Who Stopped The Trains?

The SF Comical Chronicle proudly announced today that the BART strike was averted because tough economic times are finally putting the nails in the labor movement's coffin. A dubious conclusion that was deftly slapped down by SFist.

Beyond Chron has been pillorying this article's author, Carla Marinucci, recently and for good reason. The article is a set of facts artfully arranged to support a preordained conclusion. Contrary to what Marinucci would like us to think, public opinion is not dramatically lopsided toward the BART unions or management, the public was not terribly outspoken, and the strike was averted at the bargaining table, not the breakfast table over copies of Chronicle editorials.

But her loud propagation of this meme got me thinking, if the prospect of a strike pisses her off, why isn't she mad about the recent BART service cuts?

Clearly, as Marinucci concedes in her article, BART is crucial to the productivity and quality of life in the Bay Area. Ostensibly, she's looking for someone to blame for the economic and social costs of a BART strike.

But a strike is just a severe reduction in service. No trains were harmed in the making of this contract, but BART riders have already had to grapple with the very real consequences of Schwarzenegger's decision to cut off all STA funds this year. Where's the outrage?

If you say this economic climate makes for a bad time to cut our metropolitan area's transit backbone, why don't you object when the trains actually stop running? Becuase they already have, and it wasn't the unions' fault.