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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNS-1209ORDINANCE NO. NS-1209 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA AMENDING SECTIONS 38-1, 38-2 and 38-2a OF THE SANTA ANA MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO VEHICLES FOR HIRE, DECLARING THE URGENCY THEREOF AND PROVIDING FOR IMMEDIATE EFFECT THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1: This ordinance is declared by the City Council to be an emergency measure necessary to preserve the public peace, health, and safety. Section 2: The City Council finds that the reasons for the emergency are as follows: a. The operation of taxicabs within the City of Santa Aha is of great importance and of great impact to the public health and safety. The City Council further finds that standards and procedures for the issuance of the Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity to operate taxicabs in the City are necessary to protect public health and safety. Such regulation of taxicabs is necessary to protect the citizens of Santa Ana from injury by such ve- hicles and to safeguard the public against the use of taxi vehicles in illegal acts and for illegal purposes including prostitution. b. As the result of recent litigation, certain terms in the provisions of Chapter 38 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code regulating the operation of vehicles for hire have been de- clared invalid as vague and overbroad. It is necessary immediately to re-enact the sections containing those terms, clarifying and improving their wording so as to allow for the continuous and uninterrupted regulation of vehicles for hire and enforcement of the provisions of Chapter 38 of the Santa Aha Municipal Code in the interest of the public health, safety and welfare. Section 3: Section 38-1 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: Section 38-1 - Definitions. For the purpose of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section: AMBULANCE is a privately-owned vehicle equipped or used for transporting the wounded, injured, sick or dead, and shall include, but not be limited to, emergency vehicles used for such purposes. CERTIFICATE means a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by the City of Santa Ana authorizing the holder thereof to conduct an ambulance, motorbus, taxicab, or other vehicle for hire business in the City. CHIEF OF POLICE shall mean the Chief of Police of the City or his duly authorized subordinates. CITY ~AGER shall mean the City Manager of the City, or his duly authorized subordinates. COMPENSATION as used in this chapter means and includes any money, thing of value, payment, consideration, reward, tip, donation, gratuity or profit paid to, accepted, or received by the driver of any vehicle in exchange for transportation of a person or persons, whether paid upon solicitation, demand or contract, or voluntarily, or intended as a gratuity or donation. CRUISING shall mean the movement or standing of a taxicab on the public highways or public places for the purpose of searching for or soliciting a passenger for hire. DRIVER means every person in charge or control of, or driving or operating any motor vehicle upon the streets, alleys or highways of the City, either as owner, agent, employee or otherwise. DRIVER'S PERMIT means and includes the permit issued by the Chief of Police to any person operating or driving any vehicle as defined in this chapter. FIXED TAXI STAND shall mean a space set aside for the ex- clusive use of one or more taxicabs with marked stalls for each taxicab operating therefrom and which is clearly identi- fied with a sign stating the name and telephone number of the operator of such stand. HEARING OFFICER shall mean any person appointed by the Clerk of the Council to conduct the public hearing, submit written findings, conclusion and recommendations. HOLDER shall mean any person holding a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the City of Santa Aha. JITNEY means and includes every vehicle authorized pursuant to this chapter to engage in the business of carrying passen- gers for hire along a fixed route of travel. MANIFEST means a daily record prepared by the driver or the management office of all trips made by any ambulance or taxicab showing the date and place of origin, destination, number of passengers, and the amount of charge to each passenger. MOTORBUS includes every motor vehicle used in the business of carrying passengers for hire which receives and discharges passengers along the fixed route traversed by it; shall not include a taxicab, or any inter-city bus regulated by the Public~ilities Commission. OWNER includes every person, partnership, firm, entity, corporation or stockholder thereof, having legal use, control, or title of any motor vehicle as herein defined, whether as owner, lessee, or otherwise. PARTIAL STOPPAGE shall mean the furnishing of less than the regularly scheduled bus transportation service due to work stoppage, slow down, labor dispute, or when no regular bus service is scheduled during the interval from termination of the day's scheduled bus service and the commencement of the next day's scheduled bus service. PASSENGER FOR HIRE shall mean a person transported in a vehicle for hire for compensation or other consideration. PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY is a genuine need for public passenger vehicles for hire, to serve promptly, adequately, and efficiently the needs and convenience of the general public. This determination will be made at a public hearing. STREET shall mean any place commonly used for the purpose of public travel. TAXICAB shall mean a motor vehicle used in the business of transportation of passengers for hire, where transportation is not over a fixed and definite route, but is under the -2- control, as to destination and/or route, of the passenger or passengers being carried therein. TAXICAB TERMINAL shall mean any office, station, building stand, substation or other place of business of a duly authorized holder at which calls are received, or may be received, from prospective passengers for hire, from which place of business the holder directs the dispatch and return of taxicabs used in the taxicab service for which the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity has been granted. TAXIMETER shall mean any mechanical instrument, appliance, device or machine by%hich the charge for hire of a motor vehicle is mechanically calculated, either for distance traveled or time consumed, or both, and on said instrument, appliance, device or machine such charge is indicated by figures. TOP LIGHT shall mean an electrically operated sign with lights of a color and design approved by the Chief of Police. TOTAL STOPPAGE shall mean the complete halting of bus transportation service furnished within the City of Santa Ana resulting from a labor strike or a disaster. VEHICLE FOR HIRE shall mean any ambulance, motorbus, taxi- cab, jitney or other motor vehicle offered in the city for the transportation of passengers for compensation or used or engaged in searching for or soliciting passengers for hire in the city. WAITING TIME shall mean the time when the taxicab is not in motion from the time of acceptance to the time of dis- charge of a passenger, including any time the taxicab is not in motion due to traffic or the request, act or fault of the passenger. The first three minutes elapsing prior to the arrival of the passenger at the beginning of a trip shall not be considered as waiting time, and in no event shall any time be considered as waiting time for any period prior to the time of arrival designated by the pro- spective passenger when requesting a taxicab. SECTION 4: Section 38-2 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 38-2 - Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity Required. No person shall engage or permit any other person to en- gage in the business of searching for, soliciting or picking up a passenger or passengers in the city in any vehicle for hire owned or controlled by him without having first obtained a cer- tificate of public convenience and necessity for each such ve- hicle for hire as required by this chapter and having affixed to each such vehicle a permit as required by Section 38-18 of this chapter and a device as required by Section 38-20a of this chapter. Provided, however, that no certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the city shall be required for any operation for which a certificate of convenience and necessity is needed and has been granted by the Public Utilities Com- mission of the State of California. -3- Section 5: That the Santa Ana Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: Section 38-2a - Same Prohibitions. No person shall cruise, search for, solicit or pick up any passenger in the City in a vehicle for hire unless that vehicle has been affixed with the appropriate stickers or devices evidencing that it is authorized to operate within the City of Santa Ana as a vehicle for hire. SECTION 6: If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the deci- sion of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, clauses, phrases or portions be declared invalid or unconstitutional. SECTION 7: Neither the adoption of this ordinance nor the repeal hereby of any ordinance shall in any manner affect the prosecution for violation of ordinances, which violations were committed prior to the effective date hereof, nor be construed as affecting any of the provisions of such ordi- nances relating to the collection of any such license or penalty or the penal provisions applicable to any violation thereof, nor to affect the validity of any bond or case de- posit in lieu thereof, required to be posted, filed or depo- sited pursuant to any ordinance, and all rights and obliga- tions thereunder appertaining shall continue in full force and effect. SECTION 8: This ordinance shall take effect as an emergency measure immediately upon publication or posting after adoption. SECTION 9: The Clerk of the Council shall certify to the passage of this ordinance and cause the same to be published in some daily newspaper printed and published in the City of Santa Ana. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Santa Ana as an~emergen~y~gr~inance at its regular meeting held on the 15th day of Apr~, 1974. FURTHER PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Santa Ana at its regular meeting held on the 6th day of May , 1974. ATTEST: CLERK OF THE COUNCIL STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF ORANGE ) SS CITY OF SANTA ANA ) I, FLORENCE I. MALONE, do hereby certify that I am the Clerk of the Council of the City of Santa Ana, that the fore- going Ordinance was introduced to said Council at its regular meeting held on the 15th day of April , 1974, and was at said meeting passed and adopted as an emergency measure by the following vote, to wit: AYES, NOES, ABSENT, COUNCILMEN: COUNCILMEN: COUNCILMEN: Evans, Griset, Markel, Garthe, Yamamoto, I~atterson, Ward None None I, further certify that the foregoing Ordinance was intro- duced to said Council at its regular meeting held on the 15th day of April , 1974 and was again con- sidered by said Council at its regular meeting held on the 8th day of May , 1974 and was at said meeting passed and adopted by the following vote, to wit; AYES, COUNCILMEN: NOES, COUNCILMEN: Griset, Markel, Garthe, Yamamoto, Patterson, Evans, Ward None ABSENT, COUNCILMEN: None APPR D O FO CLERK OF THE COUNCIL