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[Ripclawe]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/hacks_win_bid_to_take_it_off_29GCtU0xlRREHC0uWgm2nJ

The great religious war, waged on top of yellow cabs, has ended.

Devout Muslim hacks -- who were crouched behind their steering wheels in shame while driving with ads for strip clubs atop their taxis -- won a major victory yesterday in their war on roof smut.

The city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission agreed to give cabbies who own their vehicles absolute veto power on the content of ads on their cars -- delighting scores of modest hacks of various faiths who had fought hard for the rule overhaul.

“We are Muslims, and we do not like the ads!” crowed cabby Mohamed Tahir, 66, whose cab is topped with an image of a sexy brunette from Flashdancers Gentlemen’s Club.


He added, “If I had another ad, I’d change it right away! It bothers many of us.”

It won’t have to anymore.

Under the new rules, Tahir and other conservative cabbies who own their vehicles will have the right to nix any advertisements they deem offensive.

Previously, the owners of the taxi medallion -- often someone other than the car’s owner -- could decide what ads went up.

“The law is now on our side!” said a jubilant Osman Chowdhury, a longtime cabby and leading member of the Bangladesh Society in Queens.

Last week, he was so embarrassed at the strip-club ad on his cab -- which he uses as his primary mode of transportation during off hours -- that he refused to drive it to his mosque for services.

“I had to walk to mosque,” said Chowdhury.

“People getting out of the mosque would see the disgusting things.”

Prior to the vote, several cabbies recounted their shame at promoting jiggle joints to the TLC board of commissioners -- in a desperate effort to convince them to change the rules.

In one horrifying example, cabby Mohan Singh recalled his 6-year-old granddaughter telling him she wanted to be a “dancer” -- after seeing a Flashdancers ad atop his taxi.

That risque ad also prompted his grandnephew to ask what a “gentlemen’s club” was and if he could ever go to one.

“We should keep [the advertisement] there to tell the children that it is good?” he asked angrily.

In lobbying the board to vote yes on the rule change, Singh said, “I think you will be kindhearted and do what is right.”

The TLC board obliged yesterday, prompting a burst of applause from the appreciative crowd.

“If you’re a taxi driver who owns his or her own car, you take it home, your neighbors see it,” said TLC Commissioner David Yassky, who strongly supported the rules change.

"This is an appropriate and measured step that gives the driver the authority to screen out ads.”

Medallion owners make, on average, about $125 a month from the rooftop ads.

It is now illegal for medallion owners to dictate what ad content is displayed over the wishes of the car owners.

Singh -- the driver whose granddaughter noticed the Flashdancers ad -- said he would never again have another strip-club ad on his car.

“The most important thing is for the children,” he said after the TLC’s action.

 

[Veins]

Why are they referred to as hacks?

 

[Sharp]

Why are they referred to as hacks?

New York Post.

 

[Thagomizer]

I'm perfectly OK with this.

 

[Chuck (Old)]

Good common sense decision.

 

[Utako]

Silly nonsense.

“We should keep [the advertisement] there to tell the children that it is good?” he asked angrily.

It isn't a crime, you prude cabbie.

 

[Kinyou]

Won't somebody please think of the strip clubs?

 

[Count Dookkake]

Why are they referred to as hacks?

Because that is another word for cab driver.

 

[Particle Physicist]

I'm not a big fan of religion, any religion... but I am completely okay with this.

 

[Goldrush]

How will they ensure that the ads will get the coverage paid for if nobody is required to display them?

 

[DSFan1970]

New York Post.

Not true. That is the industry term for yellow cab drivers.
I was at the meeting on Thursday.

 

[Kurtofan]

How will they ensure that the ads will get the coverage paid for if nobody is required to display them?

Someone will display them.

 

[Rocwell]

How will they ensure that the ads will get the coverage paid for if nobody is required to display them?

Well, they just had an article about them in the NY post.

 

[mre]

How will they ensure that the ads will get the coverage paid for if nobody is required to display them?

Only the cabbies who own their own taxi will have the ability to veto the ad, so I imagine that there will still be plenty of cabs available to run advertisements for strip clubs.

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

In one horrifying example, cabby Mohan Singh recalled his 6-year-old granddaughter telling him she wanted to be a “dancer” -- after seeing a Flashdancers ad atop his taxi.

That risque ad also prompted his grandnephew to ask what a “gentlemen’s club” was and if he could ever go to one.

LOL I see those ads all the time in NY. I don't think those guys are the first person to hear that, in fact I wonder how many times kids say or ask stuff like that during any given day in NYC>

 

[ronito]

God I wish that chip manufacturer had only let me work on chips that were used in TVs instead of the ones that went in missles.

I wish Dish Network had allowed me to only support sales for their non-porn channels.

I wish that phone company only allowed me to market non-adult phone calls.

I wish...

 

[mclaren777]

Good for them!

 

[badcrumble]

Why are they referred to as hacks?

The old name for taxi cabs is "hackney carriage," and the drivers were known as hacks. It's the New York Post, so they opt for the shortest possible character count, and "hacks" is shorter than "taxi drivers." They're not trying to insult the drivers by using the term; it's just about saving space (same reason so many of their headlines are incredibly brief, like NUN DIES IN TOT SLAY; it's not about their readers being illiterate or anything like that, because the headlines [and terms like 'hack'] are specifically harder to understand that way; it's all about using as few letters as possible).

 

[xbhaskarx]

Makes sense.

 

[RustyNails]

New York Post trying to rile shit up ("the great religious war"?? seriously?). Cab drivers, be they religious or not, are well within their rights.

 

[Gaborn]

Seems fair. They own the cab, they get to decide the content of advertisements.

 

[Mista Koo]

Mohamed Tahir

I know a gaffer who goes by that name :O

 

[Salacious Crumb]

Fair enough.

 

[Stinkles]

Seems fair. They own the cab, they get to decide the content of advertisements.

Yup. And frankly, while I support the right for advertisers to advertise their wares, strip clubs for scumbags to leer at women who hate them for money, and are often a front for prostitution, doesn't have the same value to me, as say, a Mentos ad.