Bracing for Bedlam

On the one hand, it's pretty impressive that New York City has done such extensive logistical planning ahead of the looming illegal transit strike.  They haven't advertised it all that much (so far as I've seen), but the city's online Alternative Transportation Information Center has a wealth of information for residents, businesses, and schools on how to get around in the event the Transit Workers Union decides to walk out on New York.

On the other hand, it's pretty irritating that a city already so mired in the critical burden of contingency planning is forced to divert resources to bracing for the coordinated illegal actions of more than 30,000 city employees.

Terror in the skies, terror undergound, cop killers on the prowl... these are all blights beyond our immediate control that need containment.  Rather, if the strike takes place, the interruption it will inflict on millions of people, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention a citywide effort that will leave reduced capacity to deal with anything else, is completely avoidable.

I don't mean it's avoidable in the sense that the MTA and the TWU ought to think about the greater good and work harder to form a compromise.  I mean it's avoidable in the sense that there is a clearly at-fault party if the status quo holds and the threatened walk out occurs.  The union is expressly legally forbidden from mounting a strike and it would represent nothing more than dangerous, expensive lawlessness in pursuit of financial reward.

The city faces enough real threats for us to inflict unnecessary ones upon ourselves.

Previously:

Bloomberg Steps Up
New York's Looming Illegal Transit Strike