Hard to hail a cab in Western sections of River North?

[trickygal]

So, are you referring to the area of Hudson north or south of Chicago Ave? South of Chicago, you could always walk to one of the high rises on Kingsbury or Erie. North of Chicago, you would probably have to walk east to Orleans and Chicago because there are tons of cabbies eating at the restaurants there. So, can you catch a cab…probably yes….but you are going to have to work for it.

Now, if it is raining it is going to be pretty rough.

Good luck.

[Irishtom29]

Black people had a reputation as poor tippers, if it's still so that might be as much a reason that cabbies blow them off as any other. When I was a cabbie in Oak Park I'd blow by Blacks because they so often stiffed me. I'd'a rather drank coffee in Al's Grill than take a fare that didn't tip. That was a long time ago though, I'm no longer in that loop (pun intended).

[Lookout Kid]

The incident my wife and I witnessed was on the corner of of Buena and Broadway (in front of the 7-Eleven). The black guy was dressed casually, but in a manner similar to other white young professionals in the neighborhood. He didn't look even slightly thuggish in any way. It was a sad thing to watch, even though I've been aware of this "blacks hailing cabs" issue for quite some time.

In terms of racism being "alive and well", it should be noted that nearly every cab driver around here is of foreign birth--and a great many are African. So perhaps racism is even more alive and well in whatever countries they are coming from--if you can still call it racism if an African immigrant takes part. Though I have met several recent African immigrants who strongly dislike the U.S. born "African-Americans" that are descended from slaves. They resent being lumped in with them by our long-time pre-existing racial categories. So that is a factor as well.