Forget “Survivor” or even “Ultimate Fighting Championship.” When it comes to tough and nasty, there’s nothing like a taxicab turf battle. Take John Wayne Airport. A consortium led by former airport franchise holder Larry Slagle of Yellow Cab of North Orange County howled last year when, after a Byzantine series of events, a divided board of supervisors awarded JWA’s exclusive contract to American Taxi. The county says American is current on its roughly $100,000-a-month royalty payments and its service has been good. But now, with American in Chapter 11, the supes are expected to award a backup contract to Slagle’s group, just in case American goes kaput. The Slagle team portrays American owner Rick Schorling, who used to sell helicopters to Latin American warlords, as an interloper who only got the deal because he retained lobbyist Lyle Overby to work the system. Schorling’s version is that he’s up against an LA-OC cab cartel out to destroy its competitors. Schorling has said the bankruptcy filing was necessary to keep his cabs out of enemy hands,LA Taxi and Pickens Fuel Corp. had approached Ford Motor Credit, which has a $3.4 million claim against American, about acquiring American’s assets. Schorling earlier won a court injunction to prevent Pickens from cutting off his fuel supply. American’s unsecured creditors include Overby, down for a $650,000 loan. Several people are suing. You following all this? It’s getting to be a bit much for the supervisors. Todd Spitzer says the rationale for an exclusive contract is that it helps to provide airport travelers with cabs that are clean and adequately insured; but the board is now considering other options, ranging from a second contract to simply opening the taxi stops to all comers …
….LA Times associate editor Narda Zacchino is leaving the paper after 31 years to become senior editor, the No. 3 newsroom slot, at the San Francisco Chronicle. Zacchino was editor of the Times OC during the edition’s ’80s heyday. “It was probably the highlight of my career.” She’s no stranger to the Bay Area or to a commuting marriage,her hubbie, Times columnist Robert Scheer, has maintained a home in Berkeley since 1971. She says they’ll drive and fly between there and their Santa Monica abode This should keep the Argryos School of Business on its toes: On Friday Chapman U’s law school will dedicate its trial courtroom in the name of super-litigator, Democrat operative and Chapman donor Wylie Aitken.
