Blog

How to Find Me at the OGP Summit in London

I'll be attending the Open Government Partnership summit in London on October 31 and November 1. I'm arriving the morning of October 30 and hope to head directly to the civil society day. I'll be at the summit for the full two days and running a panel on the "New Frontiers" of open government on Friday November 1.

If you're trying to find me at the summit, please try me on my mobile at +44 7924 472413. See you there!

On Saturday We Ride

This weekend I'm joining 5,500 fellow cyclists with the goal of raising $38 million for life-saving cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston. I am personally committed to raising $4,300 in the 2013 Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC). Today I am asking for your support. On Saturday we ride.

I hope I can count on your support

The PMC raises more money for charity than any other single event in the country, $375 million since 1980 and $37 million last year alone! This success is the result of a lot of people riding for, and caring about, a cure. And because every penny matters, 100 percent of your donation goes to cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through it's Jimmy Fund.

I've made a personal commitment to ride and raise $4,300. So I hope you can help me achieve this significant goal.

Please donate to my PMC ride at one of the following links:

Click here to make $25 donation

Click here to make a $50 donation

Click here to make a $100 donation

Click here to make a $250 donation

Click here to make a $500 donation

Click here to make a $1,000 donation

Click here to make a donation of any other amount

The PMC supports DAF Direct to designate PMC riders for a charitable gift.

Click here to support me with a gift from your Fidelity Donor Advised Fund.

Every donation brings us closer by the mile.

Thank you so much,
Nathaniel

Me + bike + your support = lifesaving cancer treatments and an eventual cure

Your donation is tax deductible and 100% will go to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. If you prefer to write a check, please make it out to the PMC, The Jimmy Fund or Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and mail it to me directly at:

Nathaniel Heller
42441 Tourmaline Lane 
Brambleton, VA 20148 

If your employer has a matching gift program, ask your Human Resources department for a form, and follow the process for matches.

To learn more about the Pan-Mass Challenge, please visit www.pmc.org.

 

Reaching Me On Vacation

I'm going on vacation; twice during the summer of 2013, in fact. For once, I am making a real effort to actually unplug from work. This includes not looking at email until I return from each trip (truthfully, I won't be looking at it whatsoever) .

My colleagues at Global Integrity will be able to reach me in a true emergency via SMS/phone. If your need to reach me during vacation meets one of the criteria below, you may contact them and ask them to send me an SMS.  Otherwise, I very much appreciate your respect for these days off and look forward to catching up upon my return.

Here are some people who can help you in the interim on various issues. You can reach them telephonically at the Global Integrity office at +1-202-449-4100 or via email at FIRSTNAME.LASTNAME@globalintegrity.org. Carrier pigeon is also an option.

Thanks,

Nathaniel

Reasons to contact me during vacation:

  • The OpenGov Hub is burning down, literally. 
  • Someone has filed a lawsuit against Global Integrity. 
  • You or your organization wishes to provide financial support to Global Integrity in excess of US$50,000.
  • I have won the lottery or an award involving a cash prize in excess of US$50,000.  

Reasons not to contact me during vacation: 

  • Anything that is not included in the above list.

The Real Record of Complaints Against Uber in DC

​A hobby horse of mine in recent months has been watching the debate here in Washington, DC about how and whether to regulate popular on-demand car service Uber. Although Uber costs much more than traditional taxis, it's been incredibly popular and poses a real threat to taxi services in many cities. The taxi lobby and its allies have often responded by attempting to introduce legislation that curbs the ability of Uber to compete for rides. Megan McArdle had a nice update over at the Daily Beast earlier this week with another somewhat flailing attempt by the DC taxi commission to halt Uber's march in the nation's capital.

Whether in DC or other cities, regulators and legislators have often invoked vague, unspecified service complaints against Uber as a rationale for regulating the company. McArdle quotes DC Taxi Commission head Ron Linton arguing that his office has received complaints from Uber users about not receiving paper receipts from drivers (the service instead sends you an email with a map trace of your ride and detailed cost calculation within minutes of stepping out of the sedan). 

Dubious of Linton's (and other's) claims that riders in DC were experiencing problems with Uber, I filed a Freedom of Information Request with the city government asking for a a brief listing of those complaints covering the period January 1 through July 31 2012. I specifically asked Linton's Taxi Commission for two things: 1) a list of complaints against Uber, with as many details as the Commission could provide with respect to the nature of those complaints, and; 2) a simple count of all other complaints filed by riders with the Commission against all other taxi services operating in the District. I wanted to know whether the rate of complaints against Uber was above, below, or on par with the average taxi service in Washington, DC.

Here's the reality of rider complaints filed against Uber in Washington, DC (quoting from the response to my FOIA request, which you can access here in full):

The D.C. Taxicab Commission has not received any public complaints against Uber Technologies nor against any other taxi and limousine services during the request timeframe. Please note that public complaints are mainly lodged against individual taxicab and/or limousine drivers, not against taxicab and/or limousine services. 

Hmm.  There are several potential implications stemming from this dearth of complaints.

  1. Taxi and sedan services operating in the district are flawless. So why the need for additional regulation if literally no one, in an entire six-month period, is complaining about the services to the taxi commission?
  2. Uber is no more prone to complaints than any other taxi or sedan service, again raising questions as to why greater regulation is necessary.
  3. Where are the actual complaints that Linton and other critics are allegedly hearing?  If Linton's own commission has no record of complaints, then it strikes me as reasonable to expect that Linton (or others, such as DC city council members that have also invoked such "complaints" in calling for greater regulation over Uber) provide documentation or other details about the alleged service complaints before tossing them around liberally as proof of the need for an Uber crackdown.
  4. Reporters and bloggers in other cities might find it interesting to file similar FOIA requests with their respective regulatory agencies (hint, hint).

Regardless of where you stand on the debate around whether consumers need greater protection from on-demand car services such as Uber, I suspect we would all agree that regulators and politicians should be basing their decisions on facts, not innuendo or hearsay.