MTA history lesson

I'm way bummed about the TWU possibly going on strike in a couple of days. Pretty much the only things keeping me going are NY1's constant coverage on the MTA-TWU 'talks' and NY1 heartthrob Bobby Cuza (*sigh*) reading updates from his Blackberry. Sometimes, in between the 20 minute news loops, NY1 inserts some special coverage. Today, instead of showing the same video of people walking over the Brooklyn Bridge during the 1980 strike, they gave us a little history lesson. Here is what I learned:

In 1895, Brooklyn street trolley operators went on strike. At the time, trolley operators made about $1.50 per day and their wages were determined by how many hours the trolleys spent in motion, not how long they were actually working. Apparently conditions were so bad for trolley operators that in order for them to complete their runs, they frequently had to exceed the trolley speed limit, making it so difficult for Brooklynites to cross the streets that "trolley dodging" became kind of a sport in the borough (sort of like bullet dodging and crack dealer dodging in the 80's), and that is where the name the Brooklyn (trolley) Dodgers came from. That is some interesting shit.

Who else wants to kick George Pataki and Peter Kalikow in the nuts?