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37 Val. U. L. Rev. 929 (2002-2003)
Taxi - Why Hailing a New Idea about Public Accommodation Laws May Be Easier Than Hailing a Taxi

handle is hein.journals/valur37 and id is 937 raw text is: TAXI! WHY HAILING A NEW IDEA ABOUT
PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION LAWS MAY BE
EASIER THAN HAILING A TAXI
I. INTRODUCTION
TAXI!
In recent years, many of the Nation's largest cities have reported
instances of race discrimination by taxicab drivers.' After the widely
publicized complaint made by popular actor Danny Glover that he was
unable to hail a cab while visiting his daughter in Harlem, Former New
York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, ordered undercover police officers to
put the sting on taxi drivers who discriminate against black Americans
trying to hail cabs.2 Five cabs passed the black actor while he waited
curbside for service.3 Chicago has also experienced a plethora of
difficulty  with  its  own   cab fleet, including    refusals  to   serve
neighborhoods mostly occupied by minority residents and refusing
black American fares altogether.4 Chicago's Commerce Commission has
recently implemented a Fare-A-Day program that requires cabs to take
at least one fare a day to an underserved (and mostly minority)
neighborhood.5 Yet, many Chicago cabbies are outraged with the
program, claiming that the program threatens drivers' safety by
requiring them to take fares in dangerous parts of the city.6 Washington,
D.C., also has been plagued with continuous litigation regarding taxicab
discrimination over the past decade.7 As a result of mounting concerns,
1   Stuart Taylor, Jr., Cabbies, Cops, Pizza Deliveries, and Racial Profiling, NAT'L J. (June 20,
2000), at http://www.the atlantic.com/politics/nj/taylor2000-06-20.htm (last visited Oct.
20, 2002); see also Marcus Cole, Medallion Monopoly Drives Taxicab Racism, 9 LIBERTY & L.
(Feb. 2000), at http://www.ij.org/publications/liberty/2000/9_1_00_e.asp (last visited
Oct. 20, 2002).
2   Elisabeth Bumiller, Cabbies Who Bypass Blacks Will Lose Cars, Giuliani Says, N.Y. TIMES,
Nov. 11, 1999, at Al; see also Monte Williams, Danny Glover Says Cabbies Discriminated Again
Him, id., Nov. 4, 1999, at B8.
3   Bumiller, supra note 2; Williams, supra note 2.
4   John Stinneford, Cabbies Struck for Economic Liberty; City's New Taxi Law is a Lemon,
CHI. TRIB., July 8, 2001, at C19; see also Jill Blackman, Cab Driver Sues City Over Anti-
Discrimination Law, id., May 16, 2000, at M1; Clarence Page, Putting a Stop to Taxicab Bias, id.,
Nov. 17, 1999, at C31.
5   Blackman, supra note 4; Page, supra note 4; Stinneford, supra note 4.
6   Blackman, supra note 4; Page, supra note 4; Stinneford, supra note 4.
7   See Floyd-Mayers v. Am. Cab Co., 732 F. Supp 243 (D.C. Cir. 1990); see, e.g.,
WASHINGTON LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND URBAN AFFAIRS; PUBLIC
ACCOMMODATIONS PROJECT, at http://www.washlaw.org (last visited Oct. 20, 2002) (listing
cases filed by the committee which include Green v. Your Way Taxi (D.D.C) (purporting
929

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