First day back after the strike and everything seemed just it had the day we left the subway. Here a Mother shields her children from the cold wind that blows through the Smith and 9th street F & G platform. She's pointing out the Statue of Liberty seen off in the distance.
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Underground Exhibition
23 December, 2005 • Express Train
Photography © Travis Ruse • photoblogs.org • listed
A wonderful look, a sense of awe and wonder, amidst so much that is old, torn, damaged and dirty. Perhaps, we, maybe I, focus too much on the negative instead of looking for the positive which does surround us.
Actually I was thinking the same thing. The family part of this photo is exciting and fresh, but the setting is like something out Mad Max . Is there no maintenance whatsoever done in the New York Subway system? This station looks pretty much third world. Is there a pecking order of repair and maintenance?
Comment by the farmers wife
"Is there a pecking order of repair and maintenance?"
Yes there is! The more affluent and high profile the neighborhood a subway station resides in, the more maintenance, money and priority that station receives! NYC is just like most places in the world -- MONEY TALKS - quite loudly.
Meanwhile, the MTA fights to keep their BILLON dollar windfall surplus/profit away from stations like this one in the picture, and out of the pockets of the disgruntled unionized transit workers.
But that's another subject ...
Interesting shot!
I love how it's grimy and dirty, with two exceptions: the bright yellow railings, and the happy family. In fact, those two happy elements are both arranged on the same lines. I don't know how to explain it but you're looking at the same photo so I'm sure you know what I mean. I think it's my favorite shot of yours.
As I'm sure everyone but Rasheed is aware of, reconstruction funding is not allocated specifically to slight him, but, rather, is doled out based on the overall ridership volume at a given station and its importance as a transfer point within the system, as well as a number of other factors having to do with maintenance of the existing infrastructure and the ability to perform work at a given location. It is most definitely not spent according to the relative wealth of the neighborhood. However, most stations within Manhattan do have much higher ridership due to their central location, which is the sole reason they have been first in line to be overhauled. Perhaps an alphabetical approach would have appeared more fair, but it would most certainly have been tons less practical.
Additionally, cotrary to Rasheed's beliefs, the MTA can never turn a "profit", given that it is a public agency funded primarily through our tax dollars, although it might occasionally show a budgetary surplus due to temporary conditions in the real estate market. He might also benefit from trying to find out what the unionized workers can possibly be so disgruntled about, given that their pay and benefits are completely unmatched by comparable blue collar jobs in the private sector, for which reason they have recently come to be so resented by the city's other workers.