Annapolis Capital Punishment

Beep! Beep! Honk! Honk! Noise invades our lives and our communities all the time. Annapolis Alderwoman Julie Stankivic, upset by taxicabs laying on their horns to alert fares of their arrival, is exploring possible legal, administrative or even legislative remedies to stop them (Capital Punishment is still thinking of a pun or wordy witticism to write coyly about this mundane topic. Honky? Horny? ….Lay it on to us with your suggestions…)

Our popular state capital boasts a huge fleet of as many as 200 or perhaps more licensed cabs and whether anyone realizes it, they are a big business and an integral part of our transportation and economic development network. Sometimes cab owners and operators can be their own worst enemies and they have never been able to get beyond their inner turmoil, petty bickering and squabbling to unite as the economic powerhouse they are. So, they muddle on, subject to the whims of the City Council and our Department of Transportation which is responsible for inspecting and licensing the vehicles and operators. The quality of the vehicles and their drivers range from excellent and first rate to last stop before the junkyard-or jail.

I have always wondered why cabs need to honk two, three or four times. Perhaps with radio and cell phones, they don’t need to honk at all. Stankivic tells Capital Punishment the fine for such honking in New York City is a whopping $500! I remarked that it costs $500 to flush a toilet or blow one’s nose in Gotham and hoped such a steep fine would not be on the table in our own little borough. This honking has upset the feisty first-term Alderman a few times too many and she has taken up the case with City Attorney Shaem Spencer and Annapolis DOT Director Danielle Matland. Admittedly, it’s not the most exciting story on the radar screen, but where it goes may tell us a few things about Stankivic’s ability to be effective and wrestle it out with an equally determined city department head while both attempt to deal with (or not?) an important yet immature industry that is vital to our community.

Capital Punishment firmly believes this is yet another example of why the City needs something along the lines of a Hacker’s Board or Taxi Commission. The Department of Transportation, with one full time staff person dealing with the burgeoning taxicab situation, is a regulatory agency with little oversight, much the same as with Annapolis Transit. The Transportation Board is a paper tiger that occasionally meets and does little else. A civilian review panel overseeing taxicabs and meeting with regularity and regular authority would be able to review complaints, suspend licenses and carry out other business with a higher degree of uniformity and fairness than with the current system, which is mainly subject to the whims of the DOT.