Using city government to secure a transportation monopoly— of course it could never happen in THIS town!
But that's what Rob Eggers and Mike Korrick, the owners of (respectively) Eggs and GDS passenger van transport companies, alleged to KWTN Wednesday.
"We were screwed!" said Korrick.
Both entrepreneurs said the language in the Passenger Vehicle For Hire ordinance— which became law after the City Commission approved it unanimously Tuesday night— was not written by the City Attorney, but rather by the lawyers for competing cab franchises.
"Like having McDonald's write an ordinance dictating how Burger King will be run," said Korrick. But, "this is just the first installment of the story," he predicted.
Eggers told KWTN the City Commission approved on second reading an ordinance that he says was "rewritten expressly at us" because a whole new section was added to prohibit Eggs from operating on the streets of Key West a small bus that seats more than 14 passengers. This made the ordinance "clearly more restrictive" and because of that, it should have gone to third reading, said Eggers.
"The first reading was a van ordinance. Everyone had what they wanted. They violated state laws by making it an `Anti-Eggs-Bus Ordinance' on second reading."
Eggers and others had been signed up to speak before the Commission but they did not go to the podium. Their names were read aloud by the City Clerk but none responded. It was "like reading the names of lost soldiers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier," Eggers said.
He said they felt their absence and their silence was a more eloquent way of voicing their powerlessness in the face of a City action that was, in the words of City Commissioner Harry Bethel, "a done deal."
"If the buses are illegal why did they issue me a license in 1996, `97, `98, and `99?" said Eggers.
He initiated a lawsuit against the City four months ago when it refused to reissue him a license. His City license expired in October. (The Stock Island-based company is still licensed by the County.)
According to City Attorney Robert Tischenkel, the large Eggs buses "pushed the envelope" and this ordinance would force them to come before the Commission to seek permission to operate.
Korrick says he and Eggers had "no input at all" in the ordinance that was passed Tuesday. "I'd bet $10,000 that no City Commissioner had actually read the ordinance," he said. "They violated our Constitutional rights by passing it. We were screwed. They ran Eggs off the road with that ordinance."
He said the City is violating the terms of their public transportation grants by going into business in competition with the private sector.
Korrick disputed the image promoted by Friendly Cab's Darren Guttman who painted cabbies before the Commission as purveyors of selfless, competent public service. "This (ordinance) brings honor to the taxi industry," he said Tuesday.
Korrick said the cab companies get lots of complaints— he was a dispatcher with one of them for years— and they just wanted to stomp out the competition (Eggs and GDS van services) because the newcomers offered clean, reliable service.
"We are being harassed. It is collusion. Code Enforcement Chief Gary Addleman is best friends with the owner of Friendly Cab Co. If there is a complaint against us, Addleman and (City Licensing Official) Carolyn Walker are "on it within 15 minutes. How often do YOU get that kind of response out of Code Enforcement?"
Korrick said he has been ticketed "four or five times" in the last several months for "ridiculous" offenses which have subsequently been dismissed.
He says he tried to start a town car service, and "they wouldn't let me do it."
Town cars, explained another cabby who had tried to start a similar service, are "unmarked cabs" which pick up locals and service workers on a regular route and deliver them downtown on a regular route for a minimal fee. (In Mexico City they are known as "collectivos," and in Istanbul, as "dolmas." This reporter has been satisfactorily transported by both.)
He told KWTN it can be a great value for the working people of the city, allowing them to get to work on time and in good condition, no matter the weather.
All attempts to initiate this service have been squelched by the City as soon as they were detected by the authorities, both men told KWTN.
The City of Key West's Department of Transportation has a current budget of $3 million to service its approximately 268,000 passengers per year. That comes to more than $11 per passenger. KWDOT relies heavily on federal and state grants to make ends meet.
Korrick guessed that the airport shuttle service might be worth as much as $10 to $15 million to the vehicles for hire which serve it, and Ed Swift's tour and shuttle concessions might be worth as much as $40 million. He said the ordinance, as written, "forces everybody to use cabs, and spits in the face of all the industries"— the hotels and motels, and tourist industries of all stripes— "which have been calling Eggs and GDS because they deliver a better service."
Originally, other new van services were also affected by the ordinance. Korrick named Island City Bus, Conch Kids Care, the Southernmost Shuttle and ARM. Many have fallen by the wayside or gone out of business, Korrick said. But he and Eggers are going to continue to transport people, and to fight City Hall.
"This ain't the end of it," said Korrick.