(a) Required. No person, partnership or corporation, either as principal or agent, shall use or occupy any street, alley or public place with any taxicab without first obtaining a license to do so and without maintaining in full force and effect such taxicab operator's license for each taxicab so operated.
(b) Application; Qualifications. An application for a taxicab operator's license shall be filed with the Director of Public Safety by any person, partnership or corporation desiring to engage in the business of operating one or more taxicabs within the City. Each applicant, except corporations, and, if a partnership, each partner, shall possess the following qualifications:
(1) He or she shall be an American citizen twenty-one years of age or over and shall be able to speak and read the English language.
(2) He or she shall have been a resident of the State for at least twelve months immediately prior to the date of the application.
(3) He or she shall be of good moral character.
Such qualifications shall be supported by the affidavits of two reputable citizens of the City.
(c) Denial. An operator's license may be denied to any applicant who, within the ten years prior to the application, has been convicted of an offense under City, State or Federal law, whether charged under such statutes or a local ordinance. The license shall be denied in the event of a conviction of the applicant, within such period, of any offense involving gambling, illegal trafficking in intoxicating liquor or narcotics or any offense against public morals.
With the approval of the Chief of Police, an operator's license may be denied to anyone who has knowingly transported persons engaged in either liquor or narcotic trafficking or in prostitution, whether such applicants have or have not been convicted of such transportation.
(d) Corporate Applicants. When the applicant is a corporation, it shall be a corporation duly authorized to do business under the laws of the State for the purpose of engaging in the business of operating taxicabs.
(e) Investigation; Issuance. Each applicant shall, if an individual, present himself or herself in person to the Chief of Police for an examination as to his or her qualifications and shall answer fully and truthfully all questions addressed to him or her tending to disclose whether or not the applicant possesses the qualifications enumerated in subsection (b) hereof. Upon a satisfactory finding thereof by the Chief of Police and a recommendation by him or her, if such circumstances warrant, the Director of Public Safety shall issue the license or licenses as applied for to the applicant.
The requirement set forth for individual applicants in this subsection shall likewise be complied with by each partner in the case of a partnership and by the president and general manager in the case of a corporation. (Ord. 1149. Passed 10-4-60.)