Daily Archives: December 22, 2005

The Strike Ends!

In a news conference the mayor announced that the strike has ended, and the mass transit system will return to normal operation. The MTA says that it will take 10 to 18 hours to get the system back up and running “you cant just turn it on off with the flick of a switch” said the mayor. But we can expect to see the buses running as early as this evening.

The mayor also spoke about the restrictions and regulations which will all be lifted at 12:00am. Alternate side parking will be back in effect, the HOV-4 restrictions have already been lifted cars with only one passenger is allowed into the city, cabbies will be taking fares on the meters and Public Schools will be back to normal operation.

UPDATE: Buses can be seen doing their routes regularly already.

You can listen to the news conference in its entirety by CLICKING HERE (STREAMING, 4.5MB, 21:12min)

Chabad gives up religious plans

Chabad of Randolph will no longer use a house on West Hanover Avenue for religious functions because of the high cost of complying with state and local laws, officials said.

The township received complaints in the early fall from neighbors of the Chabad house regarding parking, traffic and the lack of pedestrian safety.

Authorities subsequently issued notices of building, fire and health and zoning violations on the home of Rabbi Avraham Bechor at 48 West Hanover Ave. Authorities said the residence was not approved as a place of assembly and a religious school for children.

Chabad is the outreach for the orthodox Lubavitch sect of Judiasm. The Chabad center offers various programs for all levels of the Jewish community. The center was at a home in Ironia before it transferred to the single-family home on West Hanover Avenue this summer.

Union Votes to End Strike

Union leaders representing striking transit workers held a meeting this afternoon and voted to end the three-day walkout that has crippled New York City. It could take at least 12 hours to get subways and buses running again.

That means this afternoon’s rush hour will be a repeat of the previous two days when people had to take suburban trains and buses and car pool back home. But tomorrow morning could be a return too normalcy.

Postville couple honored by international organization

POSTVILLE, IA – A prominent businessman in Northeast Iowa and his wife were honored recently by a charitable organization with global reach.

Heshy and Basya Rubashkin of Postville received the Colel Chabad Founders Award at a dinner in New York City on Thursday. The group recognized the Rubashkins for carrying on their parents’ commitment to Colel Chabad, the oldest Jewish charitable organization in Israel.

Heshy Rubashkin is vice president and head of sales and human relations for Agriprocessors, a glatt kosher meatpacking company.

BREAKING: Transit Strike End Is Near!

BREAKING: A state mediator says the striking union and the transit authority have agreed to resume negotiations while transit workers take steps to return to work.

Transit union leaders agreed that the city’s subway and bus strike should end while talks resume, a mediator said Thursday in an announcement that brings hope to a city that has been crippled by the three-day walkout.

No timetable was announced for the restoration of transit service.

The deal, while approved by union leaders who met with a mediator, still needs final approval from the executive board of Transport Workers Union Local 100. Word from the board was expected before the end of the day, and the upbeat mood at the announcement contrasted with the harsh rhetoric of the last two days.

Three teens arraigned in hate crimes

Swampscott, MA – Three 14-year-olds were arraigned in Lynn Juvenile Court in connection to hate crimes that occurred at the Temple Chabad of the North Shore in October.

Essex County District Attorney spokesman Karen Dawley said arraignments were held Monday and Tuesday for the three suspects.

The charges were labeled hate crimes by the district attorney’s office, which means the acts committed were meant to intimidate, harm or denigrate on the basis of religion or race.

In 1918, a Scab Motorman Caused Worst Wreck in Subway History

When the Brooklyn subway lines had strikebreakers drive trains in 1918, the result was a disaster.

The worst accident in the history of the New York subway system—the Malbone Street wreck of 1918, which killed at least 93 people—happened because an inexperienced strikebreaker drove a train too fast.

On Nov. 1, 1918, ten days before the end of World War I, motormen of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers went on strike against the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, the forerunner of the BMT. BRT officials decided to keep the trains running, using nonstriking workers to drive them.

One of the strikebreakers was Edward Luciano (a.k.a. Antonio Luciano, Anthony Lewis, and Billy Lewis), a 23-year-old BRT dispatcher who’d never driven a train outside of the yards before. He did a 10-hour shift on the Culver line (now the F train), a relatively straight and level route. When rush hour came, the BRT put him on a second shift on the curvier, hillier Fulton Street-Brighton line, which demanded much more skill.