Is there an echo in here? 

A sixth grade girl who normally would have been on a yellow bus had her cell phone snatched from her hands as she got off a city bus yesterday. The thief fled the bus with the phone. This was in front of the 122 precinct where her mom works.

Maybe Bloomy will buy her a new one ... or maybe MetroCards provide coverage for such losses ...

FYI ... Probably best to take the ferry to Manhattan, then take Brooklyn bound R train one stop to Court St., B'klyn. Walk a couple of blocks to Cadman Plaza.

Return ... from City Hall take the R again to Whitehall Ferry Terminal.

Just a suggestion.

Ernie asks all who can to be at Petridies tomorrow between 5 - 5:30 p.m.

Quote from: rc1790 on February 06, 2013, 01:05:55 AM
Since the City Council is the lawmaking body of the City of New York, why can't they intervene without having to ask this
tyrant's permission. They are supposed to provide the system of checks and balances for the city. They have overruled Bloomberg in the past. Why not now?

I guess because he alone is the "czar" of the public school system. Time to bring back the "Board" of education.

Also because they don't care what a mayoral candidate says. (deBlasio is a candidate.)

Sign PA deBlasio's letter to the mayor ... http://action.advocate.nyc.gov/bus

Text of his press conference ... http://advocate.nyc.gov/news/2013-02-05/de-blasio-and-parents-call-city-come-back-table-and-help-end-bus-strike

He knows Staten Island voted for Romney ... LOL.

Something tells me there are going to be a lot of unhappy people if and when we do get a new contract. 

Quote from: rc1790 on February 05, 2013, 02:01:51 AM
Did not receive a call and could not get through with the number for an hour. Can someone give a summary or update on what went on.

Michael also said that the issue of the health coverage will be brought to arbitration. (Didn't say how long that would take.)

Have to say both Michael and Larry sounded very good and exuded confidence that we will get through this successfully.

The biggest news was marching across the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday. Meeting at Cadmen Plaza ... if he said the time I didn't catch it. Anybody?

Also talked about the support we're gaining from politicians and other unions. Working with nurses union to get us free medical attention. They fielded questions from listeners, most of which have been asked and answered a dozen times before tonight. Look for a full page ad in the Daily News, El Diario and some other paper by Thursday.

Too bad you missed it ... very well done.

Quote from: 1union on February 05, 2013, 12:27:18 AM
Buzz by no means was i calling you an ass kisser but you been around long enough to no what a mean.Your right it is a business and we need to stand up for best 1181and its members first!

Then I misunderstood your use of that term in your post. Please forgive my caustic reply; it was totally reactionary.

Quote from: mirrorcheck on February 04, 2013, 07:48:15 PM
i do contribute to COPE every week so we can have a political hammer.

So do I.

Quote from: 1union on February 04, 2013, 03:43:21 PM
Bet he did alot better than you and me last year and lets not forget he tried to break our union as soon as ernie wasnt around.Also he voted no to benefits for feb knowing what happened with sandy. I THOUGHT HE WAS ON OUR SIDE AND WOULD NEVER DO THAT ,BUT HE COULLDNT WAIT TIL ERNIE WASN'T AROUND SENT OWEN DOWN TO BREAK OUR UNION! YOUR RIGHT IT IS BUSINESS THATS WHY THERES NO ROOM FOR ASS KISSERS INOUR UNION.HE'S. NO BETTER THAN FAT DOM GOTTO HE DOES WHATEVER. FATSO DOES.WE WILL STAND STRONG STAY UNITED AND SAVE OUR JOBS SO OUR FAMILY'S CAN LIVE.    GOD BLESS 1181!

Sure he did a lot better than we did last year. We make one salary. His is multiplied by as many times as he has drivers/runs. 

Break our union? If you mean that he tried to get people to cross the line, yes, he did. He's still obligated to fulfill the contract he has with the city and has to make every effort to try to do that or risk having his contract pulled. If that happened, we'd have no jobs to go back to.

Ass kisser? Dude, please grow up. I'm telling you like it is whether or not you're intellectually capable of grasping it.  No contractor is here for you, me or anybody else. If you think otherwise, you're kidding yourself. They're in business to make money and it's all about the bottom line. Warm and fuzzy are not factors. That's the cold, hard truth ... not saying you have to like it.

As far as health benefits, I can agree with you. They know we're not striking against them. The money is already in the fund, enough for at least several months. For the contractors to use that as an inducement to return to work is at the least spiteful ... if not inhumane.

Quote from: 1union on February 02, 2013, 03:25:01 PM
She says she is  on board and will do what she can to get us back to work and she said it sounds like the owners are the ones making to much.

She's still barking up the wrong tree. The excessive budget is not due to our salaries/benefits, nor is it due to owners making too much money. Contractors are not here to provide the city with a non-profit service, or us with a livelihood. They are in business to make money and are entitled to a fair profit. A company like Pioneer has many millions of dollars in payroll and other overhead. If Neil can't come out making 10 - 15% on his money, why would he want to stay in business? He could sell out and invest that money in many other things where he could make at least that much of a return ... or more. (By the way, outside of NYC, school bus companies make up to nearly twice as much profit ... though the city excludes this fact from its cost comparisons.)

The real problem is the inefficiency at which the system operates. NCLB is one culprit that often limits the use of a given vehicle to only a few students. The city can't do anything about NCLB, but long before that the DOE had its "inclusion" and "school choice" programs which also squandered transportation resources. Even now, if a kid's school is a failing (SURR) school, he can pick an alternate school ... and get taken to it by yellow bus. (The problem is that there are failing schools.)

Or other kids requiring special services ... for instance, a Reliant bus that comes from Brooklyn, picks up 1 kid in Staten Island, goes back to Brooklyn and picks up 2 more kids, then takes them to Westchester. There is no time for that vehicle to do any more schools. How many hundreds, (if not thousands) of similar scenarios like this are there?

Then there's at least 1 kid who is airlifted by helicopter to Westchester with a private nurse paid for by the DOE! How many thousands per week does that one kid cost? How many more like him are there?

Of course, the city is mandated by state and/or federal law to provide schools that offer certain services to special needs kids, but why don't they have the facilities and faculty to do it in the city? Because it would cost many times more than transporting kids to these other locations ...that's why. Then they complain that transportation costs too much! Can't have it both ways.

There's money to be saved on regular ed runs, too, but the city is so inept that when they tried to consolidate some of those a few years ago, they botched it up badly ... after paying a consulting firm $20 million to tell them exactly how to fu#k up the runs.

There's a lot wrong with school busing in the city, but none of it is because either we or the owners make too much. We're just the easiest scapegoats.

Obama's tax policies and extreme environmental regulations have cost and prevented the creation of many union jobs. He never showed up in Wisconsin though he promised to walk picket lines there. 35% of union workers voted for Romney. Many unions and the AFL-CIO have reduced or stopped donations to the democratic party in general, recognizing that what they say and what they do are two different things.

Aside from labor policies, there are many other reasons Obama should be impeached.