Come anticipate the NYC holiday transit strike with me!

Anyway, I thought the norm for something like this would be less a full-on threatened "strike," and more of a dramatic one-day walk-out and then back to the table with point made?

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/nyc-stri1213,0,4623313.story

Neither! It's just that biking is FUNZONE. Esp. in the city.

The fact that '02 didn't result in a strike doesn't mean that '05 won't. It's entirely possible that the TWU accepted a compromise deal then as a stop-gap. Now, they won't do it again.

(just a theory)

A subway conductor checks the train doors before pulling out of the Columbus Circle Station in New York City today.
Readers
Forum: The M.T.A. Talks

The city is bracing for a walkout in the nation's largest mass transit system, which carries about seven million passengers on an average weekday. The city's contingency plans for the strike include starting public schools two hours late, closing portions of Fifth and Madison Avenues to all but emergency vehicles, and requiring cars in much of Manhattan to carry at least four passengers.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume this evening.The injunction, sought by the New York State attorney general's office, is allowed under the state's Taylor Law, which prohibits strikes by public employees. If transit employees do walk out, the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, faces millions of dollars in fines - and individual employees could be fined two days' pay for each day of work they miss. Striking workers could also be jailed.

Bike riders may wish to know Friday a.m. is sposed to be a sleety muck.

"Customers are reminded that it will take 24 hours from the outset of any strike action for commuter railroad contingency services as outlined on this site to be in place..."

which means more tequila and whiskey, less beer.

frikin whiney yuppie demographic.

i mean...shit... the mta has this huge surplus+the twu gave massively last time around+they're dicking with the projected budget figures+on what planet is 20ish/hr for a tough dangerous skilled job anything more than "decent," especially at ny prices!?

the wage stuff is 2ndary anyway to pensions + jobs. pensions = they earned em alfucking ready and jobs = less safe for employees, less safe for passengers. there have already been a whole bunch of deaths among work crews this last year or two b/c the management was trying to cut corners.

Countdown to SEPTA Shutdown!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/16strike.html

Did I mention we both live in Jersey City?

HAHA!!!!!

so suck it!!!!!

BOO YA!

p.s.: the MTA chief negotiator (dellaverson?) seems like a total douchebag.

That said, I totally respect the workers' right to walk out. Those of you upset that you don't make as much as them should form or join a union. I work from home, though, and would need to go into the city tomorrow only to attend parties.

This is a decent analysis, though out-of-date now, of course.

They also seem to be kind of stuck in about a retirement age of like 50???? Which I can maybe understand for hardcore track-workers, whose conditions are presumably unpleasant and unhealthy enough for that to matter, but seems to be pushing it a bit for, e.g., booth workers. I kind of agree that they might need some kind of tiered contract system for different job types, because -- union solidarity or no -- there are totally different things at stake between both-work and middle-of-the-tunnel grunt track repair. It's like negotiating a contract for telephone operators and coal miners at the same time.

it's 55, and one of the mta's negotiating points will be for it to go to 62.

Also Jon define "enforced!" One of the issues with a strike really will be that the union will incur a whole bunch of Taylor-Act fines on behalf of their workers. (I am with Sterling philosophically on being weirded out by Taylor; pragmatic as it might be, it comes dangerously close to indentured servitude to pretend that people are legally required to report to work even if they haven't reached any sort of agreement about the terms of that work.)

But yeah, there's a level of inbuilt expertise that means you have to work with current MTA employees sooner or later. I imagine the only thing that allowed Reagan to toss out air traffic controllers was the fact that you can feasibly train replacements however and wherever you like; that's just not possible with an antiquated local transit system, especially w/r/t maintenance.

My mom is a teacher and has worked for way way way way way way way less money than they do. Although she gets 3 months off a year.

I did my time on the picket lines growing up.... in the winter.

xpost:

Well my mom was never fined or arrested for striking for days and days, but then again teachers don't cripple the economy if they don't work.

yep, i am positive. the mta's position is that the age should be raised to 62, not sure what the union's position is, or if it's specifically to reduce the age to 50, but there you have it.

And a job's contribution to the betterment of society (or however you want to define good work) often has little relationship to that job's salary and benefits. Ambulance chasers make more money than paramedics. Cosmetic plastic surgeons make more money than physical therapists.

So, MTA workers should get whatever they can. More power to them. If NYC goes bankrupt, the state government can bail it out. If the state government goes bankrupt, we can just cut teacher pay and make class sizes larger.

I have no idea what I'm talking about at this point.

Re: cops and firefighters, see, that's why I'm making the distinction between the pragmatic and the philosophical. We really totally DON'T want them striking, obviously, so in practical terms it makes sense to have laws that make it much harder or less appealing for them to do it (fines, etc.). But on some philosophical level, it's like ... if they don't agree to the terms of the offered contract, surely they have the freedom to turn it down, to not work. And the city, in response, has every freedom to offer that contract to someone else -- like you say, letting them quit. (Except that's totally impractical!) Which probably means in the end that the Taylor Act has more or less successfully compromised between those two concerns, right? Like, in practice?

So what are these workers to do?

they just cripple the minds of the little children.

won't someone please think about the children?

Anyway, I thought I could take the LIRR but didn't remember that Atlantic ave is the last stop, so I'd have to take it from atlantic/flatbush to queens, then transfer to another LIRR train.

If there was actually any connection between paying cops/teachers/firefighters more money and getting better performance out of them that would be great, that would make it all very, very easy, but that's absolutely not the case at all. You pay people enough to live on and do what you have to to retain them, after that every dollar spent is past the point of diminishing returns.

So, my point is, we know the MTA has a lot of problems, paying frontline workers more solves absolutely zero of them, fuck off striking and wasting time, fire half of everybody and sort out what the fuck your massive, systemic bowel blockage is.

(also if I was ceo of ford/ge I would goad my own union workers into striking so I could fire half of them too, but hey, I just had to read a bunch of Jim Collins/Jack Welch for school, give me a break, pay attention to the fistwaving capitalist in the corner, etc.)

TOMBOT MAD WITH THEORETICAL POWAH!

also paying them more = they don't necessarily go on strike, which indeed DOES constitute better performance than your stranded ass getting stuck in manhattan.

Also Laurel is OTM, threatening me with trapped in Manhattan isn't going to win your argument in my eyes Sterly! I can call you Sterly, right? COOL!

in a global economy, people are not going to be getting raises every year just for showing up. that's a pile of horseshit.

"hey boss, I'm not coming tomorrow, unless you give me a raise" = boss finding someone else who isn't an asshole to do my job and blacklisting me from future employment with the company.

That's the real world that people live in. The TWU should be allowed to go fuck itself. Give a competent private businessman 72 hours with the kind of benefits+salary package the TWU already has and he'd have enough positions filled by midweek to put at least the trains back in service by next Sunday. In fact, if you did that, you KNOW there would be plenty of folks ready to break ranks. What other jobs are they going to get? Amtrak conductor?

I will think of this every time the thread where some New Yorkers were talking about how awful it must be for people in less-civilized areas to own cars. My truck has yet to go on strike.

I'm weeping for them, dude. I really am. They have a cushy-ass deal.

No union is ever going to accept a deal that will cost its members salary over the previous contract (unless they're in a dire 'my airline's gonna go bankrupt' situation), nor should it.

People here posted that they didn't know what was going on during that fire at W4 that stank up the subway.

I also saw a cop make 2 kids go home to get IDs after they were caught smoking in the station because he wanted to run a warrent check.

Look at the talk about the laziness of MTA employees, and how they don't deserve to earn what they do.

From people who (seem to) spend all their work-day posting to ilx.

and yeah, the bulk of employees aren't station agents, but are drivers and conductors and maintenance. one thing the mta wants to do is get rid of conductor jobs, which is really dangerous actually. subway doors need to be manually operated, coz would *you* trust an automated system not to drag someone by the leg and etc? especially the way new yorkers jerk around with the things. + since there's no automated system for stopping trains at precisely the right place, conductors also help guide the driver and make sure it doesn't stop short or long. + they're free to roam the cars in case anything happens since the driver is well, stuck there driving.

and station agents are in the front lines of takin-shit-from-the-public. sometimes they look unbusy, but i walk wast long lines of clueless ppl. all the time who are lining up with problems or looking for help or whatever. i mean you might dream of a magical automagic robotrain world, but i actually feel more secure knowing there's ppl (even if not mensa members or whatever) around making sure things work.

the coolest thing about how antiquated the subway is -- they actually use these big metal rods called "interlocks" that mechanically fit into one another to control switching. if one interlock is in a certain position, the metal bars jutting from it keep other ones from being moved to other positions, etc. this is like steampunk technology.

(also, taking sides: subway mechanic pay vs. auto mechanic pay!)

"Unless there is a substantial movement by the authority, trains and buses will come to a halt as of midnight tonight," said Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union.

How HE still has a job is beyond me.

Oh, and eisbar and Alex, nice asinine low blow there. I love middle-class white guys who throw around class and race. If you can explain to me why a station "manager" deserves to make more than Queens bus drivers and bus maintenance people, I'd love to hear it.

Speaking of that, anyone else think it's pretty fucking low of the MTA to insist those dudes strike with them again? Considering the MTA wasn't exactly forecoming with their support in 2002 for the Queens transit workers.

I'd say hostility toward union demands has less to do with class/race stuff (though that's probably lingering) and more to do with something way, way simpler -- the fact that the workers people actually see are the ones whose job utility has been completely wiped out by automation. If people watched these negotiations and imagined track workers clomping around in nasty rat-infested tunnels, that's be one thing. But they're not -- they're imagining people who sit in little booths doing no visible work, getting equipped with no helpful information, and being surprisingly bitchy about being asked to do small bits of customer service. (The class/race divides between those people and a lot of the people they serve is probably at issue, too, but that's not the kicker here.) This is an unfair way of thinking, insofar as those people only constitute one portion of the big-ass MTA workforce, but still: they are the absolute biggest liability to any PR attempts on the part of the union. The public's entire interaction with transit workers consists of asking these people questions in times of stress or frustration, and having them respond with no helpful information and a surprising amount of attitude about it.

New York has the lowest car ownership rate of any city in the country. Fifty-four percent of households here do not own cars. Fifty-three percent of New York City residents take public transit to work and 11% walk or bike there. The New York City region has the largest public transit mode share of any city in the United States. Seventy-two percent (4.8 million) of people who enter Manhattan’s Central Business District each workday take public transit, and nearly all transit riders make a walking or biking trip on the New York City ends of their journeys.

more than half of all the residents in NYC -- that includes all five boroughs -- use public transit every work day. as of the 2000 census, only 44.7 percent of NYC residents described themselves as white. what do you think the statistics are for nonwhites who don't take public transportation?

I've asked booth attendants questions in almost totally empty stations and been completely ignored on two separate occasions--they didn't even acknowledge me after 10-15 seconds. When I kept saying "excuse me," one reacted with barely contained disdain and annoyance as though I were a piece of shit stuck to her shoes, and the other answered with a barely audible grunt (which really could have meant either yes or no) and never even made eye contact with me. I think there's really no excuse to be that rude to people who are essentially your customers and I certainly don't think they should be paid more money for it.

Drivers and track workers are a totally different story, as a number of people have mentioned.

Part of their suckiness isn't even actually their fault: they don't really have jobs anymore! All their basic customer-service duties are automated now. The main times people talk to them are when there's some sort of delay or outage, and I've learned over the past year that they receive pretty much zero helpful information about that shit to pass along to customers: they don't know any more than you do, and on the off chance that they do, I get the feeling they're actually not allowed to pass details along to customers. They don't even really have the chance to be helpful.

wouldn't the smart solution be to create new work for them? if they're going to do what's effectively the MTA's PR work, why not train them so they'll be more people-savvy? it's a good life skill to have.

xpost

I'm sick of people being rude, because they don't like their jobs. It's not my fault your job sucks!

I'm sick of people being rude, because they don't like their jobs. It's not my fault your job sucks!

don't ever go to europe.

my old subway stop had the nicest booth dude, everybody waved and said hi to him when they got off the train.

That's a good point. I hadn't thought of it that way.

Still, there is definetely a cultural phenomenon at work here. American culture seems to say, "If you don't get a college degree and enter a profession, you're worthless." People with service jobs feel that negativity, and they react to it by being rude to customers.

Whatever happened to the ethos of taking pride in your work, no matter what it is?

All service industry jobs, or all jobs where you deal with the public, are kind of trying. Because people can be assholes, and part of your job description is remaining professional and courteous even when a customer is a jerk. You do this because you are a PROFESSIONAL. You are being paid money to do this.

Many or dare I say MOST jobs suck or have sucky components. THINGS ARE HARD ALL OVER, DO YOUR JOB. If you want to exceed expectations and be classy then smile and be friendly while you're at it, especially to people who are friendly to you, but at the very least be adequate and inoffensive.

Haha- good point. I was just thinking that I don't think any subway booth manager that I've encountered in the MTA system could compare to the ticket booth workers I encountered in Prague this summer when it comes to rudeness.

it isn't just the east coast. although outsiders LOVE to jump on us whenever we're impolite and say "YA SEE????"

MaBSTOA and TA Surface BUS OPERATORS AND MAINTAINENCE

All buses scheduled to leave the depot after 12:01 a.m. are to remain in the house.
All buses shall return to the depot after completing the nearest trip – whether this shall be immediately before or after 12:01 A.M.
Passengers on the last trip must be taken to their destinations.
No Passenger will be left stranded on a bus.
Buses will return to the depot, DARK, on the return trip.
All buses are to be secured at the depot against weather and vandalism.
NO BUS IS TO BE ABANDONED ON THE STREET AFTER THE STRIKE BEGINS.
SHIFTERS are to remain at work until all buses have been secured.
ALL RECEIPTS are to be turned in to the depot by the Operator before leaving the depot.
Keep careful records. Document everything.
SAFETY CREWS for fire watch and heat will remain on duty as designated by the Strike Committee.

STATIONS
Chain and lock each STATION TURNSTILE at 12:01 a.m. STAIRWAY GATES and HIGH GATES shall remain open to allow passengers to leave the system.
Prepare BOOTH BANK, KEYS, BLOCK TICKETS, and all BOOTH PROPERTY and have it ready to be bagged when Supervision arrives. Witness Supervision DROP THESE BAGS. GET A RECEIPT for all you turn-in.
REMAIN ON DUTY UNTIL PROPERLY RELIEVED BY A SUPERVISOR.
The T.A. will be warned not to send additional reserves of tokens.
COLLECTING AGENTS will Report to picket headquarters at their place of work on their regularly assigned tours of duty.
Lock up all tools and equipment, all toilets, and elevator cars.

Am I seriously gonna be riding a bike across town tomorrow morning?

Yeah! FUNZONE.

People who do government work, and I am one of them now, a lot of times do so for the trade-offs. You forego high pay for job security and a corporate environment for a more humane one. Government jobs are like the last bastion of great benefits and high job security in America.

I read in the paper today that I think the starting pay is like 40K and the average pay is 55K. While some of you, including one of you has posted repeatedly on this board that he makes 2x that (hi Tom!) think this is a perfectly acceptable salary, for living in NYC this doesn't go that far. Now, of course lots of us do live in NY on far less than that, but we are largely family-and-responsability free, and spend all of our incomes on ourselves.

Is it so wrong to ask that the people who for NYC should be paid a decent wage? Jesus, can you imagine doing a public service job in NYC, with all the psychotic people they have to deal with everyday? These people should be paid everything they can get.

damn, yer firm's not providing car service?!?

Oh, and eisbar and Alex, nice asinine low blow there. I love middle-class white guys who throw around class and race. If you can explain to me why a station "manager" deserves to make more than Queens bus drivers and bus maintenance people, I'd love to hear it.

well, some of us are "middle-class white guys" precisely because in the not-too-distant past we had grandparents (or parents) who belonged to labor unions. anyway, it was meant as a general observation, not as an attack on anyone here -- directed more at some of the blithe comments i have been hearing from co-workers (almost all white, and not a few also a generation or two away from being blue collar!)

anyway, i really don't understand this attitude of "well, my benefits/paycheck suck so everyone elses must suck too!" whatever happened to solidarity, people?!?

reagan killed it.

seriously tho i agree with ya.

but before some of us get too pissed at the TWU, keep in mind that the MTA's strategy has all the earmarks of a management cram-down. and the TWU -- as well as other municipal unions -- have good reason to believe that if the TWU caves on the pension and health insurance cram-downs, then so will other municipal unions when their contracts come up for renewal. i really think that that alone should give people pause before bashing the TWU in this matter.

Anyway, was just watching something on NY1, and the interesting parts were:
-If the strike happens, the experts on some panel estimated that it would take quite a while to get the system back up, meaning that service would be cut for at least 2-3 days even assuming a deal is reached right away
-None of the NYC labor unions have accepted the sort of two-tier cuts the MTA is supporting, and it is unlikely that the TWU (which is one of the more militant unions) will agree to be the first.

I think that if the 9pm deadline comes and goes and the MTA hasn't made a new offer or indicated any willingness to bargain, this thing is happening. Fingers crossed it won't though.

tell me about it -- the dellaverson (sp?) fellow that the MTA has as its chief negotiator/spokesman really comes off as a BIG-TIME asshole. and considering the general baseline assholishness of the MTA (and NY patronage posts in general), that's really quite an accomplishment.

well that, and that pensions are actually deferred salary and not benefits...

Yeah, that's a good argument ... for McDonald's workers to unionize.

"And you can tell from Radsat that the strike's problems are rippling across the country!"

-- gypsy mothra (meetm...), December 13th, 2005 2:51 PM. (gypsy mothra) (later)

*sigh*

I booked out of my office at 11, caught an F train with no problem. New York 1 says trains and buses are still running.

It's not a really big deal to me, I have all of a 40-minute walk to work. But still. It's gonna be cold tomorrow.

"Good luck getting home, boppers!"

Ugggggggggggggggh.

Santa, where are you when we really need you?

And for the record, I'm not the slightest bit inconvenienced by this, personally. I just think it's a disgrace.

From the beginning, the M.T.A. approached these negotiations in bad faith, demanding arbitration even before trying to resolve the contract. Hours before the contract expiration, the M.T.A. got rid of its $1 billion surplus -- a surplus which we believe continues to be understated by some $100 million. The M.T.A. knew that attempting to reduce health and pension standards at the authority would be unacceptable to our union. They also knew that there was no good economic reason for their hard line on this issue -- not with a $1 billion surplus -- but they went ahead anyway. And they did this supported by the Bloomberg administration, which wants to overrun the municipal labor unions and all city workers and impose down-press wages and gutted health benefits and pension plans. This has been combined with attempts by the M.T.A., joined by the mayor and the governor, to intimidate and threaten our members and their families.

New Yorkers, this is a fight over whether hard work will be rewarded with a decent retirement. This is a fight over the erosion, or the eventual elimination, of health-benefits coverage for working people in New York. This is a fight over dignity and respect on the job, a concept that is very alien to the M.T.A. Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected.

The Local 100 executive board has voted overwhelmingly to extend strike action to all M.T.A. properties immediately. All Local 100 representatives and shop stewards are directed to report to their assigned strike locations, picket lines or assigned locations nearest you immediately.

To our riders, we ask for your understanding and forbearance. We stood with you to keep token booths open, to keep conductors on the trains, to oppose fare hikes. We now ask that you stand with us. We did not want a strike, but evidently the M.T.A., the governor and the mayor did. We call on all good-willed New Yorkers, the labor community, and all working people to recognize that our strike is their fight and to rally in our support with activities and events in solidarity, and to show the M.T.A. the T.W.U. does not stand alone.

-- Roger Toussaint

http://www.theflagpole.com/images/eagle_cry_white_backgnd3.jpg

Perhaps you misunderstood the point that demands for an 8% raise across the board and automatic retirement at 50 were unreasonable, not that the majority of workers should be completely screwed? PS I don't live in VA, I hope you're enjoying it though.

Everyone else, sorry dudes! Maybe it's a get out of work free card though.

whatever happened to solidarity in 2002 when Queens bus workers, who had a far worse deal than the MTA workers, went on strike?

http://www.supercasuals.com/category.cfm/161

Omigod I'm kinda tired now!

bcz people in nyc never walk anywhere.

But is a full pension at 55 sustainable for the MTA though? Pension plans are a throwback to an older corporate era, and they have become a millstone around the necks of lots of large industrial companies with aging workforces. If GM and Ford go bankrupt, and that's looking more likely all the time, it will be because of pensions. Defined-contribution plans are becoming the norm, rather than defined-benefit. I think it's inevitable that the union is going to have to budge on this issue.

-- lauren (warmleatherett...), December 20th, 2005 11:13 AM. (laurenp)

i know wtf lol

I'm pretty impressed that Bloomberg walked across the bridge this morning!
-- TOMBOT (cold.as...), December 20th, 2005 10:42 AM. (later)

i'm not. cheap photo op, as is his usual subway ride.

On NY1 last night they said Bloomberg was going to spend the night at the Office of Emergency Management slumber party, but I guess that didn't happen.

no, he did. it's in brooklyn now (since, y'know, the one in wtc 7 got blown up).

Nabisco, we should get an uptown toddy.

"Stay in town with a friend..." Eat me, whiny billionaire fuckface.

Excellent truism.

Streets seem sort of empty downtown.

motherfucker didn't have to walk as far as i did (even with a dude picking me up). motherfuckin' mayor prolly has some aide with a box of kleenex to wipe up every time snot runs outta his nose, k?

What he does not have, however, is an orange genie hat-met.

I think this is the nub of the problem. The union is looking at the big surplus today, and the management is looking at the projected shortfall in 25 years. (It would take at least 25 years from today for a new hire to start receiving their pension.) On one hand, I guess it's great that management is being so far-sighted, but on the other hand, the union is going to be very averse to caving on this issue when times are good. I don't know what the best way out of the situation is.

I appreciated Bloomberg's "I [heart] NYC" sweatshirt too. This kind of feels like a snow day, except with lots of schoolwork I have to get done and the possibility that I have a final AT THE MOMENT the strike ends. Whatever happens at the Brooklyn Court House (holla!) right now will prolly dictate how long this thing lasts.

I'm not even gonna try to get on a train til 7:30 tonight.

the hallmarks of a true leader.

Also: doesn't anyone else find Bloomberg's "I get to work the same way you do" shtick kind of, like, patronizing? Obviously he doesn't have much PR choice, in a case like this, but honestly: he's a wealthy, powerful man. People know that, that's like half of why they elected him. There's something over-gestural and almost even condescending about this Down with the Straphangers shtick.

It's #2 or #3 story on CNN, though. at least #2 on MSNBC, if that makes you guys happier.

-- Dan Selzer (danselze...), December 20th, 2005 10:38 AM. (Dan Selzer) (later)

OTM.

Hi guys!

Then again, Bloomberg may just give in. Or TWU may just give in (although I'm in no position to know any better than any other non-NYC-er.)

We'll also get the quaint side of humanity stories re: blackout like "I never talked to my neighbor in 13 years until the day of the strike.. now, we've vowed to work together on supporting our local neigborhoods through thick and thin of trauma in our city *makes motion to clench fists of harmony*" type stories.

*turtur tur DAT... DAT.... DAT.... turtur tur DAT... DAT... DAT*

But let me tell you what I did today! First I had brunch with my girlfriend on Court St. The waitress said things were going to take long and they only had 5 items. Guess they couldn't get their produce or something? Food came fast anyway. Then we walked down court and up smith and did some christmas shopping. Then we got in her car and drove to Atlantic Ave and spent an hour in traffic as people were insane. Finally found parking then did some shopping on Atlantic avenue. The Sahadi's grab-bag gift-basket never fails to impress, especially when they are giving away little googy Sahadi's calendars to go with your fig jam or whatever. Then I bought myself some snacks, and some more snacks. Now I'm home waiting for UPS to arrive after 5 but before 7.

NONE OF WHICH I COULD'VE DONE IF IT WASN'T FOR THIS WONDERFUL STRIKE!

No, really guys. I'm mostly done with the shopping and have to go to work tomorrow and make some cash, so like, make the deal, cool?

State Justice Theodore Jones leveled the sanction against the Transport Workers Union for violating a state law that bars public employees from going on strike.

Good god. Might as well just make unions illegal. It's 1850 all over again!

Long Island Rail Road

The Long Island Rail Road's contingency plan includes special measures for crowd control at Penn Station. Riders can purchase tickets at 34th Street and Seventh Avenue. Then they will be directed by railroad employees or police officers to specific entrances, based on their destinations.

Those traveling to Woodside, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens and Jamaica may use the entrance at Seventh Avenue and 34th Street. The subway entrance at Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street is for Eastern Queens and Hicksville, Huntington, Port Jefferson, Oyster Bay, Hempstead and West Hempstead branches. Riders heading to North Queens and Ronkonkoma, and the Port Washington branches, are asked to use the Amtrak entrance at Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street. The taxi area under Madison Square Garden on 33rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues is the place to line up for Southeast Queens and Bablyon, Montauk, Long Beach and the Far Rockaway branches.

The railroad advises purchasing tickets before boarding the train, because tickets purchased on board will cost more.

At Jamaica Station, tracks 1, 2 and 3 are for regular westbound trains. Tracks 4 and 5 are for special shuttles to Penn Station. Tracks 6, 7 and 8 are for regular eastbound trains.

In an interview on WNBC television, an L.I.R.R. spokesman, Brian Dolan, said: "We have to control access to the platforms. And today's crowds, we kept them moving but we also controlled access to the platforms and to the trains. We cannot have a situation where people are pushing and shoving. That did not happen and we don't anticipate that happening."

Additional details can be found at www.mta.info/strike/lirr.htm.

Metro-North Railroad

Some of Metro-North's regular afternoon trains were being combined to allow the railroad to provide shuttle service to the Bronx from Grand Central Terminal every 30 minutes between 3:45 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., said Dan Brucker, a Metro-North spokesman. The shuttle service will depart mostly from tracks 38 to 42 near the 43rd street entrance.

There will be no extra stops on regular Harlem line trains, and those trains that normally bypass Bronx stops will skip Bronx stops this afternoon as well. But after 8 p.m., all Harlem trains that make any Bronx stop will make all Bronx stops, Mr. Brucker said.

The 3 p.m. peak Hudson line trains will make all Bronx stops as will some later Hudson trains.

Additional information can be found at www.mta.info/strike/mnr.htm.

New Jersey Transit

Buses and trains going to and from New Jersey were operating under normal schedules, said Penny Bassett-Hackett, a spokeswoman for New Jersey Transit.

Riders were advised to allow extra time for travel because of the possibility of congestion in certain areas.

New Jersey Transit has not designated special entrances at Penn Station, she said, although she noted that some entrances may be more crowded than usual because of lines for the Long Island Rail Road.

http://www.evilface.com/evilscustoms/figurepix/Snake%20Plissken%20b.JPG

so is the strike!

amazing photo at http://www.seattletimes.com 's front page right now.

You know, everyone'll start engaging in this sort of gangster business.

Truthfully, I took a walk around the neighborhood (Washington Heights) this evening and it was very peaceful. I feel like around here people are coming together and there's a completely different vibe than the mobs in midtown. Lots of people walking and riding bikes and an empty-cab-to-full-cab ratio of around 2.5:1.

My friend who works across the river in the Bronx made a sign this morning and stood by the street. He said it took about ten minutes before a guy who works at the post office by his school picked him up. He got a ride from a stranger on the way home, too.

I'm not taking my bike because my deathwish only goes as far as wanting to kick certain ILxors in the nuts.

Here I go again on my bike
Cause the transit union up and went on strike
Crossing town to 113th, it's quite a hike
And it's squishing my nads
Yeah it's hurting so bad

BRING ME THE HEAD OF RALFREDO TOUSSAINT

I didn't ride my bike, because I don't know how!

-- bob abernethy (theundergroundhom...), December 20th, 2005 6:21 PM. (Jody Beth Rosen) (later)

My girlfriend and three co-workers had to try a number of cabs before they could find one that would take 'em to Greenpoint/Williamsburg.

On the plus side: it has occurred to me that Columbia has a midtown shuttle! Thesis-finishing "student" status is about to pay off for me way more than I thought.

Ally, what? I know where you live. I was referring to myself.

Just because I disagree with point doesn't mean that I misunderstand it; thanks for clarifying though.

Whatever your view on the strike, I don't see how it could be called "cowardly". It certainly takes balls

I had to try a number of cabs before I found one that would take me to the east side of Manhattan. And then it was a 10-dollar fare for what would usually be 5 bucks, and half of that ride was shared with another guy who paid the dude $15. I'm starting to think the fun part of this is over.

I think one of the reasons people appear to be so misinformed about just the basic facts is that there have been so few proper labor disputes in recent years that labor reporting has become some ancient lost art; reporters have forgotten what kinds of questions to ask at press conferences. Also, 25 years ago, the last time this happened in New York, reporters came from the working class, by-and-large. Now, you have to have a master's degree for the privilege of running the copy machine, so the people reporting on it are naturally going to identify with their own, i.e. the managerial class.

On a more personal note, day 2 was much easier. Got a ride from the Williamsburg Bridge up to 34th St - 15 minute walk from there. Not bad at all.

what's nice or bewlidering or just conderscending as hell is somebody in Paris delivering a lecture on labor relations to workingclass New Yorkers struggling to walk into Manhattan in 22 degree weather not to mention all the small bsuinesses DEVASTATED by a ruinous end to the holdiay season or all the freelance service providers who won't get their christmas tips/bonuses etc. cheers!

If anybody wants to show me somewhere union pay+bennies negotiation ever worked out in the long-term, btw, I will happily stand corrected.

that's just it. does anyone on this thread commute into the bronx every day, or the parts of queens where the only public transportation is some sporadic bus service? most of new york CAN'T walk to work, and $20-$40-60 on a cab ride is more than a silly inconvenience. i don't know what the statistics are for employers reimbursing for travel costs during the strike, but i doubt most of new york's working poor are getting that money back.

Unions are basically shit in this country because they're ineffective and largely non-existent. Often the unions themselves are to blame for this, but they've also taken a pretty severe beating - union membership is the lowest it's been since about 1934. (About 8% in the private sector, and around double in the public.)

do you think they are served by our most visible unions knuckling to management?

do you think you can really lecture anyone about selfishness when you want personal reimbursement for your agonizing cabride... from the UNION?

how do you think they're getting home/to work? the ones that aren't being docked a day's pay because they're not salaried and it's impossible for them to come in, that is.

Tracer, slight thing here -- so far as I can see, the union really did task for a lowering of the retirement age to 50. Possibly this was just an opening stance for bargaining purposes. The last offer was to keep the retirement age at 55, no change, but for new workers to contribute more to their accounts. And yeah, like I was saying before -- when there's an alleged surplus of cash, I'm not surprised that the union would reject any contract that offers them less than before. If the MTA wanted the union to work with it on some long-term reduction of benefit costs, it would have been much better off coming at this contract negotiation very generously and then putting a lot of time into convincing union leaders that cost-reduction was necessary and inevitable. As is, it seems like they just tried to barrel it through.

look me in the eye and tell me that the union's decision to strike isn't keeping anyone in the city from getting to work.

And working class workers are ABSOLUTELY taking 20 dollar cab rides. My sister was telling me about the mexican dishwashers she works with at this new resteraunt, who are losing tons of money because after arriving, they've offered to pay the workers back. The justification for the dishwashers however is they NEED the money they'll make working that day, even if two and half or three hours of their pay is going to transportation.

"never bothered to hire" is a totally different story. nabisco, you are NOT otm.

Nabsico OTM in saying the changes to contracts are coming from management, not the union. Spin has resulted in the whole thing appearing to be the opposite though.

That said, I think the union has made its point. It is willing to strike and capable of striking. Having made that point, I think they should go back to the table, suspend the strike, and give some date -- Jan. 1 or whatever -- at which point they would resume the strike if progress hadn't been made. Because the system shutdown really is hurting a lot of people, and the union could show its concern and awareness of that by resuming service.

I think the MTA are cocksuckers and run the train system very poorly. Their handling of this, and their demands for future Union members are fucking absurd. OTOH, i think 33,000 transit workers putting the other 7.66 million New Yorkers at their mercy is absolutely wretched.

Mostly I'm just concerned about how to make it to work the rest of the week. I think I have it figured it--get a ride from M1ke C4talano to wburg tomorrow, crash at jon&Laura's(ok?) and then I will be able to walk to work friday & saturday. more troubling: getting to the train station on saturday evening to catch my train home.

i disagree, considering what they have to work with. it's maddening sometimes, but i'm grateful it works as well as it does.

Arg, yeah, TRG, but their initial bargaining position really was 50. It looks as if the union has conceded most any new "demands" they had beyond the existing contract (apart from as big a raise as possible, obviously), which is why I'm a little more annoyed with management, which still wants something. The airlines seem better at this. Granted, they have bankruptcy and financial insolvency staring them in the face, but at least they understand how to make a case to their unions that things like benefit reduction are long-term necessary. The MTA doesn't seem to have even tried to make any case to the union as to why they need to shift some of the pension burden onto workers, and I can't imagine why the union would be expected to give it to them for free.

I know, the 50 thing was presumably just an opening counteroffer -- and hardly more unreasonable to ask for 5 years earlier than it is for MTA to ask for 7 years later.

xpost: Yeah, when the system's running, I think it runs pretty well. Moving 4 million people around the city every day is a huge task and it is usually accomplished with minimal fuss and bother. I have more questions about the MTA's fiscal competence and trustworthiness than its technical abilities. But I still blame them the most for letting things get to this stage.

you've interviewed 34,000 workers? yes, the workers by and large follow Toussaint, the local president. but the strike is not supported by the local's parent organization, the TWU International (which is probably on the hook for the cost after three days, while it's unclear that the workers will owe anything personally)

this is 180 degrees away from where things were in 1980, when the system really teetered on the verge of collapse and the workers were the only thing holding it together. so I think there may have been more general sympathy for the strikers then. also it was summer.

no, my understanding is that they couldn't have done so - once you shut it down, you need 2 days to get it back up

THREE times as much in fact. What bullshit. De-ball Kalikow.

1010 WINS was in total panic bullshit about Penn Station last night at 7. Went to the 34th St entrance, was on a Jamaica train in 10 mins.

Jamaica was infinitely saner today.

that's true. i read something pre- holiday discount that said the MTA was considering using the surplus money to build a big deck over the west side rail yards. a deck! that's... useful. it's something they would have caught serious hell for if they'd gone ahead with it.

xpost spitzer's too busy sucking bruce ratner's cock these days.

Don't be pedantic, of course not. But they are almost unanimous from every single account I've read. Sure, uh, TWU President Michael T. O'Brien didn't endorse it but he's one person in a position of power. That was my point. The impression created by many reports and in turn repeated in conversation is that the strike was very controversial w/ni the union - well, not really among the rank and file.

i'm not saying they're not on the defensive, but it's just so damn EASY to say "haha, i'm going to pull the rug out from under you and you'll be up shit's creek." and even if both sides are saying that, the twu is the one that's effectively saying "without us your whole system is toast and your 4+ million riders are fucked." the mta's bullying just hurts the workers.

The airlines have more leverage, because their workers know that if the airline declares bankruptcy, they are going to lose at least some of their pension & retirement benefits. So if the airline comes to them and says "Bargain with us or we declare bankruptcy" the union has a big incentive to bargain.

The west side rail yard platform was only part 1, the second step was to sell development rights for the land after the platform's construction raised the land's value.

Historically though, politicians been eager to cut the MTA's budget whenever they've shown a profit (no matter how small). Of course the smart thing to do would be to just bank that $928 million profit to offset projected deficits and future fare increases but apparently no one is thinking long-term here.

anyway, i had to walk in again today, 2 hours late to work, ian isn't coming at all, and my feet are killing me. but guess what? fuck the mta, i'm still for the workers.

And if there is a projected deficit, then why the hell are they having a holiday fare decrease?

we've already discussed why it's actually an increase (not that i remember off the top of my head)

considering that the mta has routinely kept two sets of books, to the point where alan hevesi has denounced the management, i think that's reason enough to not trust them.

not much to get, gabbneb, except our mayor's a douche and the governor is thankfully in new hampshire (he's even worse than the mayor).

TOMBOT, who you called out for basically no reason 700 posts ago, made half of what your own stated average MTA salary is when he worked for the government! Just FYI! Maybe y'all should get private sectah jobbies! Or was that not your point...? I mean, I'm sorry, maybe I'm misunderstanding your point in calling out people who make less and/or did make less than MTA workers are making as being some kind of classists with no perspective on big city living on a budget.

truth be told I woulda found the strike fucking funny as hell if I was still in NYC but that's cos I always made sure to be within 20 blocks of where I had to be at all times in my living arrangements. I feel sorry for the rest of you :(

you were also making crazy money when you were living here.

HIGHLIGHT OF DAY: My Ethiopian cab driver was trying to snow us on the zone layout and I think I won an argument in Amharic! Well, maybe not "in Amharic," apart from a few choice works, and maybe not "won," insofar as he just decided that he was going to be nice and "not charge" us for crossing the extra zone he'd invented in his head and still maintained existed, but still.

Anyone who is or has been in NYC recently all have their conveniences and inconveniences to discuss, regarding their work/commute issues.

nabisco otm in any lang.

Audience: *hugglez*

It's interesting (and telling) that when massive layoffs occur it's a blip, maybe a two day story, but when labor strikes it's considered outrageous.

because companies do that all the time. and when do laborers ever get on the news?

the delineations of the zones are a lot clearer than those in dc, which seem designed to screw tourists. if cabbies are lying about extra zones, that's obviously wrong, but in general it seems like a reasonable solution in crazy times. good that cabs are picking up multiple fares and taking them to different places, a practice that in some ways triples the functioning number of cabs out there.

According to this article, "Transit officials said about 1,000 transit workers came to work Tuesday despite the strike, and they were put to work cleaning and doing paperwork."

I think there's also a showing on the 27th, you could hold out until then and hope the strike ends.

That's only 3%! Maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'any'.

Will Penn Sta still have the specific-entrance-for-destination thing tonight (which I circumvented easily)?

Well, if there are 3% who actually crossed the picket lines to go to work, you can bet there are a lot more who have serious misgivings about the strike.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--transitstrike-tou1221dec21,0,3511522.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

I thought it was particularly interesting that the MTA had identified Toussaint as a troublemaker as far back as 1998 when they actually tried to fire him (after hiring a private investigator to tail him for several weeks in the hopes of digging up some dirt). He sued and got his job back. That whole episode boosted his popularity within the union tremendously and led to his attaining his current position. So there's definitely a history of bad blood between Toussaint and the MTA management.

I mean, who's the bully in that one? Isn't the MTA making us walk to work so they can get their way on cutting pension costs? Cost we'd wind up subsidizing anyway, three decades from now, when the fare jumps from, oh, $3.75 to an even $4?

Are you saying that the union should not have to accept any rollback in pension benefits and that the forthcoming deficits should just be passed on to riders in the form of fare increases? Considering that those fare increases will fall most heavily on those riders least able to pay them, I'm not so sure that's the best solution.

Forthcoming in, oh, 2007, I think is what the management is projecting. If you know of any independent analysts who have studied the cashflow projections and have reached a different conclusion, I'd be interested to read about it.

"possibly"

I think it would be nicely educational for anyone who imagines that the MTA's current level of operations vis-a-vis track maintenance and modernization efforts is in any way sustainable.

It is frankly bewildering to me, having learned what I learned from Sterling this past weekend regarding the working conditions and mechanical aspects of the current lines (save the L), that there aren't more express lines being shut down for reconstruction and modernization efforts. Nowhere else in the world do you have so much double-tracking going on in the subway system! if London and DC can figure out how to schedule upkeep and improvements on their 100% single-tracked subway lines wtf is the MTA doing?

BTW Sterling, where did you learn all that stuff you told me? Is there more?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/375722p-319283c.html

i'd be interested too since, as stated up above, the mta hasn't exactly been forthcoming or accurate with their accounting in the near past.

Actually, according to the NY Times, they did set aside the majority of the surplus for just that purpose:

"The board yesterday approved a $9.3 billion operating budget, after depreciation, for 2006 and endorsed a plan to divide $700 million - the estimate for the nonrecurring portion of the $1 billion surplus - four ways: $450 million to reduce pension liabilities, $100 million for security projects, $50 million for service improvements and $100 million for holiday discounts this year and next."

Also, perhaps sweetening the contract offer would have been a smarter thing to do than offering discount cards that were apparently a pain in the ass to buy anyway (since you had to go to the booth and use cash).

(I keep wondering if there's internal union politics involved in this; if the current heads drop those cuts on future employees, will the younger union ranks gradually turn against them, filled as they'll be with people they've basically screwed?)

this is PRECISELY the reason why they're fighting against a two-tier benefit structure.

I'm sorry I called out your man. I didn't mean to suggest that either of you were unfamiliar with cost of living. I was not reacting to just you and Tom, but a number of people on the thread (many I don't know personally) who had what I thought was this type of reaction: "Screw the union!" Obviously I didn't remember each person's particular contribution. What I wrote about being impartial referred to myself and meant, if I was still in NY, perhaps I would have more animosity to the union.

Tom is still ( as far as I can tell) advocating for laying off the force and turning it private sector (I think). I'm obviously not going to support such a view. I was not talking about how much $ Tom made when he was worked for the government. I was talking about how much he makes now. It's really no business of mine how much he makes, but since he posts his salary, of course that afforded me the fuel to compare it to the workers salaries which he felt were more than adequate. It was a rude thing to do, and I'm sorry. Perhaps i am wrong about his present salary; I don't see his tax returns, nor would I like to.

As I hinted at earlier, I'm happy working for a smaller salary as long as it means there is some semblance of security and lack of corporateness.

NY subways are hella more complex than most systems -- with more traffic, more transfers, more complex track routings, etc. Also the fact that they hardly ever just *go down* but instead go selectively out of commission with all sorts of fancy reroutings made possible largely coz there are express and regular tracks instead of just the single tracking of most systems. Compare for example the PATH which only has single-tracking (tho the tracks for each direction are far enuf apart that they can be maintained without shutting the other down, permitting due to short line length a single train to make the route slowly throughout the night) and has switch points only at stations, and only has like four switch points.

If you look at the signals from a NY subway car there are three to four lights on each + letters and numbers (and multiple signals of difft. sorts throughout the system, depending on the type of track but sometimes also the time it was built). On the other hand, PATH signals only have two lights and two indications -- stop or go. This is also partly coz PATH trains, even at peak commute, don't run as tightly together, so don't need as much timing control.

Replacing this, like I said, isn't just about money but also keeping it running right and the necessities of a complex system. Moving the interlocks to purely computerized might save some time in far future updates but could also be glitchy at first. Meanwhile, stopping a train when it overruns a signal is a purely electromechanical task (magnet releases as stopcock, hits bottom of train if train runs it over, train dumps airbrakes) and so keeping the whole system electromechanical ensures a strong durability to the thing.

The track itself could stand to be modernized and more maintained, but that's a different question.

I learned some of this coz a sorta friend of mine is an engineer who did some work (ventilation systems) for MTA projects and loves to dork out about lots of this stuff. I've also read lots of other random stuff, including on TWU history etc.

I'm goin' to New York
I'm goin' to New York
I'm goin' to New York
I'm goin' if I have to walk

I been down South
You know I been out East
I been out West, but I'm not gonna rest

'Til I get to New York
I'm goin' to New York
I'm goin to New York
I'm goin' if I have to walk

I've been here, I've been there
Honey, I been some a-everywhere

But I'm goin' to New York
I'm goin' to New York
I'm goin' to New York
I'm goin' if I have to walk

I just want to know if its as bad up there as Fox News wants me to believe.

Hi GEETA!! When are you coming back to DC to hang out? Ha ha.

never fucking mind. I decided everything should be privately run and staffed. only adam smith can save everybody. everyone in america gets paid way more than they're worth. Pataki and Bloomberg are awesome people for doing absolutely nothing about this. Fuck the common man and health insurance for blue-collar workers. That's how I feel, all the time. I've been robbed of my ability to argue my points so just have fun with your straw man, see you guys later.

you're right generally, but there are actually a lot of kids fresh out of college making 55K or less who do a lot more than answer email and phones, i.e. anyone in ibanking, consulting, etc

Don't know if anybody else saw the message board, but I read a fair amount two days ago and it really was shocking. Racist slurs directed toward Touissant, etc., and they posted his address in case anybody wanted to settle in person. Now they'll say, "Typical of the TWU to shut down communication." But it's always the fucks that come to the surface and I'd like to think most white people haven't lost their senses.

Dont be surprised if he hulk's out and takes a shit on something.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-listri1223,0,3741497.story

you're right, they make coffee too.

Anyway the hands-off approach by Pataki and Bloomberg is pretty disgusting, there's fantastic opportunities to put a silver lining on this by working over the MTA top to bottom, manpower studies, outside audits, the whole works - if either of them called for this right now there'd be nobody to argue against it except the most blatantly corrupt, and you could use this as a stepping stone to a much better sytstem for the future but no, just let the MTA bossmen keep doing what they're doing, why fire anybody when you can leave it to the courts to solve your immediate problems.

The two-tier bennies thing, as I read it, sounds like the stupidest fucking beancounter idea since, I dunno, digital copy protection or something else completely untenable that I hate and is dumb.

My point was actually the opposite - I was talking about the belittling notion that the young and recently educated have that they should be paid at least as much, maybe more, because driving buses on busy streets is supposedly mindless and easy.

xpost

i'll bet you did a hell of a lot more than that. tho i guess you weren't fresh out of college. but my friends who worked for banks certainly did. then again they probably had signing bonuses that pushed them over, or well over, 60K.

Salary is never based on how hard you work

as any paralegal could tell you

I was talking about the belittling notion that the young and recently educated have that they should be paid at least as much, maybe more, because driving buses on busy streets is supposedly mindless and easy

i think what they're missing more is that they don't have families to support or retirements in their near future

i wasn't an ibanker, i just worked at an ibank. sorry for your friends, but most of the ba's i met complained about their useless jobs, staying at work 12 hours a day only to occasionally get to do something cool, but most of the time just kissing some md's ass. and most first-year analysts now get paid around $60k as a base, and can get about half that for their year-end bonus.

They also seem to forget that fresh-out-of-college kid who's making a bus-driver equivalent salary will presumably make more, and more, and more, across his lifespan, whereas a bus driver is a bus driver is a bus driver; they're not all angling for that promotion to Regional Manager of Left Turn Signals.

Evidently I make around as much as some transit workers, without health/benefits/pension, but I still wouldn't trade jobs with them.

BTW, rather than worrying about stupid racist posts on Craigslist and whatnot, I'd rather focus on the positives that the strike brought out of New Yorkers, such as seeing lots of total strangers getting rides from people. I thought everyone handled it as well as could be expected.

Dear Fellow NYC Transit Employees,

Late this morning, mediators from the New York State Public Employment Relations Board stated that TWU Local 100 and ATU Locals 726 and 1056 have agreed to positively recommend to the Executive Board that represented employees return to work while negotiations continue under a media blackout.

With this in mind and in the interest of restoring normal bus and subway service as soon as possible, we urge you to join your fellow workers who have already done so and report to work so that we can begin the job again of moving New York City.

Department of Bus and Department of Subways employees should report to their assigned work location for their regular shift as soon as possible.

This strike has tested our city's resolve, strained relations and caused hardship on you, your families and our customers. I am counting on you to help us get this city back up and moving. Your presence on the job will make a difference as we go about the business of serving New York City.

Sincerely,

Lawrence G. Reuter

Laura, it's time for you to suffer! ;)

Looks pretty lose/lose on the part of the union. They came out of this with just about nothing. And their *trump* card has already been pulled...wtf leverage do they have now?

None?

"I'm pleased to announce that the Local 100 executive board just voted overwhelmingly to direct transit workers to return to work immediately and to resume bus and subway service throughout the five boroughs of New York City, and we thank riders for their patience and forbearance," President Roger Touissant said outside union headquarters this afternoon. "We will be providing various details regarding the outcome of this strike in the next several days."

A few minutes earlier, one of the executive board members, George Perlstein, who said he had voted against the settlement plan, angrily told reporters that the union had not achieved its goals.

"We got nothing. Absolutely nothing," he said.

Kalikow had called the pull-off of pension issues demand 'outrageous.'

I basically spend a lot of time belittling the notion that everyone in this country, old or young, educated or not, seems to have that they should be paid whatever they want for doing whatever they want. I sometimes wonder what our Euro or Aussie friends think reading some of the American job-related threads. Just salary cap some corporations already and boom argument done and hey surplus money.

nabisco if you want I will steal your bike from you, free of charge. You know, to take it off yr hands.

xpost people are just responding to the quote, about how they "got nothing."

*51% of the united states, yes, I know.

TOMBOT - I know I'm responding with like two days delay, but I don't see what "the globalized economy" has do to with this -- these are jobs that can't be outsourced. It's the same factor that makes the S.E.I.U. a viable union in a time when most are sinking.

Most of our Euro and Aussie friends have much more of a social safety net than we do.

i don't think it's anything so absurd... the temporary headquarters of the office of emergency management were in downtown brooklyn, right near the bridge. obviously there were a lot of reporters on the scene there.

it's not a conspiracy, people.

had I ridden a bike, I admit, I might have been a lot colder.

Dude, I was so hot after summiting on the Williamsburg bridge that I was stripped down to just 2 shirts and a thermal, with open jacket and hoodie. Fingerless gloves are urgent and key for biking in the cold.

lupica had a great christmas day piece about kalikow, pataki and bloomberg -- about how these are the same three guys that were breathless to sell the last great undeveloped real estate in manhattan to the jets for hundreds of millions of dollars below its appraised price -- to rich guys -- and are now the ones talking "tough" about union pensions.

i just didn't understand the taxi ruling about crossing zones, so i walked everywhere for the couple of days it was on. and all the bar workers weren't happy.

Fucking great city though !

oh, leave ny1 alone. they mean well.

straight outta SCTV...

Asked if he regretted his actions, Mr. Kalikow said: "God put eyes in front so we could look forward. He doesn't want us looking backward."