Author: subwayblogger

Police Shoot and Kill Armed Suspect in Subway. Officer Wounded.

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Officer Annmarie Marchiondo NYPD

Crazy story. So crazy it sounds like something out of a movie.

Suspect Juan Calves, 51, was detained by by plainclothes police officers when he and another man were spotted riding between train cars. The officers removed him from the train onto the downtown 4 train at 178th Street in the Bronx.

All of a sudden, Calves allegedly went nuts, and put Officer Annmarie Marchiondo into a headlock. While she struggled to get free, Calves apparently pulled out a stolen 9mm gun and started firing shots at the platform.

The other two officers returned fire, killing Calves. The officers fired 13 shots (here comes Al Sharpton). Officer Marchiondo was shot in the foot, ankle, and just under her bulletproof vest. She is in stable condition.

Why nutcase Calves was on the streets is another issue all together. He’s apparently a career criminal. According to the AP:

Calves was freed on parole from prison two years ago after serving time for manslaughter, robbery, and attempt to promote prison contraband. The manslaughter conviction involved the killing of a fellow prison inmate at Attica Correctional Facility, police said.

That’s a pretty crazy story. The officers must not have had a chance to frisk him yet. They usually don’t do that until they get a suspect off the train.

The truly scary thing is that each one of us probably rides the train with someone like Calves every day. Thanks to our justice system, there are people with manslaughter and multiple other felonies standing right next to us on a crowded train. Maybe they aren’t doing anything wrong…but how are we supposed to know that they aren’t just a ticking time bomb?

(Photo from the NYPD of Officer Marchiondo)

MSNBC Claims JFK AirTrain is Free?

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Hmmm. Maybe I’m missing something. Isn’t it $5.00 to ride AirTrain to JFK? That’s what I’ve always thought. However, this caption on a new MSNBC.com article says differently.

Further down in the article, it then says the AirTrain costs $5.00…so which is it?

Sounds like George Hobica, Aviation.com, didn’t check all his facts.

I combed the AirTrain website and couldn’t find anything about free rides. I thought perhaps you only had to pay in one direction, but couldn’t find anything like that.

Anyway, the article itself is a list of the Top 10 Easiest U.S. Airports to get to. Allegedly, JFK is in the top 10. Don’t know that I believe it though. Is it really that easy? I guess technically, it’s not that hard. It’s just a looooooong ride on the subway only to then have to get on the AirTrain. You could conceivably have to take a bus to the subway, then transfer from one line to get on the A, E, J or Z train, ride waaay out, then get on the AirTrain.

Easy? I guess, but it will take forever. For example:

From W 72nd Street, HopStop says it will take 1 hour 28 minutes to get to JFK. It says to take the 1 to 59th Street, then take the D to Rockefeller Center, then take the F to 71st in Queens, then take the E to Jamaica. Why not just stay on the 1 train to Times Square and catch the E there? That will add 10 more minutes to the trip, according to HopStop.

From the East Side, same time. From E 23rd Street is going to take 1 hour 26 minutes.

So think about the overall time frame we’re talking about here. Let’s say you have a 7pm flight out from JFK. They say you should be at the airport 2 hours ahead of time. Then you need to factor in the hour and a half you need to navigate the rails. That means you need to leave your Manhattan apartment at 3:30pm to catch your 7pm flight! If you’re flying out internationally, they say to be there 3 hours early, so that means you would have to leave at 2:30!

Yikes. Easy, maybe. Convenient? Uhhh…no.

Animated subway construction map timeline graphical wondery

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That headline’s a mouthful.  Anyway…

Second Avenue Sagas stumbled across a nifty little animated gif image of the NYC Subway map.  One by one, it reveals the segments of the system in the order they were built.   It’s pretty cool.

As Ben points out, most people don’t appreciate that there was a time when the subway was very limited.  As a matter of fact, it was quite segmented.  There were short stretches of stand-alone lines. 

There were short, little segments out in Brooklyn that went basically nowhere.  There was also a time where there were no underwater crossings. 

The system has come a long way in the last 100 years.  Let’s hope the drive that got it built in the first place continues to keep the system up and running. 

What a kick in the nuts

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So how’s this for bullsh*t…

My hosting account was deactivated today because there was allegedly “adult content” posted on my server. 

There’s actually many websites that are hosted through my account.  A domain that I owned years ago, and have since sold, was for some reason tracked back to this account.  That old domain is now being hosted as a porno site, but I haven’t had anything to do with it forever. 

Somehow, the site was associated with my site somewhere in the Internet ether. 

So they shut down my account.  Of course, they never tried to contact me or anything…they just shut it off.  So that was fun.  Then trying to explain that I don’t own the domain any more was a whole other issue that was not being understood by them.

Anyway, thanks for being patient!  We’re back, and porno free. 

High School Kids: They’re Back

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I think the high school population in my neighborhood doubled this year.  Today, there were waaaay more kids waiting for the train than last year.

The girls really bother me.  They move in little packs of 2 or 3, and will not separate no matter what.  So instead of being able to navigate around just one of them at a time, you have to treat them as a single person.

They get on the already crowded train, and then stand on top of each other in the most inconvenient spots possible.  Then, as the ride continues, they don’t move with the natural flow of the train car.  As other people get on and off, they refuse to separate.  As if they weren’t going to the same place.

If they get separated or travel alone, immediately the iPod earbuds go in.  Also, oversized sunglasses go on so they can spot their girlfriends without people knowing they’re panicked.

Then there’s the guys.  They tend to be a bit more nomadic, however it depends on their race.  No, I’m not racist.  It’s just an observation.  Feel free to disagree.  Here we go:

White Guys:  They tend to gravitate to the pods of girls.  They move solo.  If no girls are around, two guys might ride together.  Otherwise, they go it alone, or  with a minimum of 2 girls.  You’ll usually see a group of girls with the token dude standing somewhere near by.  Shaggy haircuts and designer t-shirts a must.  They come off as way too cool for everyone on the train.  Oh and don’t forget the messenger bags

Hispanic Guys:  The true nomads.  They tend to do their own thing.  They’re often the least noticeable because they travel solo, move with the flow of people, and generally don’t get in the way.  I relate best to these guys.  They just look like they want to be left alone…like me.  As if they haven’t had their second cup of coffee just yet…like me again.  By the way, what do Mexican guys use in their hair to make it so slicked back?  What ever it is, it’s at the peak of slickness early in the morning.

Black Guys:  Always have a wing man.  They tend to travel in pairs.   More often than not, one tends to be much taller than the other.  There’s very little talking.  Almost telepathically, they set up position in the doorways.  They never move, even when the doors open.  Would simply turning their bodies 90 degrees to let people on and off work?  Of course!  Will it happen?  Not likely.  They’re easy to spot because they have those Nike sports bags that have the rope cords that cinched the bag shut at the top.  The guy could be 6 feet of torso, yet the bag cords are always long enough to let the bag hit them near the ass.

Only about 8 or 9 more months till summer vacation.

Open Thread

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Tonight, we asked our SUBWAYblogger Facebook friends to share their craziest experiences on the subway.  Here’s a few of the responses so far:

Franco Barbara
I told a dirty smelly begger to get the fu^k away from me. That was a bad idea. He threw his spare change at me and went nuts. I got him to calm down and he got off the train. Idon’tknowwhyIdidit. He smelledreallybad and I didn’t want him near my dog.

Chris Campbell
well on my way back from coney island to the bronx i was stuck on the 6 train between 125th st and 3 Av-138th st 4 bout an hour and everybody was just yellin and cursin and on the D line 2 coney island some kids under 12 were breakdancin i was like wtf

Taxi Strike: Over Hyped Non-Event

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Ok, could this taxi strike be any more over hyped?  I mean are you kidding?  7,000 cabbies at MOST will be out of service.  That means the remaining 37,000 cabbies will be out on the streets picking up the scraps.

So I’d fully expect to see absolutely no change in your day.  At worst, it’s going to be about as hard to get a cab as it would be on a rainy day.  A little harder, but not insane.

Just in case, the city’s OEM has released a plan (read here).  Here’s a snippet:

The MTA will be providing additional service on the M60 and Q33 bus routes to/from LGA. The M60 transports riders between LGA and Manhattan, running along 125th Street and making connections with the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, A, B, C, and D subway lines, as well as Metro-North Railroad. The Q33 connects LGA with the 74th St. – Broadway Station in Jackson Heights, Queens, where connections to the 7, E, F, R, V, and G subway lines is available. Travelers at JFK can use the AirTrain to connect to the A train at the Howard Beach station, or the E, J, and Z trains at the Sutphin Boulevard station.

So, all they have to do is put a few extra buses in service, and we’re in business.

Honestly, the only people I could see being put out by this whole thing are the tourists coming out of Grand Central, Penn Station, or the airports.  Everyone else will figure it out.

We might see a little extra volume on the subways, but I’m not worrying about it.

This whole issue is such a crock in the first place.  The cabbies AGREED to the GPS systems when the city agreed to the last TWO fare hikes!  It was part of the f*cking deal.  Now, it’s time to shut up, and hold up their end of the deal.  Why are 37,000 other cabbies not kicking up a fuss?  Because they know what they agreed to in the negotiations.

Long Metrocard Lines Today

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Ahh the joy of coming back from a long holiday weekend only to be hit in the thighs by the turnstile because your Metrocard has expired.

That’s the joy that many New Yorkers experienced this morning. Lines at the Metrocard machines this morning were very long. It’s funny to see how many people buy their card right at the begining of the month.

Perhaps people are fueling up their cards today to avoid the rush during tomorrow’s taxi strike? Although, how many more riders in the system could that possibly mean? A few thousand? More on the taxi strike later today.

In the mean time, it’s back to work. Summer is gone. People are buying fresh Metrocards. The kids are back to school. All seems right in the world…at least for today.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio… .

19 Year Old Shot in Queens Subway Station

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Jose Sierra, 19, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses say that they heard multiple shots, then saw Sierra laying on the ground with a large hole in his head.

Hopefully, the token booth clerk wasn’t asleep (like this woman) (and this guy) (and this guy) (and this guy) (and this guy) (and don’t forget this guy). WOW. I’m a little nauseous now after seeing all those TWU bastards sleeping on the job. They should be stripped of the union raise that is just handed to them, and it should be given to other workers that actually manage to stay AWAKE during their shift.

Police have no suspects but are looking for some people that were seen running from the scene. No arrests have been made.

This makes us wonder if there was a camera in that station. Wouldn’t you think that there should be a camera at every subway entrance/exit? Is that asking too much? That way, if a crime happens, you know you are going to catch the suspect on film when they enter or exit the station.

This whole topic is just making me too pissed off.

And I thought I’ve seen some strange sh*t

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I saw this posted on a group board in Facebook.  The question:  What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen on the subway?  Here was one guy’s answer…

I saw:

1. An Eastern European man get beatdown by a bunch of teenagers on the N train for yelling racial epithets at them just for playing their stereo.

2. A handpuppet play that took up the whole car.

3. A man with a bag full of chihuahuas in a car full of happy on-looking Mexicans.

If you take the train everyday you’re bound to see something!