Tweet
mediabistro.com
Nov 10 2010
Armenian Cab Drivers Get No Help from Yelp!
By Richard Horgan on November 10, 2010 3:30 PM
Liana Aghajanian, Editor-in-Chief of LA-based online magazine Ianyan,
has a long and rather interesting look at an ordinance passed this
week in Santa Monica. It is very bad news for the city's Armenian
community, because among the eight taxi cab firms prevented from doing
further business within city limits starting January, 2011 are a
half-dozen owned and-or operated by Amernian-American families. In
fact, not one such firm made it past a five-member committee's
criteria.
There was a protest rally last night, and suspicions of racism have
been articulated very delicately by an attorney associated with the
barred taxicab companies. Aghajanian also hints at the contextual role
that may have been played by poor customer reviews posted to websites
such as Yelp!
Writes Aghajanian:
`If you like your life and your money, never ever ride with this cab
company!' wrote a user named Mark Q. on Yelp! about V.I.P Yellow Cab.
The commenter alleges that the driver overcharged him, refused to
listen when told he was going the wrong way and illegally drove them
to the LA Colosseum, as he wasn't permitted to operate in the Los
Angeles area.
In response this spring to charges that the removal of poor reviews on
Yelp! was being brokered for money, the site instituted a second tier
of `Filtered' reviews, rather than simply deleting them.
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/santa-monica-january-2011-taxi-cab-ordinance-denied-armenian-american-companies_b15170
From: A. Papazian
Nov 10 2010
Armenian Cab Drivers Get No Help from Yelp!
By Richard Horgan on November 10, 2010 3:30 PM
Liana Aghajanian, Editor-in-Chief of LA-based online magazine Ianyan,
has a long and rather interesting look at an ordinance passed this
week in Santa Monica. It is very bad news for the city's Armenian
community, because among the eight taxi cab firms prevented from doing
further business within city limits starting January, 2011 are a
half-dozen owned and-or operated by Amernian-American families. In
fact, not one such firm made it past a five-member committee's
criteria.
There was a protest rally last night, and suspicions of racism have
been articulated very delicately by an attorney associated with the
barred taxicab companies. Aghajanian also hints at the contextual role
that may have been played by poor customer reviews posted to websites
such as Yelp!
Writes Aghajanian:
`If you like your life and your money, never ever ride with this cab
company!' wrote a user named Mark Q. on Yelp! about V.I.P Yellow Cab.
The commenter alleges that the driver overcharged him, refused to
listen when told he was going the wrong way and illegally drove them
to the LA Colosseum, as he wasn't permitted to operate in the Los
Angeles area.
In response this spring to charges that the removal of poor reviews on
Yelp! was being brokered for money, the site instituted a second tier
of `Filtered' reviews, rather than simply deleting them.
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/santa-monica-january-2011-taxi-cab-ordinance-denied-armenian-american-companies_b15170
From: A. Papazian