The Subway floods ... and our public officials are surprised

"It's an outrage!"

That was probably Ed Koch's most famous catch line after "How'm I doin?" And after Wednesday's subway flooding disaster, it's never been more apt.

You've probably know about (and lived through) the torrential rainstorms that flooded the subways and roads and basically shut NYC down two days ago. Immediately folks like Bloomberg and the head of the MTA were on TV saying, "We didn't know ... We could never have predicted this ... We didn't see it coming."

That's funny, because I saw it coming. And I think most New Yorkers who aren't the Mayor and who don't work for the MTA could have guessed that heavy rainstorms would paralyze the subways and a disaster like this was waiting to happen. I cannot begin even to count the number of times that heavy rain has caused the subways to flood, causing delays or disruptions of service. This keeps happening again ... and again ... and again ... and again the MTA and the city do NOTHING to fix the problems! It appears not even to occur to the MTA to say "Hey, you know, when we get a lot of rain, the subways flood and everyone goes nuts. Let's do something to fix the infrastructure to prevent the flooding."

Now, and only now, after this latest disaster, is the MTA and the city willing to actually ... study the problem ... and make ... recommendations. Oh joy! Thankfully our free press is digging up stories and examples from the past where this flooding had gone on and they are showing the woeful lack of action by our public officials on this problem. I know most subway commuters aren't big campaign contributors but they work for the people who are, so don't you guys think that fixing the subways would be a good idea ... so they can keep going to work to make the money that the contributors then give politicians?

It's simply embarrassing that the transit system of the world's greatest city in the 21st century is so vulnerable. To water no less. This must end. Write you city council person, the Public Advocate, our State Assembly and Senate Members to demand that they push the city and MTA to act. You can find the links to the city and state governments on the right.

PS. And it's not only the subway. Walk the streets after a heavy rain and you'll see big puddle after big puddle. They almost always pop up in the same spots on the streets. Why can't these spots be fixed?

PPS. I wanted to blog about this earlier but Modem problems made this impossible. Unlike a public official, however, I take full responsibility.