For Floridians Ted Carter and Mark Braun, the Hickenlooper Taxi Service was johnny-on-the-spot at the Colorado Convention Center recently.
Stranded on the west side of the convention center and exhausted from packing all their exhibits, the two men — one 79 the other 75 — were trying to find a taxi to take them to their hotel along with four very heavy suitcases.
Despite being at the 89th annual convention of the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA), there wasn’t a taxi in sight.
So Carter, the younger of the two, made an admittedly “gutsy move” as he saw a car approaching. He stuck out his hand and made a “stop” motion.
“The passenger opened his window, and I told him my boss, who is elderly, and myself were exhausted,” Carter said today.
At that point, the passenger got out, made room in the SUV for the suitcases, loaded them into the vehicle and with his driver drove Carter and Braun to their hotel.
“I began to introduce myself during the ride,” Carter recalled. “He said, ‘I’d like to introduce myself: I’m the mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper.”
At the hotel, Hickenlooper got out and unload the suitcases.
As he did, said Carter, “all these people were yelling to the mayor — ‘Hi, mayor!’ — and he was down there unloading the luggage. People recognized him and were calling out to him. ”
“He is just an absolutely wonderful man,” Carter said of Hickenlooper. “What he did gives you a great feeling about the mayor and the city of Denver.
“We cannot think of any way to thank the mayor other than to bring his kindness and warmth to the attention of the citizens of Denver,” he added.
Sue Cobb, the mayor’s spokesperson, said Hickenlooper remembers meeting Carter and Braun.
“They were struggling with a lot of luggage, and he wanted to pull over and help,” she said.
Cobb added that what Hickenlooper did is “very consistent with his approach that every visitor to Denver is important.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
