Drop the F&!*ing Hammer!

I (stormy) and 2 of my other pilots received citations last night for no licensing. So we'll be taking tonight off, but we'll be at the Lyn-Lake fest on Sunday. We will be posting a petition online and getting signatures for the appeal of these statutes and orders. We don't even make the kind of money it would take to license and insure our cabs...

For a year and a half already, we've operated. We don't have manufacturer's coverage because we build the vehicles ourselves. We can't get liability insurance because we don't have manufacturer's insurance. It costs more to insure a pedicab for the 6-month season than to insure a car for a year. Liability companies that will insure us want to insure us for 2-4 times as much money than a corporately sponsored vehicle. We are artistically inclined with our vehicles and we believe it classifies as an art project to which there are no statutes or definitions that address our particular circumstance. It frustrates people like us Shotties in general for the fact that the city, although fair in allowing us to operate, doesn't take into consideration that by having the restrictions they do has prevented many creative endeavors such as this yet allows more affluent people to move in and start making new regulations to keep the underdogs out when the vehicles they use are minneapolis-built from recycled and sustainable materials, community-based, and locally run.

We will have a petition posted online in a day or so.