The Unavoidable Issue The Seattle And King County Taxi Community Must Confront Is Their Taxicab Medallion Status: Will They Remain Leases Or Will They Become Real Property?

June Is Here---I Have Come to a Basic Conclusion About Seattle/King County Taxicab Medallions: A New Taxicab Manifesto  

While there are multiple reasons why 600 or more taxicab medallions entered an inactive status, with the majority of them now retired, one point for me has become tantamount: from the very beginning Seattle and King County taxicab licenses (now medallions),should never have been classified as revokable leases governed by the City and County. I don't know the history behind this, why the City and County didn't follow New York City's model and lead, making their taxicab licenses "private property" or "real property."  If they had, it would have allowed taxicab owners and associations to operate like the independent businesses they in reality certainly are, and not some bizarre form of indentured servitude subject to governmental whim. 

What is clear is that this slanted attitude, mandating that taxicab owners and associations must operate solely at the behest of local government regulators, explains why Uber and Lyft were allowed to invade our business sector minus barriers. Can you imagine Seattle and King County inviting Boeing's prime business rival, Airbus, based in Toulouse, France, to compete locally minus any restrictions, with the State of Washington passing laws accommodating Airbus, giving it a free pass? 

Obviously of course that would never happen but it is parallel to how Seattle/KC cabs were treated. While what happened in 2014, with the unfettered welcoming of Uber and Lyft possibly still occurring, it might have been different if everyone actually owned their licenses, legal resistance to their incursion holding a more solid basis and foundation, instead of what could be called at best a kind of ephemeral ownership. 

What all this means for current Seattle and King County medallion "owners,"is that in real terms you own nothing at all. It is "thin air." How does one own a lease?  A lease is not real property but instead an agreement that can be terminated at any time. Given that stark and legal reality, changes must occur to protect the monetary and time investments made by Seattle and King County taxicab operators.  

As evinced by the current retirement of medallions, new protections and changes must be put in place, never allowing this type of event to reoccur. First, all retired medallions must be un-retired and reinstated to their original owners.  And secondly, there must be a change in legal definition, transforming leased medallions into private, real property medallions, tossing the imaginary concept of intangible property rights into the bureaucratic waste bin where it belongs. I find the term insulting, implying that the human taxicab drivers themselves are intangible, somehow not quite real, only imaginary figures play acting in some kind of fictional reality. How in any way can that be declared acceptable, yet alone permanent? 

The Seattle and King Taxicab community must make the following declaration, that never again shall they allow themselves to be treated or seen as second class or worse business owners, maintaining that their rights and interests are equal to any other business, be it Boeing, Amazon or any other respected company.  No longer will we allow our local taxicab community to be trodden upon and ground into the bureaucratic dirt. It is time to stand up and say "No! Never again!"

Yes, Seattle cabbies, it is time to immediately grow up and resist, shouting out you are an important and vital part of Seattle and King County's transportation equation. Let your voices be heard, never again to be muted or silenced. Taxi needs you and Seattle and King County needs your taxis.  Make sure no one ever again forgets the  truth of what taxi is and alway will be: a prime and essential benefit to the greater Seattle community. Taxi now! Taxi forever!

If Jerry Didn't Know

Recently I talked with taxi buddy Jerry over the telephone, someone who first drove a Seattle taxicab way back in 1972, later holding many hats, including dispatch etc. For someone involved with taxi for over fifty years, we were both surprised to learn he had no idea that Seattle/King County taxi license/medallion holders were not in any way an owner of said medallions. That says it all, doesn't it, if someone as intimately involved as Jerry was in all things taxi, to not know that all the operators had was a lease to drive a cab and nothing else. For me it speaks to the lack of communication between the City/County and the taxicab community. One can only hope that will change. Could it get any worse?

Staying Safe in the Cab and What to do if All Hell Breaks Loose

Taxi buddy Karl told me he was helping a young woman to put on a cab, and this neophyte plans on driving nights. Either she is brave, dumb or naive but I am writing this for her and anyone new to the deranged world known as driving taxi. And everyone, please heed my words of protection wisdom. I know of what I speak!

While it is much to ask of a taxi green pea, an essential taxicab skill is having the ability to read who the passenger is as they approach your cab. You don't need surprises. You must know when trouble enters your cab, it being far too late once a gun is pressed against your head. I have a solution for that too but you want to avoid that kind of scenario at all costs. If you recognize that trouble is now sitting behind you, do not hesitate to say you know he/she is trouble and will not tolerate any nonsense. 

I found that talking directly to passengers can be helpful but always remember to stay calm, remaining polite. If it comes to it, stop and say it is time to go, to leave the cab. When making that decision, choose a location, if possible, with lots of people around, and if at night, adding a lighted location. An angry passenger is an unsafe passenger.  If argument ensues, leave the cab while calling 911. 

In other words, game players love to play games so don't go along with it. When stepping into your cab, always have your "set rules " firmly in your mind, and if someone steps over the line, you already know what you are going to do. The faster your response the better. I have stopped the cab even before some passengers have completed a first sentence, telling them sorry, no way Jose, you are out. They protest but they  know why the cab ride has been terminated, knowing full well they are the dangerous assholes I understood them to be.  All you have done is remind them of the obvious. Bad guys know they are bad. 

I never carried a gun or any other kind of weapon, knowing I had the ultimate weapon: my cab. If the very worst happens, and a weapon is presented, step on the gas flying through red lights shouting you will roll the cab, aiming for telephone poles, screaming for them to toss the gun or knife out of he window. 

Only once did I ever have do this, and believe me, it scared the hell out of the scoundrels, then suddenly braking in a busy intersection, throwing all the doors open. Obviously, always wear you seatbelt, and if you roll your cab, do it within a span of between 15-30 seconds, not giving them time to physically overwhelm you. The best defense is alway to act quickly, without hesitation. Those who hesitate end up robbed, injured or dead. 

Again, this is a last resort when it is very clear you are about to be murdered. Cabbies have a higher likelihood of being murdered than cops. During the mid-1980s in NYC, over 50 cabbies were murdered annually. The only good thing then NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani ever did, according to my thinking, was dramatically reduce the number of murdered cabbies. Thank you Rudy!

Another important point is to avoid all dead-end streets. It is nearly impossible to accelerate out of trouble if you are facing in the wrong direction.  If you find yourself on a dead-end street, do a quick U-turn.  Always make sure when stopping you have no obstacles blocking a quick escape.  Read my words more than once. They just might save your life. 

Progressive is Not Nice

At least in the State of Washington, the Progressive Insurance Company seems to be the primary taxicab insurer though that doesn't mean they like cab drivers. I have written in these pages how Progressive tried to blame me for an accident when parked stationary at a red light. Of course that is impossible but that not stopping the agent from siding with the deranged driver who shouted "I hope you are T-boned and die! I hope you die!  And what was my offense? None whatsoever, only waiting for the signal to turn green. 

I bring Progressive up due to how they have recently treated a friend of mine who was planning on putting a cab back on the road, this after a near three-year hiatus after being nearly killed when a fool driver plowed into the rear of his stationary Ford Crown Victoria at 60 mph.  If he been in a Prius he would be dead. 

And what did Progressive decide his new annual insurance rates should be?  $24,000 per year! Why?  Because they said they took a lost on the claim. What is the point of being insured if you are blamed for something not your fault?  Of course this making no sense but he gave up in despair and sold his medallion for next to nothing. He plans on suing Progressive and I hope he does. 

The Consumer Hotline number for the Washington State Insurance Commissioner is 800-562-6900. If Progressive is also screwing you, give a call and tell WA State office how much you don't love Progressive. The more complaints filed against Progressive the better. 

Book Review: "Autonorama, The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving" by Peter Norton, Island Press Books, 2021, 238 pages

If anyone is interested in the background and genesis of autonomous vehicles, this book is for you, essential history for both regulators and taxicab operators facing the upcoming tidal wave of robotic taxis. You will learn much concerning how America became car-centric or car dependent minus any and all better alternatives. The American obsession with cars and their domination over the landscape wasn't a complete given back 100 years ago, in the "Roaring 20's."  The reality we see today is a formulated one created by "motordom" (Norton's descriptive term) and its allies.  What Norton describes is the selling of a "bill of goods" directing an urban dependency upon cars, cars and more cars. 

After reading the book, you will find yourself a minor scholar, knowing much concerning the twists and turns building the reality we now drive upon at crazy, breakneck speeds. I bet you didn't know that the American interstate system, with construction beginning in 1956, was touted as a needed public service  reducing traffic fatalities and accidents, and not the perpetual chaos we now experience on the freeways.  It might be laughable but the humor in this case is very serious. 

The very first paragraph on page 1, beginning with the introduction, in a very real sense, says almost everything one needs to know about what cultural message that was being pushed. And pushed is about right, the American automobile industry doing everything it could to addict the American public to driving a car. 

My own father, needing a relief driver due to our crazy yearly moves up, down and across the American and Canadian landscape, put me behind the wheel when I was 12, providing me no choice but to the join the burgeoning cultural phenomena that were the tens of millions of fellow Americans flying down asphalt roadways. It did prepare me to drive a cab, zooming on freeways by the time I was 14. I did have a Province of Alberta learner's permit.  Even my law breaking father had his limits. 

Here is the quote from the intro entitled "Not If but When":

"Someday---and it may come surprisingly soon---a car maker will introduce a radically advanced automobile, and cash in on the giant market of tomorrow." So an American electronics firm seeks to entice automobile manufacturers' interest in its products. This advertisement depicts a high-tech future: Four smiling occupants of a driverless car travel a high-speed, zero-congestion highway, enjoying one another's company in comfort and safety. They face each other; none pays any attention to the road. Their geographic setting is nondescript; what matters are the fast vehicles and their relaxed occupants, the delay-free roadway; the unseen electronics that purportedly make this utopian future possible. In these respects, the promise is typical of countless others like it from the last decade. This example, however, is from 1958."

I found this to be a great opening, funny in a way, and indicative of what was coming. There are so many wonderful quotes and features that I find it nearly impossible to know what to include but I find this quote from page 226 especially applicable:

"A fully automated car is not actually smart, intelligent, or autonomous. It is the mindless extension of the humans who wrote the program that governs its decisions." 

Yes, something that is obvious but a reality Waymo and its friends don't want anyone to consider, their premise being their autonomous vehicle is smarter than you. A pompous view I must say, insulting to what humans can do and achieve.  A film I insist you watch on UTube is something produced in 2010, "2030 Xing!", a 12-minute video showing everyone what our mobility future would actually be in 2030. Watch it and be amazed. 

After viewing that, you might conclude that the future the technocrats want you to embrace is a sham, and yes it is, and yes it isn't.  If Norton's informative book has any failings is that it was published in 2021. I would love to see an updated version. Regardless I find it to be an invaluable tool to understanding the reality that is being foisted upon not only the USA but the entire world. 

And why is this happening?  As Peter Norton expresses over and over, it's about the "money, honey!" They want your money. The question remains whether all of us will be stupid enough to open our wallets to these capitalist charlatans.  I hope not.

The book is cheap. I found a brand new copy online for $5.00, making me wonder if it has been suppressed by those who don't want anyone to read the book. I am suspicious. I am not easily impressed but Peter Norton is one bright fellow. He would make one great cabbie!

Talking in the Cab: Essay Time Magazine May 25, 2026 Issue What We're are Losing by Talking Less by Markham Heid  

What every cabbie knows about is talking. The vast majority of passengers want to talk, talk, talk. And while everybody is talking in the cab, Americans are talking less.  The essay states that from 2005 to 2019, the average number of words spoken fell by 28%, meaning that in 2005 the average person uttered about 16,000 words a day but by 2019, the average was down to about 12,000.  The essay's premise is that this isn't a good trend, with people missing the benefits of human interaction,

For the cabbie, talking is a mixed bag. Talking certainly creates good tipping yet too often a passenger's conversation is simply irritating.  I never told a passenger "Would you please shut up!" but I have been tempted numerous times. And I can't remember how many times the talk in the cab went sour, making for some painful minutes. 

If I have a conclusion to make, it is that less talk is more. And yes, many passengers have found me a complete bore!  

And all I want is the ride to be over, with my beloved passenger quickly out of the door, never again to see them any more. 

Once certainly is enough!  You don't like my attitude?  Tough!

Silly Serious Poem

Waymo, Waymo

Why do you want to drive me around?

I am perfectly happy driving my own car

So what purpose can possibly be found

When  instead I have the ability to travel afar

Not needing you or anyone taking me

to a distant automotive roadway

Star!

Early For April, Late For May: A Report Concerning My Three Day Return To Seattle And The Five Meetings I Had Concerning The Retirement Of City Of Seattle And King County Taxicab Medallions

 Seattle is More Expensive that ever

It felt somewhat surreal returning to a city holding so many memories for me, first arriving in January 1973, and finally permanently departing in July 2024. Given that I now live in middle-of-nowhere southwest New Mexico, I was first struck, upon landing at Sea-Tac, how instantly I was surrounded by more people in the terminal than live in my general vicinity of San Lorenzo and the Mimbres River valley, no longer accustomed to shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow communication with my fellow human species. 

The inherent noice associated with the modern American urban environment is overwhelming. Better are birdsongs and the mooing of cows and dogs barking and the singing of our ever insistent winds. Urban life might contain what could be described as a kind endemic dissonance and disorientation, ultimately confusing all who share the city's cacophony, a mechanically blended distorted symphony of engines roaring, tires braking and buses rumbling down uneven streets, daily assaulting and numbing the brain. 

In a very roundabout way, that might explain the very genesis of why the medallions were retired in the first place: stress, a kind of mental psithurism, susurration rustling, impacting everyone involved, creating a amusement park bumper-car mentality of everyone indiscriminately banging into each other, causing unavoidable societal concussions, permanent injury to the fragile cognitive psyche.  And worse, one must pay "through-the-nose" for all this displeasure. There must be a better explanation than simple incompetence. One must have hope. And a prayer. 

The History

Before I report on my meetings, three solo and two comprised of taxi veterans, some history is necessary, some of which I am not clear upon, because it appears that some confusion emanates from 2014, when the City of Seattle and King County's appeasement with Uber and Lyft opened the TNC floodgates, inundating Seattle and King County taxi.  

One oft repeated comment I heard during my three days in Seattle from many is that " I believed I owned my medallion," which is far different from the City's view that it is a leased property subject  to governmental control and whim. Many claim to remember that back in 2014, in a compromise with the local taxi industry, they were issued permanent "real property" licensed medallions How can there be such a large discrepancy in memory?  

It clear that original documentation must be uncovered and examined to assist in any kind of coherent determination of what is true or not but it appears that what we are addressing is something called "intangible property rights," a kind of "real property" but then again, not at all, not the same "private property rights"  for instance, assigned to NYC medallions. 

If the Seattle/King County taxicab industry had really been paying better attention in 2014, maybe we would not have agreed so readily to what was being offered. I still laugh that the City conceded that cabbies would no longer have to look like waiters, clad in white shirts and black slacks. Now that was important!

My Five Meetings with City of Seattle and King County Regulatory and Policy Staff

Two Solo Meeting April 29th with Sean Bouffiou, Administrative Services Manager (RALS) King County  & Creagan Newhouse, Manager, Consumer Protection Division, City of Seattle

Both meetings were on the informal side. Sean Bouffiou, someone I have known for a number of years, met me on the morning of my arrival at Homestyle Dim Sum, 664 S. Weller Street, in Chinatown/ID.  Sean, along with Matt Eng, Port of Seattle, wrote the policy changes affecting the Seattle/King County taxi industry that were enacted in December 2023, some at the behest of the industry. These of course included the retirement of inactive taxicab  medallions.  

I would consider Sean a proactive advocate for the cab industry but of course he is focused on the government side of the equation. In a later telephone conversation I had with Sean, he clarified that in 2014, in the change from license to medallion, the paper and physical medallion fell into the category of something termed intangible property. 

Upon hearing that, it explained the confusion the vast majority most have had concerning the legal status of their taxicab medallions, to this moment not clearly understanding the status of what they consider their personal property. I want to remind everyone that Sean, Cregan and others are just following the legal guidelines provided for them. If there are changes to be made, and I believe there are, it is up to individuals that make up the Seattle/King County taxicab community to effect wanted policy changes.

Cregan Newhouse in the Afternoon, 3:30 PM, Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 Fifth Avenue 

I met Cregan in the Fifth Avenue lobby, where we then proceeded to negotiate the inner labyrinth that is the SMT to the Starbucks located within. Cregan, like Sean, is tasked with following the dictates created by the voted Seattle and King County elected representatives. Cregan is a sympathetic fellow, only wanting the best for cab drivers and the industry in general. 

Though we have had many email exchanges, this was the first time we were able to personally meet, coming to the conclusion we were similar characters. Cregan once aspired to be WA State governor, having run unsuccessfully in a primary. I don't know if I voted for him but certainly I would in the future. Consider Cregan as a good resource for those trying to untangle the puzzle of what to do when your inactive medallion is retired. 

Group Meeting, 2:00 PM April 30th with the City: Abdi Jama, the Mayor's Special Advisor on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs & Kerem Levitas, Senior Labor Policy Advisor

Taxi Attendance: Myself, Solomon Alemneh, Parminder Tiwana, Kasem Novan, Mohammed A,, Karl Porter

The meeting with the City was mostly informational, as 2014 is nearly ancient history.  There was much  note taking, especially by Mr. Levtias, a lawyer by training. I attempted a quick history tutorial while my fellow taxi participants presented their personal experiences. If I had been aware at that time that medallions were designated as intangible property, it would have enabled me to say even more succinctly that paying $100,000 or more, as some have, for a revokable lease made no sense whatsoever.  I can only hope that the City understands that essential fact as we head toward, in how many months or years, to an equitable solution. 

My biggest disappointment was the absence of the fellow cabbies I was relying upon to tell their story.  Too typical is my obvious response to this kind of irresponsibility. The vast majority have little ability to take care of themselves when it is necessary, which explains why so many medallion owners failed to respond for years to the City and County's notices concerning their medallions. 

Anyway, the meeting, only a quick hour, ended on a cordial note. I am guessing there will be more in the future.  I can only hope for better attendance. 

Group Meeting, 3:30 PM April 30th with Erik Schmidt, Director of Operations for Seattle Councilmember  Rob Saka

Another informational meeting, with Mr. Schmidt taking lots of notes. Friendly but only 30 minutes long. Hopefully in the future, we will be given more time.  

Solo Meeting 9:00 AM May 1st wiith Lilly Hayward, Chief of Staff for Metro King County Councilmember Steffanie Fain.

I met with Ms. Hayward in a coffee shop in the Fremont neighborhood. Again, another informational, note taking meeting. She was very pleasant and attentive, a true professional. What all these five meetings told me beyond any doubt is that the Seattle/King County taxi community has done little to no self-advocacy over the past 12 years. When you operate in a vacuum you end up disconnected, floating up into the ether.  When you are nowhere, you are nowhere. In a very real sense, that is the current condition of the Seattle/KC taxi industry.  I will try to bring them back to earth. 

Conclusion

I saw all these meetings as first steps, especially the last three, as Sean Bouffiou and Cregan Newhouse were already fairly well acquainted with taxi, far more intimately involved than other members of the Seattle and King county political and regulatory establishment. Taxi is not an easy subject. Examinations will come later. Who will pass the tests?  Sorry to say, if tests were administrated today, many currently in the taxi industry itself could not achieve a passing grade. Not a good statement upon a sorry situation.

Do I have a goal? The first is to get all the retired medallions reinstated. The second is to have their status changed to permanent real property.  The third to have viable, comprehensive regulation, not the piecemeal enforcement now in place. The fourth, along with that, is a real recognition of the Seattle/KC industry in total, its needs and wants. A fifth would be a functional association system.  One can wish. 

The Seattle/KC taxi community needs to understand that it has been kicked down the street, now little more than a transportation stepchild.  All my efforts, whatever they might be in the future, will be for naught unless everyone wakes up to themselves, understanding they must become equal partners when working with the City of Seattle and King County.  Acting delirious, like you have just been bonked on the head is not constructive. Rub your heads, Seattle cabbies, and open your eyes. If you don't, the world is gonna pass you by, with Waymo knocking you off the road. Believe me, it will happen. 

And a Postscript:  Thanks everyone, for those four Chinese meals. Here in my dusty, sunny corner of SW New Mexico I can't head down to Chinatown and chow down at Tai Tung and the Honey Court and Homestyle Dim Sum. And that's it, that's what I miss from Seattle.  And HK Dim Sum at 130th & Aurora North was good too, though I could do without their waitstaff. My favorite waitress wasn't there. She knows how to handle a table.