NYC Mayor: City Is Functioning

New Yorkers Don't Like It, But Lump It; Mass Transit Strike Continues

(CBS/AP)  New Yorkers carpooled, shared taxis, rode bicycles, roller-skated or walked in 20-degree temperatures. Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined the throngs of people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge by foot.

"Hey, can I get a ride?" Jay Plastino asked a neighbor near his home in the northern tip of Manhattan. Plastino, who was headed to his midtown job, was angry at the union: "This is a big city. Don't they realize that?"

By Tuesday's evening rush hour, crowds were thick at both Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal as commuters waited for trains on the two suburban rail lines, where ridership had soared earlier in the day. The Long Island Rail Road, operating out of Penn Station, carried 50,000 more passengers above its usual 100,000.

Gov. George Pataki said the union acted illegally and "will suffer the consequences." But union attorney Arthur Schwartz accused the MTA of provoking the strike.

The MTA has asked the Public Employment Relations Board to formally declare an impasse, the first step toward forcing binding arbitration of the contract, said James Edgar, the board's executive director.

This is the city's first transit strike since an 11-day walkout in 1980, which happened in much warmer April weather. The effect this time, however, was tempered by the advent of personal computers, which enabled many commuters to stay home and work via the Internet.

The strike comes at the worst possible time: in the final few days before Christmas, the peak of the holiday shopping season. Bloomberg angrily admonished the union during an afternoon press conference, saying the strike has caused severe to devastating harm to city businesses, as food service business are not receiving deliveries, tourists were canceling at hotels, and many stores remain closed.

The last time the transit workers walked out, it cost the city $100 million dollars a day, but that was in the spring, not the prime business season.

Some people boarded water taxis along the Hudson River; others rode bikes, walked, roller-bladed, formed impromptu carpools with neighbors and strangers, shared cabs, or lined up in the cold to await private buses chartered by employers.

"The city is functioning, and functioning well considering the severe circumstances," the mayor said. The union "shamefully decided they don't care about the people they work for, and they have no respect for the law. Their leadership thuggishly turned its back on New York City. This strike is costing us."

Jack Akameiza, 66, was trying to figure out a way to go the nine miles from Manhattan to Coney Island. "I cannot go to work," he said. "I cannot take care of my family."

Some commuters were upset at the union, others with management. Some, as they made their way to work, blamed both sides.

"It's two arrogant groups not caring that 7 million people are inconvenienced," said Kenny Herbert, 45, of Brooklyn, who took the train to work Monday night but needed a water taxi across the East River to get home.

CBS News station WCBS-TV in New York reports the international arm of the Transport Workers Union is stunned and angry that its Local 100 turned down the contract offer and walked off their jobs, and international leadership is considering taking over and seeking a settlement with the MTA.

The first day of the strike was expected to cost the city $400 million in revenue, with an additional loss of $300 million per day afterward, according to the city comptroller's office. Countless stores and restaurants were affected.

The mayor put into effect a sweeping emergency plan, including a requirement that cars entering Manhattan below 96th Street have at least four occupants.

Lorraine Hall came to New York expecting a lighthearted celebration of her 65th birthday, but the lack of mass transit put a damper on the occasion. She was determined to make the best of it until her departure on Friday.

"I didn't come up here to sit in a hotel room, and as long as my two feet are letting me push it, I'm going to push it," said Hall, who lives in Lancaster, S.C.