- John Hendel
The taxi drivers arrived one after another and in secret, all ready to ambush the office of Arlington's director of transportation, Dennis Leach. They met in the lobby and spoke quietly, casually, ready to to pack the elevators to ride up to the ninth floor of 2100 Clarendon Road, the building that houses the Arlington Public Library as well as several of the county public offices. These cab drivers, organized as part of the Arlington United Taxi Operators, had come for a reason, and were bound to be heard one way or another--even if they had to sit outside Dennis Leach's office all day.
"We sent a letter a month ago," Jon Liss, executive director of Tenants and Workers United, told the crowd of taxi drivers. "We got basically a form letter back ... We're going to go in there and stay there till we've got a meeting with this guy. We're going to change this law."
This "law" referred to the 2009 Taxi Code, passed without what these taxi drivers felt was appropriate driver input. Many of the provisions, from the environmental to the number of parking spots available to the regulations regarding how drivers stay cool in the summer, angered these drivers. Any response from Dennis Leach's office had come in the form of low-level employees, Tenants and Workers' United's Jennifer Morley told me. Tenant and Workers United helped many groups like this, she said, and often helped elevate a group's message in a public way. Upwards of 30 people gathered in the library lobby at noon, and soon 50, and soon what some described as a hundred, mostly men and many immigrated from Africa, making up much of the crowd. Family members, children even, also buffeted the crowd in solidarity.
By 12:20 p.m., the taxi drivers made their move for the elevator. "Everybody's ready to sit for awhile?" the big, forthright Liss asked as he led the way, his voice booming over the crowd.
The men were cheerful around the elevators. Many wore orange shirts passed out for $5. Once on the ninth floor, the drivers spread out quickly. A couple men with big video cameras followed, grabbing shots of the men holding their "Justice for Taxi Drivers" sign.
Once past the glass doors leading into Dennis Leach's office, a desk attendant told them they weren't allowed past a certain point, but they continued through, the resistance soon dropped. Dozens of men, children, and other community figures soon occupied the ninth-floor office of pale blue walls and grey carpet, potted plants behind the front desk and next to the stand of county brochures. Two security guards appeared and began lurking in the background by 12:40 p.m.
- On the left is cab driver Weletaw (Photo: John Hendel)
Bad news quickly hit--Dennis Leach was out to lunch!
"We'll wait," Morley said.
Outside some of AUTO's steering committee spoke for TV interviews as the crowd waited. The two prominent speakers included Fassil Berhe and Berhane Michael, both of whom I met and heard speak out to the crowd. Kelly Merrill spoke on behalf of what Tenants and Workers United was doing in the JBG Apartments in Alexandria, Virginia, about the utilities bills that were tripling there, and how the area was becoming more "homogeneous" as a white middle class entered. Several of the taxi drivers raised their hands when she asked who lived there. "It's a real injustice," she said, "just like this." Liss kept walking back and forth, saying they could order pizza if the official kept them waiting. He told people to get on their phones to attract even more people to the sit-in. One guy collected money to purchase bottles of water for everyone.
Several drivers began speaking to me about their concerns. They varied wildly, as I mentioned above, but what unified them was their frustration and the desire to be heard in the regulatory process. One man identified himself as Weletaw and told me he had come from Ethiopia four years ago and worked as a cab driver for the past year-and-a-half. A steady passion underlined his words as he told me about the lack of respect he felt despite being a member of the community. "For a first generation, we work hard--we're not a burden to society," Weletaw told me. He felt cab drivers were often treated like different people, dismissed, ignored despite a common language of humanity he felt bond all people together. He was quick to smile when thanking me. Cab drivers just wanted to do well, he said, to send their children to good schools. Their services were needed, the man stressed, bringing up weekends when so many young people sought out cabs, many not even aware of their address when entering the taxis. The city's a mess, Weletaw said, that the cab drivers magically fix. Weletaw guessed that Leach himself might have kids that some taxi driver would be taking home this coming weekend.
"We are tax-payers," he said to his friend as they waited. "This is how they treat us?"
"It's prejudice," his friend replied.
Leach finally arrived at 1 p.m., and within an hour, agreed to hold a meeting on the first floor of the building.
- Dennis Leach meets with the AUTO drivers (Photo: John Hendel)
By 2 p.m., the few dozen people crammed into the room where Arlington transportation chief Dennis Leach and Bill O'Connor, director of the Arlington department of environmental services, spoke and stood ready to answer a few questions the AUTO representatives might have. Leach wore a tie, a white shirt, looked entirely official. The front of the meeting room was overwhelmingly Caucasian, I noticed, and contrasted strongly against the mass of people packed to listen.
Leach offered general comments on how the 2009 Taxi Code came together, on determining the rates of fares and metered parking--a process of workshops and examination of other cities across the country that "welcomes input from drivers and companies."
"So that's what I can tell you," Leach offered the crowd, trying to remain clear and forthright in his answers. He referred to the long paper trail and the fact that a meter rate study dominated his office's agenda for now. What Leach also repeatedly stressed was the need for multiple voices to be brought into the process, not just drivers but the riding public of Arlington. Leach encouraged taxi drivers to meet with other stake-holders.
"We are planning a review of that ordinance [the 2009 Taxi Code]," Leach said. "In the future, we need to schedule smaller, group meetings--and they need to be scheduled."
The Q&A portion of the meeting grew more heated, as the people at the head of the room and those within in increasingly seemed to speak different figurative languages. The drivers' questions spoke about their need for a voice and the emotional struggle ("Babies are crying"), while Leach's answers fell back to government jargon like stake-holders and the need for "holistic" review of the ordinance.
The most controversy revolved around Leach's request that all attendees sign their names and addresses so the office could contact them with any updates. Liss immediately spoke up and noted that many of the taxi companies offer no democratic protection, that these workers could be fired for their participation in the sit-in. "Don't sign!" a few immediately cried.
"We don't know where we stand," an AUTO representative told Leach. "Tomorrow everyone here could be fired. We're taking that risk."
When talking about the best next steps the drivers could take, O'Connor had a thought, asking whether there was anything like a taxi driver bill of rights. Multiple voices said no, that in Arlington this didn't exist, at least yet. Liss and Leach proceeded to have a tense back-and-forth over the ordinance. Leach talked about the long "process" of the ordinance, about the fact that not much advancement might happen until late summer. Liss wanted deadlines. "Two years ago, there was a process," Liss said, "where 2,000 drivers, the heart and soul of the industry, were not included in the process ... All we've gotten so far is a survey, which is not a process."
"I appreciate your perspective," Leach replied. When pushed for more deadlines, he said he wouldn't make up an answer on the spot. He would need to consult with his office, with those responsible. He remarked that at the time, his staff thought it was a good ordinance; an AUTO representative replied it was "oppressive."
"Thank you very much," Leach concluded, "have a good day, we appreciate the input." He moved back to the elevator to return to the ninth floor as the crowd conferred once more.
I saw Weletaw again as cab drivers poured from the county building. He smiled when he saw me. "It's a good step," he said, though wasn't happy about the official's attempt to get people to sign their names. By 2.20 p.m., the taxis, one by one, less than two and a half hours after first arriving for the sit-in, began pulling out of nearby parking lots and back into the heat of the Arlington streets.