Monday, October 7, 2024
Photo: Taxi News
Opinion/Column

Vehicle for Hire review coverage ready to resume

Visit to Detroit offers a sharp contrast to Toronto

Rita Smith

As you may have noticed (thanks for your emails, texts and notes!) the past week has been completely exceptional as Taxi News/Road Warrior News took a break from daily publication for the first time since I purchased it from John Duffy in 2021.

I was in the city of my birth, Detroit, Michigan for the “Celebration of Life” my family held following the death of our father, Doug Hedemark. It was great to see my large, loud American family for the first time in five years, since COVID-19 shut down the globe.

It was at least as fantastic to see Detroit, once a marvel of modern manufacturing, coming back to life. Since the city declared bankruptcy under mayor, basketball star and businessman Dave Bing in 2013, it is working its way back to at least parts of its former glory.

Taxi News is set to resume coverage of the Vehicle for Hire review.

Indeed, the positive, upbeat, optimistic energy abuzz in the Motor City reminded me a lot of….the way Toronto USED to feel in decades past. This was a very odd experience, as my family has long been accustomed to making negative comparisons between Detroit and Toronto. For the first time since 1980, it was me marvelling at how well Detroit seems to be functioning, when compared to Toronto. It was a shocking and sad realization.

Stay tuned for more articles about Detroit’s new and improved status, and Toronto’s Vehicle for Hire review in the days ahead.