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What happened to Tommy Duncan and Sticks of Fire blog?

The image below is a 2005 TBT article I still have about the Tampa blogger scene. The big boy was Tommy Duncan. He stopped blogging around 2008, and was never seen again. Here is what Creative Loafing said about that era: "The 40-something blogger founded the most-often-cited independent Tampa Bay news blog, Sticks of Fire, in Feb. 2004, and the site, without much financial assistance from advertising, is still going strong today with a stable of more than a dozen regular contributors. In 2005, Duncan was featured in a tbt* story about the young lions of the local Internet. Today, about half of them have fallen by the wayside or (in the case of famous sexy blogger Rachel Moran) moved to New Jersey. Duncan keeps on posting. The local digital scene has grown, but he's not sure it has improved in quality."
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Sleeping with the enemy

I sort of stick out in this sea of pink I always seem to get on TV. This is Tim Fasano (in the yellow shirt with camera) sitting in the room full of Lyft and Uber drivers. Did you ever feel really alone? These rideshare people are operating an illegal business that is cutting into my livelyhood, and I wanted the Hillsborough County Commission to know it. The Lyft drivers are a bunch of punks and  kids who have never worked a day in their lives. They will get whats coming to them. How do you spell douchebags? You will see me in the video shown on the local news.
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Slain cab driver worked the hood

Working the hood at night is not good for a cab driver. There is a preponderance of short fares, now shows, laundry, no shows, runners, and angry people, to make it unprofitable, and annoying to the driver. You could work it all night, and not make a dime and be treated like shit the whole time. Was it worth it for Mr. Dooley to work the hood? It sucks that with so little street business, and a flood of third world drivers, forces guys pulling s hack to take risk.
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Change for a twenty

It seems most customers will give you a twenty dollar bill no matter what the amount of the fare. The first two fares I had today went short, and they did not let me down. They gave me twenties for 5-6 dollar fares. Yikes! That wipes out all of my change (cab drivers do not begin their day with thousands of dollars on us). I went on my third fare. He is going from Albany and North B to Howard and Mississippi (I could only spell this because of the jingle I learned in 5th grade). I ask him if he has exact change. He says no, he was going to give me a twenty. So we stop at the convenience store at Howard and Morrison. He goes inside, gets some cigs, and comes back. We are set. When I get him to his house, he hands me a twenty dollar bill! What! We just went to the store. He was a little drunk and said just keep it. I was not trying to rip him off. When he got out of the cab I looked at it and it was a 1928 twenty gold backed bill. You don't see many of th...
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The neon graveyard

The neon graveyard Way off the strip is an area where few tourist ever go. Its a cemetery. An enterrement of Vegas's past, a place where old neon signs go when they die. Their useful expectancy extinguished not by age or function, but by form. Considered antiquated by modern marketing, here they lie, martyrs in Cupids wars (love, lust, and sin) They remain in a lot surrounded by a security fence with barbed wire. Relics shining in the hot Nevada sun like the fuselage of a wrecked bomber in the desert, who's occupants abandoned in search of rescue, only to be consumed by the elements and scavenging birds. In this case, it was the plaintiff scrum of normal people seeking a Caligula's playhouse. It is a testament to an era long gone. Crooners and class have given in to ass. Sex will always win. Even the sin sign could not last. Awesome view from each room at the Plaza The mob is no more as the corporations have taken over. There was a low rent charm to the old Vegas....
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What Lyft and Uber will take from the Tampa taxi business

A lyft car at the Iconic sign on Florida ave downtown Tampa I have been a hack in Tampa Florida since 1995. Unlike the estimated 50% of Americans that hate their jobs, I have never had a day when I did not feel like going to work. Certainly, the last few years  have not been fun because the economy fell apart like a three dollar watch. However, economies are like tides and this one is on the rebound, at a snail's pace. I would like to thank Mr. Obama for that but that would not be fair. The economy is recovering despite any fiscal policy of his. That being said - there are challenges. My job is inherently difficult. We face strange and deranged people street level on a daily basis. Taxi companies in Tampa (which are regulated) must serve the general population. We have no choice. Short fares, drunk fares, people going to buy drugs (they don't tell you that) we must pick up. Don't get me wrong, there are business people, beautiful women, great trippers, and long haul...
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Tim Now Drives for LYFT...and loving it!

After 24 years of driving taxi for United Cab of Tampa, I am now driving for LYFT. Good call, I think. Ride share has taken over and the taxi companies are going the way of the pay phone and the corner video store.
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View from my porch

It was a nice evening as the sun was setting in mid May. This was a CELL phone so I did not get the moon as good as  could. I'm still enjoying my down time and it's going on one month. Considering that I have not had a vacation in 12 years, this is nice. 
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The Taxi Truman Show

I may have found the escape hatch Regulated Taxi driving is now dead. Uber has taken over. The current situation is no longer tenable for drivers who face an old model of cab leasing, and can no longer continue paying a Pre-Uber lease. Today was the tipping point. This time of year we should be very busy...EXTREMLY BUSY. We are not. It is dead as a doornail with drivers at the airport waiting up to 5 hours to a ride. It should be off the hook. It is for Uber. They pay no fee to the airport, yet they are allowed to operate. I made a good living for years. Transportation was regulated in Hillsborough County. This insured uniformity or rates, insurance, and accountability. But no more. The HCPTC has now allowed a gypsy cab company take over. Uber has not only taken some or part of our business - they have taken it all. This is because they are low balling the market in an attempt to establish a monopoly. They are well on their way to doing that with the compl...
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RETIRED..what did you expect?

I have retired from taxi driving for good. I turned the keys in and walked away from 24 years on the streets. In a way, like Ronald Reagan said, the taxi business walked away from me. Anyway, I am home and doing nothing but getting caught up on a bunch of personal stuff. I am loving it. Check out this video about how I spend most mornings now. I have applied to work for Lyft and was approved, of course. I should be getting a new car next week and will be driving for them. Ride share has become the new taxi companies and they deliver what I am looking for. I have two monthly checks coming in which are enough to live off of. So don't worry about me. Its just that I was not exactly ready to retire but the circumstances gave me no choice. It does feel good, by the way.
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