already.— PotteryPete
- The PPA is nothing but a Republcian partonage where politicans stash their cronies. They need this money to keep their high salaries and pensions.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1163640/pensions_to_top_100g_for_2_parking_execs/— flyers2thecup - Comment removed.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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