With the upcoming elections next Tuesday, the most popular topic in the Philly blogosphere has been ... SEPTA. There may be city charter changes as well as issues of judicial retention under consideration, but when the buses, trolleys and subway cars come to a grinding halt in the City of Brotherly Love, not much else is going to register in the city's most opinionated minds.
There have been hundreds of blog mentions of it, but here's a small sampling of what some Philly bloggers have been saying over just the past couple days:
There's a concise overview of the situation five days in at Philadelphia Will Do. Also Nicole Wolverton's collection of posts at Phillyist provides a nice running tally of events so far. (And there's much more past the break)
A post from Peter (12thknight) on Live Journal creates an almost whimsically tragic portrait of his first encounter with the throngs at Market East. And on a more issues-oriented note, one Phillyblog thread ponders who should be held accountable, while Tom at Shallow Center has enough blame for everyone involved in the work stoppage.
Tony at Mere Cat admits feelings of guilt for not having to struggle with Center City train stops in his SEPTA commute, and also expresses ambivalence about the situation of the striking employees. Dan Rubin sings the "SEPTA Blues," reporting on a labor-sympathetic historian who isn't so sympathetic to TWU members. Blog on the Block is more sympathetic to TWU (less to management), but wonders if something can be done for the children who rely on SEPTA to get to school.
Ian at Metroblog tries to put the plight of the transit workers into a perspective that hasn't gotten a lot of play these last few days. Jeff Shafer of the Daily Pennsylvanian, on the other hand, proposes that the effects of this strike should make it illegal.
ACM opines on the most basic truth of the strike, that "no transit news is sad news," while Mike Dorn lauds our SEPTA category here at Philly Future, but laments the dearth of coverage on the disability angle. Anyone aware of decent coverage on this angle, you might want to let Mike know -- let us all know while you're at it.
For a more labor-sympathetic angle on the strike (something that's clearly in the minority from what I've seen), Young Philly Politics has posted several informative pieces over the past few days.
And for a couple peaks on the lighter side of affairs, you might want visit our featured blogger, Becky at Good Grief!, who has just offered her expertise (along with cookies and beer) in trying to bring management and the union together.
But if none of the links in this post have satisfied your need for SEPTA-related perspective, check out the Philly Wire (the most complete roundup of Philly-based blog content anywhere). You can even use the search box in the upper right hand corner of the page; type "SEPTA", click "search" and you will soon find a wealth of SEPTA-related content from across our local web staring back at you.
Or you can post your own strike thoughts here, either in a blog entry or in the comments.
