Location

Mayor Bloomberg won't allow 311 operators internet access because he's afraid they'd shop at work.

The 311 non-emergency government information system is a program Mayor Bloomberg loves to brag about, touting it as among his greatest accomplishments during the 05 campaign.

311 operators' mission is to help citizens navigate the often confusing government agency maze. Theoretically, 311 could duplicate much of what the Public Advocate's office is charged with doing as the people's ombudsman. But that's theory. In reality, 311 is not much more useful than 411 directory assistance operators, with 311 often referring callers back to the agency whose non-responsiveness or unavailability, if the problem arises after the agency is closed, prompted the 311 call to begin with. One reason for the department's relative uselessness, is their lack of internet access.

It blows my mid, that in 2007, 14 years after the web became a mainstream information resource, that New York City won't allow people whose primary responsibility is to provide information, internet access.

I first became aware of 311 operators not having internet access in August 2005, nearly 2 years ago.  read more »

Sometimes, facts are stranger than fiction.

Yesterday, a New York City firefighter collided with a private bus as he tried to get to work during the transit strike. He remains in critical condition, reports Murdoch's Post.

His name is Matthew Long, and his father Michael currently heads the state's moribund conservative party. The CP, similar to the Right to Life Party, which has lost its statewide ballot line, will be struggling to garner enough votes in November to remain on ballots. Failing that hurdle would remove the CP's ability to deliver patronage, and put cherries and whipped cream on the upcoming electoral humiliation of the republican party.

But it gets even stranger. The bus with which Matthew Long had his life-threatening encounter was chartered by Bear Stearns, George Bush's tenth-largest total donor in 2004. The CEO of Bear Stearns, James Cayne, is a Bush pioneer.

The bus is owned, reports Newsday, by Allen AME Transportation. That company is affiliated with the church run by the Rev. Floyd Flake, a former Democratic Congressman. Rosa Parks, the civil rights heroine evoked by union leader Philip Toussaint, was a member of the African Methodist-Episcopalian church in which Flake is a minister.

How long until this bizarre set of coincidences turns up on the internets as a conspiracy theory? We wish Matthew Long a speedy recovery.

New York City area commuters are all too familiar with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's disrespect for its riders: the MTA hid its budget surpluses to justify a fare increase and, in a time of growing concern about security, has reduced the presence of knowledgeable personnel in trains, stations, and elevators.

Likewise, taxpayers throughout New York State are acquainted with the MTA's lack of consideration for the public's money as the MTA tried to sell publicly-owned real estate it controls for hundreds of millions less than its true value.

Now we see that the MTA has no more regard for its employees than it does for riders or taxpayers. Members of the Transport Workers Union, whose last contract was negotiated in the depths of recession, have asked for things like negotiable wage increases, more reasonable leave policies, and the right to take bathroom breaks without receiving a citation.

But the MTA has been intransigent. Knowing its employees would face tremendous penalties if they were to exercise their most effective bargaining tool and refuse to continue working, it has demanded concessions on pension and health benefits and refused to budge.

But part of this picture is missing. The MTA is a state public authority, primarily controlled by NY Governor George Pataki. Governor Pataki starved the MTA's budget, appointed real estate developer/GOP donor Peter Kalikow to head the MTA and selected the majority of the board that runs the Authority.

Yet Governor Pataki gets let off the hook. We let him dodge accountability, and say: "This is not something where politicians at the last minute ride in on a white horse." That's an unacceptable response from the man who has been the official ultimately in charge of the MTA for the last ten years.

If the MTA continues to stonewall its employees and we all find ourselves unable to get to work one morning -- an outcome that looks likely at this moment of "partial strikes" -- Governor Pataki is the one to call with our complaints.

www.dmiblog.com

The NYCLU released a statement this week detailing their concerns over the searches imposed on NYC straphangers after the July 7 bombings in London:

[via NYCLU: NYCLU calls decision to conduct random searches of individuals on New York's subways unconstitutional]

The NYPD can and should investigate any suspicious activity, but the Fourth Amendment prohibits police from conducting searches where there is no suspicion of criminal activity. One of the dangers of random searches is that they can invite the possibility of racial, ethnic or religious profiling. The plan is not workable and will not make New Yorkers more secure but will inconvenience them as police go about finding a needle in a haystack.

So what do the journalistically innocent editors over at The Daily News write?

[via New York Daily News - Home - Editorials: Earth to NYCLU: We're at war]

If this can be the case in heavily guarded London, what does it augur for New York, where transit officials haven't yet troubled to spend most of their security funds and managed only yesterday to figure out how many stations are equipped with recording surveillance cameras. The answer is 76, more than previously known but far, far, far fewer than in London, where cameras have zeroed in on suspects, such as the one in Thursday's attack who was wearing a sweatshirt with "New York" chillingly emblazoned across the chest.  read more »

[via New York Daily News - Breaking News - Cops to check bags in NY subway]

Police will begin conducting random searches of packages and backpacks carried by people entering city subways, Mayor Bloomberg announced Thursday after a new series of bomb attacks in London.

Authorities said the system for the checks is still being developed, but the plan is for passengers carrying bags to be selected at random before they have passed through turnstiles.

Random searches? OK. So the Patriot Act gives them the ammunition they need for these random searches; can someone please tell me how profiling is not going to be put into place? I ask because I have never, ever been not profiled --and my Irish American husband should attest to that fact.

Why wouldn't profiling be put into place for this? How will it not be, when more than 4 million people use our public transportation system on a daily basis?

There are 468 subway stations in the system, most of which have multiple entrances, and during rush hours, the flood of humanity in and out of key stations can be overwhelming.

Asked whether the searches might create a bottlenecks at subway entrances, Kelly suggested the searches would be of a small enough sampling of passengers that only individuals, rather than whole crowds, would be delayed.  read more »