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They aren't air raid sirens.

Dallas outdoor warning sirens.

So the sirens sound, and presumably the North Koreans have a nuclear strike on the way. And what do the good citizens do? _nothing_. Only 4400 actually tried to figure out what was wrong; the rest simply ignored it.

You might as well get rid of the entire system, nobody cares about it anyway...

Considering that the sirens are to get people indoors in the event of Severe Weather and that most people were probably indoors when they went off, it's not surprising they did _nothing_ apart from what they are supposed to do - monitor radio and television.

Dallas outdoor warning sirens.

Some more for different cities...

• Chicago
  http://www.cityofchicago.org/c...
  http://www.cityofchicago.org/c...
  http://www.cityofchicago.org/c...
• Dallas - http://citysecretary.dallascit...
• Washington D.C. - http://dfhv.dc.gov/page/admini...

Have you read Dallas' rules governing livery?

Transportation Hire Regulations

It's pretty interesting stuff. While there appears to be a regulated cap on the number of taxis in Dallas, they have a lot of other regulations that are much more important, like age of the vehicle, condition of the vehicle, minimum insurance requirements ($500,000!), and the driving history of the operator.

Taxis with conventional drivetrains cannot be more than six years old. This means they're forced to be fuel efficient (though most drivers seem to want more fuel-efficient cars as they rent the car from the taxi company, so that's less of a problem than it used to be), less bad on the environment, and probably safer for passengers as newer cars generally perform in collisions better than their predecessors. Taxis also have their rates defined by the city, so that passengers aren't screwed over and can take any cab and get the same rate.

Uber might be able to operate as a Limo service, but would have to use vehicles that qualify as limos per Dallas' requirements, which must be luxury vehicles to qualify, and has otherwise most of the same insurance and driver record rules.

Laws covering things as mundane as public-interacting business are usually reactionary. Such high insurance limits are probably necessary to protect passengers, and fares defined by the city are designed to both keep customers from being screwed and to keep drivers earning a living wage.

I'm not the person you're replying to, but that's the case in most of Texas. Here are three random cities: Bryan, TX, Richardson, TX, and Dallas, TX.

Example, From Dallas,

Street and Alley Repair

Street and alley repair is the responsibility of the Department of Street Services.

[...]

Sidewalk or Drive Approach Repairs / Replacements

The adjacent property owner is responsible for all repairs or replacement of sidewalks and drive approaches.

I live in Texas, and we have fewer restrictions than most states further north. Anybody can start a contractor business, do roof repairs, even build houses from the ground up with no license. But plumbing, electrical, and HVAC are heavily regulated and you must be licensed. Homeowners are allowed an exemption, but only for their own principal residence - so if you're a landlord you cannot even replace a light fixture or a fix a leaky faucet.

In Texas permits and inspections are the responsibility of the cities. Some cities, more likely in rural areas, do not have such requirements. Here's an example from the City of Dallas:

http://www.dallascityhall.com/building_inspection/building_inspection_faqs.html

What kind of work can I do on my own home?

        Electrical work must be performed by a licensed electrician unless the homeowner can prove to the Chief Electrical Inspector that they have the knowledge and expertise to perform the electrical work on their own home. Permits, unless exempted by Chapter 52 of the Dallas Building Code, are required for electrical work.

        Under the Texas Homestead Act, Texas Plumbing License Law and Texas Mechanical License Law, a person who owns, occupies and has homesteaded the home where the work is to be performed is exempted from the requirement of having a licensed person do the work and may do any kind of plumbing or mechanical work on his/her homestead themselves. The work performed by a homeowner requires a permit (when required by Chapter 52 of the Dallas Building Code) and inspection (if required). If no permit or inspection is required, the homeowner is required to comply with the plumbing/mechanical code.

        A homeowner may perform general building work on their own property after obtaining all of the proper permits.

        Compliance with the Dallas codes is required on all types of work as well as obtaining the appropriate inspections.

"If the mayor of Dallas gets a bug up his butt "

The current Mayor is a woman..
http://dallascityhall.com/government/mayor/mayor.h tml

The Mayor of Dallas is a woman.

The city also runs Natural Gas in it's busses. The air quality in Dallas is better than it used to be, based just on my impression of the way things are.

Bio is the way to go IMO, especially when produced by small time operators. We have so much of the raw materiel that is treated as waste matter (cooking oil), we can kill multiple birds with one or two old water heater processors.