Bravo! As our good friend Senator John McCain used to say, “Remember the words of Chairman Mao: it’s always darkest before it’s totally black.”
Well, in these troubling times we got a bit of good news today. The Arizona State Supreme Court unanimously upheld the City of Phoenix’s ordinance charging Uber & Lyft fees for their ability to access Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. While the opinion has not been published as of yet, we will anxiously await the Court’s wisdom on this topic.
What we can hope is that at least some of the wisdom our colleague Doug Cole provided in his recent opinion piece in the Arizona Republic was followed. Mr. Cole had several important points including clarifying that the issue in question was an access fee – not a tax on a transaction or a privilege to operate. He also pointed out that, “(t)he city, like any person or company that owns property, has a long-established right to charge others who want to use its property.”
For those of you who missed that piece, here is a link for your edification.
For our team here at HighGround, we could not be more delighted to see that the opinion was unanimously rendered. It was the right decision – and a warning that those who continue to try limit cities and erode local control should heed. Justice prevails even in the darkest of times.
Practice safe social distancing and #stayathome.