Republican National Convention Documentary Film in Tampa

Marshall Law downtown Tampa 2012

I produced a documentary film about my experiences during the Republican National Convention was in Tampa. I am rather proud of that doc even if it does not have many hits on YouTube. Tell me what you think. Kevin helped me out with much of the video and still photography. He got some awesome images. Check it out.

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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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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 compliance and help of the po

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Violetta Storms bikini shoot

Here is the beautiful Michelle. There is a possibility she may be at the spring shootout. Lets hope so. She is a pro in every way and represents Dave Hall and what he is doing well.

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Hillsborough County bans Uber today as taxi company

The HCPT and Hillsborough County public commission today affirmed Uber is an illegal taxi company and bared them from operating in the Tampa area. This is wonderful news to longtime drivers like me. An Uber attorney asked Hillsborough County to make new rules to fit the trendy ridesharing movement pioneered by his company and Lyft, but was told flatly on Wednesday that Uber is an illegal taxi service. The county's Public Transportation Commission unanimously affirmed that an appointed officer had enough evidence to fine Uber, based in San Francisco, for providing hiring and public taxi services without proper licensing. Uber attorney Drew Sorrell held to the company's argument that it isn't in transportation. As a technology company, it doesn't need to follow transportation regulations as they are written. "There's a perfectly good way to do this, and that is to write the rules so that they fit," said Sorrell, of the Lowndes Drosdick Doster Kantor

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Who's picking you up?

She would never make it on the mean streets. She will stay with the craft beer drinkers and poor people suffer. People like the lady above is what is wrong with the rideshare concept. This women will never go into the bad part of town. Poor people in society suffer enough, now, they won't even be able to get rides. The cheery pickers have arrived. Cab driving will now be an exclusive right of passage for hipsters, on the same level of Starbucks coffee, skinny jeans, and alternative rock with craft beers, and the other sacraments of hipsterism. This has to be stopped. Jobs are at stake. "Led by companies like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar, ride-sharing has rocketed into the mainstream in a relatively short time frame. Uber started up in San Francisco four years ago, and has since expanded to 128 cities worldwide. The company's most recent valuation came in at an eye-popping $18 billion. Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick has publicly stated that his company is doubling

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Redlining practices of Uber and Lyft exclude Black People

Uber and Lyft are companies formed in Lilly white silicon valley, by Lilly white computer geeks, who would not know what the hood looked like even if they ventured into Oakland. They have put together a business model that is for white people, and excludes blacks, and most poor people. Their intent is to only cheery pick the best, and richest fares in any community, and Redline the hood and poor areas. This is easily done by allowing the drivers to not only choose where they work, but allow them to choose who they will pick up. The driver can rate the customer and, then, nobody will pick them up. If the rider does not tip (which is cultural and common with inner city people), they will get a bad rating and no Uber or Lyft guy will pick them up. I must pick them up even if they don't tip. A typical attitude of a Lyft rider is like the comment left on this site. You have to accept the new and ever changing world of technology and what people are comfortable with. Most p

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How Uber is hurting workers

Robert Reich is an economist who worked in Bill Clinton's cabinet. His problem with Uber and the "shared economy" is no sharing is going on. The worker absorbs all cost and risk, for less than minimum wage.

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Dana Young is a Liar or very confused about Uber

A very bad person with no honor or integrity I attended a meeting at the hockey arena downtown which was attended by all the Tampa Bay area state senators and representatives. In attendance was one Dana Young (R). When it was her time to speak, so told a story about a young women that was being raped. While the college student was being sexually assaulted, the student hit the Uber app on her phone and the police now knew the GPS coordinates of her location. What MS. Young did not disclose was that it happened on the UCLA campus and that it was an UBER DRIVER THAT WAS RAPING HER! "As students prepare to return to college, one thing female students cannot go without is caution. Assaults, especially sexual assaults, are a haunting part of daily life for so many students. Uber has made that nightmare even more of a reality . We tell our students that getting a driver when they’ve had too much to drink is the responsible course of action — it’s safer. But what happens whe

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Travis Kalanick is violating federal law in an attempt to establish a monopoly

Rockefeller and Kalanick - both criminals John D Rockefeller would be very proud of Uber. What Travis Kalanick has been able to do is violate established law set over a century ago. The Sherman Act and the Clayton Anti Trust Act were reasoned decisions by the Supreme Court to stop the criminal activates of the Robber Barron's. At its heart is a clearly unfair practice called "low balling." What Rockefeller did was run his railroads at a deliberate loss for a five year period. He was making so much money off of Standard Oil, that this was no problem. His competitors (who needed to make a profit) were unable to keep matching Rockefeller's price. They all eventually went out of business. Then, JD was able to charge any damn price he wanted to move product by rail. The same thing is happening today with Uber. Kalanick calls it "customer behavior modification." He is low balling the Tampa area to get all of the former taxi riders. Soon, United Cab and Yel

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Key West Uber drivers face arrest

Uber faces another battle for its drivers in South Florida. Uber drivers in Key West will face arrest and a possible $500 fine if caught driving without a passenger vehicle-for-hire license, following a city ordinance that went into effect on July 1. The ordinance, which city commissioners approved last year, says it is illegal for Uber or any other ride service to operate passenger vehicles-for-hire without the proper licenses. Key West spokeswoman Alyson Crean said drivers without this license can be arrested, although no arrests have been made. Crean says the ordinance has to do with city liability, since Uber takes passengers on city roads. Uber uses freelance drivers operating their own vehicles; passengers hire them via an app. Uber spokesman Bill Gibbons says the company hopes Key West officials rethink the ordinance. "It is unconscionable that [Key West] would seek to limit safe, reliable transportation ahead of one of the deadliest weekends of the year for dru

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Tampa Taxi Shots

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