Have you ever stood on the street corner and yelled for a taxi? The cab stops, and you jump in. That is a nice feeling, especially since you were just standing in the pouring rain. Have you ridden in a cab to go to the movie theater? Have you ever run late for work and called a cab to take the children to school? How about picking a child up after school because he is on the wrestling squad? Have you taken your wife out for dinner in a cab? You know you should have taken a cab last week when you left the bar.

A cab is always the best way for the tourists to travel around a new town. Last week when you were stuck in that business meeting, did you send a cab for Aunt Harriet and Uncle George to take them to the Eagle River Nature Center? Have you called a cab to come over to your house to fix a flat tire? Have you sent your child to piano lessons in a cab?

Do you remember the first snowfall of the year? When your neighbor always leaves her car in the garage and takes a cab to work? In the evening, she returns from the grocery store, and the cab driver carries her groceries into the house. That is nice.

This wonderful service is available for the residents of Anchorage, but not for the residents of Chugiak, Eagle River and Girdwood. It seems taxis only come out to these areas if you are willing to pay the travel time from Anchorage. The fee could be $50 or more. This doesn't seem fair.

Let us take a look at what it takes to operate a taxi in Anchorage. A municipal permit is the first requirement. New permits are not given out, apparently the 162 already issued are all that is allowed. Next, a vehicle, which the transportation inspector will have to certify is in good working condition. A driver, of course, with a chauffeur's license is needed to drive the cab. The existing permits are leased out to the vehicle owners who turn around and lease both to the driver for a fixed fee. This is kind of along the lines of the old tenant farming system we read about in history books. The absentee landlord rented his land to a manager who in turn rented it to "sharecroppers." Most of the "share" always went back to the landowner. As I recall, no one ever got ahead, except the landlord.

As an Anchorage assemblyman, I proposed issuing additional taxi permits to serve Chugiak-Eagle River. Each time the response from the taxi industry has been that new permits are not necessary. They told me they respond to every call. At a $50 minimum fee, I will bet they don't get many calls from Chugiak residents for a ride to Carrs in downtown Eagle River.

I would describe the taxi business as an archaic, feudalistic organism out of the Dark Ages that only provides service to some of the municipality's residents. It is time for meaningful reforms. The next time you ride in a taxi, ask the cab driver who owns the permit? Who owns the car? Why is the car so old? When are they going to start providing cab service for Eagle River, Chugiak and Girdwood?

Please vote yes on Proposition 8.

— Dan Kendall

Chugiak