Strike!

NEW YORK - The city's transit union called a strike Tuesday morning after failing to reach a deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority following days of bitter labor talks, ensuring that New York will be thrown into chaos by the height of the morning rush.

Bus drivers have been instructed to drop off all passengers and return to their depots, and subways will finish their trips before turnstiles are chained and locked up. Exits will remain open to allow any last passengers off before the stations are shuttered.The union posted a strike plan on its Web site, instructing members to lock up facilities safely and document everything they do to prevent "management sabotage."

The last citywide bus and subway strike in New York was in 1980. The walkout lasted 11 days.

MTA Strike Threatens New York Economy

Dec. 15, 2005 — - Without its rumbling, tumbling, exhaust-billowing transit system, New York City quite simply could not exist.

If the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is unable to reach an agreement with union workers by a midnight deadline, much of New York City's economy will take a hit -- to the tune of around half a billion dollars every day, according to estimates from city officials.

The city's commercial and residential girth is too great -- its need to move millions of people between home, work and play too immense -- to function without the fleet of almost 5,000 buses and more than 8,250 subway and rail cars.

The economic fallout would be the direct result of more than 7.7 million New Yorkers having to find alternate ways to go about their daily routines.

In most of the rest of the United States, the majority of workers (about 85 percent according to government figures) hop in their cars to get to the office. In New York, that's not the case. Four out of five people who work in New York's central business district get on a bus or subway to commute during rush hour, according to MTA.

Without a way to get workers to offices, factories or stores, many New York City firms would have to close or cut back on operations during a transit strike.

But businesses would not be alone. Experts said that many of the commuters and residents affected by a strike would cut back their spending in some way.

If a worker telecommutes, the restaurant near the office loses her business. If a shopper finishes Christmas shopping online instead of on Fifth Avenue, New York City loses sales tax revenue. And tourism -- one of the most important industries in New York City -- will see an immediate drop off as tourists fight concerns that they won't be able to get around on their holiday trip to the Big Apple.

The city's comptroller says that the total cost of a weeklong transit strike will come to $1.6 billion in lost sales, productivity and wages.

Add to that around $10 million a day for police to secure the closed subway system and to direct traffic and the price tag of even a short MTA work stoppage becomes clear.

MTA Totals at a Glance
		Title
2004 operating budget		$8.0 billion
Average weekday passengers		7,711,945
Rail and subway lines, and bus routes		343
Rail and subway cars		8,259
Buses		4,895
Track miles		2,058
Bus route miles		2,967
Rail stations		734
Employees		63,884

Source: ABC News

Death of a Second Police Officer Leaves New York City Stunned

By Josh Getlin

December 15, 2005 NEW YORK — For the second time in eight days, New York mourned a police officer shot to death in the line of duty.

Thousands of officers gathered Wednesday in tribute to Daniel Enchautegui, killed early Saturday when he confronted two men in the Bronx during an apparent burglary. As his family members grieved in church, officials spoke of heroism and the city's sorrow. Last week, it was officer Dillon Stewart who was honored and mourned. He was slain in Brooklyn while chasing a motorist who had driven through a red light.

There were eerie similarities to both killings: Enchautegui, 28, and Stewart, 35, were shot in the heart. Both kept firing at suspects and wounded them before dying. They are the only New York police officers to be killed in the line of duty this year; nine have been shot, the highest number since 2000. "It is almost too hard to believe, almost too much to bear for the second time in a little more than a week," said New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, addressing an audience Wednesday at St. John's Chrysostom Church. "We're talking about the senseless murder of a valiant officer. The entire city takes this loss very deeply."

The deaths of Enchautegui and Stewart have sparked angry calls for the Legislature to impose stiffer penalties on those who shoot or kill police officers. New York law does not provide for the death penalty, and Patrick Lynch, who heads the Policemen's Benevolent Assn., said it was time to pass such a measure. "How many more police deaths will it take to get this law on the books?" he asked, hurrying into the church for Enchautegui's service. "We need to make it clear that if someone lifts even a finger against a police officer, their life could be on the line." As he waited outside the church, flanked by thousands of other officers standing 10 deep in the streets, Steven Watt said the two deaths shocked many people.

"You get up in the morning and you realize it could be you who's in danger the next time," he said. "These two officers died under very tragic circumstances." On Wednesday, Enchautegui was remembered as a hard-working cop and a man devoted to the care of his aging parents, who lived near him in the Bronx. Friends recalled an easygoing patrolman who read political thrillers, watched "The Simpsons" religiously and never stopped saying how lucky he was to have joined the New York Police Department. The furor over his death was heightened by the fact that one of the two suspects, Lillo Brancato Jr., played a leading role in the 1993 movie "A Bronx Tale" and other films, and appeared during the second season of "The Sopranos" on HBO.

Police said Brancato, 29, has had several run-ins with the law, including arrests on drug possession and criminal mischief charges. They said the other suspect, Steven Armento, had a long criminal record. Investigating officers said the two suspects broke into the house next door to Enchautegui's about 5 a.m. Saturday. He was awakened by the sound of broken glass, police said. The officer, who was off duty, dialed 911 and radioed for backup, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said during Wednesday's funeral. The officer put on his police badge, went outside and confronted the two men in front of the apartment, identifying himself twice as an officer. Then he was shot, Kelly said.

"Despite being struck in the chest and severely wounded, Danny refused to go down without a fight," the commissioner said. "It is an act that defies belief. He returned fire and couldn't miss. Emptying his pistol, he found his mark, striking his assailants a total of seven times." Both suspects are scheduled to be arraigned today in their hospital beds at Jacobi Medical Center. The Bronx district attorney is planning to charge Armento with first- and second-degree murder and Brancato with second-degree murder, a spokesman said. Officer Stewart was shot Nov. 28 as he and his partner pursued a motorist who had run through a red light. Police said one of the bullets allegedly fired by Allen Cameron struck Stewart in the heart, just missing the officer's bulletproof vest.

Although he had been shot, police said Stewart continued to pursue Cameron on a high-speed chase. He followed the suspect to a garage, where other police opened fire. It was only then, police said, that Stewart realized he had been hit. He died later that day, despite efforts to revive him at a nearby hospital. Cameron, who police said had a long criminal record, has been charged with first- and second-degree murder. Police said he was being investigated in the Nov. 19 shooting and wounding of off-duty New York Police Officer Wiener Philippe. On Tuesday, Cameron pleaded not guilty.

More than 20,000 police officers — some from as far as Hawaii — gathered for Stewart's funeral last week. He was a married father of two. Family members wept as they were led into services at New Life Tabernacle Church. Friends recalled a quiet, generous man who quit his job as a financial accountant to tackle a new career with the New York Police Department.
Kelly spoke before an overflow audience. He saluted the policeman's courage, consoled his family and tried to make sense of a senseless death. "Despite having been mortally wounded himself, Dillon summoned the courage and superhuman discipline to stay on his killer's trail," Kelly told the mourners. "It is nearly impossible to comprehend. He was shot at five times…. It is something to behold."

Comedian Richard Pryor Dies at 65

Pryor and the late Christopher Reeve from "Superman III"

December 10, 2005, 5:04 PM EST

Richard Pryor, whose blunt, blue and brilliant comedic confrontations confidently tackled what many stand-up comic's before him deemed too shocking—and thus off-limits—to broach, died this morning. He was 65. Pryor suffered a heart attack at his home in San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles early Saturday morning. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

The comedian's tremendous body of work, a political movement in itself, was steeped in race, class, social commentary, and encompassed the stage, screen, records and television. He won five Grammys, an Emmy and was an Academy Award nominee for his role in "Lady Sings the Blues" in 1972. At one point the highest paid black performer in the entertainment industry, the highly-lauded but misfortune-dogged comedian inadvertently became a de facto role model—a lone wolf figure whom many an up-and-coming comic from Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock to Robin Williams and Richard Belzer—have paid due homage. Pryor alone kicked stand-up humor into a brand new realm. "Richard Pryor is the groundbreaker," comedian Keenan Ivory Wayans once said. "For most of us he was the inspiration to get into comedy and also showed us that you can be black and have a black voice and be successful."

Pryor had a history both bizarre and grim: self-immolation (1980), heart attack (1990) and marathon drug and alcohol use (that he finally kicked in the 1990s). Yet Pryor somehow—oftentimes miraculously it seemed—continued steady on the prowl, even after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, a disease that robbed him of his trademark physical presence. Both verbally potent and physically eloquent, Pryor worked as an actor and writer as well as a stand-up comic throughout the '70s and into the '80s. He won Grammys for his groundbreaking, socially irreverent, concert albums "Bicentennial Nigger" and "That Nigger's Crazy." And in 1973 he walked away with a writing Emmy for a Lily Tomlin television special.

Pryor starred in more than 30 feature films—from "Lady Sings the Blues" and the semiautobiographical directing turn in "Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling," to the less memorable "The Toy" and "Superman III." He also co-starred with comedian Gene Wilder in the highly popular buddy films "Silver Streak" and "Stir Crazy." It was however his concert films—particularly "Richard Pryor—Live in Concert" (1979)—which many critics consider to be his best work.
Called genius by some, self-destructive madman by others, Pryor, throughout the tumult of a zigzagging career, remained an inclement force of nature. "He was actually one of the rare people of that era who was a product of the chitlin' circuit, and the white, liberal, coffee shop thing," said journalist and culture critic Nelson George. "Where Bill Cosby immediately made it into the crossover realm . . . Pryor was a product of both. He was able to draw upon his kind of raw black experience through his storytelling skills, and that was accessible to a hipper white crowd. He mixed all of those things—but always had a singular vision. I think it's why he became such a huge star."

In 1975, Pryor appeared on "Saturday Night Live," at the time considered to be among TV's most irreverent shows. But it wasn't until Pryor went on the air that "SNL" instituted for the first time a five-second delay to ensure that Pryor did not ruffle the NBC censors. (Pryor also had his own short-lived series, "The Richard Pryor Show," which was axed after only four episodes in 1977, the victim of head office scrutiny and low ratings—he was pitted against the hugely popular "Laverne and Shirley" and "Happy Days".) In later years, Pryor's life was a blur of bad choices and reckless acts. Scarred by drugs, violence, quadruple bypass surgery, broken marriages and estranged children, Pryor, submerged in personal chaos, tried to take his own life.

The initial reports of June 9, 1980 were that the comedian accidentally set himself on fire while freebasing cocaine. Pryor finally revealed the truth in his autobiography "Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences" (Pantheon, 1995 and co-written with Todd Gold): "After freebasing without interruption for several days in a row, I wasn't able to discern one from the next . . . Imagining relief was nearby, I reached for the cognac bottle on the table in front of me and poured it all over me. Real natural. Methodical . . . I picked up my lighter . . . I was engulfed in flame. I was in a place that wasn't heaven or earth. I must've gone into shock because I didn't feel anything."

The freebasing incident, like many of Pryor's more dramatic mishaps, turned up as encore-worthy centerpieces of his stage routines. Among them, the much talked about New Year's morning in '78 when he repeatedly fired a .357 magnum revolver into his then wife's car. In incident after incident, the public repeatedly walked along side him, standing in full view of the wreckage, marveling at how many lives this mercurial man appeared to have. But Pryor was best known for his searing analysis about the state race relations. He was honored by the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts with the first Mark Twain Prize for American humor. "I feel great about accepting this prize," he wrote in his official response, his familiar edge glinting through, "I feel great to be honored on a par on with a great white man—now that's funny!"

The comedian was poignant in his remarks to a Washington Post reporter shortly after winning the honor. "I'm a pioneer. That's my contribution. I broke barriers for black comics. I was being Richard Pryor; that was me on that stage. But I was on drugs at the time." Born in Peoria, Illinois in 1940, Pryor grew up in one of his grandmother Marie's string of whorehouses that catered to various black entertainers and vaudeville performers. Pryor developed and honed his comedic skills at an early age as class clown, and later was tapped by mentor, Juliette Whittaker, director on the Carver Community Center in Carver, Illinois as a "fourteen year old genius." She helped to develop his stage and dramatic skills.

A father by 14 and Army vet by 17, Pryor already had a wealth of material from which to draw. Pryor worked the Midwestern chitlin circuit until the early 1960s when he took his show on the road to New York's Greenwich Village, which was in the throes of sociopolitical transition. "A tentative but innovative rapprochement had been established between white audiences and a select group of black comedians," explains journalist and historian Mel Watkins in his book, "On the Real Side" (Simon & Schuster, 1994). "The transitional comics of the fifties (Timmie Rogers, Slappy White, and Nipsey Russell) had made inroads and in varying degrees Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby and Godfrey Cambridge all had bridged the racial impasse." At the time, many black comedians eschewed not only social commentary, but they also tended to mute any fury, or at the very least sanded the edges of the country's racial realities. Pryor, however, dove head first into the deepest of uncharted waters. "African Americans were accepted as clowns and jesters," wrote Watkins, "but were expected to avoid satire and social commentary—the comedy of ideas."

Pryor's breezy act had been modeled upon a then up-and-coming stand-up named Bill Cosby. But with one gesture, in 1967 during a performance at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, he willfully shattered that mold into tiny, irreparable pieces. He—as the story goes—had an epiphany. Walking off stage mid-act, he went into a self-described exile: "For the first time in my life I had a sense of Richard Pryor the person," he wrote in his autobiography. "I understood myself . . .I knew what I stood for . . . knew what I had to do . . . I had to go back and tell the truth."

And he told it to America's face.

"Richard was always upset with Bill Cosby," comedian and friend Paul Mooney told The Times in a 1995 interview. "I think he wanted to be Bill . . . But I always like Richard's stuff better. Bill didn't wow me. He wowed white people . . . Black people sank into Pryor's material like an easy chair . . . That's what his talent was—talking about black people to black people."

Much of the entertainer's bottomless font of searing observations—social, political, racial—was attributed to his own wrestling with personal demons: a dramatic push-me-pull-you relationship with success within a predominately white industry and his own racial allegiance. "Richard basically blazed a trail for black comedy. He defined what it is. As a young black man he was saying what he felt—and was shocking," comedian Damon Wayans once said.

In his 30 years as a performer, Pryor recorded more than 20 albums, and appeared in more than 40 films, including, "Wild in the Streets" (1968); "You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose that Beat" (1971); "Hit," "The Mack" and "Uptown Saturday Night" (1974); "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings," "Car Wash (1976); "Greased Lightning" and "Which Way Is Up?" (1977); "Blue Collar" and "California Suite" (1978); "The Muppet Movie" (1979); "In God We Trust," and "Wholly Moses" (1980); "Bustin' Loose" (1981); "Some Kind of Hero" and "Brewster's Millions" in (1985); "Critical Condition," (1987); "Moving" (1988); "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" and "Harlem Nights" (1989) and "Another You" (1991).

Pryor became the highest paid black performer at the time in 1983 with his $4 million paycheck for "Superman III."

Along with his Grammys, and Emmy, and the Oscar nod, his script for the comedy satire, "Blazing Saddles" written with Mel Brooks, won the American Writers Guild Award and the American Academy of Humor Award in 1974. In those small oases of calm which periodically dotted his life, Pryor was ever changing, reconsidering himself, his choices: A trip to Zimbabwe in 1980, for example, led him to excise his frequent use of "N-word." "There are no niggers here," he wrote in his autobiography. "The people here, they still have their self-respect, their pride."

Struggling with his own sense of pride in another realm, Pryor found himself slowed and increasingly incapacitated in later years as MS took hold. And though he traveled around in a motorized scooter, he continued to write and perform throughout the 90s — one-nighters in the Main Room at Sunset Boulevard's Comedy Store and an episode about MS on CBS' hospital drama "Chicago Hope" which he helped to write and co-starred with daughter, Rain. Pryor, who married six times, is also survived by sons Steven and Richard and daughters Elizabeth and Renee.

Even with the help and therapeutic sparring of ex-wife Jennifer Lee, the disease left the once physically inexhaustible and seemingly insurmountable Pryor immobilized and imprisoned. "The drugs didn't make me funny. God made me funny," he told the Washington Post in 1999. "The drugs kept me up in my imagination. But I felt . . . pathetic afterward . . . . Drugs messed me up."

It was musician Miles Davis who once gave Pryor a key piece of advice during his Village days—"Listen to the music inside your head, Rich. Play with your heart." He did. Until his instrument just wore out.

Source: The Los Angeles Times

Snow New York

NEW YORK (AP) _ The first major storm of the season hit New York City on Friday, blanketing the area in several inches of wet snow.

The fast-moving snowstorm struck in the early hours, shutting down schools and causing minor traffic accidents throughout the tri-state area as commuters headed to work on slippery roads. But by midmorning, the snow continued in Westchester County but had tapered off in Manhattan and Long Island and turned to rain, making for a slushy mess.

"Bring on the rain," said Alfred Gomez, 28, of Yonkers, as he slogged through the snow on a White Plains sidewalk. "If it turns to rain, maybe I won't have to shovel it when I get home." Michael Silva, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said snow showers would return over the next few hours but skies would clear by late afternoon or early evening and it would become windy.

He said Manhattan got four to five inches of snow. Commuter Dean Brown said he wasn't too bothered by having to deal with the snow on his way to his job at JP Morgan Chase and Co. in midtown Manhattan. "It's not too bad," he said, coming out of Penn Station after taking a train into the city from Marlboro, N.J. "When you see a foot, that's bad." The rain in Brooklyn turned streets into a gooey, slippery mess.

"This slop is awful," said Mauro Bacolo as he shoveled piles of slush in front of his apartment house in the borough's Carroll Gardens section. "I'll take snow any day over this. This stuff isn't pretty and it's a menace to walk on." Icy puddles trapped people on street corners. Christmas trees sagged under blankets of goop. A woman in an elegant coat leaped into a doorway to avoid a fountain of slush spewing from a machine clearing a sidewalk near Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan.

"I don't think it's going to turn out to be as bad as some people had worried about it," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on his morning radio program. The snow closed virtually all public schools in the northern suburbs and most schools on Long Island. On Long Island, the snow also quickly turned to rain, leaving slushy roads for the morning rush-hour. On Tuesday, up to six inches fell on eastern Long Island, while the city got no snow.

LaGuardia Airport on Friday experienced delays of up to 90 minutes on arrivals and departures, said Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Alan Hicks. Sixty-four flights were canceled. The bistate agency also reported 25 mph speed restrictions at the Staten Island crossings _ the Goethals and Bayonne bridges and the Outerbridge Crossing. Jean Simeon, who drove into Manhattan from Brooklyn early in the morning said, "I could hardly keep my car on the road. It was slipping this way and then that way. But it's not as bad as I expected." Ken Shanahan, a carpenter from Maspeth, Queens, was struggling as he rolled a dolly filled with his tools through the slushy sidewalks on Manhattan's East Side. "I almost went flying," Shanahan said. But he said he didn't mind because "I like the snow. Mostly because I work inside." Paul Ugactz, a United Parcel Service manager, said driving was treacherous.

"The local streets are very bad," said Ugactz, who was stopped at East 20th Street. "None of them had been plowed. I saw only one sand truck." But he said he didn't think the snow would deter any UPS deliveries. "Our drivers are being very cautious and taking it easy," he said, "but I don't anticipate any problems. We always get through."

Source: Associated Press

John Lennon Remembered 25 Years Later

NEW YORK - As they have done for 25 years, fans will converge in just outside the Central Park Dakota apartment building today to remember the words, music and deeds of John Lennon.

The music icon was gunned down by a deranged fan just steps from his home on the night of December 8th, 1980.

Although there is no official program for today's memorial, most of those paying tribute usually gather in the evening in Strawberry Fields, where they sing Lennon's songs and reminisce about his legacy.

A moment of silence is held at 10:50 p.m., the time he was shot, and again at 11:15 p.m., the time he is believed to have died.

Despite some protests from fans, city officials plan to close the park at 1 a.m., as they have for several years.

Source: Associated Press

King Kong makes a return visit to New York

King Kong made another appearance in New York for the world premiere of his new film. And what a premiere it was: a replica of the giant ape was perched in Times Square, outside the King Kong-sized premiere.

The movie was shown on 12 screens at the Loews E-Walk and AMC Empire theatres. Part of 42nd Street was even closed off for the event.

Members of the cast including Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody were joined by Mayor Michael Bloomberg who declared the day "King Kong Day." It was 1933 when King Kong first climbed the Empire State Building. Back then Kong was in black and white and made of clay. The $150 million, three-hour remake opens nationwide December 13th.

King Kong!

That's So New York

sny spotlight: more nyc

Is it possible to get more New York? If your idea of New York is just the island of Manhattan that this website is for you.

MoreNYC.info is chock full of good information about each of the boroughs and things to do and see. So visit the website, plan a walking tour and learn more about NYC than you ever thought possible.

From the MoreNYC website:

The heart and soul of the New York experience lies in its neighborhoods. And that's not just the ones on the eight-mile stretch of island called Manhattan. In fact, some of New York's most famous people and places -- the icons that make New York New York -- can be found in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx. Each one is unique -- from the cultures and the cuisine to the architecture and the accents. When you come to town, think off the island and Explore MORE NYC.

For more information on tours, visit www.morenyc.info. Note: All tours depart from NYC's Official Visitor Information Center located at 810 7th Ave. (between 52nd & 53rd Sts.)

MoreNYC

That's So New York

It's that time of year

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands lit in front of the General Electric building in New York's Rockefeller Plaza during the 73rd annual tree lighting ceremony Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005, in New York. The 74-foot-tall Norway Spruce from Wayne, N.J. weighs nine tons and is topped with a Swarovski star. (Jeff Christensen / AP)

The Macy's Thanksgiving's Day parade has passed and now the season of light offically begins. Marked by the lighting of the Christmas trees in both Lincoln Center and Rockefeller Center. After a welcome but brief return of Indian Summer to the New York area the temperature is set to dip into the 30's and it will begin to look and feel a lot like Christmas--leading to the biggest party of the year--New Year's Eve in Time Square.

Lord & Taylor's famous holiday window display is ready for the viewing and the holiday kiosks have returned to Bryant Park, flanking the new ice skating rink. This is also the second busiest time of year for tourism in the Big Apple, right behind summer. if you're planning to visit the city, make sure you pick up the discount holiday metrocard (and paray that there's no transit strike).

Yes, it's that time of year again and it's fun until the holiday parties and all the gifts have been unwrapped. That's when the bitter cold and gray skies hold the city in a bitter embrace for what seems like an eternity.

There are only 23 more days until Christmas and 201 days until summer!

That's So New York