Monday’s predicted blizzard for NYC caused me more than a little cognitive dissonance over the state/city executive decision to shut down the subway system from between 11pm and 8am. It interfered with my own transportation needs for getting to and from work so I opted to lose a night’s pay in a work situation that was thankfully reasonable enough to grant me that. (Not generous enough to compensate me for such a formidable transportation challenge, mind you.)
As the week moves on, I have been hearing that the subway closure caused gratuitous stress for great numbers of people. I have run into retail workers and their managers who had to anxiously hustle their ways homeward via subway praying and racing against that 11pm deadline whereby the ENTIRE NYC subway service would turn into the proverbial pumpkin. It would be turned off completely rather than slowed or limited. From local news I became aware that the very emergency workers who were helping New York City cope with the snowstorm were themselves major victims of the subway closure. WTF?
I see it as once again top tier political authorities being clueless, indifferent and/or manipulative to and with the needs of working class Americans.
I just came across an article by Jerry White entitled “Politically driven hysteria over the New York City snowstorm that wasn’t”. White accuses state, local and regional authorities including NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, NJ Governor Chris Christie of fear-mongering with their declarations of a super-emergency and the “virtual lockdown” of us 8 million residents of New York City. These authorities are now asserting a “better safe than sorry” defense of their decisions after the storm clout proved minimal in the City itself. I also see these gentlemen using the storm for political grandstanding.
White explains that the histrionics of the authorities and the media caused a run on supermarkets and gas stations. Threats of fines and arrests for driving one’s car were also stressed on the media to residents. The National Guard was deployed in New York State. White sees this as an ominous pattern in “post-9/11 America.” Authorities and corporate media keep frightening Americans, utilizing whatever is convenient to do so, including the weather.
White:
This sensationalist storm chasing is in lieu of any serious analysis of world events and helps conceal how the decisions made by the ruling elite each day imperil the world’s people.Then, with the utmost hypocrisy, the same politicians responsible for these antisocial policies—whether Cuomo, de Blasio, Christie or Obama—turn around and posture as defenders of “public safety.”snipBefore any snow began to fall, the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut then declared states of emergency and imposed travel bans affecting tens of millions of residents. ...snipBy 6 p.m. Monday night, [NY Governor] Cuomo ordered the shutdown of all transportation, saying only emergency vehicles would be allowed on the streets of New York City—and roads in 13 state counties—as of 11 p.m. “If you violate this state order,” he said, “it’s a possible misdemeanor; it’s fines up to $300.” The governor also activated the New York National Guard, which dispatched 260 soldiers and airmen.
Apparently the chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Thomas Prendergast, had argued, “We’d be able to run trains.” Prendergast had explained that there would be no reason to close the subway system since the NYC subway system is mostly underground and protected from the snow.
White:
By 11 p.m., however, even as it was becoming apparent that the worst snowfall was well to the east and north of New York City, Cuomo, apparently without consulting with Mayor de Blasio or the New York City transit command center, went ahead and shut down the subway system, the only remaining transportation in the city.This was the first time trains were halted because of snow in the 110-year history of the system, which serves more than four million commuters each day.As it turned out, the subway system actually continued to run in order to keep the tracks clear, just without passengers.
After 110 years, the subway was totally shut down?
And this done by the governor without even consulting the mayor?
AND, to add insult to injury, the trains actually were run “to keep the tracks clear” but without passengers?
White quotes a “transit insider” who shared this with the Atlantic magazine:
“The closure will strand people and put lives at risk, not because the subways can’t run, but because Cuomo wants to look good, ... I think it’s a horrible, purely political decision, not based on anything that’s needed. It seemed like cutting out a necessary lifeline unnecessarily.”
So without buses, taxis, or subways late-shift workers were trapped with no way home, forced to spend the entire night at their workplaces or whatever shelters they could find.
White:
The following day, millions of New Yorkers woke up to a rather pleasant winter morning—with a few inches, not feet, of snow on the ground. While the travel ban was lifted at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, rail and subway service was running only on a limited basis and the streets remained largely deserted.Schools did not reopen until Wednesday, when city and state workers also returned to work contemplating the loss of a day’s pay in one of most expensive places to live in the world.
White maintains that political authorities are most concerned with the needs of the elite residents of NYC and not so much the practical needs of those far lower down the economic ladder.
Every natural disaster uncovers the deep class chasm in America.After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the city’s then-mayor, billionaire Michael Bloomberg and the utility giants made sure electricity was quickly restored to the New York Stock Exchange and the luxury high-rise apartments in Manhattan, while working-class and poor residents of the city were abandoned without water and electricity.Aside from these considerations, the ruling class saw in the storm an opportunity to promote an atmosphere of hysteria and create new precedents for extraordinary state actions. Fearful of the eruption of popular opposition over the immense levels of social inequality and the retrograde policies of both big-business parties, the response of the political establishment to every potential disruption of the continued accumulation of wealth by the super-rich, even uncertain prospects of a heavy snowfall, is police state measures: lockdowns, shelter-in-place orders, etc.This week in New York City, we saw the methods of the “war on terror” deployed to fight snowflakes falling from the sky.
Is Jerry White taking the analysis way too far?
Or is he onto something in terms of a “learned helplessness” and “a state of chronic disorientation” and “cognitive dissonance” being cultivated by the political patriarchy and media within us -- us citizens whose basic needs are given less and less empathy and respect by the authorities, even though these same authorities insist through media that their decisions are made to honor and prioritize our needs?
I'm leaning to White's take, it helping to explain my own headache of cognitive dissonance over this IRL, NYC-home-hitting, pay-loss, patriarchal jerk-around.
[cross-posted on correntewire]
------------
Libby, I'd say all New Yorkers should stop by and read your post on this subject as there is much to consider over the handling of this non-blizzard event!
libby, I don't get the subway shutdown but I'm not clear on what went into the decision making. Nonetheless it seems a bad decision.
As far as raising the alarm, I don't fault Blasio or others a bit. Most weather forecasters were predicting a huge snowfall and it turns out that they were off by 75 miles or so. But if you're the one having to decide what to do given the prevalence of advice, wouldn't you err on raising the alarm? They're surely aware of how Lindsay's career was wrecked by not clearing away the snow fast enough. It's not exactly the same thing but close enough to serve as a cautionary tale.
As far as raising the alarm, I don't fault Blasio or others a bit. Most weather forecasters were predicting a huge snowfall and it turns out that they were off by 75 miles or so. But if you're the one having to decide what to do given the prevalence of advice, wouldn't you err on raising the alarm? They're surely aware of how Lindsay's career was wrecked by not clearing away the snow fast enough. It's not exactly the same thing but close enough to serve as a cautionary tale.
Nothing worse for the mayor of any city back east than screwing up during a snowstorm... R&R :-o
Abra, As I recall, Lindsay took a lot of flak for not clearing the snow soon enough in the outer boroughs, but his career survived that goof. He was re-elected when he ran for mayor again.
des, thanks for commenting. I have read even more on this since writing. seems like there is a major lack of communicating between the governor and the mayor which their pr efforts cannot hide.
http://gothamist.com/2015/01/28/blizzard_subways_politics.php
"Gov. Cuomo decided to shut down NYC Transit subway and bus service on Monday ahead of an anticipated blizzard, which came as a surprise to transit workers and experts...and City officials. Cuomo told the press his office was "totally coordinated" with the mayor on the effort, but Mayor de Blasio disagrees: aides say he was only given between 15 and 30 minutes warning before Cuomo made the announcement at 4:45 p.m. on Monday.
"We did not get a lot of advance notice," de Blasio said yesterday at a City Hall press conference. "I think it was a very big move and certainly something we would have liked to have had some more dialogue on."
"Although MTA head Thomas Prendergast allegedly encouraged and supported Cuomo's decision, this was just the latest sign that Cuomo and de Blasio are not in sync, just as they butted heads through the press over the Ebola mess in the fall. DNAInfo adds:
"The governor handed de Blasio a defeat over charter school expansion last year and, more recently, Cuomo was said to be considering stepping into the increasingly nasty feud between the mayor and the police unions."
De Blasio, however, did step up to support Cuomo's lieutenant governor candidate Kathy Hochul when polls showed a tighter-than-expected race. Cuomo also recently supported extending mayoral control of schools and agreed to continue funding one of de Blasio's signature initiatives of pre-K expansion.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/de-blasio-dark-cuomo-order-close-subway-article-1.2093839
De Blasio’s office said the mayor found out about Cuomo’s decision — the first time in the subway’s 111-year history in which it was shut down for snow — around 4:30 p.m. Monday when an MTA official called City Hall with a storm update.
That call was roughly 30 minutes before Cuomo went on TV to tell the rest of the city.
A spokeswoman for Cuomo said the governor was in “constant communication” with the mayor starting on Sunday, and that closing the system had always been an option. But as late as Monday at noon, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast told reporters he didn’t think completely closing the subways would be necessary for the storm.
The final decision to shut the subway was made after a 4 p.m. weather report and based on the advice that Prendergast gave Cuomo, said Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s communications director.
De Blasio’s office said the mayor found out about Cuomo’s decision — the first time in the subway’s 111-year history in which it was shut down for snow — around 4:30 p.m. Monday when an MTA official called City Hall with a storm update.
That call was roughly 30 minutes before Cuomo went on TV to tell the rest of the city.
A spokeswoman for Cuomo said the governor was in “constant communication” with the mayor starting on Sunday, and that closing the system had always been an option. But as late as Monday at noon, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast told reporters he didn’t think completely closing the subways would be necessary for the storm.
The final decision to shut the subway was made after a 4 p.m. weather report and based on the advice that Prendergast gave Cuomo, said Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s communications director.
De Blasio’s office said the mayor found out about Cuomo’s decision — the first time in the subway’s 111-year history in which it was shut down for snow — around 4:30 p.m. Monday when an MTA official called City Hall with a storm update.
That call was roughly 30 minutes before Cuomo went on TV to tell the rest of the city.
A spokeswoman for Cuomo said the governor was in “constant communication” with the mayor starting on Sunday, and that closing the system had always been an option. But as late as Monday at noon, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast told reporters he didn’t think completely closing the subways would be necessary for the storm.
The final decision to shut the subway was made after a 4 p.m. weather report and based on the advice that Prendergast gave Cuomo, said Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s communications director.
snip
Service was brought back around 8 a.m., but didn’t get fully operational until around noon — and even then, it was only on a limited-service schedule.
It is expected to go back to a weekday schedule on Wednesday.
Officials with the Transport Workers United Local 100 — which represents subway workers — said that it could’ve been brought up faster if the MTA had planned the shutdown better.
Because the move was made so quickly, the MTA did not ask many workers on their Monday evening and night shifts to sleep in crew rooms, which would allow them to be on hand for a quick turnaround on Tuesday, union officials charge.
Some individual supervisors asked workers on their own but many did not.
“They didn’t hold onto people physically and I think they got caught short in some areas because of that,” Steve Downs, a division chairman with TWU Local 100, said.
TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said the union offered to secure volunteers from the ranks of train operators and conductors to stay overnight Monday at key locations but the management wasn’t interested.
http://gothamist.com/2015/01/28/blizzard_subways_politics.php
"Gov. Cuomo decided to shut down NYC Transit subway and bus service on Monday ahead of an anticipated blizzard, which came as a surprise to transit workers and experts...and City officials. Cuomo told the press his office was "totally coordinated" with the mayor on the effort, but Mayor de Blasio disagrees: aides say he was only given between 15 and 30 minutes warning before Cuomo made the announcement at 4:45 p.m. on Monday.
"We did not get a lot of advance notice," de Blasio said yesterday at a City Hall press conference. "I think it was a very big move and certainly something we would have liked to have had some more dialogue on."
"Although MTA head Thomas Prendergast allegedly encouraged and supported Cuomo's decision, this was just the latest sign that Cuomo and de Blasio are not in sync, just as they butted heads through the press over the Ebola mess in the fall. DNAInfo adds:
"The governor handed de Blasio a defeat over charter school expansion last year and, more recently, Cuomo was said to be considering stepping into the increasingly nasty feud between the mayor and the police unions."
De Blasio, however, did step up to support Cuomo's lieutenant governor candidate Kathy Hochul when polls showed a tighter-than-expected race. Cuomo also recently supported extending mayoral control of schools and agreed to continue funding one of de Blasio's signature initiatives of pre-K expansion.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/de-blasio-dark-cuomo-order-close-subway-article-1.2093839
De Blasio’s office said the mayor found out about Cuomo’s decision — the first time in the subway’s 111-year history in which it was shut down for snow — around 4:30 p.m. Monday when an MTA official called City Hall with a storm update.
That call was roughly 30 minutes before Cuomo went on TV to tell the rest of the city.
A spokeswoman for Cuomo said the governor was in “constant communication” with the mayor starting on Sunday, and that closing the system had always been an option. But as late as Monday at noon, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast told reporters he didn’t think completely closing the subways would be necessary for the storm.
The final decision to shut the subway was made after a 4 p.m. weather report and based on the advice that Prendergast gave Cuomo, said Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s communications director.
De Blasio’s office said the mayor found out about Cuomo’s decision — the first time in the subway’s 111-year history in which it was shut down for snow — around 4:30 p.m. Monday when an MTA official called City Hall with a storm update.
That call was roughly 30 minutes before Cuomo went on TV to tell the rest of the city.
A spokeswoman for Cuomo said the governor was in “constant communication” with the mayor starting on Sunday, and that closing the system had always been an option. But as late as Monday at noon, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast told reporters he didn’t think completely closing the subways would be necessary for the storm.
The final decision to shut the subway was made after a 4 p.m. weather report and based on the advice that Prendergast gave Cuomo, said Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s communications director.
De Blasio’s office said the mayor found out about Cuomo’s decision — the first time in the subway’s 111-year history in which it was shut down for snow — around 4:30 p.m. Monday when an MTA official called City Hall with a storm update.
That call was roughly 30 minutes before Cuomo went on TV to tell the rest of the city.
A spokeswoman for Cuomo said the governor was in “constant communication” with the mayor starting on Sunday, and that closing the system had always been an option. But as late as Monday at noon, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast told reporters he didn’t think completely closing the subways would be necessary for the storm.
The final decision to shut the subway was made after a 4 p.m. weather report and based on the advice that Prendergast gave Cuomo, said Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s communications director.
snip
Service was brought back around 8 a.m., but didn’t get fully operational until around noon — and even then, it was only on a limited-service schedule.
It is expected to go back to a weekday schedule on Wednesday.
Officials with the Transport Workers United Local 100 — which represents subway workers — said that it could’ve been brought up faster if the MTA had planned the shutdown better.
Because the move was made so quickly, the MTA did not ask many workers on their Monday evening and night shifts to sleep in crew rooms, which would allow them to be on hand for a quick turnaround on Tuesday, union officials charge.
Some individual supervisors asked workers on their own but many did not.
“They didn’t hold onto people physically and I think they got caught short in some areas because of that,” Steve Downs, a division chairman with TWU Local 100, said.
TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said the union offered to secure volunteers from the ranks of train operators and conductors to stay overnight Monday at key locations but the management wasn’t interested.
abra, I am extremely disappointed you so easily shove into the background the main point of my criticism for this blog, the inconvenience to thousands of people of the subway shutdown. So you are seeming to maintain there was a great reason for it I am not privy to from the Powers That Be? Well, pal, I can only report right now from my own experience of inconvenience and my own political and ethical views on our local, state and national governances!
Here's just one of many other anecdotal inconveniences.
"WNYC has the story of one such family who got stranded in downtown Brooklyn around midnight with no more trains running; they were forced to walk six miles to East New York with their five-year-old bundled up in a shopping cart."
end of quote
My point taken from Jerry White's point is that human life is becoming cheaper and cheaper for our ruling class elite. Just as night workers who needed to keep their jobs and work around somehow a crazy mandate whereby the subway system ran secretly all night with no passengers which left people stranded shows a profound lack of knowledge and empathy for what reality is for City workers, but this is reflected in so many other dimensions. Foreign innocents getting killed by drones, no biggie. Our young troops getting killed, maimed or PTSD-afflicted or suiciding or homiciding no biggie! Our young people getting scammed into permanent debt just to get an education with few decent jobs at the other end no biggie! Our people getting crap insurance because of profiteering medical industrial complex no biggie. Kids having to enter foster homes -- thousands -- because their parents get deported under Obama, no biggie. Cops shooting to kill over anything, cops doing killing chokeholds, no biggie. etc., etc., etc.
The leaders at the top are pimped out to oligarchy and are not honoring the public trust, working for the common good. The media tells us they are but the media lies.
I also believe that the media does enjoy the "sky is falling" hysteria to whip up a frenzy among the population and draw its attention to what our leaders want us to look at. Then they ignore or disinform about horrifying and deadly and exploiting decisions our leadership has made they don't want us to see.
What I tried to do in this blog is sort through my cognitive dissonance of not having a means of transportation on Monday night and recognizing that I was not alone and there wasn't a good reason for it, now finding out about the pissing contest between the mayor and the governor politically speaking. So Cuomo outranked de Blasio and ignored what Prentergast first advised, though Prentergast got his arm twisted ultimately. And even getting the subways going, the top brass ignored the advice of lower management as to how to get the subway up and running efficiently on Tuesday not Wednesday. That is so typical.
Sounds to me like you are over-identifying with the leaders and their political needs at the expense of any empathy for the reality of us workers.
best, libby
Here's just one of many other anecdotal inconveniences.
"WNYC has the story of one such family who got stranded in downtown Brooklyn around midnight with no more trains running; they were forced to walk six miles to East New York with their five-year-old bundled up in a shopping cart."
end of quote
My point taken from Jerry White's point is that human life is becoming cheaper and cheaper for our ruling class elite. Just as night workers who needed to keep their jobs and work around somehow a crazy mandate whereby the subway system ran secretly all night with no passengers which left people stranded shows a profound lack of knowledge and empathy for what reality is for City workers, but this is reflected in so many other dimensions. Foreign innocents getting killed by drones, no biggie. Our young troops getting killed, maimed or PTSD-afflicted or suiciding or homiciding no biggie! Our young people getting scammed into permanent debt just to get an education with few decent jobs at the other end no biggie! Our people getting crap insurance because of profiteering medical industrial complex no biggie. Kids having to enter foster homes -- thousands -- because their parents get deported under Obama, no biggie. Cops shooting to kill over anything, cops doing killing chokeholds, no biggie. etc., etc., etc.
The leaders at the top are pimped out to oligarchy and are not honoring the public trust, working for the common good. The media tells us they are but the media lies.
I also believe that the media does enjoy the "sky is falling" hysteria to whip up a frenzy among the population and draw its attention to what our leaders want us to look at. Then they ignore or disinform about horrifying and deadly and exploiting decisions our leadership has made they don't want us to see.
What I tried to do in this blog is sort through my cognitive dissonance of not having a means of transportation on Monday night and recognizing that I was not alone and there wasn't a good reason for it, now finding out about the pissing contest between the mayor and the governor politically speaking. So Cuomo outranked de Blasio and ignored what Prentergast first advised, though Prentergast got his arm twisted ultimately. And even getting the subways going, the top brass ignored the advice of lower management as to how to get the subway up and running efficiently on Tuesday not Wednesday. That is so typical.
Sounds to me like you are over-identifying with the leaders and their political needs at the expense of any empathy for the reality of us workers.
best, libby
oops, Prendergast, not Prentergast!
jmac, I agree with you and abra, it is not an easy thing and mighty costly, but I am calling out what deserves to be called out. A decision that worsened the situation. best, libby
abra and arthur, from wikipedia:
On February 10, 1969, New York City was pummeled with 15 inches (380 mm) of snow. On the first day alone, 14 people died and 68 were injured.[24] Within a day, the mayor was criticized for giving favored treatment to Manhattan at the expense of the other boroughs.[25] Charges were made that a city worker elicited a bribe to clean streets in Queens.[26] Over a week later, streets in eastern Queens still had remained unplowed by the city, enraging the borough's residents, many who felt that the city's other boroughs always took a back seat to Manhattan.[27] Lindsay traveled to Queens, but his visit was not well received. His car could not make its way through Rego Park, and even in a four-wheel-drive truck, he had trouble getting around.[28] In Kew Gardens Hills, the mayor was booed; one woman screamed, "You should be ashamed of yourself."[28] In Fresh Meadows, a woman told the mayor: "Get away, you bum."[28] Later during his walk through Fresh Meadows, another woman called him “a wonderful man”, prompting the mayor to respond: "And you’re a wonderful woman, not like those fat Jewish broads up there," pointing to women in a nearby building who had criticized him.[28] The blizzard, dubbed the "Lindsay Snowstorm",[29] prompted a political crisis that became "legendary in the annals of municipal politics"[28] as the scenes conveyed a message that the mayor of New York was indifferent to the middle class and poor citizens of the city.[2]
On February 10, 1969, New York City was pummeled with 15 inches (380 mm) of snow. On the first day alone, 14 people died and 68 were injured.[24] Within a day, the mayor was criticized for giving favored treatment to Manhattan at the expense of the other boroughs.[25] Charges were made that a city worker elicited a bribe to clean streets in Queens.[26] Over a week later, streets in eastern Queens still had remained unplowed by the city, enraging the borough's residents, many who felt that the city's other boroughs always took a back seat to Manhattan.[27] Lindsay traveled to Queens, but his visit was not well received. His car could not make its way through Rego Park, and even in a four-wheel-drive truck, he had trouble getting around.[28] In Kew Gardens Hills, the mayor was booed; one woman screamed, "You should be ashamed of yourself."[28] In Fresh Meadows, a woman told the mayor: "Get away, you bum."[28] Later during his walk through Fresh Meadows, another woman called him “a wonderful man”, prompting the mayor to respond: "And you’re a wonderful woman, not like those fat Jewish broads up there," pointing to women in a nearby building who had criticized him.[28] The blizzard, dubbed the "Lindsay Snowstorm",[29] prompted a political crisis that became "legendary in the annals of municipal politics"[28] as the scenes conveyed a message that the mayor of New York was indifferent to the middle class and poor citizens of the city.[2]
Never would have happened under Republican Guiliani.
And what's this nonsense about "corporate" media. Should MSNBC be owned by George Souris as a sole proprietorship? Didn't bother to look up the spelling of Georgie's surname, so please forgive.
Just for the record, the concept of the corporation, which dates back hundreds of years, is the most progressive and economically stimulating phenomenon that Man has ever created, so would it be asking too much for those who haven't a clue about its nature or purpose to talk about something about which they just might know something?
And what's this nonsense about "corporate" media. Should MSNBC be owned by George Souris as a sole proprietorship? Didn't bother to look up the spelling of Georgie's surname, so please forgive.
Just for the record, the concept of the corporation, which dates back hundreds of years, is the most progressive and economically stimulating phenomenon that Man has ever created, so would it be asking too much for those who haven't a clue about its nature or purpose to talk about something about which they just might know something?
libby, I'll reiterate that closing the subway sounds like bad decision.
G -- ever see the Canadian documentary THE CORPORATION? It is a classic. The corporation as a legal person as a legal person with the personality profile of a PSYCHOPATH. Profits uber alles. Corporate media = stenographers for oligarchs, puppet masters of puppet pols. imho. best, libby
Giuliani was and is a fascist!
libby, I'm not sure about the need or numbers of workers required to show up for work in order for nyc subways to operate effectively and safely, but I definitely agree with your diagnosis of Giuliani.
I'm surprised that Obama didn't get on the TV, as well, to announce that all his precious Americans are safe under his rule. R.
I'd have to echo Abra on this one, lib.
Sorry, kiddo.
Sorry, kiddo.
They even publicized the impending the NYC lockdown on New Zealand's 10:30 pm news (it would have been 3.30 am EST).
No comments:
Post a Comment