Sunday, June 21, 2015

The US Mayor Who Hates Uber



Paul Soglin is the liberal mayor of Madison, Wis., one of few cities with a political sensibility to the left of San Francisco, reports Joe Garofoli at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Soglin, who is in town for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, told a Madison audience this year that Uber and Lyft’s business model is “built on exploitation” and treats drivers with a “16th century version of serfdom.”

So no, he has no intention of joining Lee on a tour of Uber’s headquarters Monday, says Garofoli 

“This company is predatory in every sense of the word,” he said.

This weekend, he will ask his fellow mayors to support a nonbinding resolution that calls on Uber, Lyft and their competitors “to cease and halt all operations in municipalities until such time that they are properly regulated and licensed pursuant to law.”

So far, Soglin is the only sponsor. The last time he proposed this, debate was limited to a few minutes and it failed. It’s expected to fail again. As did his efforts to keep the ride services out of Madison (population 243,344). Uber began operating there in March 2014.

On his efforts to keep Uber out of town, Soglin admits defeat: “Well, that failed.”

  -RW

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