As of September 1, 2011, ALL 1,875 retail establishments are prohibited from providing light-weight, single-use plastic carryout bags to customers at the point of sale. MORE

By Jason Islas
Lookout Staff

September 29, 2011 -- Words were exchanged on the dais Tuesday when the Santa Monica City Council debated taxi fees, ultimately voting six to one to revise the fee schedule to bring it more in line with the franchise system's management costs.

The council also voted to keep a ten percent discount available to seniors who want to take a taxi, while directing staff to look into the possibility of expanding the senior discount program.

Councilmember Kevin McKeown cast the sole dissenting vote because he thought that Mayor Richard Bloom's motion – a substitute to McKeown's original motion – maintained the status quo in the face of the senior community's demand that the city increase its support.

In his original motion, McKeown asked staff specifically to increase the senior taxi discount.

“The intent of my motion,” McKeown said “was to express quite explicitly, to express our political will as a city council to serve our seniors in a way they've asked for.”

“But by replacing that original motion with what I see as a much weaker substitute motion, I'm afraid Mayor Bloom and others may be sending the message that it's really not that important to us,” he said.

Bloom retorted that the idea that the council lacked political will and that the issue isn't important to them would appear “laughable” to anyone watching, especially after the council spent about 45 minutes discussing the matter.

Rose Kaufman, whose indefatigable efforts led the city to adopt the senior discount in the first place, spoke in favor of increasing it, funding it with money from the taxi companies – not the drivers – and the city.

Other councilmembers felt they needed to know if the city could find more funding before they could support increasing the senior discount.

Mayor Pro Tem Gleam Davis wondered if the money spent on a increased discount program might be better spent on a door-through-door service – that is, one where seniors could get help bringing groceries into their house.

According to Bloom, Proposition A – a tax measure that was approved in 1980 that earmarks 25 percent of the revenue the state collects from it for the cities to use in developing local public transit – is used in other communities to fund their taxi coupon programs.

If Santa Monica decided to redirect those funds to a bigger discount, that would mean taking the money away from other Proposition A funded programs, “which means we'll need another revenue source,” said Bloom.

Proposition A money goes to programs like Dial-A-Ride, including a new curb-to-curb taxi service that the city started back in July.

The new program allows seniors or those with disabilities to schedule rides to city sponsored events after Dial-A-Ride's normal operating hours.

Those who want to use the service, however, need to schedule a ride 48 hours in advance, which some said was unrealistic.

Since the program is new, there ought to be some time to see how it works before it is tinkered with, said Councilmember Terry O'Day.