Master Cabbie Blog

October 25, 2011

2011-10-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

10/25 2011, sitting behind a desk at the Master Cabbie Taxi Academy in Long Island City, Queens. Looking out the office window, I see the green glass of the Citi Corp Tower across the street from the Queens Sumpreme Court.

The street is closed off for a movie or TV shoot. Lots of onlookers are strolling by,watching the NYC Hollywood crowd. Most of whom are doing their best, looking very busy and intent..In charecter, for their part in making images to be seen by the onlookers at a later date. They Demonstrate a sense of pride in their work, probably deriving a sense of pride in the glamour associated with the end product. The final shape of which will have little to do with decisions made by them.

Trailers and trucks line the street, all in support of a handful of people inside the Court Square Diner, beneath the Court Square Subway station at 23rd Street at JAckson Ave. where the filming is taking place.

No orders to go today until the film crew is gone. But, the image of the diner on TV will bring in wandering tourists at a later date I suppose.

But today, the real action... is at the Taxi Academy.... This is where hard working folks are all studying to pass the New York City Taxi Drivers Exam. Geography, Rules and regulations, customer servie, defensive driving, and practie exams. All these are appetizers for Friday each week when the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commision inspectors come to adminsister the TAXI EXAM for forty or fifty applicants, most of whom are up late the night before, studying, hoping, for the possibilty of success. Once these future cabbies have passed the test they will be out and about on a daily basis and earn a few hundred dollars per day, ferrying people from point A to Point B...and beyond.

It's been many years since I have drivin a taxicab in this town, but the memories are still thick in my mind. So, I recognize, and understand the anticipation of the soon to be cabbies as well as the yearning that will be theirs as they evolve into the life of wandering. Where few reach longevity, but virtually all who pass through tell their taxi stories for the rest of their lives..

Whats the draw? To make a living, and NYC is an exciting place. The human electricty, the "juice", the current of excitment that surges through all who pass through this town, whether they want it or not. Affecting them in so many different ways as we march toward our individual destinies. Time spent here is not wasted.

Resignation

2011-05-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

In and around the blessings of love
Therein rests beginnings of
all that has been and all that will be
Involved to sooth my soul. Soon free
Above the fray, beyond the pale
Gruesome and glory unwind the tale
Untold again and again at length
Unheard in village squares. The strength
Beyond my human weakness grows
a farmers hand, the seed he sews
strewn across a field of blight
Calling all to see the light
of time unleashed, of hate and pain
calloused caress to amber grain
Outstretched to skies of blue and white
Floating toward the coming night
That calls the fires crackling tongues
To fight the darkness on the rungs
Leaping upward, flames approach
Pure in deed where none encroach
Upon Times alter, cleansed, now pure
Eternal rest, love, and cure
That which never leaves the place
Upon which souls receive their grace
God’s breath Bestowed, words unspoken
Wherein all is right, unbroken
In total. Gathered, in total kissed
Lips eternal, none resist
Behold life’s thoughts and breath divine
To which I fear not to resign

T. Butler Gelber
The Hack Poet
(c) All right s reserved
5/18/2011

The Cabbie Prince RIP

2010-11-29T12:47:00.000-08:00

Cabby Prince

THE CABBIE PRINCE

It was a long time ago in a place called Long Island City N.Y. Long Island City was a small community on the East River in Queens New York that holds two gateways to Manhattan. The Queensborough Bridge and The Midtown Tunnle, and at that time was mostly warehouses and old three story one family houses many of which had been turned into three apartments.

I came to Long Island City to find a job as a taxi driver, and after eight months of commuting from sixty miles away I found an apartment on and old cobbled street, 43rd Ave. in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge.

It was a era of discovery. In those "Good Old Days" I fancied myself a poet, and spent a good deal of time with a pen in my hand serving my angst with rhyming couplets and an occasional exercise in iambic pentameter. They were glorious times of uncertinty and exploration for a Brooklyn born white-boy running away from the suburbs and coming home to New York City.

In my quest for action, and too be seen, I arranged for a small theater at 500 Greenwich Street where I would read my poetry. Another taxi driver was convinced to join me and Hack Poetry was born........

Our first reading was furiously promoted by ME...Flyers, lots of flyers, and calling all the local "cool" news outlets and some of the upper end ones. The night before the grand event my phone rang. It was Marc Singer from the New Yorker and he was planing to come to the reading..WOW....I had nudged the receptionist at the New Yorker and she apparently had obliged and sent the flyer up the food chain.....So we would have at least one person in attendance.

We were two rookies but none the less adreniline pumped and after about an hour of taking turns reading our poems we served some juice and cookies to our now swollen audience of seven people and then adjourned to Joes Bar on 6th Street in the East Village for the night.....A SUCCESS

On August 19 the New Yorker hit the stands and we were celebrities at the Taxi Garage. dozens of drivers came to tell me that they had read the article....One, a tall thin man name Pete asked if he could read a poem at the next event....What next event..."Sure" I said.

A day or two later he approached me at the Taxi garage and began describing the poem he was going to read and reading me excerpts....He further explained that he was going to wear a Zorro Mask and call himself the Cabbie Prince....WHATEVER!?

When the night arrived, there he was. Six feet twoo inches of denim wearing the Mask Of Zorro. When his turn to read came he stuttered through a beautiful poem laced with racisim and hate for his passengers. I cringed at his crowning line as he uttered the words "French men and N$%#^ don't tip. And those fat F%$%$ Arabs, but here comes the ship"

The dozen people in the audience could not stop their jaws from dropping....We sat agape, my girlfriend, who is a very dark skinned lady looked at me in a hurt way as if I had said it.....It was raw poetry in a raw place spoken by a raw man in a raw way...indigenous art...before rap had conquered....

He slogged on and closed his poem with lines of beauty...."New York City, I'm part of its energy, power and pain, tomorrow I'll do this all over again, and again and again till I shot in the head, die in a crash or just plain drop dead. Randals Island not known for its beauty, on my stone let it say, Prince of Cabbies off Duty"

A smattering of applause and he walked off....

Hack poetry played in various off off off broadway venues for three years developing into a reading and poetry contest, but after a year or so The Cabbie prince didn't come around. I learned he had died in a fire in his apartment in Long Island City, apparently from smoking in bed....He was a heavy drinker so I was not surprised, but I was troubled as he was the first of my contemporaries to die, and in such an awful way.

I, and one other hack poet held a memorial reading at the RED ROOM in Hells Kitchen in his honor. It was scantly attended. I had an audio tape of his first reading which we played for those present to hear...." ON my stone let it say, Prince Of Cabbies, OFF DUTY".

Freedom Lurks

2010-11-16T04:24:00.000-08:00

Freedom Lurks

tuning the instrument, sharpen the blade
statements avoided intend to degrade
the life and the times of the one who now goes
back to the streets with the little she knows
about finding the freedom now forced upon all
who call the hawks tune then run to forestall
what will and must be, graded in turn
by the life that we live with a lack of concern
for all that once mattered and what matters yet
to be scattered in places, order upset
for now and tomorrow, future uncertin
the play unfolds, regardless the curtin
floating about, above and before
memories off track live to restore
the moment of change, long ago hidden
grasping for freedom, long since forbidden
to alert, challenged voices, a choir extended
not a soul in the mix ever defended
by those who aquire what's left on the table
as bartering fails leaving me able
to scoop up the chips, counted at length
feeding my soul and restroing my strentgh
of what is and what was, and what one day might be
the path less enjoyed by those searching for me

T. Butler Gelber
A.K.A. The Hack Poet
(c) All rights reserved
November 16, 2010

On The Seat

2010-05-07T04:41:00.000-07:00

Lady killers walkin, struttin their stuff
I'm lookin on from my retreat
I've heard those lady killers can play kinda rough
wish there was one I could meet
Lately in the evening I cruise on by
But I've surrendered any thoughts of ever giving them a try
and I doubt they could ever take the heat
Of this grueling life on the seat

Lonely tourist cameras hangin from the necks
of full fledged world travelers from Rome
Got all the balances, passed all the checks
How else could they be so far from home
But life always happens, no matter the cost
You'll pay any price to avoid being lost
So you hop into a yellow car with a man knows the street
Its a God Damned lousy life on the seat

Halloween is wild night, costumes for the Queens
make-up and paper bags for those of lesser means
Park Avenue and Amsterdam go their separate ways
the lonely kid who drank too much is the only one who pays
with unreported income, the Policemen's Gala treat
Just check your soul and uniform and come cruising on the seat

Miles of city streets go rolling by each day
Towers view the suburbs from aloft
second story windows blow those sights away
showing me reality....so soft
I hold my position, I gamble not to lose
I keep my car in drive always set to cruise
like a keystone cop I'm on the beat
I love it, on the seat

(c) Terence Gelber 1991
All rights reserved

Theuncheckedagenda

2010-05-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

The deluge continues, I am numb from the rains,
that scour my essance enroute to the drains
now full from the storms relentless attacks
taking credit again as my resolve again cracks

I have done nothing wrong, I yearn to be true
yet I stand here alone as rivers wash through
making easy my life, to be seen through the storm
cut loose from its moorings, hard to get warm

The storm rages within me, fear ebbs and flows
I know what I feel, don't care if it shows
confusion, delusion, shown clarities mark
On destinies roadmap, ever so dark

I have already climbed to the great mountains peak
And back to the valley where solace I seek
evades me and haunts me, puts me to task
granting no pardon for questions I ask

So back to the mountain, upward and onward
looking over my shoulder to know the way forward
bankrupt, befuddled, alone and dejected
praying for guidance, and to be protected

from actions of martyrs caught in that river
delusions last victims wanting me to deliver
salvation, atonement, redemption, on tap!
a spiritual cleansing, regardless the gap

between rightly and wrongly here stalled in mid-air
a hundred years hence not one sould will care
as their river rises and their lifes flood stage calls
amidst lifes convenience as their sanity stalls

and madness proclaims to those burdened by choice
to choose one or the other the invisible voice
screeching, and screaming with ultimate candor
to that place in your heart where the devil will pander

to the weekness of man and the strength of resolve
both guided by fortunes yet to evolve
in the guise of adornment and statues bedecked
from the past to the present agenda unchecked

(C) Terence Gelber
All rights reserved
5/5/2010

Bombed in Times Square

2010-05-04T04:47:00.000-07:00

Why do they call it Times Square, do you care
And of the recent caper, bombed, almost says The New York Times Paper
And the Herald Tribune, at Herald Square, don't sit and stare
They are looking for you everywhere
the New York Times with world wide reporting
to big lay offs resorting
Always pandering, courting
the crowd that is sporting
the best of the best and the best of the worst
longing to be free of what is deemed cursed
by the crowd of the moment, the crowd of the hype
talking points convert, we all know the type
On the left or the right, bellowing fairness or freedom
how do ya beat 'em
how to stay calm
what does it take to feed the beast of the Times Square "Almost A Bomb"
43rd and 7th Ave...the building of the Bomber
BEavis and Butthead, the simpsons, a charmer
for all to see and all to watch in terror
was the van with the almost bomb an error

(c) Terence B. Gelber
All rights reserved 5/5/2010
6:53AM

Gulf Oil

2010-05-01T04:41:00.000-07:00

across the platform sea, we are slick
petroleum nation, aghast, we gasp
we can not see the basin floors
across the heart and hope to die we smile not
upon the untouched stage, the watery grave
unimpressed by what we gave
to call this place of rolling peace
a sanctuary of long-term-lease
and pump, and drill, and work and die
where fish and fowl shant swim, nor fly

Sacred alms scattered here
float to where our deepest fear
flails about in thickest sorrow
hope alone describes tomorrow
blessed by trouble's longest hour
cursed in fact atop the tower
echoing the voice of fate
perfection in this tattered state

do not leave me, hardy friend
sit a while, while I defend
the sea, the land, the air, the fire
sludge the glaze for new attire
glistens now as urchins wallow
Gods own hand is forced to swallow
all that is which howls our name
dignified despite the blame
ravaged for the common cause
none of which suffers pause

(c) Terence B. Gelber All rights reserved
May 1, 2010

Trying

2010-04-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

Gimme a reason, hold back the crime
Hallow the season, precious the time
I spend in your absence, dedicate in your name
pondering glory, to eradicate fame

Merry the worker outside the shop
Happy the farmer away from the crop
taunted the teacher, school books in hand
denies passing failure when he roamed the raw land
as the actor of record in the minds game of chance
clinging to snapshots of his dignified stance

Of this you will teach me??? Or remind your cold heart?!
In the days once so splendid when you were a part
Of your world and time, the critical juncture
Fighting times dagger aiming to puncture
the myth we create in a sphere well controlled
Salutations and virtues expertly extolled

I live for the moment until it is gone
carrying torches, I'm forced to go on
by the fires of venture, the pilot of faith
which carries me closer as some lie in wait
for the chapter unwritten, the verse still unturned
the bank note still crumbled, respect still unearned
Yet, in rapture life wanders, remorse is decried
Screw down the lid and mumble "I tried".

(c) Terence Gelber All rights reserved
4/30/2010

Yellow Cab

2010-04-27T04:13:00.000-07:00

Yellow Cab

Checker car, of yellow tone
befriended and driven by on man alone
For municipal need you traveled quickly
With butcher, baker, strong and sickly

Beneath your duties shining light
endowed with your seats now timeless sight
you hold your memories of situations
well delivered generations
who hold for you infatuations
in awe of your life of destinations

Checker car, where have you been
what escapades were logged, then seen
share tales from the heart that within you beat
as you rolled the length of each cobbled street

And of new born babes beneath your roof
debutantes, reserved, aloof
Physicians, counselors, cops and robbers
the sly, the slick the high hob-knobbers
What clergy-man have blessed the ride
as down the great white way you'd glide
with actors, teachers, students all
of your city's life
through rise and fall

Speak to us this final day
of how you polished the Apple along the way
tell us of friend and foe alike
from down each lane
along each pike
of battles and injuries suffered therein
confide in us of your grace, and sin

In your yellow world of yellow thought
how many rides have you thrown and caught?
Checker taxi on the stand
Checker taxi ever grand
Here at last where all meters cease
Checker taxi rest in peace

(c) Terence Gelber all rights reserved

2010-02-25T06:32:00.000-08:00

2010 A TAxi Oddesy

It has been a while but we are back at it. There are no cheerleaders just scared bystanders and the others who are complaing, either left or right about what to do and what not to do....

SELF Reliance: Is a very noble attribute...And when one is not self reliant they are what??? Reliant. A taxi driver is as self relaint an individual as any other in our City today. In fact probaly more so than many..if not most. Why so?

We go through the process of being licensed by the City agencies and then embark on the journey dealing with the taxi industry aparatus, making our way to the finish line of our tasks each and every day.

We grind out our food and rent money and hopefully enough for the few things in life we all enjoy. An occasional three day weekend, or a nice night someplace with the family or that special someone. Many of us are here in this great country alone, but have familiy obligations in our native country and send much of what we earn to support wives, children or mothers and fathers. But, having left distant shores for the allure of America's freedom, not Americas support. We came to be free and we choose to cruise and fight not to lose.

Working in a New York City Yellow Taxi is much like owning a small neighborhood business. We spend a dozen hours per day and more ferrying people from east to west and borough to borough. We see the best in people and the worst. We are also witness to peolple having good luck and terrible luck as the view of the "street" is
unique,abrupt, constant and at times all consuming, and beautiful, precious.

All though we work for ourselves and spend much time alone we do find time to share taxi stories among ourselves. Many of the stories will start with "I picked up a fare at 14th and 1st going to the Waldorf" Stories and more stories as only a taxi driver can tell one. BUt like any other job it is simply shop talk.

And for those who would ask the question? We are all here legally. We are all licensed by New York City and our state of residence. Arizona needs you...And us.

50KtaxiDRIVER

2009-10-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

In a recent class for New York City taxi drivers at The Master Cabbie Taxi Academy, a spot survey was taken which produced statistic on average income for a group of ten drivers. It was just shy of a thousand dollars per week. All drove for large taxi companies and all but two drove full time.

I have written of NYC taxi driver jobs before. But as the world turns, people still leave the taxi business every day and more taxi shifts become available. It may not be the career you planned for and it is not an easy job, but at $50,000 per year it is a career that a realist must consider.

Drivers that purchase a car, or sign on for long term leases can earn as much as seventy-five thousand.....This brings us to YELLOW MANIA...

In my day, we would hustle to scrape up a hundred thirty, or a hundred forty dollars per shift on a good day. Sure we would do better on the occasional weekend shift, and there were many nights when the streets of plenty yielded little more than grocery money. But, the full time New york City Taxi Drivers were in the six to seven hundred dollars range per week. Approximately 30,000 for a hard driving full time cabby on annualized basis.

Now IN 2009, we are seeing full time taxi drivers earning more than fifty thousand dollars per year IN A RECESSION!!

This is something every person with a drivers license can think about. Are there paid vacations? NO...Are there paid sick days? NO...The "Easy" street you remember in the corporate world or the world of government employment is not one you can drive on now.....Cabby's DRIVE ON EVERY STREET because there is no easy street...And those who have enjoyed what they thought was easy street are lined up by the millions at the unemployment office.

How many states, like California will go bankrupt? How many Cities will be decimated like Detroit? For how much longer can Nations print paper money and call it progress as one in eight citizens are in need of gainful employment?? For how long will the average Joe wait for a job that is not coming back when he should have taken two jobs at Walmart and Seven Eleven and moved to a cheaper home...a year ago.

Downsize????All the time....But the taxi drivers are raking it in and will be doing so well ahead of the poor mans curve that is now settling on the mindset of Americas ever expanding working class......Working Class? Taxi drivers are working class.....Working Class Hero's.

To drive a taxi in New York City contact Master Cabbie TAxi Academy 1-718-472-1699 or 1-800-955-8294 or www.mastercabbie.com...Ask for the big money department...

taxi50000YEAR

2009-09-30T04:37:00.000-07:00

AddressTAXI

2009-09-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

LOST IN MANHATTAN? Ask the MASTER CABBIE

The New York City address slide guide (t.m. s.m. patent pending). A simple piece of folded (Sleeve)cardboard, with another piece of cardboard inserted. With a cut out to pull the inserted card to a desired location on the decorative front of the sleeve, and a slot for viewing addresses and cross street on the inside of the sleeve.....Ingenious.

How many people can name the nearest cross street to an address on a Manhattan Ave. without looking it up??? Not many...I must admit there are a few I would have to look up, but not many.

The Manhattan Grid is the key. Addresses were designed to allow for easy calculation in finding an address.
Example: 780 1st Ave. is at 42nd ST.
Process to calculate: Cancel last digit of address 780 = 78 and then divide by 2 = 39 and then add the key number +3....= 42 Street.

Where do you get the key number??? From the Master Cabbie of course www.mastercabbie.com

TAXIunemploymentINSURANCE

2009-09-28T05:10:00.000-07:00

JOBS JOBS JOBS
RECESSION PROOF JOBS..
New York City Taxi Driver (HACK) License
The Ultimate Unemployment Insurance

In a City with 13,235 Yellow taxicabs there are 26,470 shifts possible per day. OR 185,290 per week.. Or enough for 37,058 full time drivers working five shifts per week.......And this is just the Yellow Cabs.. There are also an additional 30,000 or so community car services and 6,000 or so luxury limousines...

In the recession of 2009 it seems clear that people, who were bankers yesterday, or Stock brokers in 2007, or restaurant owners are now making a living driving taxi cabs in New York City.

It is not Wall Street..It is ANY STREET or ANY AVENUE in the Five Boroughs, Three major airports and Two adjoining counties all adding up to about FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS Per YEAR FOR A 5/6 SHIFT WEEKLY TAXI DRIVER.

Fifty Thousand Dollars per year is a TEMPTING amount when you put it along side the millions of people who climb onto subways, trains, and buses each day for much less money and absolutely less freedom. As they hope to get through the day without the boss calling them into the office or a minimal amount of office politics at the water cooler. How much are they earning....

Out on their own, taxi drivers doing their job, take a fare from Point A to Point B. Safely, they collect the fare and then cruise until the next passenger throws a hand in the air in need of taxi service....Another customer.....Not a perfect science but a never ending stream for those who survive the lulls and all else that is NYC.

Do all taxi drivers make 50K a year...NO! But MANY DO, and there are many who earn more. A committed taxi professional with his own taxicab and medallion can generate revenue of ONE HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS per year. With debt service of fifty thousand and operating costs of thirty thousand....DO THE MATH...And this does not include equity growth.

After a twenty year career a taxi driver/owner can retiree with a medallion valued at Six hundred thousand (2009) dollars, and probably a home close to paid for as well.

VALUE GROWTH: The value of the three medallion(TAXI VEHICLE LICENSE)classes in 2009 is is $575,000 , $750,000 and $475,000 respectively. In 1990 the price was about $100,000... This pretty much proves that the historical medallion value growth has outpaced the stock market indexes over the long term.

NO GUARANTEES: BUT, the value cycle is opposite of the normal American business cycle. This is due to driver influx during economic downturns, and driver Exodus during economic expansion....If there are less drivers to rent the cabs there is less revenue to pay mortgages thus lowering the value of the underlying security...BUT WHEN THERE ARE LESS DRIVERS... is the best time to drive a taxi as competition lessens and demand for service picks up. This is when driver income peaks.

IN COMPARISON There are few opportunities to earn entry level income at the rate of New York City Taxi Drivers. It is not a six figure income but the mobility of the profession...Not the wheels but the fact that with a New York City Taxi Operators License a driver can operate any taxicab, car service or Limousine. The fact that they can go to the Taxi Fleet next door if the one they are at does not have a cab available...The fact that with an investment of as little a five thousand dollars they can buy their own Taxicab and lease a medallion and give themselves a good chance of earning seventy thousand dollars per year. A VERY UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY.

IT AIN'T EASY.....They are not giving money away in this business...There are long hours and plenty of bumps in the road.... There are licensing issues, and weather, and traffic,...Traffic...Traffic...But those who endure learn how to get around the traffic and live with it when they can not....There is a high stress level, and if dealing with people is not your strong suit this is not a job for you.

YOU MUST LOVE NEW YORK CITY and YOU MUST LOVE TO DRIVE...If not????? Alaska is looking for a new governor, go check it out.

If you want to drive a NEW YORK CITY YELLOW TAXI call the Master Cabbie Taxi Academy in New York City.718 472 1699 or 1 800 955 8294 or www.mastercabbie.com It is the largest taxi driver training center in the world. The Academy's full licensing program is the most robust in NYC. Five thousand driver come to Mastercabbie each year...YOU SHOULD TOO....

TAXITEXTING

2009-09-26T04:53:00.000-07:00

Taxi Texting Is A NO NO!!!!

In-and-around 1998 a representative of ATT appeared before the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission to promote the allowed use of cell phones, by NY City Taxi Drivers. He espoused training. Education he claimed would be the end-all to save-all when it came to taxi drivers using cell phones. A logical approach.

The oldest Commissioner on the Agencies bench, Martin Greenberg called him out on it. He said something to the effect of: "Sonny, you remind me of the tobacco executives who stood before congress and claimed that smoking does not cause cancer"...A valid and vivid comparison I thought. The line generated a few laughs and then the Commission voted unanimously to outlaw the use of cell phones by taxi drivers while operating a taxicab unless the Cab was legally parked.

In 1998 cell phones were coming into their own. A proliferation of devices that lead to what is now a never ending stream of data that links the distraction of cell phone use to traffic accidents.

Enter "The Texting Revolution"....Who would think that people would rather push a few letters on a key board than say what they mean the way that they want????? But Texting is all the rage and, it is, on the surface and in depth of study, much more of a distraction than speaking on a cell phone. Thus, a greater risk to the driver and those they would injure should they wander from the thought train and drivers lane......

At this moment in time the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission is creating the language to add to the appropriate rules for taxi operators that will make it clear that Texting is against the law. It is already outlawed by New York State DMV and thus is outlawed while driving a taxi as in any other vehicle. But industry specific language is needed to clarify industry specific realities.

IT IS DANGEROUS.

And the one thing no one will debate is that Texting while driving is dangerous. How dangerous??? Only the hospitals and the cemeteries know for sure. We as a nation have instituted laws and manufacturing incentives and mandates that have reduced traffic related deaths to under forty thousand per year from forty-eight thousnad per year twenty-five years ago. All the while the country has grown in size making these reductions all the more impressive.

But as all the apparatus is in place for drivers ed and alcohol and drug counseling we find almost every teenager with a cell phone and their fingers at an ever-alarming rate, on the key board. Grade school love stories that were once passed in notes in class are now sent through cyber space. I feel like I am George Jetson...ALMOST.

What will be interesting to see is the defense people offer when standing in front of a judge charged with texting. At which point the judge in Solomonic candor will simply demand the cell phone records which will either convict or exonerate the defendant....

NO TEXTING ZONE

UNITEDTAXINATIONS

2009-09-25T05:27:00.000-07:00

United Taxi Nations

September 23, 2009 and the streets are full of the United Nations crowd. As rookie cab drivers suffer the wise old Hack Pro's use this week for rest and relaxation....Why? Its the traffic S^%$%^$%&...Oh yes the traffic....

Yes this is a good week to avoid the flow of mechanical reality that floods the Midtown grid from early till late, north to south and east to west. Who is this flood?? It is us, humanity, the human impulse inching along a broken black-topped tier twenty or fifty feet above the rumbling subway and a hundred feet below the mammoth spans of bridges and sky scrapers that are as much of New York City as any other aspect of this home we love.

BUT, why would any person in their right mind want to drive on this Island? Why does a fish swim in the stream? It is in our nature....Do all New Yorkers drive?? No! In fact most do not but those who do, relish the challenge as it affects and creates behavioral patterns that last a lifetime and make us stronger.

It is true that some folks, not of this place think we are a little rough around the edges. They can not see that our drivers edge polishes us in ways that make us shine that they will never understand nor possibly imagine.

We are progress on wheels. Hope in a nutshell. We do not have time to stand still and lose our place in line to that which call us, whatever that may be.

And in this great city none reigns supreme on the street more than A TAXI DRIVER. In New York City, or anyplace, it is very possibly the best driver on the road today is the seasoned cabby. Working twelve hour shifts in the madness that is New York
City traffic gives way to s skill level that can not be easily matched or even easily contemplated. Seventy two hours per week in pursuit of the thousand dollars that will pay the rent, and the phone bill, and the food bill, and the doctors bill and for all the other necessities which push us out of our houses each day and onto the streets of plenty where we harvest the gold. Found in outstretched arms and frantic waves or cool nods that put the bodies in the back seat.

Point A to point B. The News York City Taxi industry, 13,000 cabs strong, 47,000 drivers vying for a place ON THE SEAT as we drive into the Eternity of NYC. A dimension of Yankee Empire State Building Grand Central Terminal Madison Square Garden et al....THE BIG APPLE baby here we are.. love it.... or go back to sleep.

I AM TAXI DRIVER

CabbyPrince

2009-09-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

THE CABBIE PRINCE

It was a long time ago in a place called Long Island City N.Y. Long Island City is a small community on the East River in Queens New York that holds two gateways to Manhattan. The Queensborough Bridge and The Midtown Tunnle, and at that time was mostly warehouses and old three story one family houses many of which had been turned into three apartments.

I came to Long Island City to find a job as a taxi driver, and after eight months of commuting from sixty miles away I found an apartment on and old cobbled street, 43rd Ave. in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge. It was a glorious time.

I fancied myself a poet in those days and spent a good deal of time with a pen in my hand serving my angst with rhyming couplets and an occasional exercise in iambic pentameter. They were glorious times of uncertinty and exploration for a Brooklyn born white boy running away from the suburbs and coming home to New York City.

In my quest for action I arranged for a small theater at 500 Greenwich Street where I would read my poetry. Another taxi driver was convinced to join me and Hack Poetry was born........

Our first reading was furiously promoted by ME...calling all the local "cool" news outlets and some of the upper end ones. The night before the grand event my phone rang. It was Marc Singer from the New Yorker and he was planing to come to the reading..WOW....I had nudged the receptionist at the New Yorker and she apparently had obliged and sent the flyer up the food chain.....So we would have at least one person in attendance.

We were two rookies but none the less adreniline pumped and after about an hour of taking turns reading our poems we served some juice and cookies to our now swollen audience of seven people and then adjourned to Joes Bar on 6th Street in the East Village for the night.....A SUCCESS

On August 19 the New Yorker hit the stands and we were celebrities at the Taxi Garage. dozens of drivers came to tell me that they had read the article....One, a tall thin man name Pete asked if he could read a poem at the next event....What next event..."Sure" I said.

A day or two later he approached me at the Taxi garage and began describing the poem he was going to read and reading me excerpts....He further explained that he was going to wear a Zorro Mask and call himself the Cabbie Prince....WHATEVER!?

When the night arrived, there he was. Six feet twoo inches of denim wearing the Mask Of Zorro. When his turn to read came he stuttered through a beautiful poem laced with racisim and hate for his passengers. I cringed at his crowning line as he uttered the words "French men and N$%#^ don't tip. And those fat F%$%$ Arabs, but here comes the ship"

The dozen people in the audience could not stop their jaws from dropping....We sat agape, my girlfriend, who is a very dark skinned lady looked at me in a hurt way as if I had said it.....It was raw poetry in a raw place spoken by a raw man in a raw way...indigenous art...before rap had conquered....

He slogged on and closed his poem with lines of beauty...."New York City, I'm part of its energy, power and pain, tomorrow I'll do this all over again, and again and again till I shot in the head, die in a crash or just plain drop dead. Randals Island not known for its beauty, on my stone let it say, Prince of Cabbies off Duty"

A smattering of applause and he walked off....

Hack poetry played in various off off broadway venues for three years becoming a reading and poetry contest in the end, but after a year or so The Cabbie prince didn't come around. I learned he had died in a fire in his apartment in Long Island City, apparently from smoking in bed and falling asleep....He was a heavy drinker so I was not surprised, but I was troubled as he was the first of my contemporaries to die, and in an awful way.

I and one other hack poet held a small reading at the RED ROOM in Hells Kitchen in his honor. It was scantly attended. I had an audio tape of his first reading which we played for those present to hear...." ON my stone let it say, Prince Of Cabbies, OFF DUTY".

CABBY1000Aweek

2009-09-15T04:20:00.000-07:00

It seems like everyone is making a thousand a week.....Well approximately. Twice each week I conduct a survey of a group of Taxi Drivers during a seminar at the Master Cabbie Taxi Academy. Full time drivers, those working five or six shifts per week seem to be in thousand dollar per week range....Some as low as seven hundred, but few and a substantial number seem to be near or above twelve hundred per week.

So what's the problem??? It's the economy I guess...Two years ago, a skilled, six day driver was earning as much as fifteen hundred dollars and then the slide began....The lowest averages were last November when most seemed to be earning less than eight hundred...There was a lot of screaming in the classes, but the numbers went up through February and then back down through the summer and now, three weeks into Ramadan we are seeing the Thousand dollar number close at hand BUT...

During Ramadan many drivers work less as they fast and celebrate their traditions. This allows others to earn more as there is less competition for fares on the street... It will be interesting to see if the numbers hold up as many drivers return to a regular schedule after this week.

As we go through the fall and the holiday season business usually improves...But with ten percent unemployment we can only be hopeful....and thankful that we are working the streets and not walking the streets looking for a job.

In my day??? High earning drivers were taking home about one hundred twenty-five dollars per shift, perhaps a little more...We would of course have the occasional $200 shift but it was not a weekly event....It helps to remember that in a recession driver income goes down more due to competition as many drivers come into the industry keeping more cabs on the street. A vicious economic reality suffered by drivers who have not learned to drive smart, and quickly fall out of the industry due its demands of time and focus.

The good thing is that we are making a living. We are not Donald Trump rich...but instead are taxi cab happy which is better by far.....

911

2009-09-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

It was shortly after nine am when someone came into my classroom at the old Master Cabbie Taxi Academy on 29th Street in Queens to tell me that a plane had crashed into the Word Trade Center...."Really" I said..."Was It big one?"...I recall him saying it was and went back about my job of teaching geography of New York City to aspiring Yellow Cab drivers...

It seemed like a few minutes later he came back to tell me another plane had crashed into the other tower......It was an instantaneous clarification....I uttered the words "Bin Laden"....He nodded...

There was a student in my class, an off duty fire fighter, Anthony. After I learned of the second plane I came back and told the class, and asked Anthony specifically if he wanted to leave...It was instinctual, I didn't know anything specific...At that moment his beeper went off, he signed out, and disappeared down the old rickety staircase.

We suspended the class for a while to get the news....The school was on 29th Street in Queens at the intersection of Queensboro Plaza at the foot of the Queens side of the Queensboro Bridge....We walked over to the subway station and went up to the platform and could see the towers burning. It was not long and we could smell it. A stale taste of burnt air and debris kind of grew into the normal breathing quality and you knew it was not going to change anytime soon.

We went back to the taxi school and managed to get a channel on the network news which was talking but know knowing...The phones would not work. We were hearing about the DC and Pennsylvania planes but most potent in the mix of news and events was the bridge...

People were beginning to pour across the bridge from Manhattan on foot.. A sea of humanity, with dazed and confused looks, knowing they needed to get home, a place to sit and rest, time to think....All traffic was stopped from going over the Bridge except emergency vehicles...and the continual sea of humanity

The day continued with no way for most of the students to get home so we sat and talked...Some of the students ventured a hypothesis that it was the Japanese government getting even for the Atom Bombs of World 2...This was put forth seriously..I was in shock and then realized that they felt threatened as Muslims, of a possible Muslim connection...Justifiably...And Anthony was heroically on his way to ground zero....And I wanted to know where my daughter was....and so many other questions...

I tried to make phone calls none of which went through. So I started emailing but the servers were pretty much down or overloaded.....

When the phones were finally back in service, one of the calls I made was to Anthony. I left several messages over the coming weeks. several months later I called again and the number was no longer in service...I didn't know for sure but I kind of knew...He was a nice guy, had been struggling with his bills and so had come to Master Cabbie Taxi Academy to get a Hack license so he could moonlight on his days off as a firefighter.

He was the only American born student in the class that day and mentioned feeling a little out of place. But only In that he was never aware how important it is to so many immigrants to get their Hack License. None of his fellow students would be fireman in this generation. Their turn would come in the children and grand children of thirty and forty years from 2001.

About a year later I was in the classroom and the Office manager came in to tell me I had a phone call.....IT WAS ANTHONY!! I was overjoyed. Jubilant. Ecstatic and any other adjective you care to add to the moment. I was sure he was dead.....And I was wrong, Thank God.

We had a brief conversation and he said he was coming back, which he did. He had a problem though, his paperwork had expired for filing for the Hack License. This was worth a phone call or two, which I quickly made and with no resistance a Deputy Commissioner at the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission waived renewal requirements and reinstated his application....He was unable to complete this due to his work schedule but was issued another extension by the Deputy Commissioner....This one he finished.

At the end of taxi classes all new applicants are required to pass a test. The tests are given at our school by NY City Taxi & Limousine Commission personnel. On any given Friday there may be as many as one hundred twenty-five people in the room.

This was one such day. As I seated the candidates Anthony came in for his exam, we exchanged hello's and he took his seat.

Right before the exam was about to begin in my remarks to the students I told them of the 911 events of a fellow student, who ran from our building to answer the call. Who had in fact gone to the nearest Manhattan Fire House which happened to be on 30th Street. This was the Fire Company that was all but wiped out as first responders. Luckily for Anthony he was not in that first wave...

When I introduced Anthony the room went wild with Applause. I am talking "Obama Applause" wild...There were tears in Anthony's eyes as he stood up and was honored by more than hundred of his fellow New Yorkers, virtually immigrants all, many, many Muslims, cheering in the moment that could allow them once again to touch the great tragedy in a positive way, as it had touched them in such a profound way, on 911, forever.

President Obama Say's "Work hard in Taxi School"

2009-09-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

We all work hard in Taxi School...The instructors pulling eight hour days in the classroom and the office staff, one lady answering phones, distributing books and faxing and emailing City offices to keep the data generated and information needed up to date...Even I spend a full 30 hours a week to keep bills paid, payroll, advertizing, blogs in order. and another 16 hours teaching and running exams...All to keep the flow of drivers to the seats of, the ever iconic Yellow Taxi Cabs of New York City, undisturbed...

As President Obama said yesterday to our children "Work hard, don't expect to succeed every time and wash your hands" I agree with these principles.....doesn't everybody?

But I doubt that many people outside our small universe of soon to be taxi drivers know how hard many people work to become taxi drivers....

Many of our students have not been in school since they were children...It's not easy to return..Many from some countries never went to school at all and struggle to grasp the simple vocabulary exams that they must be able to pass...Many are excellent communicators but having English as a second language, speaking it well, but having survied with minimal reading and writing, even after twenty or thirty years hear in the United States...Answering a simple multiple choice question on which of the following is "NOT"true becomes a hurdle..

So it becomes the task of the Master Cabbie Taxi Academy of New York City to structure a path from wanting to drive a taxi to passing a reasonably comprehensive exam that will cause the issuance of the New York City Taxi Operators License, a Hack License....

There are some people that can pass the exams without going to school. It is a small percentage of critical thinkers who know the City well enough to use a process of elimination during the exam and choose the most likely answer. But answering an obvious question about the Empire State Building and knowing which neighborhood holds the intersection of Webster Ave. and Mosholu Parkway are two different worlds of knowlege...So Taxi School is needed.

At the Taxi School though, what we do for the struggling student is our greatest contribution to the New York City Taxi Industry...We take a marginal candidate on paper, one who truly wants to improve his life by taxi driving and move him closer to his goal...There is no more motivated worker than one who sees an opportunity in taxi driving. Rather than a banker that has lost his job, or a school teacher who is moonlighting or on summer vacation..

Don't get me worng.. We need the school teachers and the bankers...They are a very important part of our industry. History tells us however, that when the economy rolls around to recovery the bakers and school teachers will be leaving and the student that struggled through with our help will still be driving a taxicab and happy to do it...

Each has its value, and all work hard....

Taxi Labor Day, Unemployment Insurance

2009-09-08T04:07:00.000-07:00

It is so nice to be in New York City on a "SLOW" day. Except...We don't make any money...Oh sure we do bring home a few dollars but let's face it. It ain't New Ears Eve.

Start the night shift at about 4PM. Head over the bridge and maybe you get a fare at 3rd and 60th. He goes to 73rd and York. Head down and find a nurse coming out of New York Hospital going to Kips Bay. Turn up 1st Ave. and find a visitor coming out of N.Y.U. Medical Center going back to York Ave. at 83rd. Head up to 86th and west, over to Fifth and down. Traffic is not that bad as I come to the low sixties and get past the Plaza.....I'm looking, and there are people out there, walking, but no one's hailing..

I keep heading down. Washington Square???Which way to turn..I'll go left, over to Mercer and down again, past the Angelica and at long last a hail at Prince Street. Three BBQ's heading to Park Slope...Well at least it will be twenty dollars with a decent tip. I hope. Plus Flatbush Ave might yield a fare on the trip back to Mahattan..

And so it goes. Between Thirty and Forty dollars per hour, maybe even more until it slows down around eleven PM. All this, minus the costs of leasing my cab, today $118, and the gas which will cost about $35 unless I'm lucky and get a Jersey City fare and fill the gas tank at Jersey prices.

You know, it seems like an easy job. In fact it is an easy job for me. But, alot of people don't make it past the first shift because they don't know how to drive, have no people skills, and probably don't like New York all that much...You can't mind eating on the run..You have to be able to control your bladder, and be able to deal with tbe lulls and the busy times...and understand that...If the car is empty, I am unemployed. Do all this, and keep at it, and you can make FIFTY THOUSAND a year....Buy a cab and you can make sixty-five....Buy a medallion and over ten years you can make a million. But if the cab is empty I am unemployed.....Unemployed...until the next fare.

I love New York City. I love being a taxi driver and enjoy the action on the streets...Is there stress?? You betcha! Are the passengers all a fun group? Most of them are..... Is traffic a bumber??? Not If you know what's coming and are prepared for the grind....Cops, ticket agents, know it all wantabe lawyers who tell us what we are supposed to do, all add tension to the day.....But in the end the sounds of the City become what I HEAR AND NOT WHAT I AM as I make my way home to my railroad flat in Queens....lock the door, turn on the tube and chill with a beer....domestic....maybe two or three.

Tuesday Back To New York City Taxi School

2009-09-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

Someplace in ancient History a war ended on this day.. And another began. It was the Big one ending and the Big one beginning. from 1945 through 1964 (Baby Boom) the children of Amercia's great generation came to know a country that offered much in opportunity for the disciplined protagonist and the ruthless, shameless promoter.

In our teens and early twenties we marched on Washington to tell the powers that be we do not want to die in your war...We do not want to work in your corporations and we do not want to have to live in your suburbs, and wear your IBM suits and a miriad of other complaints made by a dynamic youthful citiznery.

Now....We are Washington..We are the corporations...We are the suburbs and we mostly adhere to the modern version of the IBM suit....

What we have learned is that we have to do it for ourselves...Do What??? Everything!!There is need for community but as soon as the term community is invoked someone is trying to outposition us for a piece of a pie that may not even be apparent to us...

Rich, poor, foolish, unlucky all have a place at the table and a right to some piece of the community pie....But WE THE BABY BOOMERS with our inalienable rights have steered this ship to this time and place. WE ARE NOW THE TAXI DRIVERS of the American Universe and we all know how much the meter reads at the end of the trip..BUT WE ARE NOT ALONE are we?

If you want to take a taxi always remember the ditty from teh 30's "A Rich Man Takes a taxi and a Poor Man takes a Train. A Hobo walks the railroad tracks and gets there just the same."

Lockerbie and the Point Some Will Make

2009-08-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

170 Americans dies over Scotland in 1988. There was one conviction. And now the world is watching to see which politician blinks.....Did Brown know and if he did, did Obama know ???and if he did when did they know????

I can not imagine being a family member of one of the victims. The phone rings and I politely answer and then I am hit with the thunderbolt of fatality. The finality of a horrible death and the prospect of a lifetime of questions never to be answered...

Our time on earth must surely end. But not our spirit, our energy, our essence permeating the spheres of understanding our friends and loved ones inhabit... It is a painful memory for any American, parent, sibling, friend or neighbor....

Now we will see the political powers rush to judgement as those who suffer with this tragedy every day have their hearts dragged through the most painful memories of their lives......To prove a point or make points.....

Yes, I know which side of the debate I am on.... but that is not the point.

Bet On Teddy and Irene Might

2009-08-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

There once was man who had a dream about the 5 horse in the 5th race. He wakes up and looks at his alarm clock and it is 5:55 AM. He looks at the Calendar and it is May 5th. He goes into the bathroom and their are five tooth brushes in the cup. He picks up his wallet and in it is five hundred fifty-five dollars and fifty-five cents.

He looks on the Internet and The 5 horses name is Irene Might. His wife's name is Irene so he believes he has a sign from the gods that the horse will win.

He goes to the bank and borrows five thousand five hundred and fifty-five dollars and then goes to the track. He bets it to win on Irene Might.

The race begins: "And they're off" As had been predicted in his dream and by his alarm clock and his calendar and his tooth brush and his wallet and his wife's name
Irene Might.......The horse ran 5th...

We watch the health care debate. Kennedy was the leader of the pack for a long time. The voices can be heard from coast to coast. Pass it for Teddy...An unrelated reason to pass a piece of legislation that may indeed be good for all....I don't know...Do you??? I do know what happened to Irene Might....Her stars were aligned and she ran fifth....

Ted Kennedy is worth remembering. his speechifying was fun to listen to. I think we all loved the Kennedy/New England accent....Remember Irene Might as the voices convince you that this is a LOCK......No such thing as a lock.

Ted Kennedy In A NYC Taxi?

2009-08-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Ted Kennedy is gone, and taxi drivers still have to go to work. Parhaps a day off for the liberal lion of the Senate is in order, well at least in Boston. It is a big name by any standard. But not one you would find in a cab unless you refer to his nephew John Kennedy Jr. or his ex sister-inlaw Jackie O.

A friend of mine, a cabbie of some renoun once drove the former First Lady. It was not a long ride as I recall the story. But nonetheless it is one worth thinking about. The woman who sat next to JFK in the moment that stopped time, casually getting into a yellow cab and asking to go to the museum, or the doctor......

In the political climate of the day we will hear form all sides about all things and they will link Ted Kennedy to whatever suits the writer or commentator's cause. I will avoid watching and listening. But I will remember.

Vacation Is Over

2009-08-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

The heat wave is breaking and the world will soon be back at work...At least those of us who keep the peddle to the metal in New York City Taxicabs.... It has been many years since I sat on the seat of a taxicab, plying the trade of NYC Yellow Transporter. Why so Long??? Well a funny thing happened on Thanksgiving Eve 1992.

As I prepared to drive my taxi the phone rang......A part time job offer through the Taxi And Allied Workers Union, to help political refugees train to pass the New York City Taxi Operator Exam, which soon became a full time job. After a few years of being in the right place at the right time the work evolved into the The Master Cabbie Taxi Academy. The first and only privately held taxi driver training center in New York City..

Today The Academy is located at 24-29 Jackson Ave. in Queens County. In between the entrance of the Queensboro Bridge and the Queens Mid Town Manhattan Tunnel. We provide training and tutoring services to a few thousand people each year.

Our Academy is an unusual universe of personalities. Most coming from across the globe to The Big Apple in search of discretionary income. Hoping for a way of life that will support the dream of a future.....With the proverbial hat in hand asking for help to obtain the coveted NYC Hack License which will allow them to operate the iconic New York City Yellow Cab, it is a small thing to ask for, but a big thing to receive. A small piece of plastic with your picture on it offering a gateway to America for many, salvation in times of financial need to others, or a way to grind out a responsible living for those who invest and build taxi companies. Many of whom will become Master Cabbies.

Which one are you??

What Is the Foundation Of Your Economic Beliefs?

2009-08-24T12:08:00.001-07:00

What Is the Foundation Of Your Economic Beliefs?

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Daily Newsie Busted By Bike Cop for Texting At Ground Zero

2009-08-21T04:21:00.000-07:00

There she was. Stopped at the light reading the messages on her Blackberry when Marie McGovern noticed a Motorcycle cop looking at her. To her credit she did not start screaming and saying how she had a sick child in the trunk on her way to the hospital. She just followed police instructions pulled over right at Ground Zero and accepted her $130 summons.

According to the Daily News, New York City issues 530 cell phone tickets per day....Do the math and all of a sudden financial solvency becomes a possibility through good police work.

Hands free is still OK. Unless you are licensed by the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission. That's right. NY City Yellow Cabs must be legally parked for the driver to engage in cell phone activity..... like talking. So Cabby's, if your lips are moving and there is no passenger in the back seat, you can expect to pay $130 to Mr. Bloombergs Finance Dept. And of course lets not forget that the TLC can also levy a taxi specific fine, but you would have to be given a TLC summons for this. Who issues the TLC summons? NYPD. Twofers?

A member of the NY City Taxi Commission, The late Marvin Greenberg, once responded to a rep from AT&T who was making the pitch for cell phone use as a good thing. In his wisdom Mr. Greenberg, an orighinal member of the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission made a statement similar to the following "Son, you remind me of the tobacco execs who claimed that they did not believe cigarettes cause cancer. I vote no"

At that point he and the entire NY City Taxi Commission voted to ban cell phone use by taxi drivers unless the cab was legally parked.....It should be noted that this was done more than ten years ago. Well ahead of the curve.

So, unplug New York City, the call can wait.

Cell Phone Rules!

2009-08-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

We all know the cell phone rule. But now we are going to be reminded by the NYPD. A zero tolerance policy is being put into effect. And as a survivor of a zero tolerance on parking, forced to go to some warehouse and fight for my bosses car without a registration I can unequivocally say...Zero Tolerance is no fun.

But what brings us to this point? Lets face it, Blue Tooth is fun at first and then it starts to hurt your ear. After a while you lose it and at sixty bucks who's in a rush to get a new one. EEEEEEEconomics 101....Recession 101, do without.

Now the realities of cell phones are interfering with the realities of life. A kid is run down and people want answers. A yellow cab driver is either the catalyst or the second one lost in the 2009 war of the cell phones that will now be waged by an underfunded New York City and an underfunded, economically challenged citizenry.

We should all practice saying: "I'm sorry your honor" And get used to hearing: "Next time maybe you'll pull over before you answer your cell phone. Bailiff lock him up"...

And as the Cabby Prince says? "Who weeps for the child lost in Harlem?"

Cell Phones, Taxicabs and Taxi Drivers

2009-08-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

Cell Phones, Taxicab’s and NY City Taxi Drivers
By: The Cabby Prince

All alone in the City, it’s late at night, in fact the wee lonely hours between midnight and dawn. As times slides by less and less traffic and more and more distance between the driver and the last passenger. Who knows how long before the next fare.

I NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO. Flip, press and connect. The conversation begins to a girlfriend or boyfriend in the outer boroughs or a relative in a distant country or a fellow cabby hoping to set a meet for a coffee…..but for now, I am not alone and I need to talk to someone.

We have recently seen the worst of cell phones and automobiles as a young boy’s life was cut short in Harlem when a car, driven by a man on his cell phone, ran the boy down. The cars driver has been accused of talking on his cell phone at the time of the accident and also accused of attempting to leave the scene…

So who might he have been talking to? What could be more important than watching where he was going?

Why is it we, the people talk so much on these 21st century devices? What are we missing in our lives that, has us on the phone so much of the time….Before cell phones what did we do?? I remember public pay-phones. I liked them much more than cell phones.

A cell phone might be the equivalent of the 24 hour news channels that play the same news over and over again and present it as if it is new. We listen but do not hear the banter between the hosts who are experts at being unobtrusive, and well dressed, reading copy as if it is the Word.

I do not know the exact number but I am sure that cell phone related fatalities is documented someplace. As well, the number of injuries connected to cell phone abuse while operating a motor vehicle, all of which will lead to teary eyed defendants waling before judges of “HOW SORRY THEY ARE….And of course “It will never happen again you honor”.

But what of the eight year old boy in Harlem? Who weeps for him? The defendant? For a while their fates are entwined…. and then the cell phone will ring again. He will listen, ponder and then tell his conscience he has to take the call.