The Chronicle‘s Matt Stiles reports on an unusual protest that took place downtown yesterday and forced a (temporary) suspension of a previously approved change in security screening of airport cab drivers:
Mayor Bill White held up new security rules Tuesday aimed at taxicabs serving Houston’s airports, after hundreds of frustrated drivers descended on City Hall to protest.
Toting handmade signs and loudly chanting demands for “justice,” the drivers marched around the reflecting pool at 901 Bagby before filing inside to vent their concerns in front of White and the City Council.
At issue for the drivers are new rules requiring them to get photographic identification badges and submit to more stringent federal background checks in order to pickup passengers at George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports.
[snip]
“We don’t believe that they’ve done anything to deserve what’s being heaped upon them by these new rules,” said Deric Muhammad, of the Millions More Movement Ministry of Justice, a group helping represent the drivers.
[snip]
The city has for years required a seven-year background check through Houston police for drivers seeking a license. But the council changed the rules in February, substituting the airport system’s existing 10-year check by the FBI’s automated fingerprint-identification system.
Airport-system officials said the badge plan was driven by a desire to boost security, noting that everyone else doing business in their facilities is required to wear a badge and undergo a criminal background check.
There’s no word on how much (if anything) Mr. Muhammad’s group was paid to “represent” the drivers.
One of the most important entities in the making of policy in this town — especially airport policy — was quoted at the end of the story:
Robert Rugg, president of Yellow Cab, said the company supports the airport system’s plan. He said it actually is an easier, faster method for getting a cab license.
“Not one driver has come to me and told me what the problem they have with it is. I really don’t understand what the concern is,” Rugg said. “Again, background checks have been a part of getting a cab license forever.”
If Yellow Cab is on board, it’s hard to foresee the new policy being scrapped, even after a second debate. And it’s not entirely clear to me what is wrong with the new policy (aside from the fact that it’s a new policy, and changes in bureaucratic procedures always involve some degree of hassle).
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