Unless you form a "community action group" or own a business, that doesn't even have to be in town, it's useless to go to council meetings!!! I was trying to say we all need to work together to see where each other is coming from on issues to do with our town and not resort to just name calling as was done at this meeting. I am sorry I didn't get to finish my point at the meeting. Thanks being informed what can and can't be said at public comment by just a simple resident I didn't get to finish my point

The council is a joke and the town laughs at them as they have no backbone.
Who did the name calling at the meeting? The town is done....let them run all over with all the taxis they want with minimum insurance - yeah smart decision - Bluth and Thibault good for you for having the guts to do the right thing.

There wasn't and is no racism and we are tired of hearing this. We don't want hundreds of taxis riding around town going nowhere. That is the card they play every time and the council falls for it or they may get in a lawsuit is my guess? Please vote out the incumbents as we need a new council asap.

It doesnt surprise me that the boro passed this ordinance. After all the latinos can have as many people living in one house as they want. The boro is afraid of the latino community.

"We want to avoid the racism, we want to avoid to taking sides.” says the representative of a racially based group.

Hightstown Council is a joke. The only thing they manage to accomplish is passing an ordinance that essentially leaves things the way they were. While they're giving away public property to the cab companies they should probably give Borough Hall to them to use as a depot. It probably wouldn't take the cab companies a year to decide what to do with it.

This is truly laughable. Ce la vie!

I agree with you and don't know why they cater to them. (Susan Bluth and Rob Thibault voted against this).
Please everyone vote out the incumbents this year and vote in Dennie Hansen and George Serrano - we can replace two of the council members who voted yes on this.

Yes, I said that we want to to end the racism we see on a daily basis and avoid taking sides because we need to integrate as a community. Unidad Latina en Accion is a community based organization and we have members from all over the world, not just Latinos. What I think should be done is if you have an open mind to accept everyone equally you should attend our bi-weekly meetings (this week we meet) Thursdays at 7pm in the Hightstown library. We don't discriminate against anyone, but embrace our differences to create culture!

Omg, Ana. Hightstown is not new to welcoming any ethnicity. We have always taken great pride in this honorable, diverse town and all its people. Thus the word "racist" and all its implications is absolutely outrageously offensive. Our children have basked in the wonderful multicultural environment of this diverse town and its schools, many becoming ambassadors of peace throughout the world. They have learned the importance of mutual respect and, above all, fairness, as an even playing field is the backbone of any strong community. Please tell me how to explain your mission to them as this is all so confusing and contradicts all they have ever learned. Please stop trying to create problems where there are none.

Ana, that is nonsense, you can't "want to end racism and avoid taking sides" by creating a group whose name declares that it is on the side of Latinos. You're intimidating people into getting your way by threatening them with the term "racist".

Sick of this mess. My son (22) year old American (African American, if you will) applied to a couple of these taxis and was not hired because he was not bilingual, yet the new requirements are "can read, write and speak English sufficiently to converse with the general public." Based on my first-hand knowledge; should all taxi drivers be able to "read and write" every ethinic group in this country - or should they be able to as the township say "read and write English? Sick, Sick and more Sick!
"

Caroline, call the construction office at 490-5100 and talk to George or Anelly - if you tell them about the boarding house near you, they will investigate it and enforce the codes and ordinances. They have taken care of this in other areas of town.

The taxi drivers are horrible drivers. Take Yellow Taxi for instance, yesterday I went to cross the road to go from the parking lot to Shoprite, there was a reasonable distance between me and the taxi. As I'm in the middle of the road, I am now about two or three feet away from the motor hood of the taxi and she proceeded to turn into me and then parked where the pregnant mothers are supposed to park.

One did a u turn right in front of me by main street grille. Corner of railroad and main, so dangerous. Happened yesterday, nice to see the new ordinance in place, working well on its first day

Just 2 days ago I had a taxi driver, ON his cell phone, make a complete U-Turn right in front of me on Oak Creek. He didn't look once to see anyone coming. This is not the first illegal act I've seen with taxis. Why is it that I never see them pulled over by the police?

Ms. Peskoe updated this article to include "Chuisaca responded to a past request from council member Robert Thibault asking cab companies for data on how much cabs are used in town."

That is a lie.

Neither Mr. Chuisaca nor any other taxi owner has provided me with data. In fact, in the following sentence Mr. Chuisaca admits that he has not even had the capability to collect such data until just recently: "He said his company has implemented a system so if data is asked in the future he can provide it." In fact, Yellow Cab is not on the list of taxi companies currently licensed by the Borough so I am at a loss as to how Mr. Chuisaca could have been able to collect such data.

One would think that a reporter would have, at minimum, checked with me to see if I did indeed receive such data. Ms. Peskoe did not. Further, she presents the information as a declarative statement of fact and not as a quote from Mr. Chuisaca or even attribute the information to him. At best this is an example of extremely shoddy journalism, at worst an equally extreme example of editorial bias.

I will post a “Patch Blog” later this morning with additional information from Monday’s meeting that is not included in Ms. Peskoe’s article.

How/where do you read the blogs?

I think its time the bickering, name calling and classification stopped now. Hightstown is a wonderful place and is filled with good people who take pride and worked very hard to make it a place for their chrildern and grand chrildren to live and everyone who wants to live there should respect and recognize their efforts. At best we should all try to make it better for all regardless of race, religion or gender.

So at least the town decided to increase the insurance requirements. But they also decided to license monopolies. The 5 taxi companies can now continue to grow and infiltrate the surrounding towns, where they are not licensed. Hightstown now has more taxis than princeton, west windsor, and hamilton. This will not stop ghost cabs, it will do nothing to stop the problems of taxis in the borough. Just 6 years ago, there was only one real licensed taxi in hightstown, you will remember Johnnys taxi. He handled most of the hightstown need for a taxi. Now you have about 50-60 taxis, Has the population of hightstown grown that much? Just like east windsor you are trying to solve a problem(ghost taxis) by making it possible to become legal. Why pay taxi insurance, when you can pay alot less using your personal car. No need for town inspections, no need for the cost of licenses or signs, all you need in a cellphone. If you want solutions to taxi issues talk to taxi owners that run legal, reputable taxi services, not from fly-by-night operators.

So I just don't get it. Today, Sunday, our two lonely police officers were escorting a small parade of people all over town. Around the park, down Bank Street, up North Main (a county road, I might add). Traffic was snarled, which was a good thing, as the ever increasing speeders all over town, especially on our main roads, is absolutely appalling. Did this group have a permit? Did they pay our police force? Were those "extra part timers" employed on this day? I think not. The two police officers were two of our best. So in that two hours, who was controlling speeding? Taxis?? Loiterers? No one. Sir LeTellier, your intentions are good, but I'm not sure you learned enough about the needs of our citizens, before you came up with that unlimited taxi ordinance. The town has been a mess, is still a mess, and looks like the future isn't getting any brighter. Couldn't believe my eyes today. Just thought you might want to know.

We won this camping with the community.

My biggest concern is the Taxi drivers show of respect the law and people in the community. It is internationally know that Taxi drivers should NOT use a cell phone while driving with a customer in the car. Its also against the law for anyone to usea handheld while driving but none of these violations can be enforced by anyone other that the police. I continually see drivers, ezpecially Taxi drivers on their handheld devices while driving.

And the problems are worse than ever