transit strikes and the law of unintended consequence

perhaps the quitter is a tad, ummm, prejudiced, on this transit strike for a a few reasons..

1. i dont live in new york
2. i tend to have soft spot in my heart for unions (though they tend to not deserve it)
3. i ride a bike to work so, were the strike here, i'd still be unaffected
4. i just enjoy seeing how folks handle the chaos that remains when the structures they rely on temporarily crumble

that said, this particular consequence is a particularly beautiful thing to think about

In some places in the city today, taxi drivers were almost going begging for riders, even though the streets were full of legions of stranded workers who normally ride the subways and buses to their jobs.

While today promised to be a boon for taxi drivers, they were hamstrung by a city order that said only cars with at least four passengers could enter "The Zone," or the area in Manhattan south of 96th Street, a rule meant to relieve congestion.

the tables of have turned. the shoe is on the other foot. power to the people and all that.

i'm unsure if it's my defeatist side, the egalitarian streak in me, or just the evil desire to see folks in cars struggle with the streets.

public transportation is a beautiful thing. i wish we had more of it here where i live. unions, were they managed in an honest and helpful manner, are good things for those without power and bad for those with. minimum capacity laws in urban areas are the next best thing to car-free zones. when you put then all together in one place at one time the cream might just rise to the top for once.

of course, it's all easy for me to say. i'm in california. it's 70 degrees here today.

 

Comments

[comandante agi]

Mass transit in our area would be awesome.

[stranger]

that just makes no sense to me. there's no public transit, and yet local officials create new rules to further frustrate the situation. what a perfect picture of the ineffectuality of government.

[comandante agi]

According to Protein Wisdom lingo, those local officials would be considered "fucktards".

[mr. fun]

because of the gridlock potential.

I worked at Sears hardware one summer and I had to join a union to become an employee. there is no in between. kind of lame if you ask me.

but I mean hey. the poor huddled masses are wreaking havoc on the huddled masses. kind of fun.

[Neil Shakespeare]

I really enjoyed seeing all those people walking together across that bridge. Just think what wonders this is going to do for the fitness of New Yorkers! Still, those were the faces of desperation, those poor workaday souls who still have not discovered the saving powers of defeatism. Alas...

[comandante agi]

Unions are a good idea in theory. But in the real world they are run by hobbits. Remember the SoCal supermarket strike? The unions eventually caved in and ended up screwing over their own workers. So much good that five-month long strike did. Thanks to that strike I now shop at Trader Joes.

[the quitter]

yes. the best thing about the supermarket strike was that i realized i dont ever need to step foot into one of their five million square foot stores. a combination of trader joes, whole paycheck market, local farmers markets, and the countless mexican bodegas around town suffice.

[blogenfreude]

52% in favor of MTA's action in latest poll ... they'd better not blow it.
It's 26 degrees here, but I have only a 10 minute walk to work. No subways/buses involved.