March 24, 2025 • 38 mins
The Boston City Council is toying with the idea of a new food delivery tax, that’s part of the city’s efforts to crackdown on food-app delivery drivers and their “dangerous” and at times “unlawful” driving. The Council is weighing an amendment to Boston Mayor Wu’s “road safety and accountability for delivery providers ordinance” that would add a 15-cent delivery fee per order for national third-party food delivery companies like Uber Eats, Grubhub, and others that operate in Boston. Opponents of the measure fear the tax would hurt consumers and restaurants.
*The MA Restaurant Association declined our invitation to join. & Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan did not return our request to join.*
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
*The MA Restaurant Association declined our invitation to join. & Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan did not return our request to join.*
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBZY Constance Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well well, well, welcome back everybody. That was an interesting
hour with a variety of different topics. And it's not
easy for us, from my producer during the day, Marita,
to get four different guests every night on topics that
really do impact a lot of people. So I hope
you enjoyed. I hope you enjoyed the eight o'clock hour
(00:28):
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(01:11):
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You can go back months, as a matter of fact,
and find programs and hour of programs, maybe even an
hour that you might have called in, and you can
(01:32):
kind of critique your own work as a caller. So
let's talk about a story caught my attention yesterday. So
I was looking at my Boston Herald, and the Boston
City Council never surprises. They just never surprise. And this
(01:53):
is one that just shows and proves in my opinion
that at least in Boston and maybe in your community,
I don't know. Of course, in your community you probably
elect maybe city councilors, maybe you elect aldermen or whatever.
But in Boston, in Boston, we have thirteen city councils,
(02:16):
all of whom wake up every morning, look in the
mirror and think they're the mayor. Because that's just the
way it works in Boston. Every city councilor wants to
be the mayor. It's like everybody who plays for the
Providence Bruins, and maybe this year, it's true they feel
that they could do better than the Boston Bruins. But
that's the story for another night. So the Boston City Council,
(02:39):
how many of you have, upon occasion, called and ordered
some food to be delivered to your home. You know,
you get home late and you're hungry, and you don't
have time. Maybe you haven't been to the supermarket in weeks,
and there's nothing in your refrigerator, perhaps except for an
orange and maybe some milk that is kind of on
(03:02):
the edge. And you say, well, I feel like a
real meal, and I've had an orange and a glass
of milk in the past. So you order, You call
your local restaurant, You call you if you live in Roslindale, o,
JP or wherever. And of course you do the same
thing if you live in New Bedford or a Worcester
or Lowell. But what happens in Boston might set a
(03:24):
precedent for these other communities. So you have these politicians,
these elected leaders, who really think they can run the
lives of their constituents. They are not there to serve
and help you. They are there to make whatever name
they can make. Make so. We have a couple of
city councilors who were highlighted a piece by Gala Cawley
(03:47):
yesterday in the Herald. City Council meaning the Boston City
Council weighing new foe de food delivery tax. Yeah, as
you've often heard, let me say, politicians in Massachusetts only
tax two things, anything that moves and anything that doesn't move.
So if you have a car, they tax it, excise tax,
(04:11):
and then tax on the automobile forever. If you own
a home, it doesn't move, they tax it. It doesn't matter,
they tax it all. It's as simple as that. So
now you've heard the phrase that the politicians are nickel
and diming people to death. I know you won't believe this,
particularly if you didn't read the article by Gayla Cawley
(04:34):
in the Herald yesterday. But the City Council. I read
it and I thought this can't be true. The council
is discussing a potential amendment to a Road Safety and
Accountability for Delivery Provider's Ordinance. That's a mouthful, okay, proposed
by the mayor. She wants road safety and accountability for
(04:57):
delivery providers. So if you're out there tonight and you're
a food deliverer, this is for you. If you're out
there tonight and you're an uber driver who maybe occasionally
picks up orders at one of these food locations, this
is for you as well. The city of Boston who
(05:18):
can't hire enough police officers. There are so many things
that they cannot do. They cannot allow people to drive
into the city without bike lanes everywhere. They want to
impose Get this, you talk about nickel and diming, This
is nickel and diming. Literally. They want to propose add
(05:40):
on tack on to this proposal from the mayor, which
god enough probably is crazy enough. Anyway, They want to
propose a fifteen cent that's right, a fifteen cent delivery
fee per order for national third party food delivery companies
(06:02):
that operate in Boston. I have no idea what they
mean by national third party food delivery companies that operate
in Boston. And by the way, when I said they
want a nickel and dime, you take one nickel and
one dime and you got fifteen cents. Think of the
amount of paperwork, the amount of paperwork that would be
(06:24):
involved to keep track of fifty every every food delivery
and fifteen cents. These people are nuts at this point.
I mean, when I read it yesterday in Gala's piece
in the Herald, I thought to myself, fifteen percent. So
(06:45):
let's say that I don't know, someone ordered a ten
dollars burger. Well, you can't get a ten dollar burger
in Boston anymore. Let's assume they ordered a thirty dollars
burger in Boston. Thirty dollars burger Boston, and maybe a
drink with it, a ten dollars pepsi or something like that.
It's going to be forty dollars. Let's work round it
(07:07):
at forty. So I thought to myself, Okay, you know
they'll charge a sixth of that, fifteen percent of that.
That'd be about six bucks. So that instead of being
in order that you'd pay forty dollars for with a tip,
of course, that tack on an additional six dollars. That's
(07:30):
what I thought. Or to put it more simply, if
let's say you ordered something that was just twenty dollars,
keep it simpler. A six percent tax on twenty dollars
would be what about twenty or something like that. Um, No,
(07:50):
fifteen cents why would any city councilor in his or
her right mind come come up with that number of
fifteen cents? This is the delivery fee assessment. A delivery
fee of fifteen cents per order, per order, and they
write it out so there's no no confusion here. Zero
(08:14):
big dollar sign in front of the zero point one
point five per order shall be assessed on each provider
operating within the City of Boston. Providers shall remit the
total delivery fees on a quarterly basis. Well, that's going
to add up to a lot of money in a
format and manner prescribed by the Boston Transportation Department ensuring
accurate and timely reporting. Revenue generated from this fee shall
(08:38):
be dedicated exclusively to initiatives that improve transportation infrastructure. Oh yeah,
they're gonna pave a lot of roads, They're gonna fill
a lot of potholes. Without every one of those fifteen cents,
they would they would be better to tap people throw
dimes into the potholes than they'd be all set. Oh also,
traffic safety, yep. Environmental sustainability, we're gonna we're gonna end
climate change with this as well as enforcement of this ordinance.
(09:01):
Because you're going to have the people enforcing the ordinance.
I assume you're going to have to have. Now you
have meter maids out there tagging automobiles. Now you're gonna
have to have some sort of enforcement officers. I shouldn't
say meter mads. That's a sexist term. Strike that enforcement
officers who will be monitoring the number of people who
came in, flew in to the door, ran out with
(09:25):
an order try to keep it warm on a cold
winter's night. Penalties may include it may result in suspension
of revocation of the provider's permit as outlined in Section
seventeen Hyphen twenty two dot eight. Boston Traffic Department may
impose an additional penalty for repeated violations. To ensure transparency
and accountability BTD, I'm just gonna leave it at BTD.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Boston Transportation Department shall publish an accessible annual report detailing
the total revenue collected from the delivery fee, the specific
programs and projects funded by the fee, and a summary
of enforcement actions taken against noncompliant providers. B TEND may
periodically review and adjust the delivery fee. Oh, we may
periodically review and adjust the delivery fee. I don't think
(10:12):
it's going to be decreased. Let me just get on
the record as that subject to a review and approval
by the City Council, because we're the most powerful thirteen
people in Boston other than the Mayor, to ensure it
remains effective in supporting objectives outlined in seventeen hyphen twenty
two point seven, Section C under no circumstances showed the
delivery fee established in this section be passed on to
(10:34):
individual operators, local businesses, or consumers in the form of surcharges,
additional fees, or pricing adjustments. No, of course not. They
are going to raise the price of anything, No matter
of fact, though I guess they'll probably drop the price, right, Yeah,
they'll be They'll be selling They'll be selling filet mignon
(10:56):
for two bucks. Once say, this is crazy, This is
just insane. Is this what politicians are elected to do.
I'm hoping to hear from as many of you as possible,
And if you're like me and you're someone who is
really suspicious of what government tries to do, feel free
(11:16):
to join this conversation. Uh you may say, well, this
is nicol and Dimes stuff, Dan, and it is, and
that's why I'm doing it as nicol and dime stuff
six one, seven, two, five four ten thirty six one seven,
nine three one ten thirty. If you think this is
a good idea, first of all, fifteen cents, that's not
(11:37):
even going to cover enforcement of the program. That's not
going to cover the tickets that people are going to
have to fill out or the reports they're going to
have to file. This is what the City Council of
Boston has reduced itself to. I think we need to
(11:59):
get back to the to the good old days of
Freddie Langholm six one seven, two five ten thirty six
one seven nine three one ten thirty. This is government
at its worst, in my opinion. Feel free to join
the conversation. Be right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
to night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
All right, let's go to the phone calls. Let's start
off with Bill Oh. By the way, I must mention
that we invited City Councilor Sharon Turkin to join us tonight.
Who's the I guess, the primary proponent of this fee.
And we also invited a gentleman named Stephen Clark, who's
the president and the CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association,
(12:45):
but he was unable to join us tonight, so fortunately
he didn't provide someone else. I would assume that restaurant
owners would have an interest in fighting this, uh, this
ridiculous fifty percent fee. I mean they said it's like
a five dollars fee to say, well, at least it's
(13:05):
worth it. I mean, anyway, let me go to Bill
in Boston see what he has to think here. Bill,
you were first up tonight on Night Side and first
up this week. Welcome Hi Dan Bill, Hi Bill.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Hi Dant. So you think it'll be a lot easier
and quicker to raise these funds as opposed to fifteen
percent or fifteen cents per order to just cut back
on waste and overspending.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You're asking me to think that the city council or
the mayor in Boston would cut back on waste and overspending.
Are you out of your mind?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
We could raise a lot more money that way. And
I know there's some opposition to cutting back on waste
and overspending.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, well that's that's one of the great purposes of
government is to look yeah, you heard the story that
at the end of the year, the end of the
fiscal year, where they have some budget line that they
have spent, they will turn around and say, hey, if
we don't spend this, we're gonna lose it. You get it,
(14:11):
you know they do what the last thing you want
to do is say, oh, my goodness, it's insane.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
It's going after the small businesses and the going after
the people that are just trying to put food on their.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Table, exactly right, the very people who provide the tax
money that allows them to hire their brothers in laws
and their cousins and their best friends from high school
as aides and assistants that they probably don't need.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
You know, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It's it's just amazing. They will kill the golden goose.
I mean, you see what's going on in Washington right now,
and I think that the amount of waste and spending
that I think the Trump administration should probably slow it
down a little bit for their own But if the
government was not thirty six or thirty seven trillion dollars
(15:05):
in the hole, I mean you got to do something here.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, absolutely, instead of just going after the taxpayers trying
to make a living.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Well, they're going after not only the people who will
be impacted by this. Which people don't understand is that
when you come home after long day at work, you
get up early, you go to work. Maybe you're doing
a job you don't particularly like, but you do it
because you've got to make a living and you're earning money.
And a good portion of that money is going in
(15:36):
taxes to the Feds and to the state, and also
to the city. If you're renting, if you're a young
person renting in the city, the least that you pay
the rent you pay every month, A good portion of
that is for the property taxes that that the owner
of the bill of the property is charged. He's not
going to say, oh, I'll cut your rent by three
(15:56):
hundred a month, don't worry about it. No, they're going
to pass right wrong whatever there It all gets past. Yeah,
it all runs downhill like water.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
And so now a fifteen cent how much paperwork do
you think is involved in a fifth in keeping track
of a fifteen cent fee?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Think, let's keep them somebody employed.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I guess that's right, you gots That's exactly what it
comes down to. And you know it sounds like that
I'm cynical or you're cynical, but we're not. We're really not.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
And yeah, I think we're practically.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Well, we've seen this play before. We've seen this before,
and you've got the city council that are there's thirteen
of them there that look in the mirror every morning
and say good morning, Madam mayor good morning, mister mayor.
I mean, I'm serious.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, Well, where our income tax rate could be. If
waste was eliminated, all the spending was eliminated, it'd probably
be no income tax.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah. I again, I don't think they'll ever get rid
of the income tax realistically, but it could be a lot,
it could be a lot lower. Look in California, people
who are working in our next call is going to
be from California. In California, everybody has to pay federal
income tax, so it can be as high as thirty
(17:18):
seven percent. And in California it's a lot of people
who do very well. They make thirty seven percent, and
then they're paying thirty uputs of thirteen percent of the
state and never mind what else they're paying in terms
of excise taxes and other forms of taxes. They're working
for the state. They're not working for themselves in California.
And that's why California and California has just a myriad
(17:40):
of problems.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Is that the highest tax right in the country for
a state.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Tax is California. Right, wow, thirteen. Our tax in Massachusetts
is you know, five pen but then you add in
the millionaires tax and it's nine percent. So if you're
in California and you're you're making some money. And whether
you're George kloon Out or you're Mike Trump or or
(18:07):
playing for the Angels or Sultani, Yeah, uh, playing playing
for the Dodgers, which is why he went for this
twenty year contract and it was going to be mostly
deferred money. And by the way, Massachusetts with the millionaires tax,
how tough do you think it's going to be here
in Massachusetts for the Red Sox, the Bruins, the Celtics,
and the Patriots to sign talent, they need to compete
(18:32):
when the go to they go to Texas, they go
to Tennessee, they go to Florida, they go to a
lot of states where that doesn't exist. Actually, probably virtually everywhere,
even in New York. All right, Bill, thanks for getting
us going. I appreciate it, you know that. Thank you,
my friend, appreciate your coming. Thanks, talk to you soon, Okay.
(18:53):
One line, one line open at six one seven two
five four ten thirty. I got two lines at six
one seven nine three one ten thirty. I'm going to
shut this off at nine o'clock. A rather coming up
at ten o'clock. Excuse me. We're going to talk about
a the question of who's going to lead the Democratic
Party out of the wilderness. I hope to god they did,
(19:14):
they do come out of the wilderness, and that they
can pull their act together, But right now, they seem
to be scrambling, and uh, it almost looks as if
the future of the party might fall to Bernie Sanders.
He certainly has has a lot of passion and a
lot of intelligence, and I've spoken about him before. I
don't necessarily agree with him, but I think he's I
(19:34):
think he's pretty honest. Six one seven thirty six seven,
nine thirty. We'll keep it going here at night side.
They have invented another tax in Boston. For all I know,
it may be a tax that they're copying. Maybe they're
not smart enough to invent another tax. Maybe this tax
already exists in other cities. I mean, obviously where we're
we're going to have congestion pricing in Boston at some point,
(19:56):
we're stealing that from London and from from New New
York City. Back on night.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Side, It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Let's keep rolling here and again, by the way, this
comes the increase, this fifteen cent increase comes against the
backdrop of the of Massport increasing rideshare fees to and
from Logan Airport. So all they're going to do with
(20:27):
Massport is they will increase the It shows that right now.
I guess the prices are going to go from three
and a quarter to five point fifty in the next
couple of years, and then seven to fifty starting in
twenty twenty seven. I think they may have actually come
to some sort of an agreement of a little lesser
than fees, a little less. I guess, according to a
(20:50):
piece that I'm seeing here, the current fee three and
a quarter a trip will rise to five point fifty
on July first. It never goes down. So those of
you who are out there tonight, uber and lyft drivers,
how's that going to impact you? Let's go to my
friend David in San Francisco. I got two or three
friends named David in San Francisco. I'm not sure this
(21:12):
one is. It's always we never know for sure. Hey
David in San Francisco, welcome back.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
Oh thanks Dan. And I'm the one that usually ends
up swimming. Well, let me ask you.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I hope if you're wearing your swim trunks tonight, let
me know, and hopefully we can end up in a
conversation which won't end up with you in the water.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
How's that?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Right, Well, you know you're in the famous seventeen seventy
six Boston and colony economics was the big deal back then,
doesn't Yeah, and Uber doesn't have its headquarters in Boston.
I take it. I don't know if you have Lyft
out there or Amazon there.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Well, yeah, we got all that, you know, We're we're
fairly advanced here. We have all the stuff you guys
have an SF.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Shore, all right, But the fifteen cent would be added
to all of those different companies, and none of those
corporate headquarters are in Boston. So colony economics is going
on here in Boston and in almost every city in
the world. Those companies are so huge if you go
(22:24):
into I don't know, Lusan. I'm trying to think of
some bizarre town in Zanzibar or something like that.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Don't if anybody could think of a bizarre town in Zanzibar. David,
I know it's going to be you. Before you go
off on me here, just for a second, let me
make sure I understand where you're going. I really enjoy
having a conversation with you as long as we can
have a conversation. So what they're doing in Boston, as
I've already mentioned the nickel and diming people, So they're
(22:53):
saying to you, if you're working as an uber driver, uh,
and you have people that you're picking up food for
the restaurant, I guess is supposed to charge an extra
fifteen cents or pay an extra fifteen cents, But you
know that's only going to be passed on to the customer.
(23:14):
I think you and I both are smart enough to
realize that. I mean, when when Ubert you know there's Ubers,
they're they're increasing the airfares here. I've been to San
Francisco and I've taken ubers from San Francisco Airport just
like Boston, by the way, but now they're going to
raise the per feed trip, not only what you pay,
(23:38):
you know, and it could be dependable where you're coming from.
Seventy seventy five one hundred bucks, if you're from the suburbs,
they're going to whack you out for an addictional five
point fifty And you know, I mean that's gonna a
number of people are going to say, you know what, Hey,
I don't need to go. And maybe what people will
start to do is they'll say it's getting too expensive
(23:59):
and they'll double up or something. And it always comes
down to this incredible appetite that any government agency has
for more money. And David, between you and me, and
I want to shut up and give you a chance
to respond to this. All this money goes to people
at these quasi public agencies and at these city agencies.
(24:23):
They make pretty good money. They make more money than
people regular people who are working nine to five jobs.
These people back here, I don't know what they make
in San Francisco, but if you work in government back here,
you're making one hundred thousand dollars. We get people back here.
It always comes out with overtime. They make a half
a million dollars as city workers. I mean, that's absurd.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Should do that. I mean, yeah, that's right, you're right, you're.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Right, But it's not just. But David, it's not just.
It's not a cops, Dave. It's not like the cops
are killing it and everybody else is making fifty thousand
dollars a year. I'm sure you have the same problem
out there, and none of them are really doing much
to help anybody. They're not producing anything. Go ahead, I
(25:16):
need to listen to you before go ahead, David.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Colony economics is what I'm leaning on. And when you
start having these corporations that are doing deliveries. You know,
if you think a hundred years ago, WC. Fields, I
think he was down there in Philadelphia and he was
delivering groceries for Nicola, a delivery, and so little kids
or teenagers used to do deliveries and it would go
(25:42):
straight to their pocket and help feed mom who was
starving in the kitchen. And the idea that now a
corporation can have worldwide deliveries and they suck all the
money to their corporate headquarters. That's straight to seventeen seventy six.
This Uber company I'm so disgusted by Lyft and Uber
(26:05):
and what's the other one Amazon. These guys are the
wealthiest people in the world because they are the biggest
colony colonizers of the world. Who would imagine that, you know,
a rickshaw driver in Hong Kong would keep the money
instead of Lift or Uber sucking it to Well.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Let me explain. Let me explain to you something that
I'm sure you know, but maybe our audience doesn't. Okay,
Here in Boston we used to have a certain number
of taxi cab drivers. There were only eight eighteen hundred
Hackney licenses that they were issued. And do you know
what the value of a Hackney license, if you owned
(26:49):
a Hackney license, do you know what, but the value
of that Hackney license was at its height.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Out here, it was a quarter million dollars.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Well, you know, you're right on the money out here
was actually a little more. It was a little more here.
It got up close to six hundred thousand dollars in More.
And then what happened was you couldn't get a Hackney license.
There were only eighteen hundred licenses that the city said
would and was run by the Police Department, which of
(27:19):
courses were run by the Mayor's office, and then incomes
Uber and Lyft, and all of a sudden, Boston was
flooded with Uber and Lyft drivers, which was great because
you could get an Uber would show up at your
drawer in like thirty seconds. And I'm sure you've experienced
it as well out there. But it killed the taxi
(27:44):
It killed the taxi industry here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
And there were people well in Boston who had purchased
these taxi medallions for six hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
and all.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Of a sudden, instead of you know, having the value
of that license because it had a value because they
could only be eight, they opened it up. And you're
right in the point of view that Uber had all
the lawyers, and Lift had all the lawyers. And I
on this radio station you may not remember it. I
was one of the people. I was playing Paul Revere
(28:20):
at the time, as I try to do every night,
and I was saying, this is crazy, this is not fair.
For years and years and years it was a system,
and now Uber has come in. If you and I
had just started to drive taxi cabs around or without
a license, or just decided to use. We would have
been pulled over and arrested. But somehow uber and able
to come in and flood the market here, and the
(28:42):
taxi drivers many of them just surrendered their their medallions.
So this is the same thing, David, it's the same thing.
We do agree. I told you the last time that
you were here, were we agreed, and I think some
somehow you didn't didn't leave me. But look, this was
a lovely conversation on my end.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
I'll finish up.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Go ahead, I'll give you final work. Go ahead, I'll
give you a final work.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
I would have liked to have the councilwoman, uh, talk numbers,
because the fifteen cents is probably what it's costing the city.
You know it's there. The city does take wear and
tear on the streets, and you know there are different
issues at the city. So it's a modest fifteen cents.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
But just think think the paperwork, David, take in the paperwork.
It'll it'll cost them Lord Titanic. It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Money is electronic. The money is electronic. That's not really
the issue. The bigger picture. You know, at the top
of the hour, you had discussion about the train going
down to the south part of the state and it's
going to be running for free for a couple of months. Well,
there are in many cities. Here in San Francisco, we
(29:59):
did a to talk about making the bus system entirely free,
and it would have actually made the city two billion
dollars a year by making the bus system free because
there is so much expense in special accounting special uh,
you know, the meter. Excuse me, the fare box costs
(30:20):
a lot. You've got to have special accounting, and the
farebox costs about seventy five percent of running the buses.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And what we'll do next time, since since you brought
up that topic, I'll do a little research on that.
It doesn't it seems to me that if you're going
to have a use a city service, it's not unreasonable
to have it cost you a buck or two because
you're you're Do you ever heard the word time stoffle.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
David, Well, the economics of it is as soon as you.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Have David, David, just try to be with me for
a second here. Have you ever heard the word ton staffel?
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Not off han okay.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Ton staffel is an acronym. It stands for there ain't
no such thing as a free lunch. So if people
are riding the MBTA or riding trains or riding airplanes,
someone's paying for it. Someone's paying for the gas. So
we'll leave that as economics one oh one for now,
(31:29):
and just remember ton stuffel. There ain't no such thing
as a free lunch. You might go into a restaurant
and they may give you a free lunch, David, but
somebody's paid for that. Maybe the owner paid for it,
the chef, you know it just it's it's just economics
one on one.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
David.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
We did ten minutes and you didn't end up in
the water. Thank you very much. I enjoyed our conversation.
Well you want to go in, let's let's put him in,
Rob he asked for it.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
David.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
We'll be back on nightside. I'd love to hear from you.
I'm again a little surprised, and we're going to change
topics at ten o'clock. If this doesn't this one infuriates me.
If it doesn't bother you, hey, stay go back to sleep.
We'll be back on night side six one seven, two,
ten thirty, six one seven, nine three ten thirty Coming
back on nightside.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Now, I thought this would be a really interesting topic.
It is to me, obviously, it is not to my audience,
and sometimes I misjudge my audience, which is fine, not
a problem. Rob was saying, maybe what the city should
do as their next initiative is have some sort of
little tolling device on bike lanes. I think that's a
(32:48):
possibility as well. I mean, they are just looking for
all sorts of ways in order to raise money. They're
not raising money to provide services. They're raising money for
the purpose of raising money. And until people here in
Massachusetts wake up, I don't think this will ever change. Frankly,
(33:15):
I think that we are in a really progressive state
here in Massachusetts, and as long as people go to
the polls and vote into office the same people, the incumbents,
who could care less about what your workday is like,
(33:40):
they will raise whatever type of money they can raise.
It is really as simple as that. So again, for
those of you out there who might be people who
are going to order food going forward, once this fifteen
cent additional tax is imposed on your food orders, don't
(34:02):
be surprised if your food orders go up a dollar
and a half because you know that will be an opportunity.
As my friend David in San Francisco would probably agree,
there would be an opportunity for some of the restaurant
owners to say, hey, it's going to cost us more
than fifteen cents just to keep track of this. We're
not going to pay the fifteen cents. We're going to
pass it on to our customers, or we're going to
(34:24):
pass it on to the uber drivers. It just to me,
I'm so amazed that people in Massachusetts allow this to
happen to them time and time again. I've had Diana
dis Ugly on the state udit or the come over
of Massachusetts, who simply wants to do her job, which
is to audit, and she wants to audit the state
(34:46):
legislature in an effort to find out if everything is
on the level, and if the money that the legislature
is spending is being sent for a good public being
spent on a good public purpose, and if it's not,
what is it being spent on. But after seventy two
percent of you, the residents of Massachusetts, voted to authorize
(35:08):
her and actually change the law to make it a law,
a state law, that she would be allowed to do
her job, and she would be instructed to audit the legislature.
The audit the legislature. Now, a law that went into
effect in January has still not been audited, and they're
trying to negotiate with Diana Desaghlia. We have to have
(35:31):
her on again. We've had her on before, We'll have
her on again. But it just shows the attitude that
state legislators and city councilors and mayors in this state
have because they realized they pretty much can do what
they want. Because the voters have been put into a slumber,
(35:52):
a certain percentage of the voters choose not to go
to the polls because they're so angry they don't even vote,
as if that makes sense, but it doesn't. But their
atitude or I'm not going to vote because I don't
want to be part of the problem. No, by not voting,
you become part of the problem, because if you voted,
maybe we'd have a few members of the General Court
(36:17):
and maybe a few members of city council and other
august bodies thrown out of office. But no, people just
roll over and they say to themselves, what can I
do well. You know, if you have that attitude, If
you have that attitude, the politicians will take advantage of
(36:37):
you every time, every day, and twice and twice on Sunday,
simple as that. So I will wait until this goes
into effect. And of course it won't stay fifteen cents long.
But what it's once the proverbial camel's nose is in
the tent, will it will increase. You can count on that.
(36:58):
And all that will mean is that you'll have to
work a little harder, maybe work a little more over time,
so you can afford the food that you eat. Welcome
to Massachusetts, as simple as that. Anyway, coming up on
the other side of the ten o'clock news, we're going
to talk about the National Democratic Party. And as strong
as the Democratic Party is here in Massachusetts, and it
(37:21):
is very strong, the National Democratic Party is in really
substantial problems right now. There's all sorts of polling which
is suggesting that young people, people in the age group
of eighteen to twenty four or even twenty four to
twenty nine, becoming more Republican as they come in. They're
(37:46):
actually the hope for the future, I guess would be
the way to describe it. So over the weekend, poor
Bernie Sanders was doing an interview with Jonathan Carl, not
what you would call a tough interviewer, particularly in terms
of Democratic guests, but he asked Bernie a couple of
questions about AOC who was thinking about taking a run
(38:06):
at Chuck Schumer, who is the Senate Minority leader now,
and Bernie got quite upset, and we're going to talk
about that. And my question is, really, this Democratic Party
is in they got some problems, Okay, they've just been
wrong on so many issues. Who can lead the Democratic Party.
(38:29):
I'm putting my money on Bernie Sanders. Although he is
eighty three years of age, he's probably one of the
youngest thinking members of the Democratic Party. We'll talk about
that on the other side, and I'll play this very
interesting interview that he had with Jonathan Carl yesterday. So
we will forge ahead right after the ten o'clock news
here at night Sidware coming back right after this
It's night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBZY Constance Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well well, well, welcome back everybody. That was an interesting
hour with a variety of different topics. And it's not
easy for us, from my producer during the day, Marita,
to get four different guests every night on topics that
really do impact a lot of people. So I hope
you enjoyed. I hope you enjoyed the eight o'clock hour
(00:28):
as you enjoy the nine to ten of the eleven
o'clock hours as well. And by the way, if you've
missed any hour of Nightside, you can go to Nightside
on demand dot com. That is our podcast portion of
the website if you will, Meaning every hour that we broadcast,
whether it's the eighth, the nine, the ten, of the eleven,
(00:48):
every night of the week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at
Friday are posted by Rob Brooks, our producer, before he
goes home in the wee morn hours of the morning,
and they are post that in the the reverse order
of which they've heard. So by when Rob goes home
sometime in the early morning hours, he will have posted
(01:11):
at nightsideemdemand dot com our eleven o'clock hour, which we've
yet to do our ten o'clock hour, next, our nine
o'clock hour, the hour we're doing right now, and of
course the eight o'clock hour that you just heard. So
feel free any hour if you missed you and go back.
You can go back months, as a matter of fact,
and find programs and hour of programs, maybe even an
hour that you might have called in, and you can
(01:32):
kind of critique your own work as a caller. So
let's talk about a story caught my attention yesterday. So
I was looking at my Boston Herald, and the Boston
City Council never surprises. They just never surprise. And this
(01:53):
is one that just shows and proves in my opinion
that at least in Boston and maybe in your community,
I don't know. Of course, in your community you probably
elect maybe city councilors, maybe you elect aldermen or whatever.
But in Boston, in Boston, we have thirteen city councils,
(02:16):
all of whom wake up every morning, look in the
mirror and think they're the mayor. Because that's just the
way it works in Boston. Every city councilor wants to
be the mayor. It's like everybody who plays for the
Providence Bruins, and maybe this year, it's true they feel
that they could do better than the Boston Bruins. But
that's the story for another night. So the Boston City Council,
(02:39):
how many of you have, upon occasion, called and ordered
some food to be delivered to your home. You know,
you get home late and you're hungry, and you don't
have time. Maybe you haven't been to the supermarket in weeks,
and there's nothing in your refrigerator, perhaps except for an
orange and maybe some milk that is kind of on
(03:02):
the edge. And you say, well, I feel like a
real meal, and I've had an orange and a glass
of milk in the past. So you order, You call
your local restaurant, You call you if you live in Roslindale, o,
JP or wherever. And of course you do the same
thing if you live in New Bedford or a Worcester
or Lowell. But what happens in Boston might set a
(03:24):
precedent for these other communities. So you have these politicians,
these elected leaders, who really think they can run the
lives of their constituents. They are not there to serve
and help you. They are there to make whatever name
they can make. Make so. We have a couple of
city councilors who were highlighted a piece by Gala Cawley
(03:47):
yesterday in the Herald. City Council meaning the Boston City
Council weighing new foe de food delivery tax. Yeah, as
you've often heard, let me say, politicians in Massachusetts only
tax two things, anything that moves and anything that doesn't move.
So if you have a car, they tax it, excise tax,
(04:11):
and then tax on the automobile forever. If you own
a home, it doesn't move, they tax it. It doesn't matter,
they tax it all. It's as simple as that. So
now you've heard the phrase that the politicians are nickel
and diming people to death. I know you won't believe this,
particularly if you didn't read the article by Gayla Cawley
(04:34):
in the Herald yesterday. But the City Council. I read
it and I thought this can't be true. The council
is discussing a potential amendment to a Road Safety and
Accountability for Delivery Provider's Ordinance. That's a mouthful, okay, proposed
by the mayor. She wants road safety and accountability for
(04:57):
delivery providers. So if you're out there tonight and you're
a food deliverer, this is for you. If you're out
there tonight and you're an uber driver who maybe occasionally
picks up orders at one of these food locations, this
is for you as well. The city of Boston who
(05:18):
can't hire enough police officers. There are so many things
that they cannot do. They cannot allow people to drive
into the city without bike lanes everywhere. They want to
impose Get this, you talk about nickel and diming, This
is nickel and diming. Literally. They want to propose add
(05:40):
on tack on to this proposal from the mayor, which
god enough probably is crazy enough. Anyway, They want to
propose a fifteen cent that's right, a fifteen cent delivery
fee per order for national third party food delivery companies
(06:02):
that operate in Boston. I have no idea what they
mean by national third party food delivery companies that operate
in Boston. And by the way, when I said they
want a nickel and dime, you take one nickel and
one dime and you got fifteen cents. Think of the
amount of paperwork, the amount of paperwork that would be
(06:24):
involved to keep track of fifty every every food delivery
and fifteen cents. These people are nuts at this point.
I mean, when I read it yesterday in Gala's piece
in the Herald, I thought to myself, fifteen percent. So
(06:45):
let's say that I don't know, someone ordered a ten
dollars burger. Well, you can't get a ten dollar burger
in Boston anymore. Let's assume they ordered a thirty dollars
burger in Boston. Thirty dollars burger Boston, and maybe a
drink with it, a ten dollars pepsi or something like that.
It's going to be forty dollars. Let's work round it
(07:07):
at forty. So I thought to myself, Okay, you know
they'll charge a sixth of that, fifteen percent of that.
That'd be about six bucks. So that instead of being
in order that you'd pay forty dollars for with a tip,
of course, that tack on an additional six dollars. That's
(07:30):
what I thought. Or to put it more simply, if
let's say you ordered something that was just twenty dollars,
keep it simpler. A six percent tax on twenty dollars
would be what about twenty or something like that. Um, No,
(07:50):
fifteen cents why would any city councilor in his or
her right mind come come up with that number of
fifteen cents? This is the delivery fee assessment. A delivery
fee of fifteen cents per order, per order, and they
write it out so there's no no confusion here. Zero
(08:14):
big dollar sign in front of the zero point one
point five per order shall be assessed on each provider
operating within the City of Boston. Providers shall remit the
total delivery fees on a quarterly basis. Well, that's going
to add up to a lot of money in a
format and manner prescribed by the Boston Transportation Department ensuring
accurate and timely reporting. Revenue generated from this fee shall
(08:38):
be dedicated exclusively to initiatives that improve transportation infrastructure. Oh yeah,
they're gonna pave a lot of roads, They're gonna fill
a lot of potholes. Without every one of those fifteen cents,
they would they would be better to tap people throw
dimes into the potholes than they'd be all set. Oh also,
traffic safety, yep. Environmental sustainability, we're gonna we're gonna end
climate change with this as well as enforcement of this ordinance.
(09:01):
Because you're going to have the people enforcing the ordinance.
I assume you're going to have to have. Now you
have meter maids out there tagging automobiles. Now you're gonna
have to have some sort of enforcement officers. I shouldn't
say meter mads. That's a sexist term. Strike that enforcement
officers who will be monitoring the number of people who
came in, flew in to the door, ran out with
(09:25):
an order try to keep it warm on a cold
winter's night. Penalties may include it may result in suspension
of revocation of the provider's permit as outlined in Section
seventeen Hyphen twenty two dot eight. Boston Traffic Department may
impose an additional penalty for repeated violations. To ensure transparency
and accountability BTD, I'm just gonna leave it at BTD.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Boston Transportation Department shall publish an accessible annual report detailing
the total revenue collected from the delivery fee, the specific
programs and projects funded by the fee, and a summary
of enforcement actions taken against noncompliant providers. B TEND may
periodically review and adjust the delivery fee. Oh, we may
periodically review and adjust the delivery fee. I don't think
(10:12):
it's going to be decreased. Let me just get on
the record as that subject to a review and approval
by the City Council, because we're the most powerful thirteen
people in Boston other than the Mayor, to ensure it
remains effective in supporting objectives outlined in seventeen hyphen twenty
two point seven, Section C under no circumstances showed the
delivery fee established in this section be passed on to
(10:34):
individual operators, local businesses, or consumers in the form of surcharges,
additional fees, or pricing adjustments. No, of course not. They
are going to raise the price of anything, No matter
of fact, though I guess they'll probably drop the price, right, Yeah,
they'll be They'll be selling They'll be selling filet mignon
(10:56):
for two bucks. Once say, this is crazy, This is
just insane. Is this what politicians are elected to do.
I'm hoping to hear from as many of you as possible,
And if you're like me and you're someone who is
really suspicious of what government tries to do, feel free
(11:16):
to join this conversation. Uh you may say, well, this
is nicol and Dimes stuff, Dan, and it is, and
that's why I'm doing it as nicol and dime stuff
six one, seven, two, five four ten thirty six one seven,
nine three one ten thirty. If you think this is
a good idea, first of all, fifteen cents, that's not
(11:37):
even going to cover enforcement of the program. That's not
going to cover the tickets that people are going to
have to fill out or the reports they're going to
have to file. This is what the City Council of
Boston has reduced itself to. I think we need to
(11:59):
get back to the to the good old days of
Freddie Langholm six one seven, two five ten thirty six
one seven nine three one ten thirty. This is government
at its worst, in my opinion. Feel free to join
the conversation. Be right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
to night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
All right, let's go to the phone calls. Let's start
off with Bill Oh. By the way, I must mention
that we invited City Councilor Sharon Turkin to join us tonight.
Who's the I guess, the primary proponent of this fee.
And we also invited a gentleman named Stephen Clark, who's
the president and the CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association,
(12:45):
but he was unable to join us tonight, so fortunately
he didn't provide someone else. I would assume that restaurant
owners would have an interest in fighting this, uh, this
ridiculous fifty percent fee. I mean they said it's like
a five dollars fee to say, well, at least it's
(13:05):
worth it. I mean, anyway, let me go to Bill
in Boston see what he has to think here. Bill,
you were first up tonight on Night Side and first
up this week. Welcome Hi Dan Bill, Hi Bill.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Hi Dant. So you think it'll be a lot easier
and quicker to raise these funds as opposed to fifteen
percent or fifteen cents per order to just cut back
on waste and overspending.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You're asking me to think that the city council or
the mayor in Boston would cut back on waste and overspending.
Are you out of your mind?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
We could raise a lot more money that way. And
I know there's some opposition to cutting back on waste
and overspending.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, well that's that's one of the great purposes of
government is to look yeah, you heard the story that
at the end of the year, the end of the
fiscal year, where they have some budget line that they
have spent, they will turn around and say, hey, if
we don't spend this, we're gonna lose it. You get it,
(14:11):
you know they do what the last thing you want
to do is say, oh, my goodness, it's insane.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
It's going after the small businesses and the going after
the people that are just trying to put food on their.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Table, exactly right, the very people who provide the tax
money that allows them to hire their brothers in laws
and their cousins and their best friends from high school
as aides and assistants that they probably don't need.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
You know, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It's it's just amazing. They will kill the golden goose.
I mean, you see what's going on in Washington right now,
and I think that the amount of waste and spending
that I think the Trump administration should probably slow it
down a little bit for their own But if the
government was not thirty six or thirty seven trillion dollars
(15:05):
in the hole, I mean you got to do something here.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, absolutely, instead of just going after the taxpayers trying
to make a living.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Well, they're going after not only the people who will
be impacted by this. Which people don't understand is that
when you come home after long day at work, you
get up early, you go to work. Maybe you're doing
a job you don't particularly like, but you do it
because you've got to make a living and you're earning money.
And a good portion of that money is going in
(15:36):
taxes to the Feds and to the state, and also
to the city. If you're renting, if you're a young
person renting in the city, the least that you pay
the rent you pay every month, A good portion of
that is for the property taxes that that the owner
of the bill of the property is charged. He's not
going to say, oh, I'll cut your rent by three
(15:56):
hundred a month, don't worry about it. No, they're going
to pass right wrong whatever there It all gets past. Yeah,
it all runs downhill like water.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
And so now a fifteen cent how much paperwork do
you think is involved in a fifth in keeping track
of a fifteen cent fee?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Think, let's keep them somebody employed.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I guess that's right, you gots That's exactly what it
comes down to. And you know it sounds like that
I'm cynical or you're cynical, but we're not. We're really not.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
And yeah, I think we're practically.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Well, we've seen this play before. We've seen this before,
and you've got the city council that are there's thirteen
of them there that look in the mirror every morning
and say good morning, Madam mayor good morning, mister mayor.
I mean, I'm serious.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, Well, where our income tax rate could be. If
waste was eliminated, all the spending was eliminated, it'd probably
be no income tax.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah. I again, I don't think they'll ever get rid
of the income tax realistically, but it could be a lot,
it could be a lot lower. Look in California, people
who are working in our next call is going to
be from California. In California, everybody has to pay federal
income tax, so it can be as high as thirty
(17:18):
seven percent. And in California it's a lot of people
who do very well. They make thirty seven percent, and
then they're paying thirty uputs of thirteen percent of the
state and never mind what else they're paying in terms
of excise taxes and other forms of taxes. They're working
for the state. They're not working for themselves in California.
And that's why California and California has just a myriad
(17:40):
of problems.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Is that the highest tax right in the country for
a state.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Tax is California. Right, wow, thirteen. Our tax in Massachusetts
is you know, five pen but then you add in
the millionaires tax and it's nine percent. So if you're
in California and you're you're making some money. And whether
you're George kloon Out or you're Mike Trump or or
(18:07):
playing for the Angels or Sultani, Yeah, uh, playing playing
for the Dodgers, which is why he went for this
twenty year contract and it was going to be mostly
deferred money. And by the way, Massachusetts with the millionaires tax,
how tough do you think it's going to be here
in Massachusetts for the Red Sox, the Bruins, the Celtics,
and the Patriots to sign talent, they need to compete
(18:32):
when the go to they go to Texas, they go
to Tennessee, they go to Florida, they go to a
lot of states where that doesn't exist. Actually, probably virtually everywhere,
even in New York. All right, Bill, thanks for getting
us going. I appreciate it, you know that. Thank you,
my friend, appreciate your coming. Thanks, talk to you soon, Okay.
(18:53):
One line, one line open at six one seven two
five four ten thirty. I got two lines at six
one seven nine three one ten thirty. I'm going to
shut this off at nine o'clock. A rather coming up
at ten o'clock. Excuse me. We're going to talk about
a the question of who's going to lead the Democratic
Party out of the wilderness. I hope to god they did,
(19:14):
they do come out of the wilderness, and that they
can pull their act together, But right now, they seem
to be scrambling, and uh, it almost looks as if
the future of the party might fall to Bernie Sanders.
He certainly has has a lot of passion and a
lot of intelligence, and I've spoken about him before. I
don't necessarily agree with him, but I think he's I
(19:34):
think he's pretty honest. Six one seven thirty six seven,
nine thirty. We'll keep it going here at night side.
They have invented another tax in Boston. For all I know,
it may be a tax that they're copying. Maybe they're
not smart enough to invent another tax. Maybe this tax
already exists in other cities. I mean, obviously where we're
we're going to have congestion pricing in Boston at some point,
(19:56):
we're stealing that from London and from from New New
York City. Back on night.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Side, It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Let's keep rolling here and again, by the way, this
comes the increase, this fifteen cent increase comes against the
backdrop of the of Massport increasing rideshare fees to and
from Logan Airport. So all they're going to do with
(20:27):
Massport is they will increase the It shows that right now.
I guess the prices are going to go from three
and a quarter to five point fifty in the next
couple of years, and then seven to fifty starting in
twenty twenty seven. I think they may have actually come
to some sort of an agreement of a little lesser
than fees, a little less. I guess, according to a
(20:50):
piece that I'm seeing here, the current fee three and
a quarter a trip will rise to five point fifty
on July first. It never goes down. So those of
you who are out there tonight, uber and lyft drivers,
how's that going to impact you? Let's go to my
friend David in San Francisco. I got two or three
friends named David in San Francisco. I'm not sure this
(21:12):
one is. It's always we never know for sure. Hey
David in San Francisco, welcome back.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
Oh thanks Dan. And I'm the one that usually ends
up swimming. Well, let me ask you.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I hope if you're wearing your swim trunks tonight, let
me know, and hopefully we can end up in a
conversation which won't end up with you in the water.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
How's that?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Right, Well, you know you're in the famous seventeen seventy
six Boston and colony economics was the big deal back then,
doesn't Yeah, and Uber doesn't have its headquarters in Boston.
I take it. I don't know if you have Lyft
out there or Amazon there.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Well, yeah, we got all that, you know, We're we're
fairly advanced here. We have all the stuff you guys
have an SF.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Shore, all right, But the fifteen cent would be added
to all of those different companies, and none of those
corporate headquarters are in Boston. So colony economics is going
on here in Boston and in almost every city in
the world. Those companies are so huge if you go
(22:24):
into I don't know, Lusan. I'm trying to think of
some bizarre town in Zanzibar or something like that.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Don't if anybody could think of a bizarre town in Zanzibar. David,
I know it's going to be you. Before you go
off on me here, just for a second, let me
make sure I understand where you're going. I really enjoy
having a conversation with you as long as we can
have a conversation. So what they're doing in Boston, as
I've already mentioned the nickel and diming people, So they're
(22:53):
saying to you, if you're working as an uber driver, uh,
and you have people that you're picking up food for
the restaurant, I guess is supposed to charge an extra
fifteen cents or pay an extra fifteen cents, But you
know that's only going to be passed on to the customer.
(23:14):
I think you and I both are smart enough to
realize that. I mean, when when Ubert you know there's Ubers,
they're they're increasing the airfares here. I've been to San
Francisco and I've taken ubers from San Francisco Airport just
like Boston, by the way, but now they're going to
raise the per feed trip, not only what you pay,
(23:38):
you know, and it could be dependable where you're coming from.
Seventy seventy five one hundred bucks, if you're from the suburbs,
they're going to whack you out for an addictional five
point fifty And you know, I mean that's gonna a
number of people are going to say, you know what, Hey,
I don't need to go. And maybe what people will
start to do is they'll say it's getting too expensive
(23:59):
and they'll double up or something. And it always comes
down to this incredible appetite that any government agency has
for more money. And David, between you and me, and
I want to shut up and give you a chance
to respond to this. All this money goes to people
at these quasi public agencies and at these city agencies.
(24:23):
They make pretty good money. They make more money than
people regular people who are working nine to five jobs.
These people back here, I don't know what they make
in San Francisco, but if you work in government back here,
you're making one hundred thousand dollars. We get people back here.
It always comes out with overtime. They make a half
a million dollars as city workers. I mean, that's absurd.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Should do that. I mean, yeah, that's right, you're right, you're.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Right, But it's not just. But David, it's not just.
It's not a cops, Dave. It's not like the cops
are killing it and everybody else is making fifty thousand
dollars a year. I'm sure you have the same problem
out there, and none of them are really doing much
to help anybody. They're not producing anything. Go ahead, I
(25:16):
need to listen to you before go ahead, David.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Colony economics is what I'm leaning on. And when you
start having these corporations that are doing deliveries. You know,
if you think a hundred years ago, WC. Fields, I
think he was down there in Philadelphia and he was
delivering groceries for Nicola, a delivery, and so little kids
or teenagers used to do deliveries and it would go
(25:42):
straight to their pocket and help feed mom who was
starving in the kitchen. And the idea that now a
corporation can have worldwide deliveries and they suck all the
money to their corporate headquarters. That's straight to seventeen seventy six.
This Uber company I'm so disgusted by Lyft and Uber
(26:05):
and what's the other one Amazon. These guys are the
wealthiest people in the world because they are the biggest
colony colonizers of the world. Who would imagine that, you know,
a rickshaw driver in Hong Kong would keep the money
instead of Lift or Uber sucking it to Well.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Let me explain. Let me explain to you something that
I'm sure you know, but maybe our audience doesn't. Okay,
Here in Boston we used to have a certain number
of taxi cab drivers. There were only eight eighteen hundred
Hackney licenses that they were issued. And do you know
what the value of a Hackney license, if you owned
(26:49):
a Hackney license, do you know what, but the value
of that Hackney license was at its height.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Out here, it was a quarter million dollars.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Well, you know, you're right on the money out here
was actually a little more. It was a little more here.
It got up close to six hundred thousand dollars in More.
And then what happened was you couldn't get a Hackney license.
There were only eighteen hundred licenses that the city said
would and was run by the Police Department, which of
(27:19):
courses were run by the Mayor's office, and then incomes
Uber and Lyft, and all of a sudden, Boston was
flooded with Uber and Lyft drivers, which was great because
you could get an Uber would show up at your
drawer in like thirty seconds. And I'm sure you've experienced
it as well out there. But it killed the taxi
(27:44):
It killed the taxi industry here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
And there were people well in Boston who had purchased
these taxi medallions for six hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
and all.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Of a sudden, instead of you know, having the value
of that license because it had a value because they
could only be eight, they opened it up. And you're
right in the point of view that Uber had all
the lawyers, and Lift had all the lawyers. And I
on this radio station you may not remember it. I
was one of the people. I was playing Paul Revere
(28:20):
at the time, as I try to do every night,
and I was saying, this is crazy, this is not fair.
For years and years and years it was a system,
and now Uber has come in. If you and I
had just started to drive taxi cabs around or without
a license, or just decided to use. We would have
been pulled over and arrested. But somehow uber and able
to come in and flood the market here, and the
(28:42):
taxi drivers many of them just surrendered their their medallions.
So this is the same thing, David, it's the same thing.
We do agree. I told you the last time that
you were here, were we agreed, and I think some
somehow you didn't didn't leave me. But look, this was
a lovely conversation on my end.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
I'll finish up.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Go ahead, I'll give you final work. Go ahead, I'll
give you a final work.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
I would have liked to have the councilwoman, uh, talk numbers,
because the fifteen cents is probably what it's costing the city.
You know it's there. The city does take wear and
tear on the streets, and you know there are different
issues at the city. So it's a modest fifteen cents.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
But just think think the paperwork, David, take in the paperwork.
It'll it'll cost them Lord Titanic. It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Money is electronic. The money is electronic. That's not really
the issue. The bigger picture. You know, at the top
of the hour, you had discussion about the train going
down to the south part of the state and it's
going to be running for free for a couple of months. Well,
there are in many cities. Here in San Francisco, we
(29:59):
did a to talk about making the bus system entirely free,
and it would have actually made the city two billion
dollars a year by making the bus system free because
there is so much expense in special accounting special uh,
you know, the meter. Excuse me, the fare box costs
(30:20):
a lot. You've got to have special accounting, and the
farebox costs about seventy five percent of running the buses.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And what we'll do next time, since since you brought
up that topic, I'll do a little research on that.
It doesn't it seems to me that if you're going
to have a use a city service, it's not unreasonable
to have it cost you a buck or two because
you're you're Do you ever heard the word time stoffle.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
David, Well, the economics of it is as soon as you.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Have David, David, just try to be with me for
a second here. Have you ever heard the word ton staffel?
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Not off han okay.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Ton staffel is an acronym. It stands for there ain't
no such thing as a free lunch. So if people
are riding the MBTA or riding trains or riding airplanes,
someone's paying for it. Someone's paying for the gas. So
we'll leave that as economics one oh one for now,
(31:29):
and just remember ton stuffel. There ain't no such thing
as a free lunch. You might go into a restaurant
and they may give you a free lunch, David, but
somebody's paid for that. Maybe the owner paid for it,
the chef, you know it just it's it's just economics
one on one.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
David.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
We did ten minutes and you didn't end up in
the water. Thank you very much. I enjoyed our conversation.
Well you want to go in, let's let's put him in,
Rob he asked for it.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
David.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
We'll be back on nightside. I'd love to hear from you.
I'm again a little surprised, and we're going to change
topics at ten o'clock. If this doesn't this one infuriates me.
If it doesn't bother you, hey, stay go back to sleep.
We'll be back on night side six one seven, two,
ten thirty, six one seven, nine three ten thirty Coming
back on nightside.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Now, I thought this would be a really interesting topic.
It is to me, obviously, it is not to my audience,
and sometimes I misjudge my audience, which is fine, not
a problem. Rob was saying, maybe what the city should
do as their next initiative is have some sort of
little tolling device on bike lanes. I think that's a
(32:48):
possibility as well. I mean, they are just looking for
all sorts of ways in order to raise money. They're
not raising money to provide services. They're raising money for
the purpose of raising money. And until people here in
Massachusetts wake up, I don't think this will ever change. Frankly,
(33:15):
I think that we are in a really progressive state
here in Massachusetts, and as long as people go to
the polls and vote into office the same people, the incumbents,
who could care less about what your workday is like,
(33:40):
they will raise whatever type of money they can raise.
It is really as simple as that. So again, for
those of you out there who might be people who
are going to order food going forward, once this fifteen
cent additional tax is imposed on your food orders, don't
(34:02):
be surprised if your food orders go up a dollar
and a half because you know that will be an opportunity.
As my friend David in San Francisco would probably agree,
there would be an opportunity for some of the restaurant
owners to say, hey, it's going to cost us more
than fifteen cents just to keep track of this. We're
not going to pay the fifteen cents. We're going to
pass it on to our customers, or we're going to
(34:24):
pass it on to the uber drivers. It just to me,
I'm so amazed that people in Massachusetts allow this to
happen to them time and time again. I've had Diana
dis Ugly on the state udit or the come over
of Massachusetts, who simply wants to do her job, which
is to audit, and she wants to audit the state
(34:46):
legislature in an effort to find out if everything is
on the level, and if the money that the legislature
is spending is being sent for a good public being
spent on a good public purpose, and if it's not,
what is it being spent on. But after seventy two
percent of you, the residents of Massachusetts, voted to authorize
(35:08):
her and actually change the law to make it a law,
a state law, that she would be allowed to do
her job, and she would be instructed to audit the legislature.
The audit the legislature. Now, a law that went into
effect in January has still not been audited, and they're
trying to negotiate with Diana Desaghlia. We have to have
(35:31):
her on again. We've had her on before, We'll have
her on again. But it just shows the attitude that
state legislators and city councilors and mayors in this state
have because they realized they pretty much can do what
they want. Because the voters have been put into a slumber,
(35:52):
a certain percentage of the voters choose not to go
to the polls because they're so angry they don't even vote,
as if that makes sense, but it doesn't. But their
atitude or I'm not going to vote because I don't
want to be part of the problem. No, by not voting,
you become part of the problem, because if you voted,
maybe we'd have a few members of the General Court
(36:17):
and maybe a few members of city council and other
august bodies thrown out of office. But no, people just
roll over and they say to themselves, what can I
do well. You know, if you have that attitude, If
you have that attitude, the politicians will take advantage of
(36:37):
you every time, every day, and twice and twice on Sunday,
simple as that. So I will wait until this goes
into effect. And of course it won't stay fifteen cents long.
But what it's once the proverbial camel's nose is in
the tent, will it will increase. You can count on that.
(36:58):
And all that will mean is that you'll have to
work a little harder, maybe work a little more over time,
so you can afford the food that you eat. Welcome
to Massachusetts, as simple as that. Anyway, coming up on
the other side of the ten o'clock news, we're going
to talk about the National Democratic Party. And as strong
as the Democratic Party is here in Massachusetts, and it
(37:21):
is very strong, the National Democratic Party is in really
substantial problems right now. There's all sorts of polling which
is suggesting that young people, people in the age group
of eighteen to twenty four or even twenty four to
twenty nine, becoming more Republican as they come in. They're
(37:46):
actually the hope for the future, I guess would be
the way to describe it. So over the weekend, poor
Bernie Sanders was doing an interview with Jonathan Carl, not
what you would call a tough interviewer, particularly in terms
of Democratic guests, but he asked Bernie a couple of
questions about AOC who was thinking about taking a run
(38:06):
at Chuck Schumer, who is the Senate Minority leader now,
and Bernie got quite upset, and we're going to talk
about that. And my question is, really, this Democratic Party
is in they got some problems, Okay, they've just been
wrong on so many issues. Who can lead the Democratic Party.
(38:29):
I'm putting my money on Bernie Sanders. Although he is
eighty three years of age, he's probably one of the
youngest thinking members of the Democratic Party. We'll talk about
that on the other side, and I'll play this very
interesting interview that he had with Jonathan Carl yesterday. So
we will forge ahead right after the ten o'clock news
here at night Sidware coming back right after this
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