Anchorage Transportation Commission is looking for customers who are dissatisfied with quality of dispatch staff

Anchorage Transportation Commission are looking for customers who are dissatisfied with the quality of service the dispatch staff at Alaska Yellow Cab has provided.  Recently, they raised their dispatch stand rent effective March 1, 2012 to $1000 for taxi.  Since they will not repair the equipment after hours in order to do their shift.  The systems manager refuses to clear his voice mail to allow people to leave a message making him not available.  The taxi are only not going to receive $1000 a month service they are only receiving $350 a month.  When a customer makes a complaint on a driver.  It is not acted on in an timely manner.  They also do not handle complaints in a timely manner.  They have been know to use foul language when a customer gets mad at them instead of attempting to calm the customer down.  When a customer ask when they will they get their cab they say as soon as we can instead of giving an estimate time of arrival.  I guess when the highest management such as Regina Doyle and Ron Lane also used foul language when talking to customers.  Complaints have gotten ignore or have not been addressed by the dispatch staff and manager.  Cab drivers have complained for over 8 years they have had a hard time reaching dispatch unless I was behind the desk.  Drivers for the last couple of years have complained that unless they are at a geographic center they either have to hit the meter on and off to get another trip since they could not void the trip because of not being at geographical center of the trip.  They also have a 30 minute unjust rapid meter penalty to the next trip.  Unless a dispatcher looks at each trip and determine should hit the rapid meter override before the driver calls for the dispatcher to do it.  I always automatically hit the rapid meter override if location is a strip mall, trailer park and a apartment complex and W Dimond Blvd and E Tudor Rd due to not being at geographic center.  This 30 minute rapid meter penalty should destroyed because it is an injustice to driver. Dispatcher should work with the drivers not against them or play god over them.  Remember without drivers you have no cab company.  If you have had a hard time dealing with the dispatch staff you can call Eric Musser at the Anchorage Transportation Inspection office at (907) 786-8525.  If they gets enough complaints then they can perform a quality of service investigation at Alaska Yellow Cab.  You can e-mail them at wwti@muni.org state your complaint to them.  This will give Anchorage better quality of service and make Alaska Yellow Cab accountable

Anchorage Dispatch employees should be required to have safety training

According to AMC 11.40.054 Anchorage dispatch employees must be familiar with emergency notification and their training programs must be approved by the Transportation Commission currently both Anchorage companies Alaska Yellow Cab and Anchorage Checker Cab are not in compliance with this statue.  Their has never been a training plan approved by the Anchorage Transportation Commission by both companies.  We require that cab driver must take a course to familiar with Title 11 this is not done by the dispatch companies.  The training is pretty you throw them on without a test.  They should be required to take the test but must have 80% in order to be able to dispatch a cab.  Safety is the most important in this business.  It seems that Alaska Yellow Cab management for the last seven years has never cared about.  It is not just Regina Doyle but Ron Lane as well.

TSA has gone too far having a Alaskan Native garmet a weapon

Recently Alaska's senior US senator Lisa Murkowski was asked recently to remove her kuspuk.  This is an Alaska native parka traditionally warn by some Alaskan Native woman and girls.  You know their is a better way to do this since the Transportation Security Agency was a created by a knee jerk reaction to the towers falling on September 11, 2001.  We have now seen unnecessary searches against our citizens when most of the terror breaches have come from a lack of foreign security not American security.  We need to demand that countries like the Netherlands either get tougher with their security.  We will an demand either get tough or you if want to fly to and from Amsterdam you will fly to Brussells or Munich to get to Amsterdam.  Come on when is an Alaskan native clothing considered a weapon.  Abolish the TSA and create a TSA for only for interstate flights.  Each state should be allowed to create their own security for in state flights especially in Alaska and Hawaii.

People are choosing open primary due to 2008 Supreme Court ruling over Washington State Primary

According to my friends at the Olympian on March 18, 2008.  The Supreme Court ruled 7-2.  The people can control how people could elect their leaders.  They upheld Washington State's Initiative the voters to select their top two vote getters will go to the General Election.  Please enjoy political parties the people are in charge again which the constitutional founding fathers intended.  The only reason political parties exist is due to a duel in 1800 when Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton.  States were a person can decided their candidates are Washington, Louisiana and California starting this year. 

Boy's wish inspires a nation to give to the homeless

This boy who inspired a nation to give to the homeless.  Many people in the Seattle including my friends at KOMO News and around the nation gave food to the homeless in his honor.  When you think of giving food to the homeless think of the legacy of Brendon Foster who passed away in 2008 from an illness and wished for everyone to be fed.  When you see a homeless person buy him a meal.  I remember during my living years in Spokane.  I am sure Marty from Truth Ministries remembers our time at City Gate Fellowship together in 1992 and I used to hand out sandwiches to people around 1st Avenue and Jefferson Street near the Otis Hotel right across from the current KHQ studios where the Greyhound station used to be before in 1996 they move to the Intermodel transit center behind the old Thudpuckers.  I also used to buy a to go meal from a former grocery at Riverside and Howard called Two Geezers who was a great business in Downtown Spokane where Spokane Transit office used to be.  Before Tom Foley used his political muscle as speaker to change the big hole to a Bus station next to the Old Crescent Building. 

Anchorage Taxi Cab drivers would benefit creates more competition and greater choice for the public

Limited open entry creates more competition and greater choice for the Anchorage Public.  Highly regulated and limiting permits like Anchorage just limits peoples ability to choose.  Spokane city has the same population as Anchorage not including the occupied areas of Eagle River, Chugiak, Spenard and Girdwood.  Their permits are business licenses costing only $1345 a piece.  Have the assembly  repeal 11.20.030 section D requiring public auction.  More permits more competition.    Limited competition please no one except the elite owner morons which ATPOA represents.  In Anchorage you have 174 permits.  Even smaller cities like Homer, Bethel, Nome, Kotzebue, Barrow, Fairbanks, Kenai, Wasilla, Kodiak, Ketchikan and Juneau have greater choices than Anchorage.  Currently in the Anchorage Transportation Commission their is a debate on transferable and non transferable permits.  Here is what really needs to be done.  Let's reduce the value of these permits $0 they pay $1345 every 2 years since all permits belong to Municipality not the owner at will like the ATPOA would like to say.  The only time these permits should be transferred is through family if the owner is not to perform this permit.  Let's also make these permits a requirement you must live in the Municipality of Anchorage to get one and have three years of cab driver experience.  Should cab drivers like Lynette Moreno-Hinz be able to purchase a permit.  Anchorage needs to adopt the Spokane model have the permits be $1345 every 2 years to create competition and do what the founding father intended.  If you want competition of taxicabs in Anchorage contact Debbie Ossainder at (907) 343-4113.

We need a national primary to decide a presidential election

Every four years we seem to have this policy that we must have this candidate road show towards the party nomination.  According to the original founding of this nation.  People ran as individual not political parties then after for some stupid reason after Alexander Hamilton was murdered by Aaron Burr because Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were running against each other.  The election policy before this was the first place president second place vice.  Then came a congressional amendment creating where the presidential nominee gets pick his friend if you and political parties were born.  Why have a national primary and if the winner does not get 50% on the Sunday after tax day where everybody will vote by mail in April or May the first Tuesday in a leap year be the national primary day.  Then the top two candidates under 50% get to campaign til November have this on the 1st Sunday in November.  The presidential candidate will need to register by November 15th the year before.  Please tell your congressman and senator you want national primary like some states choose their leaders.  We need to start this starting in 2016 election cycle.  We do this when national build time to practice what we preach any questions ask a Louisiana and Washington State voters how this works and Californians will choose their leaders this year thanks to smart voters in the state too bad I am banned in Los Angeles due to stupid city ordinance.  Thank you the communist dictatorship of Los Angeles.  I though Seattle was the communist city with Portland as its copy cat.  I am glad Spokane choose freedom from the Spokesman-Review grip from 999 W Riverside Ave which if you turn upside down it is 666.  They elected Mayor Condon instead of the lounge singer Mary Verner and a city council of freedom like my buddy Mike Fagan who is the brother of Jack Fagan my political academic advisor when I was a student at Spokane Falls Community College. If you do not know how to mail your ballot ask an Oregon and Washington voter they have been doing that for a while.