It Looks Like the Mayor Got What He Wanted

You won't find this picture on the SF Gov website any longer. That's Tristan Bettencourt on the left and his friend, Heidi Machen, on the right.

The San Francisco Taxicab Commission meeting just wrapped up – it was another marathon, more than five hours. The commissioners apparently gave Mayor Newsom what he wanted – they voted to send him nominations for Executive Director. We have every reason to believe that Heidi Machen is on that short list, and there’s little doubt who Newsom will pick.

As we first reported last night, it’s a strange story. The commission fired Heidi Machen last month over several issues including the man she hired as her special assistant, Tristan Bettencourt, her long-time roommate. The former cabdriver was convicted in 1989 of burglarizing the home of a passenger, after he dropped her at the movies. Machen posted Bettencourt’s $10,000 bail at the time, so she knew his criminal record as a cab driver when she hired him for a job overseeing the taxi industry. Interestingly, Bettencourt became Acting Executive Director for the commission after Machen left. After she got fired at the Taxi Commission, Newsom removed two commissioners who voted against Machen, appointed three others, and tonight, the commission by all appearances sent her nomination to the mayor. Politics in San Francisco …

Tonight at 11pm, we showed you how Tristan Bettencourt resigned at the commission meeting without stating the reason. This comes a day after the I-Team revealed his criminal history, including the burglary in San Francisco and a conviction for grand larceny in El Dorado County.

The Taxi Commission is ripe for more stories. We're already working on it, and if you have any leads, please e-mail us through the website or call 1-888-40-I-Team.

Comments

[Cliff Lundberg]

The taxicab industry deserves better than these cronies. Contrast the lengthy talent search to find a chief for Muni.
The mayor has too much power over this commission as it is, in that he appoints all the commission members. The BOS should have the right to appoint some commissioners. Should there even be a taxi commission? Before 1998, the police ran things, and both drivers and owners of taxis were better off. Ask them. This taxi commission heads straight for the money issues they get lobbied about, and does little or nothing about service issues. The taxi commission exists for its own reasons, to provide a place where novice party hacks can get some experience, and to give the mayor direct control over an industry he knows little about.

[John Kiernan]

As Clif Lundberg suggests, at least some of the commissioners should be appointed by the Supes, not all of them by Newsom.

The taxi industry in this city is way too important for it to be the plaything of Newsom and his kinky friends. It would be better if he were allowed only to choose commissioners from a list nominated by the Supes or some process like that.

Better yet would be to get rid of the flunkies and their commission altogether.

[Savannah Blackwell]

By Savannah Blackwell

Jim Gillespie, the manager of Yellow Cab who hired a private investigator to snoop into the private life of former Taxi Commission Director Heidi Machen, is the source behind the disinformation campaign aimed to discredit her.

Since he could find nothing in her past to use against her, he got his hands on a 17-year-old document showing that one of her staffers, Tristan Bettencourt, had once been convicted of burglary.

A former cab driver, Bettencourt was accused by a fare of entering her apartment and stealing away with a $100 necklace. At the time, she said nothing else in her apartment was disturbed or taken.

Since he could not afford a lawyer, Bettencourt had to depend on a public defender who was burdened by a huge caseload. Bettencourt was innocent, he has said, but took the advice of the p.d. and plead no contest to a felony burgarly charge.

He spent about three weeks in a work furlough program. Years later, when he had more resources, he hired a lawyer. She got the charge reduced to a misdemeanor and dismissed.

That means that it is not accurate to call Bettencourt "a convicted felon." He never faced "12 counts." The fare who accused him of burglary was not on her way to the airport. He was not fired by Yellow Cab. He was not forbidden to work again in the industry. All of those assertions are lies Gillespie has circulated.

What is interesting, is that Gillespie has a criminal record.

According to the Yellow Cab manager's 1995 taxi driver's permit application filed with the San Francisco Police Department, in 1989 Gillespie was accused of fraud and convicted on nine felony counts of violating state Department of Corporation security laws. He was placed on probation until 1994. It does not appear that the charges were reduced or dismissed.

[Laurie Graham]

Ms. Blackwell's writings belittle the taxi industry as a “gang of thugs’ and Yellow Cab as the "nefarious outfit that holds roughly one-third of the highly coveted taxi-driving permits..." (See ) She goes on to tell many more untruths about the industry and in particular Yellow Cab Co-op. She also implies in this article that the “…cops (San Francisco Police Department) involved in the (taxi) detail often got on the take”. Drivers (permit holders) can choose to start their own company, go to any company run by an individual or they can join a co-op, such as Yellow Cab Co-op or Desoto Cab. These two companies are run and owned by working cab drivers. It is unfortunate that Blackwell has to stoop to accusing a very hard working advocate in the taxi business to retort alleged and proven statements about the director and her administrative assistant. Many of the reforms that the taxi commission has implemented were there prior to the current director’s appointment. Naomi Little and her predecessor were very diligent in overseeing the industry.
Prop K in 1978 sought to eliminate the cooperate monopoly that the former Yellow Cab Company, then owned by a conglomerate that ran Yellow Cab in Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. After this company went bankrupt the medallions were considered valuable assets by the court. Drivers were to be the recipient of the slight benefits of holding a medallion in San Francisco. It is disappointing that the law is ambiguous as to its interpretation of the driving requirement. Also it is unfortunate that nothing was explicitly referred to in the case of medallion holders who become disabled or too old to drive. I don’t believe that the citizens of San Francisco meant to leave these long time drivers out in the cold. We as drivers thought that the Taxi Commission was a good idea as there could be more input to the industry’s problems and more attention by a commission that included representatives of all stakeholders involved. As a taxi driver of 25 years in San Francisco I am disappointed that this time spent waiting for a medallion in which money was spent on gates rather than purchasing a medallion I am now regulated by an antiquated law that needs to be changed.

[Bettina Cohen]

On the 7/26 rehiring of Heidi Machen --

Certainly, other people are qualified for the executive director position, and someone else could have been found who would have come in without the baggage Ms. Machen will bring to her second tenure at the Taxi Commission.

The annual convention of the International Association of Transportation Regulators takes place in September, and the City’s Department of Human Resources could have been allowed to circulate a formal job announcement among the IATR convention attendees. It would have been a golden opportunity to search for a new executive director who could have made a fresh start. The Mayor could have appointed an interim director – possibly Ms. Machen, or another qualified person -- until a permanent director was hired.

Most importantly, he could have found another job for Ms. Machen elsewhere in City government.

As it now stands, the Mayor has ensured that nothing will be accomplished at Taxi Commission meetings. Far too much time will be taken up with speakers coming to the podium and expressing either their support of, or distrust of, Ms. Machen. Whether you see her as a fearless reformer or a power-hungry political climber, you can not ignore the fact that, in an industry long divided over complex issues, the person charged with overseeing the industry has herself become the single most divisive issue in it.

It's sad, because the taxi industry has legitimate business, regulatory, and public service concerns to address at its bi-monthly meetings.

[Charles Rathbone]

Thank you Dan Noyes and KGO-TV for busting through all the BS surrounding the mess at the Taxi Commission.

May I suggest a follow-up?

One of the other people who responded to this blog, Savannah Blackwell, mentions that she got medallion holder Jim Gillespie's criminal record from his 1995 taxi permit application.

Those applications are NOT public record! How did that permit application get out of the Taxi Commission files and into someone else's hands?

I submitted one of those applications myself when I got my taxi medallion in 1997. It is full of personal information including a financial statement with bank account numbers and a medical examination report, along with a statement of any history of convictions.

I sure hope that my own taxi permit application is not floating around out there, but now I am certainly worried about it.

Keep up the good work.

[John Kiernan]

Rathbone, you and all the others in the industry might as well get ready to see your private information all over the place, particularly in the hands of Machen's cronies like Blackwell. If I was Bettencourt -- O thank you Lord for not making me him! -- I would have made copies of everything in the staff's files before I left yesterday. Take a look at the stuff he posted on the Internet to the people who were railing at him about his ripping them off, to see how he handles people who complain about him. He's clearly a sociopath and that is exactly why Machen had no business putting him in the position he held. And why Newsom is simply mooning everybody by ignoring the whole thing and making sure that Machen is rehired.

I'm relying completely on Dan Noyes from this point on because there's not another reporter in this whole town who is doing anything other than trying to whitewash the unholy trio.

[Anonymous]

Gavin's a phony. He became supervisor because Willie Brown appointed him, using his connection to the Getty family. His biggest accomplishment as supervisor was his so-called reform of the cab industry via the "Taxi Task Force" which was nothing more than a cover for the doubling of the number of cabs in San Francisco for his rich Marina district constituents. Then turning his back on us when the dotcom bust came and recession hit. The intense bickering we have now in our industry is his legacy. Everything Gavin touches turns to sh*t. It's like the reverse midas touch. Just watch. He's going to do the same to our fair city too. Gavin didn't realize that there was more to improving cab service than simply dumping more cabs into the system.

When I started in this business 20 yrs. ago, I came home every night with over $200. After Gavin came, that $200 was only guaranteed on Fri. and Sat. nights. Now Gavin's looking for a fall guy for the mess he's made of our industry, and those evil "permit holders" have become his target.

Well I drove 20 yrs to become a permit holder myself. And as far as I'm concerned the only real change to our industry was made by Supervisors Chris Daly and Fiona Ma in implementing a seniority system in the distribution of medallions. You don't see them crowing about their achievements.

Prior to the Daly-Ma change, all you needed to do to get a medallion was to put your name on a waiting list for 10-15 yrs. and when your name came up, start driving a cab. Now you have to prove 2 out of the prior 3 yrs of full time driving, and this requirement increases one year, every year for the next 3 yrs. so that, eventually, when your name comes up you will have to prove 5 yrs of full time driving in the prior 6 yrs.

As a result the list has been moving very fast, as fully 50% of those on the waiting list are no longer currently in the industry. Yet, Gavin and his phony protege, Heidi, will have you believe that they are the one's making the list move fast by going after permit holders who aren't driving. Ha!

This guy is all about spin, and that brill cream hair doo.

[Gnome Deplume]

Given the negative controversy (if there is such a thing) to his office, this Gnome wonders whether Gnewsome is overly loyal to supporters. Or, perhaps, Miss Machen knows more than she will tell. Unless, of course, she does not get her job back.

[Alan Freberg]

Dan Noyes is certainly the only reporter to have given the facts to the public. Everything else has been City Hall spin.
No-one, though, has dealt with the issue of expired term commissioners. Commissioners are hired for fixed terms and can only be removed for cause. This is to put them more above political pressures that commissioners would have if they served at the mayor's pleasure. By having commissioners whose terms continue without reappointment means that they serve, in fact, at the mayor's pleasure. We saw this when the mayor fired the taxi commissioners who voted against his friend.
I have heard that there maybe as many as 50 commissioners serving on various commissions whose terms have expired. This is not a healthy situation.
Mr. Noyes would do a further service to report on this situation.

[Bettina Cohen]

On Mr. Freberg's comments:

Actually, Dan Noyes’ piece touched on that briefly at the very end, noting that by reappointing the taxi commissioner with “the worst attendance record” after she voted on June 28 to keep Ms. Machen, Mayor Newsom was demonstrating that “one vote counts more than performance.”

But overall, Mr. Freberg is correct. The media could do the public a great service by running a piece on how inordinately large numbers of expired commission terms throughout city government poses a threat to the commission form of government.

The media could in fact use some excellent quotes on this very matter, provided by Supervisor Chris Daly when he sat in as a non-voting participant at the Rules Committee hearing on July 20. Sup. Daly said words to the effect that “we must be caretakers of the commission form of government.”

Mayor Newsom’s handling of taxi commissioners has been nothing less than tyrannical. He continues to leave two excellent taxi commissioners on expired terms, instead of reappointing them. One, Patricia Breslin, had a contingent of supporters at the Tuesday night TC meeting clamoring to see her nominated as commission president. Yes, it’s a shame the Mayor still has not tended to those final two expired terms on the TC.

Long ago and far away, I worked as a community news reporter for a chain of weekly newspapers. I actually attended the government meetings that I reported on, instead of relying solely on press releases from government offices. Back in those days, print reporters prided themselves in providing more comprehensive coverage than television reporters. In terms of where the real coverage of Taxi Commission woes turned up this past month, television sure had it over print. Thank you, Dan Noyes, for your excellent investigative piece that aired on Monday.

It would be a breath of fresh air if other reporters in this city would go deeper than the canned releases once in awhile.

[John Kiernan]

Apparently the publicity from Noyes, Daly, and perhaps others, about the expired terms got to Newsom. He recently reappointed about 35 commissioners I think. I guess he just hadnt noticed it before. Worrying about Heidi may be taking up all his time.

[John Kiernan]

Savannah Blackwell wrote:

"What is interesting, is that Gillespie has a criminal record.
"According to the Yellow Cab manager's 1995 taxi driver's permit application filed with the San Francisco Police Department, in 1989 Gillespie was accused of fraud and convicted on nine felony counts of violating state Department of Corporation security laws. He was placed on probation until 1994. It does not appear that the charges were reduced or dismissed."

Blackwell, after spending so much time in your newspaper trying to whitewash your friend Heidi, why would you suddenly spill the beans on her by revealing that she or someone on her staff leaked private information to you about Yellow Cab manager Jim Gillespie, the object of Heidi's vendetta since he first complained to Newsom about her high-handed tactics?

Those records are not public documents, and rightly so, since they contain all sorts of information about the person's identity, bank accounts, medical records, etc. You make it clear that the permit owners' main complaint about Heidi and her staff -- their untrustworthiness, abuse of authority, and misuse of information --are very well founded.

This is a criminal matter and we will probably be hearing more about it.

[Anonymous Too]

Thanks to all who have commented.
One issue brought up concerns the function of the TC. We are in the middle of a serious excalation of gasoline prices. As of yet, there has been no increase in the payment to drivers who bear the whole cost of gas prices today.
Nor has the TC realistically addressed the need for a gradual, affordable change-over to alternative fuels. Fleets are the ideal testing grounds for ethanol, methanol, bio-diesel, flex-fuels, etc.

Instead, they give us venal political infighting, showcasing how this great City is in the grips of a me-first administration. Where are the leaders?

[Jordan 1]

Man you're impressive. Having these cool ideas not to talk about generating it. Outstanding!

[louis vuitton bags]

Basically my life is just hard work, I can say that I live a seventy-year-old, is not that comfortable life than a month, like pushing a stone up the mountain, the stone kept rolling down and Tuishang Qu.

[bookofra]

An sich ist dies ne gute Geschichte, ich frag mich aber, ob das auf Dauer brauchbar sein wird!

[Vibram Five Fingers Sale]

A very informative story and lots of really honest and forthright comments made! This certainly got me thinking about this issue, nice one all.

[Hotel Bucuresti]

Mai multe detalii despre cazare Bucuresti gasiti pe site'ul nostru !

[LoniaVopanync]

Taking such an viewpoint is often self-defeating. Simple fact of the matter is that we're all on a pills of one sort or another.
Fast Weight Loss Diets that Work
Three Diets You Would Never Have Thought Could Work
how to lose weight fast with remove which diet plan

[ugg boots store]

Wow, your hubby is a darling for building it. My own hubby cleaned up my whole potting bench and area yesterday so I'm not complaining, still, I wish I had an arbor like that Can't wait to see it after you've "twigged" it.Ah mate thanks a lot. I’ve been looking for a lot of jQuery tutorials regarding charts and i stumbled upon this.Just wanted to say thank you for the help

[kaufen Testosteron]

Aber ich möchte sagen, dass dieses iteamblog.abc7news.com ist sehr hilfreich, vielen Dank für deine Zeit, dies zu schreiben.

[мебель из сосны]

Sie müssen Aspekt in eine wichtige Herausforderung für eine von allen die günstigste Blog-Websites für alle im Netz zu betrachten. Ich kann wirklich empfehlen, die Web-site!

[мебель из сосны]

Ich bin immer untersucht online für Tipps, die mir profitieren können. Vielen Dank!

[Homos]

Professional brushes h ttp://macbrushset.com/ tools sets for MakeUp with FREE World Wide delivery.