DC Uber Amendment Shelved
dcist.com
dcist.com
Given that this amendment would have severely hurt Uber, I'm definitely inclined to believe them over Cheh on this.
Looks like 'earned media' to me, free mentions in the press for throwing a fit.
Not supporting the amendment, of course- just saying.
But it's also a bad time to go around picking fights. Support for local government is pretty low. Two DC Council members have been forced out of office in as many months due to legal problems (and, remarkably, neither of them was Marion Barry). Just this morning I heard on the radio that one of the mayor's aides was indicted for campaign finance fraud.
The Local DC City government is one of the most dysfunctional, corrupt, and ineffective local governments of a large metropolitan area. There is nothing pretty about how "governing" gets done in DC.
Go take a taxi ride in DC and tell me about your experience. For grins, try and get a LEGAL taxi ride from Union Station at 2am that conforms to the taxi regulations. For bigger grins, try and get some action/resolution to the blatantly illegal behavior of taxi drivers from the Taxi Commission that was the subject of this whole effort.
In DC, you really can't do better than the Taxi Commission as an example of regulatory capture.
So if your local government is corrupt and dysfunctional, then you don't have the best folks in place so you need to replace them. And replacing them requires that the community to engage. Its actually easier at the local level than the national level, and the national level draws from the local level.
What most people don't understand is that you can often volunteer at your local government. You can be on commissions or focus groups or elsewhere. If you have the time it can be worthwhile, and with the right attitude, enjoyable. Don't try to fix everything at once, but just start making things better. The change can be remarkable, one person doing a standup job for 'free' can be a powerful motivation for a lot of people around them.
We actually did try to fix the local government. We put Adrian Fenty in office and gave him free reign to get DC government working properly.
Of course, when he tried to fix public education (via Michelle Rhee) he ran smack into the buzzsaw that was the teachers union that steadfastly refused to take any responsibility for actually teaching students. Now we have another set of bought-and-paid-for charlatans. Just like they want.
And there's the rub really: if you come into government and try to actually change things, you're going to upset an entire class of people that benefit from things staying exactly as they are. In many cases, they outnumber you. They are organized around protecting the status quo.
The idea that a single person can mobilize to change things is quaint but RARELY how you get real change. It takes a sustained effort, over many many years to change ANYTHING in government.
As an example, only RECENTLY did they get actual METERS in the cabs in DC. Think about that. It took something like 10 years from start to finish to legislate meters in the taxis. When I was there, there was a minor scandal surounding taxi drivers bribing the vehicle inspectors with $100 bills in the ashtrays to pass the vehicles. Think about that. We had criminals serving on the police force. It's an entire city built on giving city jobs to people who vote in your candidate.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is just a fantasy.
Actually its just a movie.
You can't "fix the local government by putting <insert person> into office." You need a 25 year plan to 'fix' your local government if it is that out of whack. There is a reason the US Constitution doesn't start with "Me, the smart guy in the room, in order to form a more perfect Union ..."
This: "It took something like 10 years from start to finish to legislate meters in the taxis."
Yes, it takes commitment, time, and consistent effort. It takes leaders and it takes workers. It takes years of educating people to the need and getting their support. But it can be done.
At some point, it makes sense for a person to cut their losses and move somewhere where like minded people have already learned that responsible government starts with a responsible population.
Which brings me to my last point on the subject: all of the entrenched interests in the city of DC are there because they enjoy and support the current system. Nevermind that it's completely dysfunctional and doesn't serve the residents. It serves their perverted needs and they'll fight tooth and nail to keep it that way.
Ever wonder how Marion Barry got re-elected to the city council despite a conviction for smoking crack and YEARS of tax shenanigans that threatened to put him back in jail? At some point, you look around and realize that you're the only one in the room that wants change.
At the end of the day, none of those things (apart from the expected corruption) affect how Barry does his job. And the voters in Ward 8, far and away the poorest part of the city, know that when the shit hits the fan, Barry looks out for those who usually don't have much of a voice in DC.
While Ward 3 residents were patting Fenty on the back for putting up bicycle lanes and dog parks, the Ward 8 voters were pissed to see a mayor basically pandering to the wealthy voters and screwing the poor. These are the same voters who voted for Gray and his crony, corrupt administration in the last mayoral election. They know very well that Rhee's "No Child Left Behind"-style reforms were just going to screw up the school system worse for their kids.
And they sure as hell didn't want to re-elect Fenty, who never showed that he was willing to work on the tough problems that cause DC's entrenched poverty. The Fenty approach to poverty (which was really Anthony Williams' approach on steroids) was to price out the poor folk until they have to move to some hole like Temple Hills or Capitol Heights, no longer being DC's problem.
And as a somewhat wealthy individual, I was happy to see a government that was being operated with some real accountability by trustworthy and capable individuals.
But hey, don't worry...I'm sure that all DC needs is more Marion Barry to solve the poverty problem. Or Vincent Gray.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/gray-donor-a...
Unions have a lot of problems but I wouldn't call them the only bad guy in that situation. DC public schools aren't going to be fixed by a single term from a young turk mayor and a chancellor encouraging everyone to juke the stats like it's the Wire.
And I really did laugh out loud when I read that comment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06...
For one thing, if you make a complaint against a driver in NYC, there is going to be some action taken. Not so in DC.
That said, I used Uber almost exclusively in both locations.
In DC, you're guaranteed almost the exact opposite.
In NYC, Uber is a nice-to-have. In DC, Uber is almost your only option.
As an aside, there are different schools of thought for how to pay radio cars since they don't have meters. A friend always waits until getting dropped off to negotiate price. He figures he holds the power at that point since he is already at his destination. I always ask how much before getting in. My girlfriend just hands them money when she gets out, whatever she thinks is fair, and has never had anyone give her a hard time.
EDIT: I should add that all three of us find the cost of the radio cars to be about the same as yellow cabs. Our different negotiating techniques don't really make a difference.
You are not insured in a radio car unless the trip was booked. Yes, I stand next to the car and phone in, just in case. The drivers are cool with that.
On a personal note, shit like this is why I hate society.