Posts Tagged ‘lincoln’

Uh Oh, San Franco-Based Uber Cab is in Trouble Again: Now Getting Sued in Massachusetts for Retaining Drivers’ Tips

Thursday, February 7th, 2013

Apparently, if you have your UberCab driver pahk the cah at Hahvahd Yahd, the tip you pay for that service doesn’t all go to the Uber taxi driver. Deets below.

Is that kind of a setup illegal? I don’t know but we’ll find out soon enough.

Oh Uber Taxi, will you ever win?

Now when Uber drivers aren’t Ubering, they’re illegally picking up people off the street like the drivers of all these vehicles were trying to do on Sacramento last year:

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Uber Cab/

Uber Cab/

It IS your fault

All the deets:

“High-tech car service Uber faces more accusations

Lawsuit alleges labor law violations

BOSTON, Feb. 7, 2013  – A class-action lawsuit filed in US District Court last week alleges car service Uber Technologies Inc. is violating state law prohibiting employers from keeping tips earned by employees.

The suit, filed by a driver for Uber, is another strike against the upstart high-tech car service that has prompted legal and regulatory crackdowns in other cities.

“Uber’s practice of keeping a large portion of the drivers’ tips is both deceptive to the customers, who expect that the drivers get to keep the gratuities that they have given them, and blatantly in violation of Massachusetts law,” said Hillary Schwab of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C., one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The suit comes on the heels of similar action taken by drivers in Chicago and regulations for smartphone applications in the car service industry recently proposed by the International Association of Transportation Regulators. Those proposals, released in November, would curtail the use of GPS devices as a substitute for a taxi meter, prohibit drivers without proper licensing from offering rides for pay, and bar car services from charging extra during hours of peak demand. IATR said its intention was to “bring rogue applications into compliance.” The proposals would have to be adopted by local state and city regulators. New York City, meanwhile, has drafted even more stringent regulations.

Boston fleet owners have said that if smart phone applications in the car service industry are to become standard there still must be uniform rules regarding their use.

In the most recent case, a driver for Uber, David Lavitman, of Milton, alleges Uber kept his tips. He said customers are regularly assessed a 20 percent gratuity but that the company retains as much as half that amount. Lavitman’s suit is seeking class action status and says more than 40 drivers in Massachusetts who served customers beginning Dec. 10, 2012 could join the class. Damages could exceed $5 million, according to statements by the company.

Uber is based in San Francisco.

SOURCE  DBMediaStrategies Inc.

DBMediaStrategies Inc.

Web Site: http://www.dbmediastrategies.com

The Lincoln Lawyer: Know Your Tall, Bearded, Republican Pols – Supervisor Scott Wiener and President Abraham Lincoln

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

Have you seen the Sunday NYT? It features San Francisco’s very own Supervisor Scott Wiener.

Check it and note the closeted Republican theme.

All right, babe, try to pose like Abraham Lincoln – that’s it, sober, sober, c’mon give me a lot more sober, that’s it, hold it, hold it, CLICK:      

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Oh what’s that, Gentle Reader? You’ve been to City Hall and you know for a fact that the wood inside the big chambers up on the second floor doesn’t actually glow IRL.? All right, well let’s tone that down, thusly:

How about a Lincoln hat? Here you go:

Now we’re going to lose the hat but go full desaturated. I think we’ve reached endgame:

Links:

Lincoln (2012 film)

The Lincoln Lawyer (film)

Log Cabin Republicans

OMG, It’s Dolphin Season Near the Golden Gate Bridge – Check Out This Recent Video – Babies Too

Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

Here’s a shot from Land’s End from a few years back:

A bit mottled – that’s the way they are sometimes – click to expand

Now let’s hear from Redd Rivett, who recorded some of these critters just the other day:

“These bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were on the East side of the Golden Gate Bridge, next to Fort Point, in the cove. We get to see them in the summer and fall, when they come in to Ft Point cove for a while maybe twice a week or so. They live mostly along the outer coast to the south of us, all the way to Monterey Bay. Thanks Bill Keener of Golden Gate Cetacean Research for the info.”

Helmetcam Footage: What It’s Like for a Motorcyclist to Get Hit From Behind on 19th Avenue Way Out in the Sunset District

Friday, March 30th, 2012

It goes a little something like this, on southbound 19th Avenue exiting Golden Gate Park betwixt Lincoln and Irving.

Go on, you have 31 seconds to spare, don’t you?

At least dude got a quick apology.

Know Your Illegal Taxi Drivers of San Francisco: Typically, They Have Large, Black, Lincoln Town Cars

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Just as politics is the reason why the feds are about to spend a billion dollars on the oh-my-God-wouldn’t-we-be-better-off-without-it Central Subway, politics is the reason why it’s hard to get a taxi cab in San Francisco.

I mean, what kind of world do you want to live in – one where we have a lower number of higher-paid drivers or a larger number lower-paid drivers? (That’s a political question, of course.)

For whatever reason, it’s relatively easy to catch a cab at certain times and relatively hard at others. That’s the system we’ve had, that’s what’s been chosen.

And that means it’s awfully tempting for illegal cab drivers to hit the streets during the busier times.

As here, at the foot of California Street, right near the foot of Market, right in the Financial District in front of the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. See? A quick price quote/negotiation convo and then she hopped in:

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Do you think this woman would have preferred to take her taxi ride in a taxi? Probably as it would have been much cheaper, but she didn’t really have all that much of a choice.

Do you think the SFPD generally knows what’s going on here. Sure, but they don’t really want to deal with this sitch.

Now, how about making money instead of spending it this coming New Years Eve? Simply rent a car and then drive it around all night taking people where they want to go. You’ll see thousands of people waving their arms around all over the City, so you’ll have no problem finding customers. Be sure to quote an outrageous amount when they ask you, “How much?”

As long as you don’t get in an accident, and don’t get pulled over by the police, and don’t run into a few other hazards I can think of, you should be good to go. (But if the cops figure out what you’re doing and they’re motivated to throw the book at you for not having permits and stickers on the outside of your car and whole bunch of other stuff, then you’ll be in trouble with a capital “T.” That’s just one reason why I don’t recommend you to do anything like this.)

Such is the state of San Francisco taxi driving.

As it is, as it was, and as it shall ever be…

San Francisco Needs Way More Taxi Cabs on the Street, Wednesday Through Saturday Evenings, Anyway

Friday, August 5th, 2011

That’s why we have so many illegal Town Cars drivers plying the streets, you know, they’re filling the void.

As seen at 555 California, the Bank of America Building:

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Does any other city in America have a taxi situation like San Francisco’s?

No, not at all.

We need more.*

MOAR!

Adding 500 part time medallions would be a good start…

*Adding just 35 or 85 or whatever, that’s not going to cut it, pardner.

Tiny MINI Cooper Gets Reverse Pwned By Parked Lincoln Continental at the Troubled Intersection of Fell and Masonic

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

See? A MINI Cooper car, the choice of zigzagging reckless drivers the world over, struck this southbound facing Lincoln Continental the other day.

So yes, the MINI did manage to push the Lincoln up onto the sidewalk, but it was rendered completely undrivable. Or at least that was the way it appeared based upon the number of halfshafts and whatnot you could see all swept up into a neat little pile near the crosswalk:

 

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OTOH, the Lincoln looked like it could be driven home. Hurray!

Hey, did the SFMTA know what it was doing when it allowed cars to park, I think it started last year, on southbound Masonic at Fell?

Nope.

Yet Another Video of the Whole SFO – Deshon Marman – U.S. Air Flight 488 Thing

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

In the words of Black Christian News:

“When you vote for Homosexual Marriage, you open up the door for a whole bunch of uncomfortable stuff.”

OK then.

Comes now Jon Brooks of the News Fix with word of NMA weighing in.

I’ve already said my piece.

Leave us depart this affair, older and wiser…

Don’t Sass Sully: SFO Passenger Deshon Marman Was _Not_ Arrested for His Clothing, Right?

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

Via News Fix, KQED’s Bay Area News Blog, comes word of an apparently inexplicable conundrum.

All right, here we go:

1. Passenger Jill Tarlow needs to get a life outside of photographing whatever “shocks” her. (“I was shocked, completely shocked. I’m shocked…” Yada yada yada…)

2. Listen To Your Captain.

Now, if you want to completely ignore flight crew that’s your choice, but it might be tough to fly. And when the Captain asks you to leave, it’s time to leave. Otherwise you’re going to get arrested for trespassing. And if you injure the cops taking you off your flight, well, you’re just making things worse for yourself.

Don’t be “reverent” and “respectful” – it’s not necessary. Just make the effort to pretend to listen flight crew and you’ll be fine. (And, oh yes, if you want to say “sir,” say it once at the beginning of the exchange. Don’t use it as a crutch word, just  saying.)

Honest.

Anyway, if you want to call this thing “pilot error,” well then be my guest but you’re wrong.

Anyway, to review:

Starting at :45, this is an example of how to get yourself tossed off a flight at SFO or anywhere.

“Deshon Marman, 20, a defensive player for the University of New Mexico and graduate of Lincoln High in San Francisco, was arrested and removed from US Airways flight 488 Wednesday after police said he ignored an airline employee’s request to pull up sweatpants that exposed his underwear below the buttocks.”

Nice video, San Francisco Chronicle:

It doesn’t matter why the captain has come back to have a chat with you, all that matters is this:

The captain isn’t going to fly you anywhere if you avoid listening to him or her by incessantly interrupting him or her.

(Right? Pilots hate it when you don’t listen to them.)

Also, fighting with the SFPD is a surefire way of making sure that the San Mateo County District Attorney can’t just laugh things off.

This is true regardless of what clothes you wear or how you wear your clothes…

How to Talk Yourself into Jail While Sitting on the Tarmac at SFO – Deshon Marman and U.S. Air Flight 488

Monday, June 20th, 2011

Starting at :45, this is an example of how to get yourself tossed off a flight at SFO or anywhere.

“Deshon Marman, 20, a defensive player for the University of New Mexico and graduate of Lincoln High in San Francisco, was arrested and removed from US Airways flight 488 Wednesday after police said he ignored an airline employee’s request to pull up sweatpants that exposed his underwear below the buttocks.”

Nice video, San Francisco Chronicle:

It doesn’t matter why the captain has come back to have a chat with you, all that matters is this:

The captain isn’t going to fly you anywhere if you avoid listening to him or her by incessantly interrupting him or her.

(Right? Pilots hate it when you don’t listen to them.)

Also, fighting with the SFPD is a surefire way of making sure that the San Mateo County District Attorney can’t just laugh things off.

This is true regardless of what clothes you wear or how you wear your clothes…