Fri 5 Feb 2010
I generally have no qualms with the taxi guys based out of the old Hawthorne station house. I mean, I was OK with it that night when they took the drunk ass to the far end of Thornwood before bringing me and another Hawthorner to our homes first.
I don’t really mind the landfill of cigarette butts the dispatchers create outside their window.
And I’m really perfectly fine with the fact that the old station house is used as storage for the cab company’s junk, instead of something useful and attractive like the Starbucks over at Hartsdale station, and I don’t hold them responsible for the time the disgruntled cabbie slaughtered the rabbit on the cab station steps.
Not their fault.
But geez, are they making a mess where they park over by the bike rack. Earlier this week, I noticed a giant brown puddle of something that looked like milk chocolate but surely doesn’t taste like it. The puddle was about the size of an inflatable kiddie pool, and sat underneath a taxi that looked like it was out of commission. The puddle had oozed its way to a storm drain about 40 feet away, an ugly river of brown and weird toxic rainbow colors. Some unidentified car part–some sort of liquid holding vessel the same color as the ooze–has been sitting next to the bike rack all week.
The dioxin puddle has subsided a bit, but it’s still there.
Then, this morning, I spied a porno mag open spread-eagle, if you will, next to the bike rack. The fold revealed several pics of a woman named “Gianna”–hey, it’s an Italian neighborhood–and the bold type stated that Gianna is, indeed, “100% Genuine.” 100% Genuine as she sat perched upon a Harley, 100% Genuine as she did a little gardening in the buff.
I would’ve turned the page to see what other fleshy treasures the mag held, but a full platform of 8:16ers were looking down on me.
I’m a grown-up and I’m not offended by the smut. But hey–there’s a kid’s dirt bike locked to the rack…there are kids present!!

February 5th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
No qualms for me: I don’t like this taxi stand. Not to say that they are bad people, but they are certainly bad neighbors.
Boarded up windows, oil changes in the parking lot, no shoveling snow beyond their door (or rake leaves, etc.).
Did anyone ever figure out what they meant by the “proposed taxi code” discussed at last year’s train station meeting?
http://trainjotting.com/2009/10/20/hawthorne-train-station-meeting-thursday/
Something to point out to the taxi stand people: Even after renovation expenses the revenue from a coffee stand could pay for a self-storage unit for the junk and even an internet connection to join the modern era of non-print smut.
They might even have a few investors who ride the train every day.