I thought they were supposed to be yellow.
"Cabbies' suit says hybrid rule threatens work" by Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | March 31, 2009
A group of taxi drivers and medallion owners is suing the City of Boston to block the requirement that all 1,825 cabs in the city be hybrids by 2015, saying the measure could put many of them out of business.
I'm starting to wonder if that's not the point of all this.
The plaintiffs say they do not oppose hybrid cars and generally favor the greening of the fleet. But they bristle at a regulation that they must buy new hybrids instead of less expensive used ones, and want the city to delay the changeover....
It's called CREATING a MARKET for WELL-CONNECTED and SPECIAL INTERESTS!! WHO CARES if YOU GET SCREWED, Amurkn!
The plaintiffs were buoyed by a recent federal court ruling in New York City in response to a similar effort there to increase the use of fuel-efficient taxicabs. In October, US District Judge Paul A. Crotty blocked New York from implementing Mayor Michael Bloomberg's initiative to require taxicab replacements to meet fuel efficiency standards consistent with hybrid models. The initiative would have resulted in an all-hybrid fleet by 2012.
The judge sided with taxi owners, who contended that fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards are the domain of the federal government, not the city.
It sounded good until that point. Can we PLEASE GET AWAY from the CENTRAL STATE and its FASCISM?
The Boston Taxi Operators Association makes a similar argument in its 24-page complaint, saying Boston is violating the federal Clean Air Act by requiring a hybrid taxi fleet....
F*** it, I'll take the T in.
Raphael Ophir of Jamaica Plain, 59 and a native of the nation of Georgia, said the new rule was enacted with little input from the taxi industry and that he will have difficulty staying in business if the rule is not relaxed.
Typical of government.
A former cabdriver, Ophir purchased three medallions from the city over the past 25 years for about $621,000 and leases them. The drivers are hardworking immigrants from Somalia, Morocco, and Ethiopia, he said, and cannot afford to buy new hybrids.
Need I even say it?
Alluding to his background as a resident of the former Soviet Union, Ophir said that city officials pushing for hybrid taxis "want to be more socialist, but they want capitalists to pay for their socialist ideas."
Yeah, it's called CORPORATE WELFARE and TAXPAYER GIVEAWAYS here -- in other words, LOOTINGS!!!!
Related: Hey, Taxi!
Update:
Turns out the DO-GOODER GREENIES are going to PUT MOST SMALL BUSINESSES OUT of BUSINESS!!! What a coincidence, 'eh?
"Delay sought on hybrid cab requirement; Concern raised that rule will drive out smaller taxi firms" by John C. Drake, Globe Staff | April 1, 2009
After more than two decades running a small cab company out of Dorchester, Edward Kempner was thinking about calling it quits. So when the city of Boston established new requirements last year for expensive hybrid taxis, the 65-year-old Stoughton resident accelerated his decision.
Kempner is selling his Andrew Square Garage to a much larger company, Boston Cab of East Boston, turning over 26 valuable city of Boston taxi medallions. The decision means his garage will close, putting a handful of mechanics and meter technicians out of work along with an untold number of the 125 cabdrivers who work for or lease from him.
His case has ignited a fear among some city officials and a cabdrivers' union that rules intended to ensure cleaner air in Boston could lead to increased consolidation among cab companies, as deep-pocketed companies buy the medallions of their smaller rivals, which cannot afford new hybrid cabs.
Somehow BIG BUSINESS is BENEFITING from the GLOBALIST DO-GOODERS arguments AGAIN (think ethanol)?!! That CAN'T BE COINCIDENCE!!!!
"I wasn't thrilled about the change, and I timed my retirement to go before the requirement would fall into place for me," he said. "But a certain number of people will never drive a Boston taxi again."
Kempner probably will not be the last small cab operator to leave the industry under the new regulations, which require all the city's 1,825 cabs to be hybrids by 2015. The concern about the expensive upgrade requirement has led some cab operators to sue the city in a bid to delay imposition of the new rules.
Now the City Council may join the debate, with a proposed ordinance that would impose a six-month moratorium on medallion transfers while the court case plays out and city officials battle over the rules.
"The bigger companies can go out and purchase fleets of hybrids and just make the investments and others can't," said Councilor Stephen J. Murphy, who is to introduce a proposed ordinance today for a six-month moratorium to stop what he fears could be a "stampede" of transfers.
"I don't want to see the city medallion licenses consolidated into the hands of a few large companies," he said. But Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis called a moratorium "ill-advised" and said the Police Department, which runs the hackney division, is willing to waive or postpone the new requirements for individual operators that show a financial hardship.
"We do understand the economy is real tough and we understand there are problems with credit markets and we could take that into consideration, but it should be done on a case-by-case basis," Davis said.
Davis said he has seen no evidence so far of a flood of medallion transfers. "The fundamental issue here is the quality of taxis in the city," he said, "and the fact that the mayor is committed to eco-friendly vehicles and making sure that we have quality transportation."
I can't hold back any longer: Pfffffffffffftttttttt!!!!!!!!
Donna Blythe-Shaw, the United Steelworkers staff representative for Boston taxi drivers, said she supports Murphy's proposal and shares his concern that an increase in medallion transfers could cause more drivers to lose their jobs.
Just what this economy needs, huh?
"The only people that will make out on this are the very wealthy medallion owners," Blythe-Shaw said. "So the small owner will lose his livelihood, our shift drivers will lose their jobs, and our lessees will lose their means of income."
That's the way of everything, isn't it?
A group of taxi cab operators sued the city this week, saying that the new Boston requirement could put them out of business. They also said the city is violating the Federal Clean Air act by attempting to regulate emission and clean-air standards, which the operators say are the domain of federal government.
Kempner earned a chemistry degree in the 1970s and was planning to work at Polaroid, but found himself out of work when the company initiated a hiring freeze. So, he started driving a cab to make ends meet. After a friend suggested he was wasting money renting a vehicle, he decided to buy a cab. After six months he bought another one, setting the path for the business he now is planning to leave behind.
I'm not a big business guy, but I think this sucks. All over a FART-MISTING LIE!!!!!! I can certainly understand, sympathize, and empathize with the feeling of working toward a dream and having it fall apart, I'll tell you that.
"I've enjoyed all the aspects of the business," he said. "The increasing costs will lead to people selling and wanting to get out. But also there are emerging people who are willing to buy these hybrids."
He said it was too late, though, for the City Council to prevent people like himself from selling. "This is quite a change in the industry, and some people can't handle that," said Kempner who is not a party to the suit against the city. "The horse is out of the barn already. People have made decisions.
What's next, Patrick's Phart Chip?
"Don't put a hold on the transfers, put a hold on the regulation," he said.
Figures the Globe would TELL the TRUTH in the LAST HALF PHRASE!!
Of course, that doesn't stop them, flip:
"Northeast compact inspired climate change bill; Democrats urge emissions caps, credits" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | April 1, 2009
WASHINGTON - A groundbreaking climate change bill unveiled yesterday by leading House Democrats takes some inspiration from a pact among 10 Northeastern states that was the first in the United States to place a mandatory cap on carbon emissions and begin trading pollution allowances.
So GORE and co can MAKE DOUGH TRADING in HOT FART MIST!!!
The bill would set strict new limits on greenhouse gases, cutting emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and by 85 percent by 2050. Pollution credits would be given or auctioned off to utilities and businesses, and would theoretically rise in value as the cap is lowered over time - similar to the Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which set up a cap-and-trade system for Northeast power plants....
See: Global Warming Fart Mist Covers U.S.
Like the Northeast compact, the new legislation also places a significant emphasis on energy efficiency and renewable energy, albeit in a more direct way. The bill would require utilities to operate 10 to 15 percent more efficiently by 2020 than they do now and require 25 percent of America's electricity demands to be met with wind, solar, biomass, and other renewable sources by 2025.
All an EXCUSE to TAX YOU so the GLOBALIST ELITES and the RICH ELITERS can HAVE MORE!! It's SOOO BLOOMING OBVIOUS!!!!
"My view is that the legislation will create clean energy jobs that cannot be shipped overseas, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and make America the global leader in energy technology," said Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and coauthor of the bill.
Yeah, but THAT doesn't STOP them from BRINGING the WORKERS HERE!!!! You think we are to 'too-pid, huh, Markey? I ain't smelling the mist, man!!!! I'm FREEZING MY ASS OF OUT HERE 'cause it's about 45 degrees after ELEVEN DAYS of SPRING.... no fooling!!!
The legislation, a 600-page behemoth designed to drastically alter the country's carbon footprint, will be a starting point for Congress to address global warming, a top agenda item for President Obama, who has jettisoned the Bush administration's skepticism on the issue.
Yup: Bush Endorses Obama's Agenda
And I'm afraid to even ask, but I'LL BET NO ONE has READ the god-damned thing, right?
The House committee in charge of the legislation plans to vote on the bill next month. Environmentalists are urging Congress to adopt a global warming policy before international talks scheduled for December in Copenhagen, where leaders have agreed to update the Kyoto Protocol, which Bush refused to sign.
The bill sets slightly more aggressive goals than Obama's plan. The legislation, however, does not tackle one of the most politically charged aspects of regulating greenhouse gases by remaining silent on how many pollution credits would be auctioned off and how many would be doled out by the government for free. Markey and Representative Henry Waxman of California, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, say that would be settled in the coming weeks, as lawmakers weigh in on what they would be willing to accept.
Oh, GREAT!
See: Breaking Wind: Government Will Decide Who Gets to Fart For Free
You just got pooched in the pooper again, 'murka!
Whether Congress can agree in time for Copenhagen remains unclear. The legislation is extraordinarily complex, and different aspects of the bill have foundered on Capitol Hill in the past. Lawmakers from large coal-producing states are reluctant to embrace anything that would penalize the coal industry too harshly, and conservative Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns about how much the bill would cost consumers.
Ah, the face farts give you a clue.
Markey acknowledged that passing the legislation would be a challenge, but he noted that the Environmental Protection Agency is poised to regulate greenhouse gases on its own, which he said could spur Congress to preempt the agency.
See: EPA Fart Mist
The Supreme Court ruled two years ago that the EPA had the authority to regulate greenhouse gases if it found them to be a health danger. The Bush administration took little action, but the Obama administration is moving ahead swiftly.
Ian Bowles, secretary of the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Services, said the legislation dovetails neatly with emissions-reduction and renewable-energy policies already on the books in the Bay State. "The bill builds on and accelerates instead of replacing programs in places like Massachusetts that have been successful for the last decade or more," he said in a telephone interview yesterday.
The renewable energy standard, however, is likely to be a challenge for Massachusetts and other Northeastern states, where there is less open space and more crowded urban centers, leaving less room for building large new renewable facilities. Markey noted that New England has a tremendous potential to generate wind through offshore windfarms, but the enormous legal and regulatory hurdles that have faced the Cape Wind proposal illustrate the difficulties involved.
Yeah, and SO DOES THIS OMISSION:
The Hot Fart Mist of Ted Kennedy
Look, I know the guy is sick, but they use him whenever it suits their shameless agenda-pushing purposes! So I'm to feel bad for "picking on the sick guy?" That's how shit gets shoved up your butt, folks!!!
Seth Kaplan of the Conservation Law Foundation said Massachusetts has plenty of sun, wind, and other resources to generate a significant amount of renewable energy, and in some cases the state can continue to do more of what it does now - import renewable energy from Canada.
Uh-oh: Power Problem
But he said finding sites for wind farms and solar panels might become easier with a renewed sense of urgency. "Our decisions need to be shaped by the fact that we have this mandate to save ourselves," he said.
Pfffffffttt!
Hey, thanks for chiming in, Seth (Jewish!):
"The Conservation Law Foundation's.... Seth Kaplan... says it's also impossible to measure how much greenhouse gas is truly displaced"
--more--"And this is next item is a good idea, save for ONE QUESTION: WhyTF should SCHOOLS have to worry about AIR QUALITY, huh? WHO PUT THEM (or polluters) near the SCHOOLS?
"The schools were chosen because of their proximity to industrial facilities or other sources of pollution"
"EPA to monitor air around 62 schools" by Associated Press | April 1, 2009
WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency will soon be adding a different kind of equipment to dozens of schoolyards around the country - air pollution monitors.
The EPA yesterday announced a list of 62 schools in 22 states where the outdoor air will be tested for toxic air contaminants. The agency will work with state and local officials to begin the monitoring at the selected schools within three months.
None of the schools are in New England. While the EPA and state and local governments already operate air pollution monitoring networks that collect information on a variety of pollutants, this will be the first time schoolyard air quality will be the focus of their investigations.
The contaminants to be tested vary depending on the school. But the focus is toxic chemicals that are known to cause cancer, respiratory, and neurological problems - especially in children, who are more susceptible than adults because they are still growing.
The monitors will measure the air for gases as well as solid particles such as heavy metals and soot, the EPA said.
"EPA, state, and local officials are mobilizing to determine where elevated levels of toxics pose a threat, so that we can take swift action to protect our children at their schools," said EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. The agency will spend $2.25 million purchasing the monitors and paying for the laboratory analysis.
At this point I NO LONGER BELIEVE GOVERNMENT!!
Is that why EPA TOLD the 9/11 WORKERS at GROUND ZERO to INHALE? I mean, I'M SICK of GOVERNMENT LIES and MSM SHIT being SHOVELED as NEWS!!!!
The schools were chosen because of their proximity to industrial facilities or other sources of pollution.
Yeah, SAVE THAT for the CLOSING SENTENCE of the piece! Sigh!
