A female cab driver says it’s only fare she should be allowed to carry passengers while she is nude.
But city councilors in Barre, Vermont decided naked taxi jockeys aren’t going to fly in their staid town.
They received an inquiry from a woman wanting a taxi license allowing her to drive in the buff.
“I drive a cab nude and I have signs on my car telling people I’m a nudist,” the ride jockey said. “I call different places to make sure there are no ordinances. For each city, you have to have a taxi license so I wanted to get registered.”
The woman was interviewed by The Bridge, a small paper that covers the twin cities of Barre and Montpelier.
“Editorial note,” writer Gina Tron posted at the top of her salacious piece. “To protect her safety and dignity, The Bridge is withholding the name of the taxi driver referenced in this story and is identifying her by a pseudonym.”
So she drives in her birthday suit, letting it all hang out, but when it comes to the rubber meeting the road, all’s suddenly under a veil.
Barre officials said their town in its 200 years never needed to consider banning nudity.
During a recent meeting, councilors adopted in second reading a public-nudity ordinance that goes into effect immediately.
“We are not expecting this to be a big thing in Barre anyhow, but we want to preempt it anyway,” City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro told the local paper.
“It’s an effort to be proactive about an issue and get ahead of it,” Storellicastro added. “Is it the biggest societal ill that we’re facing? No, but it’s also one that was relatively easy to address.”
Barre becomes the second Vermont city recently to crack down on birthday suits.
Burlington, the state’s largest city, where socialist U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders first got his political foothold, as a mayor, adopted a nudity ban last fall.
Storellicastro modified Burlington’s ordinance and brought it to the council.
The ordinance includes fines up to $500.The Barre and Burlington ordinances supersede a state law that allows nudity but forbids stripping in public.
“We have always appreciated Vermont’s ‘live and let live’ spirit and its atmosphere of body acceptance,” Erich Schuttauf, director and general counsel for the American Association for Nude Recreation, told The Bridge. “It’s disappointing when that changes.”
