At least two council members fear if the spelled-out rules - restricting shuttles and limo service - are enforced, they could undermine the Aug. 11-14 Outdoor Retailer convention, which draws about 15,000 visitors.

"It's right before the Outdoor Retailers, the one time of year where we probably need every and all ground transportation providers," Councilman Carlton Christensen said Tuesday. "I don't think we want to find ourselves caught short."

Meanwhile, Saleem Afridi, owner of Valley Shuttle, said the letter is aimed at putting him out of business.

"It doesn't mention my name directly, but it's a no-brainer," said Afridi, who started Valley Shuttle a year and a half ago to exploit what he saw as a consumer demand for better ground transportation.

The controversial letter was written at the request of Mayor Rocky Anderson and sets up a turf battle between him and the council, which is weighing changes to improve taxi services.

A consultant found the city's cab system in need of an overhaul, perhaps by adopting a competitive business model. But the letter, sent last week, seems aimed at entrenching the existing ordinance, shuttle operators say. It warns that only licensed cab companies can pick up passengers in the city. It apparently forbids non-hotel shuttles and limos from their current practice of transporting passengers around town who have prearranged the service. They can continue to pick up visitors at the airport. Anderson's spokeswoman, Deeda Seed, said the letter was an attempt to correct vague language in the ordinance until the council can decide how it wants to proceed. But not even city employees know how to interpret the letter. Orion Goff, director of Business Licensing and Services, said he has told the many shuttle and limo drivers who have called him to ask their lawyers what the letter means.

"We don't have the manpower to be proactively out there enforcing it," Goff said. "Unless someone complains, we're not going to do anything different than we're doing right now."

Filip Saprkin, a driver for Elite Transportation, said Salt Lake City would become the "first city in the nation" to forbid the use of limos if the letter is enforced.

"This is not only going to take food off my table, it's going to affect all of Salt Lake City," he said.

Saprkin's employer takes brides from downtown hotels to the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. They also shuttle stars - recently the singer Snoop Dogg - he said. "Can you imagine Snoop Dogg getting into a cab?"

Seed said the limousine prohibition was an error in the letter and will be corrected.

Shuttle operators say the letter is another example of the cab companies using Anderson, whom the companies supported in his re-election, to strangle competition. But Seed denied that; Anderson is out of the country.

"Our pursuit of this has nothing to do with favoritism toward the taxi companies," Seed said. "The mayor has an obligation to uphold the ordinance that governs our city."

She did, however, confirm the letter was prompted partly by a complaint from the companies' lawyer, Don Winder, along with comments at a public meeting and news stories.

The letter says the city is enforcing an ordinance passed by the council last year. But Councilwoman Nancy Saxton said that was meant to be an interim measure while the council decides an overall policy on ground transportation.

"He wants his way," Saxton said of the mayor. "It just feels like a knee-jerk reaction to me."

hmay@sltrib.com