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The December 5 elections yielded new officers for the 2018 GCLA board of directors:
President: Mo Garkani of Continental Limousine
1st Vice President: Harry Dhillon of Ecko Transportation Worldwide
2nd Vice President: Jeff Brodsly of Chosen Payments
Secretary: Darren Croasdale of La Costa Limousine
Treasurer: David Kinney of API Global Transportation
The mix of incumbent and first-time directors include Selim Aslan of Men In Black Transportation, Perry Barin of MusicExpress, Maurice Brewster of Mosaic Global Transportation, Carlos Garcia of Carlos Transportation, Robert Gaskill of Motev, Phil Hartz of Acton SoCal Penske Professional Vehicles, and Chris Hundley of The Limousine Connection.
“We are hoping the momentum from this huge event and our new board will carry us on to great things in 2018,” said GCLA Executive Director Tom Garrett.
The Southern California event also hosted its annual live and silent auctions, the association’s biggest fundraising event of the year, which helps the GCLA continue its lobbying efforts on behalf of the local industry. With Brodsly and Mary Johnson leading the auction, the roughly 200 attendees helped raise more than $30,000.
Among the items auctioned off were passes to Chauffeur Driven’s 2018 events: Harry Dhillon of Ecko Transportation Worldwide won a pass to the Executive Retreat in San Diego, while two passes for the Chauffeur Driven Show at the Gaylord National went to Robert Gaskill of Motev.
The Napa event was an evening to remember in its own right, with a bevy of vehicles on display for attendees to check out, plenty of chances to mingle with industry peers, and even an educational component when California Highway Patrol provided clarity on its upcoming regulations governing modified limousines that will be put in place January 1.
Visit gcla.org for more information.
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The meeting began with plenty of networking and mingling during a cocktail hour that kicked off the evening before NELA Executive Director Rick Szilagyi began the meeting portion of the winter quarterly event. He recognized President Mike Callahan of Able Limousine—one of only three presidents the association has operated under during its storied history—for his work to keep NELA an effective voice and advocate for chauffeured ground transportation, as well as the evening's sponsors who made the "night that's more about having a good time together than doing business" possible.
Szilagyi also called out the especially active members whose support has yielded the successes that NELA has helped bring about for New England operators: "You need to know that a few companies and members have been carrying this association: Scott Solombrino, Dawson Rutter, Mark Mollica, Andy Tighe, Tami Saccoccio, Brett Barenholtz, and Kevin Cronin have all done so much to support NELA."
Solombrino then took to the podium to discuss the National Limousine Association's (NLA's) biggest victory since the passage of the Ride Act nearly 10 years ago: Striking down a proposed tax measure that would create a haven of sorts for TNCs at the exclusion of more rule-abiding livery operators, further titling the playing field in TNCs' favor. He went on to explain how the next 12 months' biggest fight will actually not be against the same enemy but rather driverless vehicles.
"Autonomous cars could put 20 million people out of work," Solombrino said. "We have the high ground, and we are prepared to go to every district with displaced workers and fight. We need to prove that workers come first and technology comes second."
For nearly two decades, NELA hosts its annual George Colarullo Memorial Golf Tournament, a fundraiser co-chaired by both Callahan and that benefits both the association and a number of charities that hold personal significance to various members. This past August, the yearly golf outing raised $6,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, while Rutter donated an additional $5,000 on behalf of Commonwealth Worldwide. Rutter, Saccoccio, and Callahan presented the two checks totaling $11,000 to the foundation's Executive Director Pam Simms Spitzer and Senior Development Director Karen Kelly.
"Your donations are helping people with cystic fibrosis," Simms told those in attendance. "And your generosity is helping so many children breathe easier."
There were plenty of chances for attendees to walk away with a little extra holiday spirit, and an array of gift baskets and prizes were given away during the meeting. Maccar raffled off a pass to the 2018 Chauffeur Driven Executive Retreat in San Diego, which was won by Commonwealth Worldwide's Saccoccio.
A performance by comedian and impressionist Joey Voices capped off the evening, treating meeting-goers to a little audience participation and decades' worth of musical hits in a medley of well-known hits performed in the likes of the artists who popularized them.
The next NELA meeting will be March 6.
Visit nelivery.org for more information.
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The ordinance, according to Brian Whitaker of Windy City Limousine and Bus, the legislative liaison to ILA’s board, was originally intended as measure to cut down on this year’s outbreak of less reputable companies’ bus-related violence but has left numerous above-board companies struggling to work within the parameters of an unworkable law.
“If you have a vehicle with 15 passengers or more, and you either have alcohol on board or you go to a place that serves alcohol—like museums, theaters, restaurants, or any place with a liquor licenses that could serve your passengers alcohol—even if you have a group who’s not going there to drink, because they serve alcohol, you need to have cameras and security guards on board,” Whitaker said.
Whitaker has been leading the charge to overturn the ordinance, and the Midwest Bus and Motorcoach Association (MBMCA) has been working alongside the ILA to “create a united front among several different industries,” according to ILA President Tracy Raimer of Your Private Limousine. Other associations that have joined the fight include American Bus Association, United Motorcoach Association, Greater North Michigan Avenue Association, Choose Chicago, Chicago Tour Professionals Association, Wisconsin Motorcoach Association, Wisconsin School Bus Association, Minnesota Bus Association, Greater New Jersey Motorcoach Association, Tennessee Motorcoach Association, and Southeastern Motorcoach Association.
Meet Chicago Northwest CVB is among the hospitality organizations that have also been supporting the ILA’s and MBMCA’s efforts to overturn the onerous ordinance.
Whitaker explained that the problem originally started when a handful of alderman who voted on the ordinance ultimately voted to pass a regulation that they later admitted to not fully understanding—and was exacerbated when what was supposed to be a clarifying meeting about a month ago showed further misunderstandings among Chicago’s transportation officials, too.
“A little over a month ago, the city had a workshop to explain the ordinance to everybody, which was attended by myself and a bunch of different bus companies in the area,” he said. “They talked about the ordinance and the Department of Transportation commissioner explained the safety of it, why it was put in place, and so on, and then she opened up the floor to questions. One bus company asked if they would need a security guard if they brought a busload of little old ladies to the theater, and the deputy commissioner said no while their enforcement officer stood up and said, ‘If we’re checking buses, then yes, we’re going to ticket you for not having a security guard on board.’ So here’s the deputy commissioner telling us one thing and the person who enforces it telling us the total opposite.”
Whitaker says that five alderman have expressed their support to help a spate of lawyers, transportation companies, and advocates get the ordinance reversed, but he doesn’t think they can expect to see any actionable change until the spring.
Meanwhile, the city of Chicago could be losing money as various conventions, conferences, and other city-wide events are balking at buses’ line items that reflect the addition of on-board security guards that can cost tens of thousands of extra dollars—which was how a number of companies realized this was happening in the first place.
“What really got everybody’s attention is when different conventions were coming to Chicago and all of a sudden, they had to have security guards, which, for some of these conventions, increased their budgets by $50,000 to $70,000, depending on the size,” Raimer said.
She added that several operators think this ordinance isn’t applicable to them, a misconception the ILA is working to correct with education, outreach, and communication.
“The general thought is that if you don’t own buses that this doesn’t pertain to you,” she explained. “That’s definitely not the case: Even if you don’t own buses, even if you just book a group of 15 or more passengers and you farm it out to your affiliate partners, then this still applies to you because your customers are getting on that bus. Are your clients going to be left standing on the curb because you thought you were exempt? And even if you don’t book rides with more than 15 passengers, it still applies to you because these bigger conventions that come to town, you rely on them for airport transportation and SUV charters: Those conventions, because of this added expense, could very well change the city they’re going to come 2018 or 2019, and now you—and every Chicago operator—just lost all of that airport work.”
In the meantime, Whitaker said that all buses can do is go along with the ordinance until the lawyers they’ve been working with explain “what the next step will be, what it will take, and how much energy and money it will take” while an already TNC-beleaguered market continues to fight for its livelihood.
“This is definitely affecting interstate commerce,” Whitaker said. “We have bus and tour companies all over the U.S. who are now saying that they’re not coming to Chicago because they don’t want the extra expense and hassle of this.”
Chauffeur Driven will continue reporting on developments as they happen.
Visit illinoislimousineassociation.com for more information.
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