Normally, a New York taxicab driver is the one who takes people for a ride, in more ways than one. But this one time, it’s New York’s cabbies who are at the recieving end - From undercover officers of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which kicked off ‘Operation: Secret Rider’, and between 60 and 100 commission inspectors and police officers have been posing as everyday New Yorkers and tourists and looking for violations of the ‘Taxi Passengers Bill of Rights’.

That would mean drivers doing things they’re not supposed to — like using cell phones (hands-free or not) while the car is in motion, not taking credit cards for payment or not paying attention to traffic laws. “It’s sneaky, it’s underhanded,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the group [New York Taxi Workers Alliance]. “They’re holding a sword over drivers’ necks.”

Sword? I say hold a smoking gun. If the sting operation works, maybe a visiting tourist could actually manage to hail down a cab all by himself…

The NYT has a great article on how a few hundred dollars can change lives. The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund offers glimpses into the lives of New York’s poor. shows how timely assistance, and the continuing support of the seven agencies that are the beneficiaries of The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, have turned lives around. In October 2005, Mariely Gonzalez was helped along on her path to citizenship with $440 from the Fund. The money covered the citizenship application processing fee.

Next time you spend $300 on a single night’s hotel stay in New York, think about how that money could help someone walking on the streets far below your highrise room at a luxury hotel. All right. Ok. I’m not trying to induce any vacation guilt here. We have enough of that going around with carbon footprints and unsustainable consumption habits.

All I’m saying is that maybe you could consider a vacation where you can spend a few hours doing some good to balance out the pleasures of Fifth Avenue shopping. After all, if you can wipe out your carbon footprint by buying offsets, you can very well buy feel good chits from God by doing some social welfare to wipe out the luxurious stay in Times Square hotels. After all, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the richest gentlemen in the world, spent all their lives hoarding money, and they’re spending the rest of their days giving it away. You think it was inspired by a documentary or a blog post? Nah! That was the good old offset system at work. You paint the town red, then you clean it up. Fair and square. So what does this have to do with your New York vacation? Um…yes…Even if you’re broke or you think your money is better off in your own bank, you can still donate your time.

NYCharities.org is a web site dedicated to helping everyone donate time, money or talent to New York’s 98,000 charities. You can select an NYC region (zip), area of interest (animals, children & youth, environment, etc.) and further filter results based on your age group (kids, teens, seniors, group activities, etc.). For example, a search for education and environment in downtown Manhattan (where the species humano touristo insectos is often found), showed up multiple pages of requirements ranging from a ‘Cook for a Housing Program’ to a ‘Trash Cleanup for Youth in NYC’. Can you think of a better way to spend the day than a swing through Fifth Avenue, followed up by some trash cleaning and winding up the day with a Broadway show. Guilt free NYC vacation guaranteed.