Service Diversions 05-07-10
I have just updated the “Service Diversions” page with the latest information for the weekend & following week (beyond in some cases). For riders going near the Broadway-Nassau & Fulton Street stations, do not forget to read this entry to see what service is affected.
LIRR riders who will be using the Ronkonkoma line, don’t forget that service will be affected during the early morning hours on Saturday to rail inspections. Read this entry for complete details.
I suggest you print out a copy of the diversions to carry with you or use your mobile device to access the phone friendly version of Transit Blogger. Have a safe & wonderful weekend!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Judge Halts MTA Closing Token Booths
Earlier this morning, I wrote about how the MTA was to announce more job cuts today, on top of the 475 token booth clerk jobs that were to be eliminated starting today. However those 475 jobs are safe for now as Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Alice Schlesinger signed a short term restraining order preventing the MTA from going through with the closures. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News had more in this brief report:
Hundreds of token booth clerks’s jobs are safe until at least next week after a judge slammed the brakes on token booth closings early Thursday morning.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Alice Schlesinger signed a temporary restraining order barring the MTA from going through with the closures of dozens of booths — and therefore the layoffs of 475 clerks — after union lawyers argued the Metropolitan Transportation Authority failed to follow legally required steps like holding additional public hearings.
Schlesinger, who heard testimony from management and union lawyers in her home after the courts shut down Wednesday night, scheduled further arguments for Thursday morning, but Justice Saliann Scarpulla declined to hear the testimony.
So the restraining order remains in effect until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. “These colors fight back!”
Transport Workers Union Local 100 members yelled outside the courtroom.
“Every one is ecstatic,” said clerk Jhesky Vega, one of the pink-slipped workers notified of the reprieve by the agency before dawn.
The MTA had directed the 475 clerks to go to a NYC Transit training center Thursday to turn in their badges, uniforms and other equipment.
Click here for the complete report.
I won’t get excited about this sudden change as the restraining order is temporary. For all we know, the booth closures & layoffs will eventually go through as planned. The solution to prevent situations like this are not going to come from judges or arbitration panels. Until our elected leaders stop playing games & find a way to create sustainable funding solutions, layoffs, service cuts, & fare hikes will be the only course of action the MTA can realistically take.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- MTA Goes Ahead With 250 Job Cuts
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MTA To Announce More Job Cuts Today
Over the past couple of weeks, I have blogged on numerous occasions about the pending job cuts facing many transit workers. My last entry on the topic was two days ago when I wrote about how Jhesky Vega lost his job as he & his fiancee were preparing for their October wedding in Puerto Rico. In today’s edition of the New York Daily News, Pete Donohue takes a look at how the MTA will be announcing more job cuts:
The MTA will announce even more job cuts Thursday as hundreds of token booth clerks – victims of the first wave of layoffs – turn in their equipment, officials said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority already has instructed about 475 pink-slipped clerks to hand in their badges, uniforms and other property at an NYC Transit training center in Brooklyn this morning and afternoon.
Their positions are among the nearly 1,475 transit officials the MTA previously announced it was slashing from the bus and subway divisions to help close a massive budget gap this year – and now more layoffs are coming.
“We have no choice,” MTA Chairman Jay Walder said Wednesday, discussing the authority’s need to reduce labor costs because of a massive budget gap.
Click here for the complete report.
I can’t say this comes as any surprise. Even a casual observer could not notice how the MTA’s fiscal woes continue to spiral out of control. Until our city & state officials step up to the plate & come up with sustainable funding solutions, hard working blue-collar workers will suffer via job cuts & riders via service cuts. We as a region need to vote all of these crooks out of office & elect leaders who understand the importance & value of mass transit to our region on all fronts.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- Clerks Call In 400+ Emergencies A Day
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Igor Oberman Runs On Pro Transit Platform
Igor Oberman, the man opposing Sen. Kruger in the State Senate 27th District Democratic Primary. Photo courtesy of Mr. Oberman’s campaign website.
During the middle of April, I wrote an entry about how one of the “Fare Hike Four”, Sen. Carl Kruger was facing opposition in the Democratic Party primary election on Sept. 14. The opposition is coming from Brighton Beach lawyer Igor Oberman. The main point I made in last month’s entry was how I was extremely interested in the transit views of Mr. Oberman.
Enter Streetsblog NYC Reporter Noah Kazis who wrote an article yesterday discussing just this very subject:
The primaries are only four months away, and election season is starting to heat up in New York. All signs point to strong anti-incumbent sentiment among voters, with several entrenched legislators facing primary challenges. In Brooklyn’s 27th State Senate district, long-time incumbent Carl Kruger is facing a primary challenge for the seat he’s held since 1994.
Kruger is best known to Streetsblog readers for his role last year in gutting the Ravitch Plan and killing bridge tolls, which would have put the transit system on steadier financial footing. His opponent, Igor Oberman, has made support for public transit a centerpiece of his campaign.
For the last few weeks, Oberman has been handing out literature [PDF] at busy subway stations across southern Brooklyn, criticizing Kruger and fellow Fare Hike Four members Ruben Diaz, Sr. and Pedro Espada for scuttling the plan to toll bridges over the Harlem and East Rivers, an act of obstructionism that set the stage for major service cuts and layoffs. Transit riders will feel more effects soon: The MTA’s budget gap still exceeds $450 million.
At the Kings Highway station this morning, Oberman questioned whether his opponent can relate to constituents who depend on transit. “When’s the last time he ever took the subway?” he asked, before flashing his very well-worn MetroCard. Oberman believes that “this is a commuter district” and that transit is “as important to them as police service or ambulances.”
Click here for the complete report.
I found this Streetsblog NYC piece extremely interesting as I have been very curious as to his transit views. While I can’t support his views on bridge tolls, I do support his belief that mass transit is just as important as police or ambulance services. The economic positives that mass transit bring to our economy can not be underestimated.
I feel that Transit Blogger readers should do their best to look into Mr. Oberman’s transit positions & find ways to support his cause. While many of us can’t vote for him due to not residing in his district, this should not stop us from finding ways to support his campaign. We as a region need to inject new leaders into political power who understand the importance of mass transit to our region & why we need to find ways to create sustainable funding solutions.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- Senator Kruger Faces Primary Opposition
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Wedding Blues For One MTA Station Agent
The end of the line for hundreds of MTA workers inches closer & closer with each passing day. With a budget deficit that continues to eat away at the MTA, the much maligned transit agency has had their hand forced by a city & state that continues to show no desire to come up with sustainable funding solutions.
The prospect of having no job has really hit home for one worker in particular, Jhesky Vega. Mr. Vega is a station agent who will work his last shift on Wednesday. As if losing his job was not bad enough, it happens at a time when he & his fiancee were preparing for their October wedding in Puerto Rico. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more in this report from Sunday:
There’s no good time to get laid off from work – but for token booth clerk Jhesky Vega, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Vega and his fiancée were in the midst of planning their October wedding in Puerto Rico when he received a pink slip from NYC Transit last week.
Vega, 31, will work his last shift Wednesday.
“I’m feeling lost and dazed,” the Queens man said. “I’m walking around like a zombie.”
Vega is among about 450 station agents getting laid off or reassigned, despite their expectations that their civil-service positions granted life-long job security.
To the very end, many agents believed they might be spared from the budget ax.
Veteran workers assured younger colleagues the MTA always cried wolf, Vega said, but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s fiscal woes proved too severe.
“The older clerks said, ‘It’s never going to happen.’ … And it actually did,” Vega said. And while he’ll file for unemployment and look for another job, he knows how little work is available.
“How am I going to get the money for the wedding?” he fretted. “My girlfriend already put a deposit on the dress. I feel like my gut’s being ripped out.”
Click here for the complete report.
My condolences go out not only to Jhesky Vega & all of the workers being laid off but to the loved ones of these workers as well. I am sure the New York Daily News could do stories like this on all ofthe workers who are losing their jobs.
Back in the day, getting a job with the MTA was considered something big to shoot for as the pay was good & it offered a legitimate chance at a long career. However nowadays, the harsh reality is that you could bust your ass for them for years & be out the door the very next day.
While the financial woes of the MTA are not all their fault, I do find it completely disheartening & disgusting how the blue-collar workforce of the MTA is the first to get pinched during these tough times, yet the redundant layers of management continue to stay the course. Seriously, this just not right!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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