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Show Opinio THURSDAY/February 20, 1997 oesSalt Lake sae Page A10 OUR VIEW The Sait Lake Tribune's Editorial Position Hail More Cabs Salt Lake City finally is moving in the right direction with taxicabs. Last year’s large conventions and mega-event. the mpics. have alerted cityofficials to the need to modernizea cab system patched together overthe past century. In response to outdoor retailers and American Legionnaires complaining of insufficient taxi service, a task force of city and business representatives is preparing proposals for loosen- the stimulation of competition through the reduction of government restrictions on operations. But city administrators are moreinclined to gradually raise cab rates. which have been held down for years to ensure that low-income and elderly residents can afford to ride. Free-wheeling competition has backfired on some cities. according to Alison Gregersen, the city’s director of business services. Customers tend to take the first cab that comes along,regardless of price and service, she explained. Cutthroat companies undermine the competition, sting the customer and damagethe city’s business climate What's more. she noted. it’s more difficult to make a profit with cabs in ing limits on cab companies. No earth-shattering changes are the works, mind you. Task force membersare not suggesting the kind of deregulation that would unleash cutthroat competition among chauffeurs. Thecity still would contro] how many cabs would serve thecity. at what hours and at whatcost to customers. Cabbies still would be required to present a cleancut image. But taxis operating in the city at least would become more consumerfriendly. People could hail a cruising ‘ab or share a ride without breaking local ordi es. Cab zones would be more clearly publicized and marked. These sorts of rules ae have beentested. not only but also in month. during the latest tailers Convention. For two weeks, Mayor Deedee Corradini waived limits on cruising andride-sharing. and visitor complaints quieted down. If cab service is to improve over the long haul. however. business must become moreenticing: that is. more lucrative. Free enterprisers would argue for Salt Lake City, with its spread-out resi- 5 dential area and limited business core. than in large cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Minimum standards are needed to ensure adequate customer service and keep taxi companies in business. Salt Lake City’s three cab companies noware permitted to operate 190 vehicles. But the city is growing, and so will = THE PUBLIC FORUM the demand for more transportation op- tions. Eliminating outdated restrictions on cruising and ride-sharing andraising cab a are just the first steps for copSalt Lake City’s newconvention ad business traffic. Government and businesses also must prepare for the day when regulations must be further relaxed to foster the kind of competition that will keep up with the future. Letters from The Tribune’s readers Defining Feminism The enduring enmity between Hutus and Tutsis. which saturated Central African soil in blood in 1994. is now desta- Babcock (Forum, Jan. 4) makes some inaccurate statements about feminism Feminism is not as simple as Babcock presents it fo be and is by no means monolithic. It is incorrect to thinkthatall feminists, or suffragettes for that matter. believe the same way For instance. many feminists would argue that no human being — man or woman— should be subjected to war, and not all feminists aspire to be men. Feminism Kabili's movement has generated ue among non-Tutsi Zairians as well, social experiences of women. specifically out of concern with the oppression of women. The type of feminism with which I is one that opens up sibilities spent e decades plundering Zaire of its once considerable riches and whois nowfighting his own battle with cancer. The demise of Mobutu is long overduein Zaire: his rejection of a United Nations peace plan this week underscore: menace That five-point U.N. plan was approved Tuesday by the S Council; meanwhile, South Africa’s Nelson Mandelais attempting to broker peace ili and Mobutu. Cer0 g the bloodshed and prohe remaining Hutu refugees is mount concern, but the most im- Correction Theft charges have been filed against a Midvale justice court clerk. Jodi B. Stinson. An editorial day's edition of The Salt Lake Tribune orrectly indicated the charges we ed against that court's judge to live in peace. The failure to a g ill likely result in future destabilization of the entireMaoh African region the awful s witnessed over that Hutus and Tutsis might finallyfind More contemporaryforms of feminism sionate about fairness and ee involved in th and the Wasatch Front to violence again: a Byvirtue of how patriarchal societies are structured and not by certain innate qualities, all too often womenareforced. whether consciously or not, to be economically reliant on men. Feminism in an operation against him. Thestory" remains the struggle be- tween theforces of the apparatus and the forces of society over the futureof ( It is a Cuban story, not an American one ys should pay for them actuality. everybody uses the high- It is by a regrettable accident of history sly sup- collected. EDITOR Jerry O'Brien (1983-1994 EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR HarryE. Fuller, Jr. KEARNS-TRIBUNE CORPORATION, 143 S. MAIN ST. SALT LAKE CITY, 84111 \ A tri-county commissionis not new. It has been used in manyareas of the United States for reasons less urgent than the Olympics. It could prove beneficial for Utah. JOHN T. ZACCHEO Salt Lake City ony. use the are to be commended for the continued (and almost singular) coverage of the recently exposed payoff scandal involving Envirocare President Khosrow Semnani and former Utah regulator Larry Ander. son This whole affair brings to mind an old routineperformed by comedianFlip Wil- son in which a young woman justified her purchase of an expensive dress by proclaiming, “The devil made me do it! which we are taxed, people use morethan have users. Some others, so maybe rnmentservices on Semnani’s “Flip Wilson defense’ (ie., his purchaseof an expensive dress and proclaiming, FRANK W. MILLSAPS Salt Lake City “Larry made medo it!"’) doesn't ring true. Come on. if the dress fits, wear it, The Tribunearticle Feb. 9 raises sever- al important issues: If It Works... Was Semnani interviewed during the I heard Merrill Cook said that he can't possibly owe any more money for his campaign because he has already paid $200,000. I am goingtotry that with the bank that is financing my $15,000 car. can't possibly owe you another $7,000 I've “I already paid you $8,000 CHARLIE JENSEN Murray downthat way they!havea tle Dolla Paula.” What a Shesaysit’s not about n wants to get her reputation (¥ tation?) back. She probably has to go back a few years before 1991 to do that. I didn’t know anything about her (Did you Marge?) until she brought it all up It appears to me she wants a reputa- tion. and as far as I can see, M she South Jordan Devil in Details of Envirocare Payoff The Tribune and reporter Jim Woolf In fact all functions of government. for PUBLISHER Dominic Welch who arts should pay their fair share also. UTAH’S INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE 187! James E. Shelledy represented in this major activity in the historyof the state of Utah. ported by taxes. Perhaps the1users of the TheSalt Lake Tribune John W. Gallivan (1960-1983) Those schools most should pay the most weshould put John F. Fitzpatrick (1924-1960) could be funded by a redevelopment Don't leave out the the reach of political authorities, comes taxes a pay-per-use PAST PUBLISHERS in future conflicts and enable the areas riders of the Utah Transit Author: 'y bus- in cars with exempt license plates. If we are to apply user taxes for highways. why not for the schools? Our high birth rate contributes to the high costs of school, somewherenear 50percentof all ment appointed bycountyauthorities. It would act as a coordinating group working with the Olympics committee. This would aid es, or the government employees riding sought to punish and isolate the Havana regime. This is how the American press, which legs itself on operating beyond It is a distasteful requirement that im plicitly tramples on the First Amend- amountsto nothing years, and being u nable gers andthew Iker now to submit to a Cold War procedure requiring an official U.S. license generousto most v amount to an alrea agency or perhaps they could use state ways. So anyone who eats uses the highways. Then there are the bicyclists who ride on the highways, as well as the jog- that is different from enlisting the media These airborne The practical solution would be tricounty planning commission, established for the limited duration of the Games and industrial funds. We all would then be a political At the American end, the controls arise shut down nployees, fy their selfish greed by ir ting on an additional 11 percent in ges plus other options moreyears? The Republicans have | gotten out of hand. The White House and Congress alike are justifying a Clinton decision to let approved news organizations cover the newsin Havana full-time — now that Havana ha id yes to bu- fromthe longtime economic embargo by which successive administrations have lots were morethan willing to their employer, betray fell strand thousandsof their customers and isolate numerous businesses The members could be carefully screened volunteers and their meetings trucks to rebuild our highways. He calls power. Thus. an hour, notincluding benefits It seemsincredible that American's ELAINEGLICK institutions undermines women’s autonomy s. About 80 percent of the foodstuff delivered to stores moves overthe high- regime out of power. But this is not what a free press in America is supposed todo. It is supposed to be covering the news. It happens that thestory,’ as journalists put it, is to witness an g dictator's endgame. But American Airlines’ average dentof the L not — have to answe Jones. If Paula waited thr: make the char; publican Pai that the restoration of a full-time U.S media presence in Cuba comesto take on reau coverage — as a wayto blow the reported 56.5 hours is average. concerned to participate, giving them a sense of how the developed areas would fit into their future after the Olympics. relating to automobiles and the cont American Airlines pilots $120,000 per year plus a Iuerative fits package for flying no more FAA maximum of 100 hou: Most fly far less than the maximum. A nation and-dependence. Women’s economic dependence upon men and male wants to release women from male domi- The talk about reopening American news bureaus in Communist Cuba has o family income is approximately $25,000. and this figure often requires more than one wage earner. some issues, such as rapid transit ernor has proposed an increase treats the fc m press much the same wayit treats its own: as an aspect of state Millions of hard-working Americans toil at back-breaking jobs earning the minimum wage. The nation’s av verage eviderice of conflict and discontent in You Use, You Pay since mpics coming to the A strong degree of cooperation will be required. There is evidence that this is occurring in many areas. Thereis also Summarized From The Washington Post cast — a double cast, Coordinate Olympic Efforts In the coming ears, there will be demands on the partof all three counties ANOTHER VIEW there are controis at both ends. At the lic Forum, The Salt Lake Box 867, Salt Lake City. Utah 84110. @ Our fax number is (801) 237-2316. for women, notone that diminishes women’s choices. it Lake City Miscasting the Press pace are condensed and ¢ of the volume of mail re- began outof concern with the bilizing the huge countryof Zaire. As call for an internat ence to resolve Zairian conflicts. Such a conference ought to be open to long-term solutions in a post-Mobutu era, such as boundaryreconfigurations among Zaire. Rwanda and Burundi, so Sky-High Wages Where to Write @ Whensubmitting letters to the Public Forum, please include yourfull name, signature, address and daytime telephone numbers. Information other than your nameand thecity in which you live are kept confidential ort. Concis letters develophemeare more likel iy to be In her move to create a dichotomy between suffragism and feminism. Betty Think Long-Term in Zaire the international community movesto stop Zaire's civil war. it should keepits s on the larger picture: a long-range plan to keep Hutusand Tutsis from connuing to murder each other The Hutu-Tutsi dynamic. which already defines politics in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, spread into eastern Zaire in 1994, in the wakeofthe Hut olesale slaughter of Tutsis in neighring Rwanda, followed bythe Tutsis victoryin thecivil war there. Thatled to large refugee camps of Rwandan Hutus in Zaire. which led Hutu militant activity within the camps, which led to Zairian hostility toward its own Tutsis. h led to the rise of Laurent Kabil irian Tutsi rebel force and today's on: ying civil war. ee ee ee NEWS TTEM: TRIN PAT SHEA MAY HEAD BUREAY of LAND MANASEMENT- two previous investigations which dis- closed favoritism by Anderson toward Envirocare? If so, did he mislead investi gators to cover his payments to Anderson” If Semnani wasnot questioned. why on earth not? Utah regulators have now apparently allowed Envirocareto import wastes gen erated by commercial nuclear-power t plants. Utah has no nuclea -power plants and no need to exposeits risks associated with these m: any purpose other than further enrichment of Khosrow Semnani. This controversial change was quie approved by current regulators ter Larry Andersonretired 1 these same “new” regulators have tle comment on the serious hadlit questions asked by the California physicia worried about the possiblelia volved in burying this hot trash Are more hundred-dollar bills and gold coins floating around? The article discloses that a 1991 Utah law effectively snuffed out the threat of competition for Envirocareby requiring approval of facilities by Utah's Legislature and the governor With all the Envirocare money floating aroundtheLegislature, and Gov. Leavitt strangely silent during the whole payoff scandal, oneis left to wonder who will be the next designated devil if answers to these and other questions reveal another dress or two in Khosrow’s closet COLLEEN ANDERSON Salt LakeCity |