Maybe it will help with American Obesity...

Well, it's finally happened. The transit strike is on. Luckily, I live about a mile from work- so I walked. The problem is that it's a high of 37 degrees today with the windchill making it feel like 10 degrees the weatherman said on the radio this morning. So while walking to work in the past has been pleasant, today it was uncomfortable cold. I was pretty much prepared for that though- since I haven't really been warm for the past few weeks.

Anyway, back to the strike...it's gotten the city into a real mess. Bloomberg says that it will cost the city $400,000 M for every day that the workers strike. I personally think that the strike is ridiculous- these workers make around $50K for a job that sure, might have hazards but requires no real thinking ability. In fact, they want to replace a lot of the conductors on the subways with machines that can probably do a better job. Anyway- I think it all stems from this accounting error that was first made known to the public in a bad PR stunt a few months ago. It was announced that there was a surplus in the MTA budget of a billion dollars due to an accounting error (have we learned nothing from ENRON people!) and that for every weekend during the holiday season fares would be half priced. This is all just fine and dandy, but actually doens't REALLY help people who use the subway system alot since they are buying the (increased fare from last year) $76 monthly unlimited metro cards. The people it does help are tourists and all those people from New Jersey who come in for the "City Christmas Experience" and stand around on the sidewalks talking loudly and getting in everyone's way. If I was a transit worker- I would be mad about this too. I mean- why didn't they use the money to improve something that could benefit us all? How about getting more camera's in the subway- people are always complaining about terrorist threats. Give the workers a nice Christmas bonus. How about just spend the extra money CLEANING all the stations and trying to get rid of the foud smells. I mean there are alot better ways that billion dollars could be spent.

So even though I don't like the strike- I say let them strike and give the MTA hell, those people clearly need some sort of wake up call.