My new place in Clearwater Florida

My gym

Some views of my new "condo" in Clearwater. I'm close to the beach and its in an awesome area that has everything I need. I lived in Tampa for decades. I am really glad to be in a better living situation. I new 2016 would be a good year for me. With my improved work conditions, apartment, workouts, its going great.

My dining area...I don't have much yet

My kitchen

A long view of the living room

My office

Marco Rubio screws the taxi industry

This man has been bought off by venture capital and is as corrupt as the day is long

"Sen. Marco Rubio was looking to score a quick ride in Miami, but when he tapped his white Uber button on his smartphone, the Florida Republican came up empty. “I was bragging to someone about this service in Washington and I clicked onto my app … and up comes a message saying, ‘Sorry we can’t pick you up in Miami because the county commission won’t allow it,’” he recalled.

 That incident was the impetus for Rubio's Monday visit to Uber’s Washington headquarters, where he used the struggle of a growing and fashionable tech company to underscore his case concerning overburdensome regulations.

“We should never allow government power and government regulations to be used to protect an establishment incumbent industry at the expense of an innovative competitor,” he said. Operating in 37 U.S. cities, Uber is a transportation company that allows a customer to order a taxi, town car or SUV to a specific location with just a click of a phone app. All transactions are paperless and tips are included in the fee. The service quickly gained popularity in Washington due to frustration with the lack of available cabs in certain parts of the city and the inability to pay with credit or debit cards."

NOTE: Rubio is wrong because Uber and lift services DO NOT serve the BLACK and poor SPANISH areas (He betrays his own people). Poor people don't have credit cards Rubio. They rely on free money orders from Amscot to pay their bills. Regulatory agencies PROTECT THE POPULATION FROM CRIMINAL DRIVERS. It is a public safety issue. All taxi and limo drivers in Tampa must be cleared by an FBI background check. Your method gets around that. Would you want your wife picked up by a Rapist?

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From the Great Recession (2010)

What is going on now in the taxi business in Tampa is not just having "a bad day." Most drivers are getting somewhere between two to five calls a day. That's it. "Don't worry, it will be better tomorrow." a customer told me. I am worried.  Each day is just the same. For example, this morning I came out at Five a.m. and did not get a call until Nine. There has never been a time when a driver during the morning hours would not get a call for over 4 hours.

The new dispatch system is inherently unfair. If you are not close to a call, it will not give you one, nor will it even send you a f*g bid. Without the bid, I cannot make any money. Paul Hinton says I simply need to park my cab where the calls are going to come out. How in the hell do I do that? The calls could come out from anywhere. I have no psychic abilities, so I guess I am screwed.

Talking to Paul Hinton and Eddie Munster (the computer guy) has proved useless. They don't even know what the algorithms are set at or the parameters of how it will give out a call. Paul just says that one day he will call the main office and find that out. Great! That will do me a lot of good while I STARVE!

The only reason I have not left United Cab to go to Yellow Cab is that I am in the Lighthouse program for the blind school children. After that, I am on my way to a company that will put me to work and provide me with business. I am ready to work and I  need to work. With my years of experience, I will be an asset to any company that wants a quality driver, not just someone that can fog a mirror.

posted from Bloggeroid

BRIGHT ORANGE FOR THE SHROUD

I found this today at Barnes & Noble. I know I can get used books on Amazon but I would rather have a new printing of one of the classic Travis McGee novels. They were all classics. Hard to imagine this book was written 50 years ago.

Florida was the background. Someone said Mcdonald "captured all of Florida's langid sleaze, racy sense of promise, and breath-grabbing beauty." In the last 20 years, I have seen the sleeze, the promise, and the beauty, mostly from the taxi cab. The same grifters abound. They all seem to end up in Florida.

posted from Bloggeroid

Unrest in England

People are being killed in England and the facts are not clearly understood. The facts are this civil disruption is race based. The Afro-Caribbean community of England feels they are being oppressed by blood thirsty racist police who, like in America, only want to kill black people. I think we have heard this crap for decades, and frankly, it is getting old and boring.

A 29 year old Broadwater Farm resident, Mark Duggan, was stopped by police from a special operation force used in the Black community to stop gun crime (We have massive gun crime in America). He was riding in the back of a taxi (I drive a taxi for a living) when it was stopped and Duggan pulled a gun on the officers, and they shot him. Early reports indicate the officers were defending themselves. However, there is a problem. Their community is staging an uprising against the British government. This is a criminal act and should be met with the death penalty. You cannot allow this to happen.

The Black community believes he was shot because he was black. This is simply not true. He pointed a gun at the police. Mr. Duggan has a long criminal history and is not an upstanding member of English society.

The real problem here is these immigrants don't want to become real members of British society. They only want to use England for what they can get out of it. The rioters, or their parents, may have come to England only because this once great empire has become emasculated and became a welfare state. Why not leave a third world nation too receive free housing food, money, health insurance. That is not what happens in American.

We have people who have lived on this continent for hundreds of years and still think someone owes them a living. Unfortunately, they are black. This mindset is now part of their culture. It has recently made a violent turn in the form of youth flash mobs organizing with social media.

Violent black flash mobs have become endemic to the United States in the past year.  Starting with the “Beat Whitey Night” at the Iowa State Fair, there have been hundreds of violent black flash mobs across the United States, which have shut down parts of Chicago and Philadelphia.  Most recently, at the Wisconsin State Fair, large groups of blacks viciously targeted whites.  In most cases, the US media have suppressed information on the mobs, refusing to report that they’re black mobs (often violently targeting whites), and misleadingly have reported that the mobs are “youth mobs.”

As many of America’s worst tendencies have been exported to Europe and the UK, so too has the black mob organized by social media, as evidenced by the race riot in London last night.  Caused by what blacks in the UK are calling an alleged “Rodney King” event (whichin reality was an “incident in which a policeman and a suspected gang member were both shot in what appears to have been an exchange of fire”), blacks in London utilized social media (as in the US) to organize, ransack, loot, start fires, explode cars, and attack innocent pedestrians (whites)....Conservative Times.org

Is this just a matter of hate? Are people so beaten down by this poor economy that can't see any hope? Hope and change is what a young politician once uttered. I hope that is still true.

People come to America because they want to live and raise their families here. They have opportunity to become anything they want. It is only a matter of your ambition and drive. If you have dreams, this is the place for you. For example, I took a Haitian family to the courthouse today to be sworn in as American citizens. They were very proud and glad they live in the United States. They said they now love American and have dreams of buying a house and living a better life. That is the good side of this.

Now, with inter-racial and religious tensions brewing with the death of three Muslim men who were leaving Ramadan prayers in London, this can get very ugly in England. I don't know where this is going but I know how it must end. Badly. Law and order must be restored and people need to be educated as what their potential is. Even in England someone can obtain mighty things. I believe this passionately. That is also available to immigrants.

Barack Obama is the President of the United States, his father was from Kenya. John F. Kennedy was President of the United States and his Grand Father was from Ireland. Dwight Eisenhower's father was from Germany. That is what is possible; this is the way it should be.

We just need more people to believe this.

A butterfly garden

Have you ever tried to shoot a butterfly in the wild? They're quick little nuggets. In short, it's hard to do. I was attacked Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg and they had a butterfly garden. In that environment, the butterflies hang around and almost posed for you. I highly recommend this now overlooked tourist attraction. Clearing, a throwback to the pre-Disney era when families took long road trips to Florida.

posted from Bloggeroid

Uber email on how to avoid trouble at an airport

Uber driver trolling illegally

Uber sent an email to its drivers giving them tips on how to make picking up at Tampa Airport more efficient and enjoyable for its customers. The email was BS. It was directions on how to not get caught by the HCPTC and be subject to arrest. It this the kind of business people want to associate with? A business that is a total outlaw?

 "While we continue our discussions with authorities on ways to develop a long-term solution," the email said, "here are a few things you can do to meake the pickup and drop off experience more enjoyable for both you and the rider.

• Keep your Uber phone off the windshield - put it down in your cupholder

• Ask the rider if they will sit up front

• Use the lanes farthest from the terminal curbside for pickup and drop off

• Call your rider to ensure an efficient and easy pickup

"Remember, if you receive a ticket while picking up or dropping off Uber riders at the airport, Uber will reimburse your cost for the ticket and provide any necessay legal support,"....Uber email

The tide is turning, however. I picked up a young lady today at Tampa International Airport. She wsa the perfect demographic that Uber is targeting. She is college educated, a club goer, and leads an active lifestyle that would put her in need of transportation for hire.

She relayed to me how her and friends were constantly being ripped off by the surge pricing that Uber charges. The last time it was $45 bucks for a ride leaving a concert that only went 1.4 miles! Do you know that because taxi cabs are regulated, and follow the rules, you pay the same price no matter what?  Price gouging is illegal in Florida. Don't let yourself become a victim.

Why is Louie Minarti even talking to this Lyft driver?

Louie Minarti is going to lose his company if he keeps with this civility

This photo was taken at the last Hillsborough County hearing on ride sharing. You know the one where Lyft email bombed the area to get a large turnout. The whole bunch of them were cocky and arrogant. They seemed to have no idea that what they were doing was against the law. I would take the approach of the Paris cab driver who helped attack an Uber driver by busting out his window, slashing his tires, and hitting him in the face. I would have knocked this assholes teeth down his throat. But that's just me.

You got to love the French

Pure arrogance

The only pick they should be wearing is jailhouse pink

First image

Tim Fasano

From the GALAXY Phone I just got.

A fantastic sunrise

This morning I noticed a cloud cover over Tampa. That was strange considering there was a 0% chance of rain. I continued on taking my fate to her appointment on the east side. While I was waiting, I noticed people taking photos in the parking lot. I then noticed the bright color of a typical Winter Sunset.


It only lasted for a few minutes.

posted from Bloggeroid

Tampa bans Uber from operating as taxi company

The HCPT and Hillsborough County public commission today affirmed Uber is an illegal taxi company and bared them from operating in the Tampa area. This is wonderful news to longtime drivers like me.

An Uber attorney asked Hillsborough County to make new rules to fit the trendy ridesharing movement pioneered by his company and Lyft, but was told flatly on Wednesday that Uber is an illegal taxi service.

The county's Public Transportation Commission unanimously affirmed that an appointed officer had enough evidence to fine Uber, based in San Francisco, for providing hiring and public taxi services without proper licensing.

Uber attorney Drew Sorrell held to the company's argument that it isn't in transportation. As a technology company, it doesn't need to follow transportation regulations as they are written.

"There's a perfectly good way to do this, and that is to write the rules so that they fit," said Sorrell, of the Lowndes Drosdick Doster Kantor and Reed law firm in Orlando. "They just don't fit here."

A county attorney rebutted with Hillsborough's argument that Uber has all the parts of a taxi service except that a phone replaces the traditional taxi meter.

"There is no question they are transporting people in this county and profiting from it," Rob Brazel said.

posted from Bloggeroid