Tonight at 7:00pm EST, FreeUber.org activists will be attending Portsmouth’s city council meeting. Some plan to testify against the anti-Uber transportation ordinance. City council members have not yet agreed to call for a halt of the enforcement of said ordinance. Tonight, we will see if the council upholds their taxi cartel protectionism.
As long as Uber drivers continue to be harassed, activists will continue to protest. Shire Dude will be livestreaming this event.
This live event will feature multiple broadcast updates. If the video below is not live, you can access archived footage on Shire Dude’s Bambuser account.
UPDATES:
Regarding the prohibitive transportation ordinance, the council voted (6 yes, 3 no) to move forward with the 3-part amendment that Uber requested. The amendment was read by the City Attorney in this video. During this council’s final session, on December 21st, each part of the amendment will be voted upon separately.
Councilor Lown spoke with both the police chief and with Uber’s attorney, but it was an activist’s testimony that sparked the councilor’s interest in the difference between background checks performed by Uber and by Portsmouth. The town’s police department performs a vastly inferior check, but councilor Kennedy still argued that both checks were necessary.
Several activists spoke in favor of Uber (starting with Uber Grandma Stephanie Franz herself), including Free Uber founder Christopher David, who envisioned 10 Uber Grandmas taking the place of Franz. “Walls may chase away law-abiding entrepreneurs, but they attract black market entrepreneurs,” said David, highlighting the market opportunity for a darkweb-style adaptation of ridesharing.
“You have to follow the rules!” said an exasperated Mayor Lister. All three “no” votes (Lister, Morgan and Kennedy) will not be returning in 2016, which bodes well for the future of Portsmouth ridesharing.
Using an assembly line method, all of this was sorted in about 2 hours.
Shire Sharing is a 100% volunteer
State Representative Amanda Bouldin has done it again! Stacks of canned goods, cooking supplies, fruits and vegetables were sorted into bags by Shire Sharing volunteers. Also included were cards that read:
“This comes to you from someone who cares about you. All we ask is that you take care of yourself well enough to be able to do this for someone else some day.”
Delivery will commence tomorrow to nearly 600 families around Manchester, Keene, Concord and Nashua. As usual, Shire Sharing turns out a surplus of volunteers.
This is a live event that will feature multiple broadcast updates. If the above video is not live, you can access the footage on Shire Dude’s Bambuser account.
UPDATES:
The protest remained peaceful throughout the night, despite encounters I had with a couple of unsavory characters. Christopher David arrived (over 100 ft. away from the tavern, due to bail restrictions), and I convinced the owner of Daniel Street Tavern to have a conversation with him. State Representative Eric Schleien showed up and had a conversation with the bar owner, asking her if she understood economics or the fact that the state creates monopolies (referring to the taxi cartel). The bar owner became upset after this, and she even flagged down the cops in an attempt to break up the protest. The Portsmouth PD declined her request.
Unsavory Character #1 attempts to start a fight with confusing homoerotic language
Unsavory Character #2 attempts to stand in front of my camera
Owner of Daniel Street Tavern pleads for the Portsmouth PD to break up the protest
Christopher David stations himself 100+ ft. from the event, due to bail restrictions
A few weeks ago, I was strolling through the park with a friend. Little did we know, there’s a city ordinance in Manchester, NH that sets a curfew for public parks. We were each issued ridiculous $50 tickets by Officer Healey. Fortunately for us, the young cop does not know how to write tickets properly. I wrapped up this story with a Bambuser broadcast.
