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CBS2 Interviews R. Boruch Keivman
NY Newsday

Straphangers rode the rails with steely resolve Friday, saying they had no choice but to live their lives as they normally would.

"I'm not scared," declared Boerum Hill resident Alexa Mahnken, 41, as she boarded the train in Brooklyn to go to her consulting job at Rockefeller Center. "There are subway fires and car crashes everyday. The risks are there. You just have to go about your business."

More Pictures in the extended article.

Steely resolve on the rails

CBS2 Interviews R. Boruch Keivman

NY Newsday

Straphangers rode the rails with steely resolve Friday, saying they had no choice but to live their lives as they normally would.

“I’m not scared,” declared Boerum Hill resident Alexa Mahnken, 41, as she boarded the train in Brooklyn to go to her consulting job at Rockefeller Center. “There are subway fires and car crashes everyday. The risks are there. You just have to go about your business.”

More Pictures in the extended article.

Dawn Huggins, 46, said she didn’t think twice about boarding the subway at Eastern Parkway Friday morning for a court date in Downtown Brooklyn.

“How do you live if you don’t keep your routine?” said Huggins, a home health aide. “You can’t put your mind on something like this all the time. You have to live life to the fullest.”

Joslyn Weekes, 33, a social worker who owns a car, said she opted to take the subway from Bedford Park in the northern Bronx down to Brooklyn Heights for a job interview.

“The threat was on my mind, but I would normally take the subway here, not drive, so that’s what I did,” she said.

Some commuters admitted they were skittish about the morning commute, especially as their subway cars and rail stations were filled with newspaper headlines describing the threat, and police officers rifling through boxes and bags.

“It was a little scary,” said Evelyn Ramos, 34, a computer consultant who commutes to Brooklyn from the Upper East Side. “You don’t know if you’re on a train that’s suddenly going to blow up, but what else can you do? You can’t take a taxi everywhere.”

Most riders also said they were willing to endure the inconvenience of bag searches, which mostly took place during the rush hours.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal at all,” said Michelle O’Connor, 36, a court reporter from Babylon whose black roll-on bag was searched in less than 10 seconds. “All I had to do was flip open my bag. I’d rather do this than get blown up.”

Charlotte Blackwood, 24, a Crown Heights resident who attends Nassau Community College in Hempstead, dealt with multiple stroller searches while her 6-month-old son, Kennedy, tried to sleep.

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a hassle, but as long as my baby’s safe, I don’t mind,” she said.

Rob Roszkowski, 35, a teacher from Jackson Heights, said that the bag searches were annoying but hard to imagine doing away with.

“I don’t want to get searched because I don’t want to be late,” Roszkowski said at the Roosevelt Street station during his evening commute. “Yet at the same time, do I feel safer if I can stroll right through with this huge bag? Not really.”

Security personnel wearing protective suits clean an area inside Pennsylvania Station in New York. Authorities briefly closed part of the station after a discarded soda bottle filled with an unidentified green liquid was found during the morning rush hour.
Police wearing protective suits remove an open soda bottle that was next to the ATM machine. A small section of the waiting and ticketing area on the Amtrak leval was closed off as police responded to Penn Station on a report of a suspicious package.
A police officer watches for anything suspicious at the subway entrance at Grand Central Station.
Cops and National Guard troops keep an eye on things at Grand Central Station.
Police make random bag inspections at the 4,5, and 6 train at Grand Central Station.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg rides the subway downtown to New York City Hall in New York City.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg exits the City Hall Station after riding the subway to New York City Hall.
New York City Police Officer looks into a woman’s bag during the search at the Columbus Circle stop. Security in the city’s mass transit system has been increased following yesterday’s announcement of a specific terrorist threat to the subway system.
Police Officers check subway cars at Columbus Circle. Security in the city’s mass transit system has been increased following yesterday’s announcement of a specific terrorist threat to the subway system.
A member of the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) elite Hercules Unit stands guard outside the Broad Street subway stop on Wall Street.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is flanked by Mark Mershon, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York field office, left, and New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly during a news conference at NYPD headquarters. City officials stepped up mass transit security Thursday, saying they had received a credible threat that New York’s subway system could be the target of a terrorist attack in coming days.
New York City Police Officer, Paul Gitlin, and police dog, Bandit, keep watch inside the Union Square subway station. The city has mobilized hundreds of officers to subway stations in response to a “credible threat” to the subway system.
New York City police officers keep watch inside the Union Square subway station in New York City. The city has mobilized hundreds of officers to subway stations in response to a “credible threat” to the subway system.
New York police search a commuter’s suitcase at the Union Square subway station. City officials stepped up mass transit security Thursday, saying they had received a credible threat that New York’s subway system could be the target of a terrorist attack in coming days.
A sign asking subway passengers to report suspicious activities is posted on a platform as passengers are seen boarding a train in New York. City officials stepped up mass transit security Thursday, saying they had received a credible threat that New York’s subway system could be the target of a terrorist attack in coming days.

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