Taxicab owners fight against changes to city ordinance

By Mary LaCoste
Contributing Writer

On January 31, a group of taxicab drivers and owners gathered around a man in a wheelchair in front of City Hall. They were intent on telling their story of injustice to a reporter from The Louisiana Weekly and to television cameras. Their complaints were complex, not the kind of issues that could be communicated on a short TV news blurb. It seems that older cab owners, like Joe Revolta, who attended Tuesday’s news conference even though he is wheelchair-bound, often finance their retirement and final care needs by a permit known as CPNC. It is comparable to a 401K, a device many people use for their retirement.

CPNC, which stands for “Certificate of Public Necessity and Convenience,” is issued by the City of New Orleans to cab owners. Taxicabs operating in New Orleans are required by law to have one, and the two inch-high number on the side of each cab’s fender refers to this document. Any person who wants to be a cab driver in the city must go though several steps to obtain the CPNC.

The CPNC system was begun by city ordinance in 1956 as a method of regulating taxicabs. The CPNC, which could be transferred, sold or inherited, became very valuable as there were only a limited number of them allowed. Retired drivers rented them to younger drivers. Some owned several CPNCs and ran independent taxicab companies.

The city administration recently declared a moratorium on the sale or transfer of the valuable permits. In 2009, Loyola University conducted a study which found that there were too many cabs serving New Orleans. The study compared New Orleans to other cities and concluded that approximately 600 permits are adequate. The total number of permits is now over 1,000.

The Loyola study does not address the effect the moratorium would have on the value of these documents which their owners use for retirements, business expansions, college tuition or to pass on to heirs. The question is whether these permits are city property or the property of those who paid for them.

The CPNC owners who gathered in front of City Hall last week voiced their objections to the moratorium as well as to a new city provision that owners, even retired or handicapped CPNC owners, must now, for the first time, undergo a five-step process in person, no exceptions. This involves appearing at cCty Hall to make appointments for fingerprinting and background checks involving trips to the airport, and urine tests. Similar procedures, instituted in June, were met by outrage by local tour guides.

Spokesperson Sheree Kerner, whose brother was killed last year by his cab passenger, has a father suffering from Alzheimer’s who owns a CPNC. She was part of the informal press conference and vows to bring the issues to the public though all means including meetings with council members and the social media.

Kerner stated that the city created a problem by issuing too many CPNCs over the years, sometimes to political favorites. She feels that regulations about age of vehicles are unfair and it would be better to have more thorough inspections to ensure the roadworthiness of the vehicles cab drivers use. Others agreed and noted that safety of drivers should be more effectively addressed, perhaps by a cabdriver’s “Bill of Rights.”

This article was originally published in the February 6, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper