Charity Cabbie RIP

Taxi Ray Kottner was a New York icon, giving away free rides & memories in his vintage Checker cab--an act of charity that got him in trouble with regulators because he wasn't charging standard rates.* He was also "an environmental activist pressing for the entire country to run our motor vehicles on hydrogen."

Vanishing New York laments his passing; Jena Starkes' Heaven-O tells his tale.

*A commenter on Gothamist didn't share the love: "the old pretending to do charity work but really stealing from society. Just like the Ford Foundation," prompting the following response:

Mr. Kottner is not Bill Gates. Like most charitable enterprises, he needs contributions from those who can afford to do so. There is no reason why those who choose on their own to ride in his vintage checker should not, if they can afford it, contribute to the free rides of those less fortunate. . . . For the Taxi Owners union to claim that Mr. Kottner is stealing from cab drivers by giving people free rides and tourists or couples on dates a tour of the City is akin to Walmart's claiming that the Salavation Army is stealing from Walmart's legitimate clothing business.