Mayor Hales has requested an emergency session of council for this Tuesday at 5 p.m. The Mayor and Commissioner Novick will present their plan to change the Private-For-Hire regulations for 120 days to accommodate companies like Uber and Lyft in the Portland market. Cab companies are pissed, but patrons of bars and beer festivals will be pleased that they will finally have a convenient albeit expensive alternative to almost non-exsistant taxis on weekend nights.
As usual, the Hales & Novick show is giving us all whiplash. After a long hearing in council chambers on April 9th, the original vote was pulled from the agenda last week and instead a work session was planned for the 21st. Word came late Friday that the works session would instead be an immediately binding vote on newly written code. Whether or not these new regulations will be good for Portland, the continued erratic swings from City Hall is frustrating for anyone trying to trust in the processes of government.
Here’s the ordinance as written: http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm…
Here’s the O’s write-up:
http://www.oregonlive.com/…/uber_in_portland_in_a_matter_o.…
“Uber is legal in Portland.”
http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-33105-portland_city_counci.html