I wasn't around for the last NYC transit strike in 1980. I vaguely recall there was a strike threat during my freshman year at Stuy. Since I relied on MTA buses and subways to get to school, it would have been virtually impossible for me to get to school during a strike. But the transit workers reached a settlement a few hours before the subways would have had to shut down. I remember the day of the deadline, my earth science teacher (the great John Orna, one of my favorites), kept insisting that there would be no strike, implying that we should prepare to come to school the next day.

Some people think there is too much news coverage of the strike and blame the NYC-centric media. Maybe. But anything that cripples NYC would be a matter of national concern because of the financial implications of lost business.