Let the autopsy commence!… On election night, David Butts, chief strategist for Our City, Our Safety, Our Choice, said that opponents had overplayed their hand, but he also praised the media for exposing inaccuracies in Proposition 1 advertising. “The press,” he said, “did a really great job of exposing (deceptive advertising). “It’s one thing for us […]
May 2016 election
Posted inTransportation
Prop 1 ride-hailing measure is soundly defeated
Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft were dealt a stunning blow Saturday, as Austin voters rejected Proposition 1 by a 12-percent margin. The proposition, put on the ballot by a petition circulated by the political action committee backed by Uber and Lyft, would have repealed a city ordinance requiring fingerprint background checks for ride-hailing drivers. The […]
Posted inTransportation
Are Lyft’s free rides to the polls legal?
When she’s not driving for ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft, Sara Kaminsky works as a personal trainer. In fact, I exited her Toyota Corolla with a brochure for Shakeology, a weight loss program that helped Kaminsky shed more than 100 pounds over two years. I confessed that I needed to get in shape. “I could […]
Posted inTransportation
Updated: Uber threatens to exit Houston over regulations
In what promises to make a huge splash in Austin’s furious discussion of Proposition 1, ride-hailing giant Uber now says it could soon pull out of Houston. In a letter to Houston’s City Council dated today, Uber Houston General Manager Sarfraz Maredia claimed that regulations in that city “are some of the most burdensome in […]
Posted inCity Hall
Adler comes out against Prop 1
Mayor Steve Adler for the first time on Monday urged voters to reject Proposition 1, the ballot question that would rewrite existing regulations on ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft. “Today, neither Prop 1 choice is best for Austin because neither delivers by itself what we need,” Adler said at a press conference in […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Hi. It’s the Monitor.
Colossal clash of titans on Twitter… Even as the entire city of Austin is deep into the febrile delirium of a bitterly contested election that will determine the fate of several lines of city code, one can usually rely on the sanguine shores of social media to provide reasoned, measured and mature discussion of local […]
Posted inCity Hall
Ride-hailing meets truth-hailing at Prop 1 presser
City Council members may have been overly optimistic that a 9-year-old’s karaoke machine could carry their comments to reporters. Nonetheless, they pushed on. Armed both with a “singing machine” borrowed from Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo’s daughter and with printed versions of the two currently competing ride-hailing ordinances, five Council members gathered outside City Hall […]
Posted inTransportation
Current city law not followed by Uber and Lyft drivers
Eduardo Gutierrez picked me up in his Ford Crown Victoria. I knew the make of his car and his license plate, plus I had an idea of what he looked like. But no sticker or emblem on Gutierrez’s car alerted me to the fact that he is an Uber driver. In this respect, according to […]
Posted inElections
Austin leaders speak out against Prop 1
With an election less than a month away, the perpetual discussion surrounding proposed regulations for ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft continues. On Tuesday, a group of prominent Austinites gathered on the steps of City Hall and came out swinging against the petition-driven Proposition 1 that they say would set a dangerous precedent. The Our […]
Posted inCourts
Zimmerman, Troxclair file brief against city
In its response to a lawsuit seeking to change ballot language for the May 7 election on regulations for transportation network companies, the city of Austin is arguing that the Uber supporter who filed the writ of mandamus last Wednesday at the Texas Supreme Court was seeking the wrong remedy and had failed to file […]
Posted inCity Council
TNC ordinance heads to Austin voters
City Council late Thursday opted not to adopt an ordinance governing transportation network companies that was proposed through a citizens petition, setting the stage for a city-wide vote May 7. Council Member Don Zimmerman abstained from the vote, and Council members Ellen Troxclair and Sheri Gallo voted to pass the item. All others on the dais opposed […]