Cab driving back in the day at the airport

The late Tom Rhones

Has anyone seen this man? His name is Pirate alias Tom (the real pirate!)Rhodes. He’s our primary second shift dispatcher at United Cab. If you have ever downed a beer at the TINY TAP in Hyde Park, you must know him.

I don’t know if his nick name has anything to do with tomorrows Gasparilla festival or what. I guess I was thinking of that when I saw him. He must have been trying to get in a couple of fares at the airport before he came to work. Funny, he told me he never works the airport?

I don’t work out here a lot but I do when I’m looking for a BIG SCORE! When you work the streets you can get bogged down in all the peripheral stuff that goes with it-No shows, little old ladies, now shows, grocery stores, now shows and GNOMES. That means people that “Got No Money!” But at the airport that all changes. You are either going somewhere or your not. Today the fares had places to go. The cash register kept ringing all day. My hands got dirty from counting all that grubby money.

Talk about real pirates. Have you seen our meter rates lately? Holy shit! We should be wearing mask and holding a sword. But that's what the Public Transportation Comminsion allows us to charge.

In between rides in holding I ran into “Sam.” Sam is from Iran. I have known the man for 10 years. Talk about a renaissance man, this guy has been a professor and airline pilot and can speak 7 languages. On 9-11-01 I was wondering where he was. I knew he had flown for Iran Air and combined with the fact that Muhammad Atta had received a hack license from the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission, I was concerned. For some reason when I did catch up with him he was laughing because he knew I would think he was involved. I must stress not laughing at what had happened, only about our personal relationship. Sam began to talk or I should say lecture. It is easy for him to digress into heavy subjects - such as the Second Punic Wars effect on 18^th century economics.

Well, the line was moving fast. We were soon on our way. This time of year should be a gravy train.

After seeing Pirate, I could not help but think how busy tomorrow will be. Hey if anyone reads this blog and you need a cab call 253-2424 and ask for #497. I’ll come and get you or peal you off the pavement.

Speaking of the pavement. I know tomorrow there will be Pirates throwing trinkets to drunk girls who are showing their tits for 10 cent beads. And there will be about 500,000 people convening on the place. But when I think of Bayshore I think of the image to the left. It's the quit and subtle beauty of it that makes it "Bayshore Beautiful."

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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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The city of Tampa

If JFK was visiting Tampa, he would see this on the side of a building on Florida ave. How cool would that be? Graffiti art can be good sometimes.

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Angel The Rescued Kitten

I have a new and wonderful friend. Her name is Angel. George found her on his way home at 3 in the morning running around on the elevated span of highway 19 in Clearwater. He pulled over and pulled out of a storm drain. He took her home and knocked on my door. He has two cats and wanted me to keep her overnight until he could find a neighbor to take her. I fell in love with her. She is now my best friend and keeps me company for I live alone. It's not fair that so much cuteness can be crammed into such a little thing.

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What the future holds for taxi driving in Tampa

The transportation future of Tampa is not as uncertain as some think. The local government agencies seemed determined to allow illegal operations to undermine the taxi industry. Why should I give a shit? I got nothing to lose. On any given day I can just turn in the keys and walk away. You know what will happen? The sun will rise the next day and it will be beautiful in Tampa Bay. Other then time, I have nothing invested. In fact, I could even become an Uber or Lyft driver and clean up. Why not? The HCPTC does not seem able or willing to stop the unlicensed operations. So much for getting their marching orders from the taxi overlords. The taxi owners are the ones at risk. Why are they not using the courts to sue for cease and desist orders? I mean the drivers could employ Jimmy Hoffa like tactics and pull Uber drivers out of their cars and beat the shit out of them. I would really like to see that happen to those Lyft people who were at the county commissioner meeting. For the f...

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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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Houston UBER DRIVER ARRESTED for rape

Duncan Burton served 14 years for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, according to court records and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. He was convicted by a jury in Houston and served time in Beaumont, Louisiana and Georgia before being released in 2012, according to the federal prison agency. Although sentenced originally to 18 years, he had earned nearly three years of good conduct time and had about two years of jail time. Burton, 57, was arrested Wednesday and charged with one count of sexual assault, a second-degree felony. If convicted, Burton faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He remains in the Harris County Jail without bail. Uber spokeswoman Debbee Hancock said Monday that Burton passed the company's background checks. She could not immediately be reached Tuesday to respond to the disclosure of Burton's drug conviction. Someone with a negotiated drug conviction on his or her record would not be eligible for a city-issued permit, ...

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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’...

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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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FUCK UBER

Listen, you Uber fuckers, you screwheads. You are stealing my shit. I tried to be rational (What's that?). But not now. I am a man who will not take it anymore. A man who stands up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. I am a man who stands up. Look at it this way. A man takes a job, you know? And that job - I mean, like that - That becomes what he is. You know, like - You do a thing and that's what you are. Like I've been a cabbie for nineteen years. Ten years at night. I still don't own my own cab. You know why? Because I don't want to. That must be what I want. To be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. You understand? I mean, you become - You get a job, you become the job. One guy lives in a shit hole, another lives on drugs. You pick up a lawyer. Another guy's a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. People are born, y'know? Why do you want to drive Uber? You think you can avoid your destiny? You'l...

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The job is almost fun again

The last five years have been brutal. The economic collapse left service workers in Tampa in destitution. I only wish the people responsible for this to die horrible, painful deaths. No amount of pain would be enough for those greedy bastards. Ten percent of my life down the fucking tube. No Arizona, no days off, no money, wearing dirty cloths, eating shit out of the toilet (you get used to it after a while). Anyway, the business is clearly getting better as this holiday season has been active for the first time since 2007. You understand that?..2007. I only hope this is not an illusion.

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