Will Lochamy: Lol’ing at Randall Woodfin’s idea to rename the Birmingham Crossplex after Larry Langford
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin is pushing to have the Birmingham Crossplex named after Larry Langford and people are lol’ing. I’ve sided with this mayor on almost everything during his short tenure, but I’m torn on this one. I know that Langford was crooked, but I also feel like his wild, unrealistic visions for Birmingham played a large role in kicking off the renaissance that our city has experienced. Maybe we didn’t get a beluga whale or a dome stadium, but he gave us this chip on our shoulder. He made us think we could be a city worthy of having the things that other cities had. Plus, naming the CrossPlex “after” him doesn’t necessarily mean it will be called the “Larry Langford CrossPlex.” It could just be something that makes us think of him. Here are a few suggestions: The “Gene Chiznik CrossPlex.” Alabama fans will love it and it’ll remind us of Larry getting names wrong. The “John Papke is the worst CrossPlex.” Their feud is certainly one that deserves to live on forever, whether John is actually the worst or not. If you don’t remember this reference, the YouTube video is well worth Googling. The “2020 Olympic CrossPlex,” since I’m still holding out hope on that Larry-ism. The “Birmingham Dome.” I mean, it DOES have a roof! Maybe it’s just too soon. With Mayor Langford’s recent release from prison and subsequent passing, we’ve been re-living all of the good and bad that came with his larger-than-life persona. It’s just poor timing to go from using the word “corrupt” to “honor” in the span of a month. I’m also concerned that if Larry gets his name on a building, it could take us down a slippery slope we might not foresee. “The Roy Moore Center for Equality and Compassion” or “The Sherrif Entrekin Beach House Association” are right around the corner. While Larry was entertaining and a world-class rabble-rouser, he didn’t play by the rules. Not only that, he broke the law in a state where our corruption cup overfloweth. The last thing we need to do is start naming buildings and putting up statues to honor people with problematic pasts… oh, wait. I’m going to choose to remember all the good stuff about Larry. If you got the chance to hear him speak or even just ran into him at the grocery store, you know how captivating and engaging he could be. He was the kind of guy that would ask you your name and then say it back to you in conversation. That’s a fantastic quality… unless you’re Jon Paepcke. (seriously, Google it.) ••• Will Lochamy is co-host of the radio show, “Oh Brother Radio” on Birmingham Mountain Radio (107.3FM).
Will Lochamy: News, at the speed of Trump
If you don’t like the current headline, just wait five minutes. I’m sitting here at 7 p.m. trying to write a relevant piece for publication at noon tomorrow. The problem is I don’t know what is going to be relevant in seventeen minutes, let alone seventeen hours. I woke up one morning swimming in jokes about people needing their morning cup of covfefe. He fell asleep mid-tweet while trying to type the word “coverage,” right? It’s no big deal. But wait… Sean Spicer says it was deliberate and the president and a small group of people know what he meant. What in the what!? Who is the small group? Is it Boris and Natasha? This is a huge deal! (Or would be in anything other than the Trump news cycle.) So I should write about covfefe, right? But to be relevant by tomorrow, I would literally have to invent a new word, expect the leader of the free world to tweet it while falling asleep, then have his team make up an excuse that raises way more questions than it answers. By the time you read this, covfefe will regrettably be old news. Maybe I should write about Kathy Griffin. It only took a few hours of daylight to be reminded that she isn’t funny. She’s apparently as mindless as she is hard on the ears. Hiring her was the second worst decision CNN has made next to having panels made up of fourteen people. We SHOULD be having a debate about free speech and how you can say insanely vile and disgusting things, right? Not happening. Instead, I’ve got to guess who will have their feelings hurt tomorrow. We are pulling out of the Paris climate accord. It’s the most nonsensical move since making up a story about covfefe being some codeword. Maybe I should write about that. The future is here, people. We have self driving cars, (fake) hoverboards, and my grandmother has figured out how to text me at 5:30 a.m. Meanwhile, rather than embracing our newfound renewable energy, we’re going to reinvest in a 2nd century technology. Yeah, that’ll show em’ who’s boss. Any other time and it would be the story of the year, yet I can’t even decide if it was the story of the day. So here we are, people of the future… although it feels like President Trump wants us to be the people of the past. If I had to guess (and I do), I’d bet that by the time you read this we will have all washed down our bacon, egg, and cheeflablah biscuit with some covfefe, opened our eyes to the fact that Gilbert Gottfried is obnoxious, and hopped in our horse-drawn carriages to fetch some asbestos-flavored lead paint to snack on. Oh, and the coral reefs are dying. ••• Will Lochamy is co-host of the radio show, “Oh Brother Radio” on Birmingham Mountain Radio (107.3FM).
Will Lochamy: Uh, Mr. President… your Twitter is showing
This isn’t about policy. I wish it was. I’d love to have a rational conversation about policy. Instead, I keep looking around and thinking, “You guys all just saw that, right? You just heard what he said, didn’t you? Huh? We’re just gonna let that go… like, it’s normal?” It’s not normal. It’s not what we expect. There’s no arguing that. But is it ok? We expect college football fans to irrationally dislike the other team’s fans (even though they really are terrible and totally deserve it). What we don’t expect is for the president-elect to tweet false or (at best) unsubstantiated information like an unhinged middle schooler. Our Facebook friend who’s overly dramatic (and thinks we need to know everything he thinks) is a harmless train wreck that’s curiously entertaining. It’s because he doesn’t represent us. When it’s the most powerful man in the world, though, who does represents us, it’s embarrassing and somewhat alarming. Before his unprecedented run for president, Donald Trump routinely used Twitter as his bully pulpit. He called out numerous women as unattractive, referred to people over and over as “losers and haters,” and once tweeted at 1:22 AM that Jon Stewart was a [word that starts with the letter that comes before ‘Q’ and after ‘O’]. It’s not that I’m afraid to publicly use that word, it’s just that I’m a grown man and know better. Once elected, I absolutely expected his unmonitored use of twitter to stop on a dime. I should just stop expecting things. He quickly began tweeting unsubstantiated accusations of paid protestors, degraded multiple long-standing news outlets, made claims of voter fraud with zero evidence, and suggested revoking first amendment rights. (By the way, the American flag proudly hangs on both the outside and inside of my house. That’s not the point.) I don’t buy into this idea that he is tweeting nonsense as a distraction. A distraction from what? To be honest, I don’t think he’s intelligent enough for that. He’s the definition of narcissistic and he refuses to think he needs monitoring. Does the president need to be presidential? ‘Need’ might be too strong of a word. How about this… Do we want our president to be presidential? I do. I don’t expect to agree with the president on everything, but I expect to think of him or her as the president. I haven’t yet been able to take this guy seriously. #StopTweeting #PleaseForTheLoveOfPeteJustHushForABit #LearnHowToUseHashtagsCorrectly ••• Will Lochamy is co-host of the radio show, “Oh Brother Radio” on Birmingham Mountain Radio (107.3FM).
Will Lochamy: There’s no crying in politics?
I’d much rather laugh than cry. My brother and I joked about how we regretted taking our grandmother frosties each time we visited her. This joke was told to the other pallbearers as we all strained to carry her to her final resting place. God rest her frosty loving soul. We’ve all had laughs over the past sixteen months. There’s no way around it. Donald Trump’s campaign was a political barrel of monkeys. If you were for him, you could laugh at the jabs he was taking at the seasoned politicians as he called them insulting names and picked them off one by one. If you were against him, his daily speeches that showed his inaccuracies, uninformed strategies, and social missteps were basically a tickle machine that allowed free entry. It was political satire like we’d never seen. The joke started to become less funny to me on the evening of November 8th. It was like a horse had ACTUALLY walked into a bar, except I was the one with the long face. To be honest, this is the worst case of horse-face I can recollect. I’m a glass half-full guy, so I’m going to try my damnedest to see it that way. Here we go… Half-full: Ummm… ok… Oh, I’ve got one! Politicians are the worst. Beyond small town city councilors, you don’t get very far without serving special interests. Think of the corruption it takes to make it all the way to the top! Trump is the furthest thing from a seasoned politician! But… Having never served in public office or the military leaves him as qualified as… well, as all of us other completely unqualified folks. Last Saturday, my friends and I came up with a better plan to fix this health care mess than Trump has, while simultaneously yelling at a replay official. Granted, Trump hasn’t actually given a plan. We just know it’s going to be the best, whatever it is. Half-full: For real, the Affordable Care Act has been anything but affordable for me. I’m now paying ridiculously high premiums and getting a fraction of the benefits I previously had. Small business owners I know tell me it’s been borderline crippling. Trump says he’s doing away with it! But… I believe that solid healthcare is something that EVERY American deserves and there are a lot of people less fortunate than me that have benefitted from it. While I think changes need to be made, I’d like to hear an actual plan. I haven’t from Trump. Half-full: Trump said in 2015 that he preferred “a fair tax, a flat tax or certainly a simplified code.” That’s what I think too! But… He has since moved away from that language and now uses broad, unspecific, and usually contradictory statements. No reason to spill the beans too much on taxes… right, Donald? Half-full: There’s no way he’s as blatantly racist and sexist as he acted during the first seventy years of his life!? He surely has the ability to tone it down and act rational while holding the most powerful job in the world. But… That’s what we thought he’d do after the primaries. It was never Trump’s bigoted statements that really worried me. It was my fellow citizens that cheered in support. I was able to halfway laugh off the small minority of people acting out on his behalf. After all, the Klan is, has, and always will be a joke. It was when I saw extended family members and enough voters to take the electoral college supporting him that I stopped laughing. Half-full: At least Hillary didn’t win. But… Here’s the thing. I’ve been a Hillary antagonist since my grandparents took me to an anti-universal healthcare rally as a child. I even held a sign saying, “Government Run HealthCare Makes Me Sick!” For one reason or another, she always rubbed me the wrong way. With Trump as the Republican nominee, I had to come to grips with the possibility of voting for her. I would much rather abstain than vote for the lesser of two evils, so I felt it only fair to do some research. I found a lot of the things you’d expect. She’s tied to plenty of special interest groups, the email stuff, and so forth. However, I didn’t find any of her actions to be worse or more self serving than other political heroes from BOTH parties. From my research (most of which was done to prove Facebook friends wrong), I found that she hadn’t seemed to have gotten a fair shake. There were a number of things being said about her every day that simply weren’t true. These were things that I’d known as “truths” for years. So the bartender says, “why the long face?” “Because I’m a horse… I have a long face,” said the horse. Let’s hope we’ll all look back and laugh, rather than cry. Writer’s note: This is the tip of the iceberg for me. There is more I could say about both candidates. Much more. However, this is the synopsis of my novel. Will Lochamy is co-host of the radio show, “Oh Brother Radio” on Birmingham Mountain Radio (107.3FM).
Will Lochamy: An Uber success?
Can you believe we’ve made it? I mean, it’s a miracle that we’re still here! Think about it … Y2K, quicksand, Zima, the Mayan calendar, and even Uber. We’ve survived, folks! Chicken Little’s whole “acorn story” was more convincing than Birmingham City Councilor Kim Rafferty’s anti-Uber charade. While supposedly only representing the community, she appeared on a national propaganda video produced by the Taxi, Limousine, and Paratransit Association. Speaking about Uber, Henny Penny… I mean Rafferty, said, “Just because you need a ride, doesn’t mean you have to be abused or taken advantage of.” It get’s better. She actually said, “We continue to stand before a millennial groundswell that is manipulated and tantalized by shiny, newfangled app gadgetry, convenience, and self-service with no concept of public service and no care for public safety. Social media may be pretty, but it will not serve you well when the battery goes dead.” I’m assuming she thinks we should stop driving cars as well, because, you know … they might run out of gas. Thank goodness our batteries haven’t died. We’ve now been using Uber for over seven months in Birmingham. That’s right; the scary, unregulated, bogey man-driven, rideshare service that everyone warned us about. Close your eyes, because here is what people have experienced: People from 45 different countries have used Uber in Birmingham. “Since Uber came along, I’ve personally witnessed a complete transformation in the landscape of transportation in Birmingham. Where there are STILL no cabs, we now have Uber. Our customers now have a reliable, affordable, safe option to get around when they make the choice to not drive,” said Cliff Atkins, owner of 41st Street Pub and Rowe’s Avondale. “Uber is a valuable service and safety enhancement to our citizens. There is no other way to see it unless you’re serving some other end.” Birmingham City Councilor Sheila Tyson said, “We haven’t had any complaints. If they had complaints, trust me, they would blow our phones up.” “There are no longer lengthy wait times. Also, an added bonus has been the paper trail Uber leaves. Knowing exactly when you rode, who drove you, and the route you took home is extremely helpful to our customers,” said Joseph Hoskin, general manager of Innisfree Irish Pub. The average wait time for an Uber in Birmingham is four minutes. “The first six months (with Uber) have been all we had envisioned: creation of jobs, decreased incidents of DUI, and satisfied out-of-town visitors who have more reliable transportation to and from the Birmingham airport. It’s an all-around success story for our city,” said Hoover City Councilor John Lyda. It took Birmingham 18 long months to get past the red tape. I don’t want to think about the negative things that might have happened during that time without ridesharing. The proof is in the pudding. I stood before an Alabama State House in 2015 that didn’t know what Uber was. There’s no excuse now. Drinking and driving, reliable transportation, and outdated thinking isn’t a just a Birmingham thing. It’s time to take this out of the local municipalities’ hands and pass statewide legislation. Oh, and thanks to the drivers. You guys and gals have been on your best behavior. Let’s keep it that way. We’d hate for one of you to mess it up for the rest of us. Will Lochamy is co-host of the radio show, “Oh Brother Radio” on Birmingham Mountain Radio (107.3FM).
Will Lochamy: This bathroom nonsense is nonsense. Stop It.
I like being comfortable. You like being comfortable. All God’s children like being comfortable. Lately, we’re concentrating a lot on that first sentence. Over a million people have signed an American Family Association boycott pledge against Target’s bathroom policy. It’s pretty much everyone’s bathroom policy and always has been, but Target happened to come right out and say it. They decided to clarify that people can and should use the bathroom that coincides with the gender they identify with. Clarity is causing all of this hysteria, yet actual clarity on this issue continues to elude so many. Let me clarify… Gender Dysphoria is a real thing. It’s not a punchline, so stop joking around. This is the formal diagnosis for people (Homo Sapiens just like you) that experience significant distress with the gender they were assigned at birth. Only 0.3% of Americans suffer from this, so it’s understandable that you probably haven’t personally dealt with such a person. I have. My God-fearing parents, to whom I owe (almost) everything, allowed me to leave a struggling collegiate effort and tour the country in a band with a famous homosexual female. Can you believe that? I wouldn’t have either, except I only knew my parents as loving, understanding, accepting people. On the road I earned a full education and then some. Not only did I see 48 of our 50 beautiful states… I met people. Oh, the people I met. Straight people, gay people, young people, old people, and a few transgender people. Two in particular stood out (again, we’re only talking about 0.3% of the total population). Their stories were different (one transitioned from boy to girl, and the other was in the process of girl to boy), but both intrigued me. I asked questions ad nauseam. They answered and I began to understand. This was a real thing and these people weren’t deciding on this path. It was clearly a sad, problematic, and burdensome path they had no choice but to hike. These discriminatory laws do the opposite of what you want. In your fear, you’re now demanding that fully transitioned people that have beards, big muscles, tattoos, and male genitalia must go into the restroom with your daughter. At the same time, you want fully transitioned people with high heels, breast, and female genitalia to go into the restroom with your husband. Remember, you’re insisting they have to use the restroom aligned with the gender listed on their birth certificate. More importantly (since male transgender people look like men), you’re giving a FREE PASS for any man to walk into a women’s restroom. After all, that’s where you insist that transgender men should be going. People are making a mountain where there’s not even a molehill to begin with. Why has this been brought up? Was someone spied on or touched by a transgender person in a public bathroom? Not that I can find. When has this bothered you? Honestly, you know this has been going on since the invention of public restrooms, right? Are you inspecting people in the public bathroom and if so, when have you seen a transgender person that you felt like was about to harm your babies? You haven’t. There is a serious child sexual abuse problem, and this idiotic boycott and time wasting laws are abetting it. 90% of children who are sexually abused know their abuser. To my knowledge, I’ve known one pedophile. He was a white, heterosexual choir teacher that befriended me and all of my other prepubescent friends. He wore slacks and a collared shirt as he went into the restroom with all of us. This nonsense legislation wouldn’t have protected my friends from him. He raped them. It’s these situations we need to be vigilant about, not an irrational fear about transgender people (who, in reality, pose no threat–at least not according to the evidence). American Family Association is the least aptly named association I can think of. I’m a father with a beautiful (in my humble opinion) family. I openly talk to my children about loving and accepting people. We discuss people that are different and try to understand them. It’s the same way I was raised. It literally makes my head hurt thinking that the American Family Association decides to focus on judging, condemning, and persecuting people, rather than helping and accepting them. Is this what we want the “American family” to be? This is no family of mine. Stop. Just stop it. Politicians are the worst and this debate is proving that point. Mike Huckabee jokes he should’ve “felt like a woman” and taken showers with girls in high school, while publicly defending admitted child molester Josh Duggar. Gross on all counts. I understand that things that are different and hard to understand can be scary. Heck, I’ll never understand Florida Georgia Line. But guys, we need to focus on things that are important. This is a political, media-driven issue that does zero good and all kinds of harm. There are real predators where you go to church, where your kids go to school, and sometimes in a trusted family member’s home. Start looking there and stop peeking over the stall. ••• Will Lochamy is co-host of the radio show, “Oh Brother Radio” on Birmingham Mountain Radio (107.3FM).
Will Lochamy: We need Uber
We need Uber. We need it now. And here’s why. We have a drinking and driving problem. The problem is that drunk driving is simply accepted here as part of the routine. When people go out downtown, they drive. Public transportation and rides for hire are rarely reliable and, therefore, an afterthought. We tend to forget that it’s an issue until visitors come to town and point it out, usually in shock. Cities that welcome ride-sharing see significant drops in DUI deaths even though most already have ample available taxis. This is due to the fact that Uber is generally 20-30% cheaper than traditional taxis and most find it to be much more efficient. It’s the new ride of choice across the country and world. Can you imagine the change it will bring to the citizens of our community, who don’t exactly have a happy marriage with the cab industry? Let’s not stunt our growth. Birmingham is seeing a revolution and rise in popularity like never before. This ride-share issue is one of our few, but big, black eyes. People are eager to move here for jobs and school, but the lack of simple accommodations that they can find in competing cities (Nashville, Atlanta, etc.) will keep many out. Investors are watching this, I assure you. Let’s not be the antiquated Birmingham many expect us to still be. SEC Media Days, Sloss Fest, the SEC Baseball Tournament, the Birmingham Bowl… the list goes on. Our area hosts legitimate events that bring large crowds to town. Let’s keep it that way and look good while we do it. Thanks to social media, the lack of transportation is no longer just our frustration. Visitors are taking to the airwaves and Twitter to express their frustration with not being able to get around Birmingham. Beyond having to deal with embarrassment, we might have to deal with these events losing support and even moving to other, twenty-first-century-compatible cities. It’s time. I laugh (only because it beats crying) every time I hear city officials say how much they want Uber, then watch them turn around and speak against it at the state house and write codes that they know good and well will keep Uber from operating here. The time is now, November 2015, for Birmingham to stop this silliness and give the citizens what they want. Because apparently it’s too hard for our officials to look at any of the specific TNC (ride-sharing) laws passed by over 60 major U.S. cities, Uber has laid out the simple answers for Birmingham’s recently written Transportation Code. I read them. They make perfect sense and are easy to understand, even for a dummy like me. It’s time. Speak up and let your voice be heard. The people in power are happy to leave us Uberless unless we do something about it. Will Lochamy is co-host of the radio show, “Oh Brother Radio” on Birmingham Mountain Radio (107.3FM).
Quick look: 5 hot topics state and national from budget to Baltimore
Short thoughts on current hot topics: State: Statehouse: This week is sure to be … colorful. From tax increases on the calendar to the gaming prospects being kicked around there’s a lot to debate, I’m sure everyone has a strong opinion about what we should or shouldn’t do to get through this Session and budget crisis but let’s hope we can fare better than our neighbors in Florida and get through it without a total meltdown . I don’t envy lawmakers who will be hearing from all sides that the solutions being offered are all bad and unworkable. Our elected officials aren’t sent to Montgomery to designate a state bee or cake or other such trivial matters (yes, I saw the Queen Bee designation is back on the calendar this week), they’re sent there to make tough decisions like the ones we’re seeing now. Here’s hoping they weigh their options and take the one that makes the most sense for the long-term health of the state and its budget. Poarch Creek vs. Free-Market: The Poarch Band of Creek Indians offered to give the state $250 million toward the deficit to not expand gaming to anyone but them. Rarely am I left speechless at a political proposal, but this one just strikes me as so unconventional I can’t write about it without using terms like anti-free market or bribe, or without pointing out the cliched, but appropriate, objection to the government picking winners and losers. The offer was countered by a proposal for four new casinos lacks the same long-term revenue projections or the job creation and is frankly just as far from free-market as one can get. Can anyone not personally benefiting actually believe this is a good idea? We’ll soon see. Uber and other ridesharing: I could get another cup of coffee and pontificate all day on all the reasons we need a state bill in support of ride sharing, because we do. Instead, I urge you to read our guest op-ed by radio host Will Lochamy on the subject. Need an incentive to click through? There’s a photo of a sleeping member you won’t want to miss included in the post. National: On the shooting in Texas: There was an attack in Texas last night that was much more than it seems it wasn’t just an attack at an art show it was an attack on the First Amendment. Every mainstream media report that emphasized the theme of the event in Texas as anti-Muslem attack got it wrong. The violence shown in Texas was anti-free speech and in our country free speech, however controversial, is protected. The best part of the U.S. Constitution is that it guarantees certain freedoms and secures essential rights regardless of public opinion. So long as using your rights doesn’t deprive others of theirs, I can hate and despise your words and/or actions but I will defend your ability to exercise them. You can expect this event to stir up a lot of discussion but let’s hope the underlying issue doesn’t get lost in the debate. On Baltimore: The lines of people standing in front of law enforcement, protecting them was as powerful as any image I witnessed during the recent riots as were the many photos of those cleaning up or simply peacefully protesting. It gave me hope for Baltimore which is now starting to see quiet as curfews have been lifted and the worst appears to be over in terms of the riots and violence. It doesn’t take much to see that we are at a crossroads in our nation, continue to handle racial tensions crisis-by-crisis or confront the underlying animosity and distrust that continues to spill in the streets of our most vulnerable communities between the protests and tragedy. That is the only way we stop and prevent it. We must seize the time now when the streets are not burning to identify where they could be next and calm the fear, address the imbalance of justice and prevent violent protests. Community leaders regardless of race, religion, political affiliation or the other labels that separate us need reach across the lines that divide to peacefully lead conversations. I’ve heard a lot of talk about these conversations lately but they need to happen not only on the editorial pages and on network television but in local churches and community centers in the places that matter. Photo Credit: Jim Watson, AFP Getty Images
Will Lochamy: My Uber App won’t work. Can I get a Lyft, Alabama?
We have a transportation problem, right? I think we can all agree on that. Good news … there is a solution. In fact, Rep. Jack Williams has proposed House Bill 509 to solve it. I went to Montgomery to support it. Here are some thoughts; The Birmingham (metro) area is blossoming in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. It makes me proud. From what I’ve read, it makes you proud too. We should be proud. Regions Field, award-winning restaurants and breweries, The Civil Rights Museum, Railroad Park, Yellowhammer Creative, Birmingham Mountain Radio, and our newly found sense of community are just some of the very legitimate reasons for us all to be proud. We are not the only ones taking notice. National articles are popping up all the time that name us, formerly known as “Bombingham,” as one of the “best” in many different categories. There’s no denying that we are now a proud, progressive, educated, and scene-influencing town. So why do we continue to be the “last” in so many things? I might have found out when I went to our Statehouse this week. At one time (somewhat recently), I was the GM of the largest pub in Birmingham. It was my responsibility, along with every single employee, to make sure customers were not over served or ever behind the wheel intoxicated. It’s all spelled out in the Dram Shop Act (feel free to read about it here: Dram Shop Act). This was and always will be a nearly impossible task. Believe me, we tried hard. We took all of the obvious precautions, but in the end, it came down to making sure people didn’t drive. We placed Yellow Cab’s number all over the walls and called the number for them, time after time. Too many times, they wouldn’t wait or the cab just simply wouldn’t show. If we were lucky, we could persuade them to wait and take them home in our personal vehicles. It was a major inconvenience, but far better than the alternative. Now out of that industry, my new job has me traveling. While working in San Francisco a couple of years ago, a fellow employee advised me to download the Uber app. Out of the gate, I was blown away. This was Uber Black I was using. It’s the fancy Uber service that you often hear about as being top notch. It is. An SUV, town car, or limo generally shows up depending on your group size and/or preference. As I began working in Charlotte, I started using Uber X. This is the “boogie man under the bed” service they offer. The one where drivers use their own vehicle. That last sentence leads to misconceptions. A lot of them. People take this to mean any average Joe can open an app, jump in their car, and find people who need rides. This is far from the truth. Uber is the boss, the driver is the employee. They use their own vehicle, while insured by Uber and only after passing a background check. Every Uber ride I’ve been on has been prompt and courteous, the driver has had a clean vehicle, and I’ve felt safe each time. If any of these things fall short, I can give the driver a negative rating on the app. If I happen to be a jerk (which I’m not), the driver can give me a negative rating. Too many negative ratings for them, they’re no longer a driver. Too many for me, they won’t pick me up. I like that. I like accountability. So why don’t we have Uber? The public screams for it. Every other state in the South has it. There are more than a million Uber rides per day, but we can’t get one in our great state? M.A.D.D. has come out in support and the stats clearly show that DUI deaths drop in states that have ride sharing, but it’s not for us? Why in the world would we oppose what consumers rave about? The opposition (Yellow Cab and head of the Birmingham Transportation and Communications Committee, Kim Rafferty) cries fowl on multiple points. Let’s quickly break down a couple. Point 1. Safety. The word “rape” was thrown around more times than I can count while the state house debated HB 509. “Uber drivers are raping women,” was the narrative. The honorable state Rep. Louise Alexander (District 56) repeated that she “didn’t want to be raped by a Google driver.” Rebuttal 1. This argument is bunk. (So is the fact that someone that doesn’t know the difference in “Uber” and “Google” is running our state.) The stories of Uber Drivers being arrested for assault or rape are unacceptable. There is no excuse for this. At the same time, we need to look at the numbers. In 2014, as Uber was just blossoming, there were more than 140 million Uber rides. The reports of arrests are just a handful. With a quick Google search, you can find page after page of Yellow Cab drivers arrested for rape, assault, and even murder. This isn’t Yellow Cab’s or Uber’s fault. It’s a societal issue. You can just as easily find staggering numbers of arrests for teachers, Sunday school teachers, and government employees. This argument is flawed and can’t be held against Uber. Rebuttal 1b. This argument is really bunk. Think of the lives lost to drunken driving. Think of the lives that could be saved be people having multiple, reliable options for rides. This is the biggest point of this debate. Period. Point 2. This should be decided by municipalities. The one municipality in question is Birmingham. Its transportation regulations are proposed by Kim Rafferty. The issue here is that LW Associates LLC is the consulting firm for Kim Rafferty. The owner of LW Associates, Lou Willie IV, is the son of Lou Willie III who represents several cab companies. Look away folks … there’s nothing to see here.* Rebuttal 2. This is too big for
