D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has named Ron Linton as the new taxi commissioner to replace Leon Swain, who was ousted earlier this year and played a pivotal role helping the FBI bring down a bribery ring. Linton is a veteran public administrator, having served as the chairman of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in the early 1990s and later on the board of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority. But he now will be tasked with bringing order to a city agency that at times has been chaotic. Among the key issues he will have to tackle is pressure from the taxi industry to raise rates. He also will have to restore the commission’s public image, which was damaged last month when acting Commissioner Dena Reed had two reporters arrested for trying take video of a public commission meeting.
“The D.C. government is constantly recycling people from board to board,” said Nathan Price, president of the D.C. Area Professional Taxi Drivers Association. “We need a professional regulator in that position to stabilize the rates, and I’m not sure we have that with Linton.”
