Carlos Gimenez moves to legalize Uber, pardon penalties

Christmas could come early for the operators of so-called “ride sharing” services like Uber and Lyft — if Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez gets his way.

As part of a plan to institute some regulations that will make them legal, Carlos “Mr. Giveaway” Gimenez wants to forgive $1.4 million in fines that the companies have amassed since they started to operate in the county illegally in the Spring of 2014.

He’s always so generous with our money, ain’t he?

It’s part of a larger plan the mayor has to bring Uber into the law-abiding fold. It wouldn’t require much more. Taxicabs will get less regulation and must install some sort of app based call service. But Uber and Lyft still get to set whatever rates they want — changing rates for peak times and routes — and they still get to hire whoever they want, doing their own background and providing their own insurance.

The companies would pay a little more than half of the $3.2 million in fines and citations (about $1.8 million) and start paying $2.50 to pick up passengers at the airport. And, voila, just like that, they’d be legal. Never mind the questions about whether or not their drivers are safe and whether or not their insurance is sufficient, as Lyft faces a lawsuit after an fatal accident with a motorcyclist. Never mind how this might affect low-income residents or people without credit cards as the taxi industry is decimated. Never mind questions about the rights of taxi medallion holders who may sue for hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars.

Mayor Giveaway — who never met a discount for millionaires he didn’t like — has been hell bent on legalizing Uber by the end of the year. But there has been no public process for the development of his proposed plan. There has been no workshop, as promised earlier this year. A May workshop was cancelled citing a conflict in schedule, and Monestime had said through his then Chief of Staff Gerard Phillipeaux, that he was going to wait til after the budget process, in October.

“This is clearly a non-democratic process and the Mayor Carlos Gimenez, in my opinion, has beome the Fidel Castro of the Miami-Dade County by his adoption of ‘my way or highway’ policies,” wrote Akhtar Kamal, in an email to other drivers and cab owners after last month’s Taxicab Advisory Group meeting, which he called a joke.

Now, near the end of November, there is still no workshop and it looks like there will never be since we already have a draft of a Gimenez plan that basically gives Uber and Lyft everything they want on their Santa list. The mayor can’t present legislation, and the chairman is dragging his feet on it, so it may be presented as the conditions of a legal settlement with Uber, said Gimenez spokesman Michael Hernandez.

So, if they’re getting everything they want, basically, why do we have to forgive them any legal fines they received while they snubbed their nose at the law? These same companies paid all their citations in Broward as they were legalized there. Why do we have to be so much more magnanimous?

The mayor’s spokesman and the county’s transportation director both say that a lawsuit challenging the fines could cost the county hundreds of thousands to pursue. Uber and Lyft have said they don’t need to be regulated because they do not fall under the same “for-hire passenger” vehicle as taxis. They are “ride sharing” services and/or “technological companies” because they use an app.

Puh-leeeze! Who do they think they are kidding? That’s in name only. Uber is just starting to roll out its ride sharing program now. Nobody I know who has taken an Uber has had to share the ride with another passenger. In fact, it shows that Uber is so comfortable operating illegally under Gimenez that they had already announced a new service, UberPool, where passengers can share a ride with someone going in the same direction for a reduced cost.

That’s illegal squared. And it’s a different service than what they were offering before.

And here’s the other thing: We know they should have gotten more fines. Enforcement was slack. And knowing that they were going to be made legal soon, it was getting slacker. County compliance officers have been easing the pressure on Uber and Lyft in recent months.

Only 38 citations were issued in August, for example, compared with 277 issued in May, and 151 in April, and 105 in March. The lowest month before August was February, with 94.

So, really, $3.2 million is already a discount.

One has to wonder if this wasn’t the Mayor Giveaway’s plan all along. He always seemed so very calm and collected about the whole controversy with the taxi industry, which rightfully feels ripped off. Not only have they had to deal with and pay the financial costs of regulation for, like, forever, but they also had to buy the limited right to drive a cab with medallions that are worth up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Or were, as now they are worth nothing.

Talk about buyer’s remorse. You can be sure there will be a lawsuit or several.

But, seriously, can’t you just imagine those private conversations where Gimenez tells his lobbyist friends — Brian May and Sylvester Lukis, among others, for Uber and Jorge Luis Lopez for Lyft — to keep operating and not to worry about those pesky citations because (wink, wink) we’ll work something out.

Some commissioners — Barbara Jordan, Dennis Moss and Chairman and one-time cabbie Jean Monestime — smell this, too. They aren’t so sure about the compromise or the giveaway. After all, Uber’s net value is estimated at $50 billion or so. Monestime has not moved on the draft legislation because, sources say, he wants to drum up more opposition to any giveaway.

But even they admit that something will happen to bring Uber into the legal world. The tide is just there.

Michael Hernandez, the mayor’s spokesman, said “it’s a winning issue,” which means it will help him in his re-election next year to say that he legalized Uber and Lyft.

After all,it polled well in that Bendixen & Amandi poll done for The Miami Herald in July, in which 70% of the respondents wanted Uber to be legalized. And you know Gimenez governs by poll.

And that is fine and dandy: After all, give the people what they want.

But Ladra doubts that includes forgiving the fines that these companies accumulated in the last year or so as outlaws.

Carlos Gimenez, taxi industry, Uber

Carlos Gimenez moves to legalize Uber, pardon penalties added by Ladra on November 24, 2015
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