Uber was, as you’ve no doubt heard, on the agenda for today’s Dallas City Council meeting. But there wasn’t much discussion about the proposed regulations of the app-based car service. Here’s what happened when the item came up:
— Mayor Mike Rawlings turned to City Councilman Sheffie Kadane for a motion on the measure. Councilman Philip Kingston seemed to think he was going to be called on first, and the mayor had to reiterate that he was turning to Kadane.
— Kadane called for the Uber proposal to be referred back to the Transportation and Trinity River Committee to look into it all and then report back to the full council.
— Kingston then offered an amendment calling for an investigation into how the language of the proposed new regulations was crafted, including granting the investigation subpoena power to get to the bottom of it.
— Councilman Scott Griggs chimed in to endorse the idea of stronger powers for the investigation.
— Rawlings asked Kadane if he would accept Kingston’s proposal as a “friendly amendment.” Kadane said no.
— The mayor took the council into executive (closed) session to sort out with the city attorney what they want to do.
— They returned from executive session about 20 minutes later, and voted to approve Kadane’s motion, with the addition that the mayor would “administer” the investigation.
— That was that, and the significant number of people who had signed up to speak on behalf of Uber were (I’m surmising) left feeling sad and confused by the anticlimactic events. They wandered out of City Hall in a daze, looking for some means of comforting themselves and also feeling hungry. They turned to D Magazine for help.
