Whether it’s by the councilmembers, the hotel association, passengers, or the taxicab commission, drivers feel put upon.

Everyone, it seems, has done the drivers wrong: There are too many cars on the streets. License fees are too high. Customers have a chip on their shoulders. The hack inspectors are assholes. Get rid of the Taxicab Commission and bring on more hack inspectors! Testimony from a pro-medallion system advocate was met with muttering: "Go back to Chicago!" The list goes on. (And on: More than 80 people signed up to testify at the hearing. As of mid-afternoon, Chairman Mary Cheh hadn't even called the first quarter of the witnesses.)

In the hearing, the drivers are a vocal bunch. Scores of them line the walls, bursting out with frustration frequently enough for Councilmartyr St. Tommy Wells to shush them thus: “If the room is quiet, we won’t notice it’s over capacity.”

Wells was asking them to stop praising him; during his questioning of Taxicab Commission Chair Ron Linton, he was a recipient of cheers as he bore into the reasons why Linton wants to pay for the new meter, GPS, and credit card system with money from a customer surcharge. Not that the drivers want to pay for it themselves, mind you—they simply cheered any criticism of the plan because they want it dead.

And they're still unhappy about the end of the zone system. During testimony, drivers went after Wells for praising the Uber model of cab dispatch—one 30-year veteran said the abolished zone system allowed for higher fares (better for drivers, and thus, service) through shared riding. In response to a complaint from Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser that her constituents can't catch cabs right now, the zone system was brought up again: a driver insisted that picking up multiple fares was the best way to hit underserved areas.

Wells acknowledged this, wondering if allowing shared rides east of the Anacostia River at night would help residents there catch cabs home. Only if shared rides were allowed everywhere, the driver said: "If you're going to have it east of the river, you need it west of the park."

And on it went, with each driver bringing up a different gripe. With such scattershot complaints—and, likely, diversity of opinion among drivers—it's hard to evaluate their claims. But the anger is obvious, and to listen to the cabbies, everyone else is to blame.

Photo by Shani O. Hilton

And the credit card argument rages on, with drivers saying they can't afford to upgrade their cabs to accept cards without more cash, while consumer advocates insist that upgrades must come before rate increases. It's hard to know which side to take here: On the rare occasion that I take a cab, I don't get the sense that drivers are exactly raking it in (unless they're acting illegally), but short cab rides also tend to be rather expensive with all of the surcharges.

A driver recently told me that the credit card reader wouldn't actually do much for his business—according to him, he tends to make short trips where people prefer to pay cash, anyway.

Photo by Matt Dunn

District police are searching for a man they say posed as a cab driver and sexually assaulted two women in separate early morning incidents this month in the District. The driver, described as being of Middle Eastern descent and between 30 and 40 years old, is alleged to have picked up one woman in Dupont Circle on May 11 and attacked her in the 300 block of 18th Street Nether second assault occurred on May 22 in the 3700 block of Quebec Street NW after the driver picked up a woman in Georgetown, police said.

The suspect hasn't been caught yet, and it's a bad situation for both female passengers looking for a safe way to their destination and taxi drivers trying to eke out a living. Though we'd all like to think we could spot an imitation taxi, MPD spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump actually says she can't "confirm that the cab is fake" at this point.

So City Desk asked her what women should do besides keep an eye out for a creepy hack. Her suggestions—which could make you feel a little paranoid—are mostly about gathering information on the cab you're stepping into and then dialing 911 the moment there's the sense that something is wrong.

• When traveling late at night, travel with a companion.

• Get a description of the cab, including company name, cab number.

• Get the driver's information from the displayed placard.

• If it appears that the driver is going out of the way of the passenger's destination or passing the destination, contact the police.

• If the taxi driver is appears to be parking or stopping the cab in a remote location, contact the police.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

At least that's the attitude of Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). Even better? He ditched the cab driver after he called police! There's nothing better than a congressman running from the law. So how did this mayhem go down?

Cab driver Abraham Habteab tells Fox 5 he picked up Nadler at Union Station. Habteab didn't know it was Nadler until his buddies informed him later. Nadler asked for a lift to a Southwest D.C. hotel.

Nadler then asked Habteab to dump his luggage in the hotel and then take him back to Capitol Hill. Nadler insisted the meter stay on, which is illegal according to the D.C. Taxicab Commission. Cab riders must pay the entire fare at each destination, including waiting time. Nadler's request for another ride would require a new trip on the meter.

When Habteab refused to keep the meter running, Nadler refused to pay the $8 owed. Habteab called police. "He said I'm not going to wait for the police and he caught another cab and left," Habteab told Fox 5.

What did Nadler's office have to say? They called it a "misunderstanding." We just call it "being an asshole."

UPDATE: Nadler's office sent along a statement from the congressman. He insists he told Habteab that the Rayburn building was his final destination with a stop at his hotel. Here's his side of the story:

“Regarding a misunderstanding yesterday, I must correct the record. Arriving at Washington’s Union Station yesterday, I entered a taxi and asked the driver to take me to the Rayburn office building with one stop at my hotel to very briefly drop off my luggage, which is my routine each time I arrive in Washington. When we arrived at the first stop, I advised the driver, Mr. Habteab, that I would be out of the cab for 30 seconds or so, and requested that he leave the meter running in accordance with DC taxi regulations. Mr. Habteab then ignored DC taxi regulations and refused to take me to my final destination without restarting the meter. This is against the law, and Taxi Commission Chairman Leon Swain has clarified that point to me personally in a letter, which I shared with Mr. Habteab, but which he refused to read. Today, I spoke personally with Chairman Swain, who has confirmed that I was correct in relying on his interpretation of the law as stated in the letter. Therefore, as Mr. Habteab would not obey the law and take me to my final destination, I was obligated to find another driver who would. Of course taxi drivers have rights, but so do passengers. I am working with the Taxicab Commission and Mr. Habteab to ensure that he receives the correct payment, despite his misinterpretation of the law.”

Nadler even provided the letter he received from the Taxi Commission(PDF) to further prove his actions were justified.

Our updated assessment: Nadler is still an asshole for storming off without paying. Period. Stiff him on the tip if you insist, but give the guy the fare you owe him and be on your way.

Check out the Fox 5 video to fully grasp the scandal at hand:

Does this mean that Loza promised someone taxi cab regulation in exchange for money after he knew the regulation was going to be approved regardless of his influence? If so, that's brilliant and appalling. Then again, Graham could be lying his head off. Note to bribe-easy pols, we need more cabs with fewer regulations. Why? Because people need jobs and I NEED RIDES AND NOT THE KIND AT THE CARNIVAL.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's remaining fans are over at our new blog, the Arts Desk, sulking and waiting for an apology. I made fun of their nuts, you see, and they're not happy. Also, I am not going to apologize.

For all you bicyclists who can't seem to stop at red lights (urm, that's me as well, so don't shit your lycra), a harrowing story:

After two hours of deliberation, a jury Tuesday found a Denver Police officer not guilty of using excessive force by slamming a man's face into the ground and breaking his teeth, even though the event was caught on videotape.

Heaney, who was riding his bike past Coors Field on his way to see his mother in a hospice, claimed [Officer] Cordova and other undercover police officers pulled him off his bike, kicked, punched and beat him, then slammed his face into the ground, breaking two front teeth. He says all this happened while he was on his stomach about to be handcuffed.

Whole thing here. H/t to Radley Balko.

Are the cabbies on strike again?