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Well I was getting all casual on the blogging...... two nights without updating...... Im not as regular as Amin but then he is more of a bran flakes man...... hehehehe.............. but its pretty rare to go two nights on the trot without a new JC pic on the blog......... it was sitting on the beach that did it to me at Tybee Island near Savannah....... all the usual discipline went out the window.......... it was nice to hang out on the sand and mess about in the surf.......... :-))
Still thats enough messing......... time to get back to shooting and the serious business of yellow taxis.............
Especially when you get a message this alarming in your in tray...............
___________[From: Sacha L] Is this the end of the road for New York's taxis?__________________________________________________________________________________
Sacha L spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site and thought you should see it.
Note from Sacha L:
This may be the prompt to really launch your yellow taxi project. Call me when you next pause for breath - come to London. Sacha
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/new-york-yellow-taxis
Is this the end of the road for New York's taxis?
New York's traditional taxis are being killed off by a combination of climate change and the recession
Joe Jackson
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/new-york-yellow-taxis
Story copied below:
Like the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, New York's sedan-style yellow taxis are iconic symbols of the city. But now the Ford Crown Victoria [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FordCrownVictoria" title="Ford Crown Victoria] ? the traditional American cab model for more than two decades ? is on the road to extinction.
Last month, Ford announced it would stop making the Crown Vic (as it is affectionately known) from next year. Ascending in its place is the mighty Ford Escape (shaped like a Jeep) and the not-so-iconic Toyota Sienna (essentially a people carrier).
Climate change and the recession are the unlikely killers of the Crown Vic: as the economy soured and petrol prices rose, money-conscious cabbies turned away from the gas-guzzling model in favour of hybrid taxis, introduced by New York's green-minded mayor, Michael Bloomberg, in 2005. There are now 3,480 hybrids out of 13,237 yellow taxis on the road and, under new city rules prohibiting taxis over five-years-old, sedans will have disappeared by 2015.
Its slow demise is lamented in both the front and back seats. "I feel sad about it," says cabbie Edison Capa, 42. "This type of car is designed for this type of job ? it's fast, comfortable and has a great big trunk."
"These new cars are garbage," barks 81-year-old attorney Murray Landsman as he climbs into Capa's cab in downtown Brooklyn. "I don't get in them unless I can't avoid it. They're too small and uncomfortable. And if you want to fit three [people] in the back ? forget about it."
The Crown Vic's fall from grace is also symptomatic of something bigger. Immortalised in countless movies and TV shows such as Taxi driver, Woody Allen's Manhattan, and Sex and the City, New York's unmistakable yellow cab models ? from the instantly recognisable "checker taxi" onwards ? have always exuded American culture and power. Now, as globalisation tightens its grip, they increasingly look the same as cabs on the road from Tokyo to Toronto, except for that great asplash of colour.
My reply:
Hey Sacha howzit ? Lovely to hear from u :-))
-
Tragic I know........... :-/ :-).......... Mind u I've slightly relaxed to the death of the Crown Vic having got all up tight about it a couple of years ago......... I even owned a Caprice Classic (the one before) myself....... but it is depressing cos I love those old Beast cabs ......... It was for me especially sad when they first started messing things up ....... about 2 or 3 years ago when they first allowed the vehicles to be nowhere near as uniform............ spoiling those fantastic views where all vehicles are the same........ I was depressed about it at the time........ And I certainly do think they have messed up an American Iconic vision ...... but it was two or three years back when something could have been done......... but its too late now :
"Don't you know...... you seem to know........ well you don't know what you got till its gone........
A big yellow taxi took away my old man .............. "
er......... but in this case........ its the other way round ....... the old man (Mayor Bloomberg ) took away the big yellow taxi........ and replaced it with mix of relatively crappy looking mix of hybrid vans and Toyota prius's and the like.......... :-/
I've been in the US for a long time ....... over 10 weeks I think........
I will be here another 3 wks at least........ before I make it back in the direction of London again.........
I will try and call in on you at the studio when Im back in London :-))
Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXX
PS..........Yellow...... Two Way Traffic......... This picture above shows five Beast cabs to three new hybrid ones............. I think thats about the mix you see now...................
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