Of course the big story today—big enough to garner a link on the front page of the Seattle Times’ home page—is the startling news that New York City subway trains were stalled for hours in snow drifts:
Passengers have been stuck for several hours on two New York City subway trains stalled in snow drifts near Kennedy Airport.
NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton says that snow drifts and ice on the third rail have stalled trains at two stops in Queens, north and south of Kennedy Airport.
So how exactly does a “subway” train get caught in a snow drift? Of course, it doesn’t. The trains run on the surface by the time they get to JFK. And of course, the “third rail” the article mentions is the one that provides power, so our own light rail system with it’s overhead power supply would not stall for the same reasons.
Still, no doubt the Times sought to front-page this tidbit as a warning to those of us here who would champion light rail. Which of course, completely misses the larger picture of how the blizzard is really effecting transportation in NYC:
Christopher Mullen tells NY1 cable TV that he took the subway after he couldn’t get a car service or taxi out of Kennedy on Sunday night.
I’ve lived in NYC during snowstorms, and I can tell you that when the surface streets shut down, the subway is the one part of the transportation system that pretty much runs like normal. But you wouldn’t know that from reading the Seattle Times.
Er…did they mention the subways that run loops throughout Manhattan ran just fine?
Golly, ALL cars and even the magic buses (normal, express, Rapid Ride, whatever) were stuck. But you could get on a subway.
Lesson for today: Subway/elevated good. Cars/buses useless.
Doesn’t anyone remember our little ice storm a few weeks ago? My best friend spent 4 hours trying to creep up I-5, watching the light rail go by again and again and again and again and again and again and again…while he was ‘parked’ for 30/40 minutes at a time on the interstate. Huh.
I lived in DC for 3 years as well. No matter how bad the snow storm, I could get on at the Courthouse Metro station (in Arlington VA) and get to Silver Spring Maryland. Didn’t matter how bad the beltway sucked, the Metro worked (not perfect, but worked more OFTEN than the beltway did…LOL).
I’ve also sat on the freeway heading into O’Hare outside of Chicago watching the train from downtown go by again and again and again while I sat in traffic. I’m just saying…
I’ll bet that article also didn’t mention that most of the airlines had canceled flights thus reducing the load on those subway cars.
Is it possible for a newspaper to be more dishonest in its attempts to control the local public policy agenda? This is every bit as amateurish as the troll comments on HA a couple days ago that attacked Washington’s well-managed public pensions by using New York’s pension system as an example.
Is it possible for a newspaper to be more dishonest in its attempts to manipulate the local political dialogue? With every passing day, the Seattle Times looks more and more like a political blog where people peel talking points off the wall without thinking or doing any fact-checking. In fact, the only substantial difference between ST and HA is that Goldy doesn’t have to pay for the upkeep on a $150 million printing plant — which makes Goldy a more intelligent businessman than Frank Blethen.
Hmmm, it looked to me like #3 didn’t post, so I reposted it @4. Sorry about the duplication.
Fer crissakes kids…..it’s an AP article. If you want to jump anyone’s shit go after the AP. They wrote it. I am no Times/Blethen fan but they are merely regurgitating what is fed them….(much like Fox News talkers).
RR@5:
Hehe, nevertheless, your point that the Times is becoming a political blog is taken. While I wonder if Goldy’s statement that, “no doubt the Times sought to front-page this tidbit as a warning to those of us here who would champion light rail”, is correct, it is also true that I canceled my Times subscription earlier this year because of the not-so-subtle pro-corporate, pro-oil, pro-Republican slant in all news and comment published in the Times.
Sadly, I miss the Sunday paper, but I voted with my dollars on this one.
drool@6:
Goldy’s point was that the article was front-paged.
It’s a big blizzard for Christ sake. That sort of thing happens.
@8 Zippy. It IS front page news if the wx is bad enough to screw up rail transport!!
speaking of assholes & light rail, is there a bellevue cc meeting tonight?
goldy is imagining a nefarious story when there isnt one……the story of the stranded trains was on ALL the media today…not just the times.
nice try goldy, but TEH EPIC FAYLE again…
…and of course all of goldy’s little lemmings just jump on board and follow suit…NICE!
Puddy just got back… And it’s a liberal link too…
“Snow Strands Subway Riders In Car For Almost 11 Hours“
So why did CBS News call it a subway train? Looks like this is more than a handful for someone other than the Seattle Times. :)
re 13: You are an idiot. Even outside the rarefied sphere of elitist liberals, you are still considered an idiot.
@12 & 13: I agree with the theme of your screen name.
@15
and speaking of one of the biggest lemmings of all, brainless lucy arrives right on time…
@16
well you can thank the fools in this state for voting her stupid ass in..even after her lies and backdoor deals were made public.
WA state voters are the biggest chumps in the country.
Wow, we must be doing something right if the Biggest news in the country is a stalled train! I sure am glad I don’t live somewhere that’s fighting two wars, has cities filing for bankruptcy, multiple shooting deaths-daily, 40K people getting killed every year in car wrecks, uses the vast majority of the worlds illegal drugs and porn, and has epidemic levels of obesity, and diabetes.
@18
Had the Republican’s, the Green’s, the Progressives, The Bull Mooser’s, or some independent, offered up a better choice, someone else would be in the govenors office. That the WSRP couldn’t knock her out of office speaks volumes about just how lame the WSRP is.
@18 What choice did we have? The alternative was Dino Rossi.
Am I the only person to read this story and wonder why people were out and about in the middle of a big-ass blizzard with zero visibility? It’s not like this storm caught the weather forecasters by surprise and it not like people don’t have access to weather forecasts.
Ever heard of vacations planned months in advance Michael? Ever heard of funerals or a family member becoming sick Michale? Well it is a city of liberals so maybe it’s appropriate to make fun of them a little? The do vote Nadler, Rangel and other liberal fools in there.
@23
Sure, I know things get planned in advance.
I used to do a little guiding and I’d run into people from cities that were clueless that mother nature could kill them. I suppose it’s like that.
As a native New Yorker, let me share that the rail system is nearly all underground (subway) in Manhattan and is at or above grade in the outer boroughs- the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Many refer to the whole system as “the subway”. Sorry folks (Goldy included) a mountain from a molehill here.
re 17: I’m a Judas lemming.
I explain to conservatives that if you give rich people more money, it will help the average, idiot Republican — of which you are one.
Goldy needs an intervention with this Seattle Times thing. He’s going overboard with it. He’s obsessed. And all because they dissed Darcy? Let it go. Besides, this is just ridiculous. Goldy reminds me of the Henery Hawk cartoon character. It’s sad. Seriously, if any friends of Goldy’s are reading this, please help him.
Was Goldy telling the truth in this post?
This report on the NCY snow from CBS news.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/20.....r-5-hours/
@27
You’ve finally hit on something!
@20
or rather it speaks to what non-thinking follow-the-leader lemmings most washington state voters are.
I think that is more accurate.
@21
while I supported neither, at least Rossi was honest with the voters about the what condition the state’s budget problems were going to be….Gregoire was either too stupid or lied – you choose.
I highly doubt Rossi, or even Mike the Mover, would be doing much worse than the Queen of Bullshit is doing.
@26
once again brainless loopy is successful at filling a mindless void.
congrats fucktard.
@26
dont kid yourself, it less to do with that idiot darcy than it does with getting turned down for employment at the times back in the day.
some people cant move on…
@30-33…
Oh maxiemaxiemaxie…you moronic shithead.
Go crawl back under your rock like a good little fucktard.
Don’t you know light rail is conspiracy against suburban conservative like the Blethan family.
Here is an idea that the tax lovers should embrace: How about taxing the indian casinos? oh wait, they paid good money to the queen in order for her not to push a tax against them.
seems to me all you tax lovers should jump on board: here you have a group making BILLIONS of dollars…tax free!
where is the uproar????
ya…thats what I thought…
@34
rujax continues with his racist comments…guess its OK when a progressive lemming is racist, eh?
@37…
OK smart guy, I’ll bite…what about that statement is racist?