So there will be a Christmas in New York after all, as the
transit workers' strike has ended and subways and buses are
scheduled to run on time Friday morning. Still, the whole
experience should remind New Yorkers - who apparently need
reminding - what a destructive force public sector unions can be to
the effective operation and safety of a city, let alone the morale
of its residents. At least the Mayor and Governor are insisting
that there will be no amnesty granted on the fines levied against
union members. We'll see if that holds up. But of course the
strikers should have been fired en masse, anyway.
Perhaps the worst effect of the NY transit strike, though, is
the way it served to demonstrate, once again, how vulnerable cities
are to the slightest change in their ecosystems. Whether with a
natural disaster, like Katrina, or a man-made economic one, like
the NY transit strike, 2005 has offered more helpful demonstrations
to terrorists about how many different ways there are to disable
urban centers. Not that the terrorists will start a local - that
would be a sight - but it must be instructive to see how
debilitating a shut down of public transit is, over just three
days, in the nation's largest city. The much-heralded city
contingency plan, which had its merits, did not prevent mob scenes
and confusion all around the city's transit hubs. What an appealing
and vulnerable target.
Pardon my skepticism so close to the holiday. I lived in
Manhattan too long not to think that the city is living on borrowed
time, as far as another attack is concerned. That it would
willfully and needlessly put itself at risk with this idiotic
strike doesn't inspire confidence for the future.
topics:
Unions
