As he waits in the taxi holding pen at Los Angeles International Airport, driver Mohammad Rashidi quietly contemplates a politician's proposal with the universal look for "What now?"
Harbor area City Councilman Rudy Svorinich wants "How Am I Driving?" stickers to be placed on all 1,900 city-regulated taxicabs. Cabbies would rather have the lawmaker ask, "How Am I Legislating?"
"We deserve better treatment than this," said Rashidi. Like many of the hundreds of drivers waiting to file into the airport, Rashidi said this is another example of how the city adds problems for cabdrivers without solving any.
The city should tackle such things as illegal "bandit" cabs, drivers who must work long hours to make minimum wage, and having too many confusing regulations, said Rashidi and other cabbies.
"Most cabs carry signs you can call if you see unsafe driving anyway," said Oruc Selcuk. "If politicians need votes, they ought to take care of other matters instead of punishing taxi drivers."
The motion before the City Council's Transportation Committee calls for an "appropriate" punishment for cabbies found to have violated rules after being turned in under a proposed program that would require cabs to have bumper stickers with an 800 number. It has not been decided who would handle the calls.
Investigations of complaints of reckless driving and punishments could be handled by the Department of Transportation or a taxi authority now being assembled by Mayor Richard Riordan.
The authority was primarily created to deal with other taxi-related issues, including strife between cab companies, contract disputes and lawsuits.
The proposal stresses the need "to protect the peace, health and safety of . . . passengers, motorists, tourists and residents." Even so, a Svorinich aide said the proposal isn't really grounded in a high volume of grievances against taxi drivers.
"We just thought this was a chance for the public to be able to point out the discourtesy and courtesy of drivers franchised by the city," said Barry Glickman, Svorinich's chief of staff. "It's an idea that kind of just floated up."
Councilman Richard Alarcon, who heads the Transportation Committee, said the proposal will probably pass.
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Michael Collins, senior vice president of the L.A. Taxi Co., likes the idea because it would add to regulations aimed at making taxi drivers more cautious.
