Uber to Resume in Calgary December 6 2016

[jayswin]

This is the opportunity the Calgary Sun and 50+ year old white Calgarians have been waiting for since 2010. You could feel the vitrol from them since day 1, and far lesser slip ups saw them come out in droves to test the waters on how ridiculing him would go over. They woke up to the tabloid style picture on the front page of the Sun and went "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our day has finally come!!!!".

I'm not saying he should be immune from criticism and certainly I've had some disagreements with him over the years, but there's a certain crowd in this city that were never going to give him a chance from day one and that's frustrating because he really is a rare Politian and bleeds Calgary, fighting tooth and nail for what he believes will make us a better, more vibrant, beautiful and accepting city.

This city was stuck in developer funded hell for so many years, drifting into another suburban sprawl cookie cutter, Anywhere USA/Canada clone, and the shift away from that over the past few years has been inspiring and pride inducing.

[RougeUnderoos]

I read the story. I do understand what he's saying happened. I just don't see what's so wrong with it.

I was/am a fan of ridesharing services. I used Uber when it was operating in Calgary. If the city and the CPS or whoever went through some process to see if sex offenders and potentially dangerous were able to pass their background check, that's a good thing to me.

How is it a bad thing? As a customer of this business how does this harm me? I'd like to know that their background checks are insufficient, if I'm going to be getting in the car with a stranger.

I assumed, perhaps foolishly, that they are such a big, well-funded and well-known organization, that they have some mechanisms in place to vet their drivers properly. If they don't have that in place, what is the harm in learning that?

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

I read the story. I do understand what he's saying happened. I just don't see what's so wrong with it.

I was/am a fan of ridesharing services. I used Uber when it was operating in Calgary. If the city and the CPS or whoever went through some process to see if sex offenders and potentially dangerous were able to pass their background check, that's a good thing to me.

How is it a bad thing? As a customer of this business how does this harm me? I'd like to know that their background checks are insufficient, if I'm going to be getting in the car with a stranger.

I assumed, perhaps foolishly, that they are such a big, well-funded and well-known organization, that they have some mechanisms in place to vet their drivers properly. If they don't have that in place, what is the harm in learning that?

There is an obvious divide between people who value principals above all else, and people who believe in the practicality of the act.

I think that's where the disagreement is.

Also, as suggested above, I think there are some hardcore "Spendshi" opponents on this board and love to capitalize on stuff like this...

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Cappy

It's not even close to fraud.

There will be no inquiry. Political ####storm? sure. Legal? nope.

If they just grabbed criminals names from the database and used them to fill out job applications without the persons knowledge, it certainly is fraud, its close to identity theft, and at the very least there is a privacy issue.

You cannot do things like fill out job applications or things like credit applications without their knowledge of signature.

Is it criminal, I'm not a lawyer, but I think that will be a question that will be asked,

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by jayswin

This is the opportunity the Calgary Sun and 50+ year old white Calgarians have been waiting for since 2010. You could feel the vitrol from them since day 1, and far lesser slip ups saw them come out in droves to test the waters on how ridiculing him would go over. They woke up to the tabloid style picture on the front page of the Sun and went "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our day has finally come!!!!".

I'm not saying he should be immune from criticism and certainly I've had some disagreements with him over the years, but there's a certain crowd in this city that were never going to give him a chance from day one and that's frustrating because he really is a rare Politian and bleeds Calgary, fighting tooth and nail for what he believes will make us a better, more vibrant, beautiful and accepting city.

This city was stuck in developer funded hell for so many years, drifting into another suburban sprawl cookie cutter, Anywhere USA/Canada clone, and the shift away from that over the past few years has been inspiring and pride inducing.

You're seriously going to throw out a thinly veiled accusation of racism.

Why don't you toss in a few Godwins while your at it.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

You're seriously going to throw out a thinly veiled accusation of racism.

Why don't you toss in a few Godwins while your at it.

You think he's making it up? Come on, Cap'n.

[Ozy_Flame]

I would hope the Uber background check test uses people with actual criminal convictions. Where's the story here? Calling the CEO of Uber a dick? Hasn't Sean Chu used condescending choice words for supporters of bike lanes? What about Ralph Klein and his "creeps and bums" comment for anybody east of Manitoba?

Hardly a story here.

[peter12]

And he is basically saying what everyone - even pro-Uber Randists - know is true.

[Fuzz]

And he said it in what he thought was a private conversation. I call people dicks all the time, but I probably wouldn't do it if I was on the news.

Is it legal to record people without telling them?

[peter12]

That said, Mr. Mayor should have kept his ego in check.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by jayswin

This is the opportunity the Calgary Sun and 50+ year old white Calgarians have been waiting for since 2010. You could feel the vitrol from them since day 1, and far lesser slip ups saw them come out in droves to test the waters on how ridiculing him would go over. They woke up to the tabloid style picture on the front page of the Sun and went "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our day has finally come!!!!".

I'm not saying he should be immune from criticism and certainly I've had some disagreements with him over the years, but there's a certain crowd in this city that were never going to give him a chance from day one and that's frustrating because he really is a rare Politian and bleeds Calgary, fighting tooth and nail for what he believes will make us a better, more vibrant, beautiful and accepting city.

This city was stuck in developer funded hell for so many years, drifting into another suburban sprawl cookie cutter, Anywhere USA/Canada clone, and the shift away from that over the past few years has been inspiring and pride inducing.

He's represented the city well in a lot of respects and has an innovative approach to planning. But the petty twitter arguments, holier-than-thou attitude and confrontational stance IMO takes away from some of that legacy. He doesn't need to be such a blowhard but he can't help it because he thinks he's god's gift to humankind.

All in all he's been a good mayor at a time when the city is growing up. My favourite part of his tenure is simply that us backwards rednecks out west elected a gay muslim mayor while the sophisticated Torontonians elected Rob Ford (RIP).

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Is it legal to record people without telling them?

Has pornography taught us nothing??

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

And he said it in what he thought was a private conversation. I call people dicks all the time, but I probably wouldn't do it if I was on the news.

Is it legal to record people without telling them?

In the USA I believe it is. But in some states anything recorded without permission is inadmissible in court.

[zamler]

So let me get this straight, the city hired people with criminal records so Uber could not hire people with criminal records.

[Wiggum_PI]

Originally Posted by zamler

So let me get this straight, the city hired people with criminal records so Uber could not hire people with criminal records.

Now that more information about this story has come to light, it looks like Nenshi was embellishing about the city using sex offenders or violent criminals to sign up for Uber.

In his statement, he said that the city found out about someone who had a pending assault charge that was able to pass Uber's background check.

Since Uber doesn't have access to the Calgary Police database, they have no way of telling if a person has pending charges against them or not. They can only see if someone has been convicted of an offense, from the RCMP database.

[Slava]

I would be interested to know whether the city has ever done this in regards to any other business? Seems like an extraordinary step.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Slava

I would be interested to know whether the city has ever done this in regards to any other business? Seems like an extraordinary step.

Do you mean in general about testing claims made by businesses? I think that is common procedure, eg) the electronic fare collection system that didn't work.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Do you mean in general about testing claims made by businesses? I think that is common procedure, eg) the electronic fare collection system that didn't work.

I mean in terms of their screening processes and things like that. Would they do this to say Checker Cabs? How about a daycare? Like I say, it seems bizarre on the face of it, and seems like they were really targeting (if they actually did this....which seems like a fabrication at this point as well).

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I would hope the Uber background check test uses people with actual criminal convictions. Where's the story here? Calling the CEO of Uber a dick? Hasn't Sean Chu used condescending choice words for supporters of bike lanes? What about Ralph Klein and his "creeps and bums" comment for anybody east of Manitoba?

Uh, but those things were stories. In Klein's case, it was a huge, national story.

Nenshi is just a politician. No need for people to get all personally defensive about his gaffes. The guy has a belligerent nature, no filter, and he can't resist getting in public pissing matches with anyone he disagrees with. Of course the media is going to make stories of all this stuff. And they do it to other politicians who can't keep their mouth shut too. The reason Bronconnier and Duerr weren't in the news all the time for making gaffes is because they had a lot more self-control than Nenshi and didn't take public disagreements personally the way he does.

Some people are going to think Nenshi's approach is great, either because they like outspoken and combative politicians, or because they share his politics and they feel a partisan need to defend him. But suggesting that criticism of the guy is racist is just dumb. Do people really think his grandstanding and internet tough-guy approach would go over better with the public if he was white? Personally, I've seen enough of his public behaviour, and know enough about how he's regarded by people at City Hall, that I doubt he'll have a very long public career. He'll implode at some point. You can't go around picking that many fights and putting your ego above any notions of compromise or consensus. He'll go too far and say something too egregious, and then he'll find he has no support among the people he works with to back him up.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Slava

I mean in terms of their screening processes and things like that. Would they do this to say Checker Cabs? How about a daycare? Like I say, it seems bizarre on the face of it, and seems like they were really targeting (if they actually did this....which seems like a fabrication at this point as well).

The only thing I can think of is that the aforementioned businesses already use the established means of criminal checks; they aren't claiming that some alternate system they use works just as well. I guess the question that remains is whether the City would vet that process like they did with Uber. I mean, without involving CPS or the RCMP what is Uber doing? Googling people's names?