Settlement Fashioned From Purest Evil

Hova Kraft
Originally uploaded by Gringcorp.

So, looks like we got an end to the strike, and at a stroke the rationale for posting endless poorly composed happy snaps of Flatbush Avenue and the Manhattan Bridge environs collapses. Which is not to say that we won''t be walking back over tonight, to get a super bad-ass picture of the skyline, just that there's no sense of immediacy any more.

Right up till the end both the NY Times and NY1, the only news outlets that we trust for the city, were both insisting that the TWU Local 100 was on its knees and riven by defections (the MTA's adverts spoke of hundreds out of a workforce of, we think it is, 36,000). We're sceptical, although it is true that darkest Queens and Brooklyn were worst hit, more blue collar, and pretty p*ssed off.

The agreemment, far as we can tell, leaves honour intact for both sides. It wasn't the climactic battle that some were hoping for, but it has focused the attention of the city on how angry the transit workers are.

Steve Gilliard was apt to go Diego Rivera all over the transit workers, all noble countenances and unsung heroes, but managed to grasp the racial undertones of the dispute rather earlier than most, although given his proclivity for fiinding such overtones, he was bound to tell the right time at least once. Moreover, he reminded us that guys that man the token booths aren't the only transit workers we should think about.

Still, maybe the track workers could aks the booth operators to be a mite less arsey in future, thus clearing up probably the most formidable propaganda obstace the transit workers need to overcome.

Anyway, we got business at J&R, the walk is still definitely on. No point in posting all the other pictures, but click on the one above, and you can see them at Flickr if you are so interested. Flickr's been a bit of a discovery, too, in terms of the community attached. The hosting's good, but we've had more views for the pictures we've posted there in two days than the blog gets in a week.