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ONELEGUPALEX MEDIA AND PAGS PERSPECTIVE TACKLE DAY 3 of 2026 LIRR STRIKE 5-18-26 · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Garrett.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: All right, it's Monday, May eighteenth, twenty twenty sixth Did
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: you get to the subway series okay without the LR?
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Did you get to where you had to go okay
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: without two straight days full days of the LARR. That's
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: my pressing question here at one log of Alex Media.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Because I, luckily in Queen's I was able to get
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: the subway connections and I got here on time for
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: the Mike Gallagher Show and all that. But a lot
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: of my friends and colleagues are pretty much up shit's creek,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: if you will, when it comes to trying to get
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: into the city. And this is a very interesting timing
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: for this strike. I'm gonna read your General Leb's main
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: takeaway from his statement over the weekend as well. But
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: you guys realize this is an election year for governor
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: here in New York, and I feel like, alongside lining
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: with this is another strike pun intended against Hochel. She's
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: not able to get a deal done. The state runs
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: the MTA, the state runs what the LR does, and
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: she's gotta take responsibility for this strike. And then it
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: pits her opponent, Bruce Blinkman in an even more interesting
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: situation because he's got to work with the governor at
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: the same time it's running against her to try and
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: help his constituents out in Nassa County. It's the most
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: curb your enthusiasm type of thing you could see in
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: a state of dysfunction right now, besides the commuters being
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: stranded shuttle buses after shuttle buses around the city, around
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the island. The two of them have to work to
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: make this fix this because and fix this for their
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: constituents New York State residents and then Long Islanders. And
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: they're running against each other. Is this not Parks and
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: rec Ryan Forgotto right now? This is Parks and Recreation
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: I mean this literally is a subplot straight out of
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Parks and Recreation.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: The two people running against each other have to actually
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: work together at the same time one other situation.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Have you ever seen something like that? And you've probably
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: never seen something like that before.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: And I bet you the average commuter doesn't even think
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: of it that way. But my brain is like working
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: overtime on this because I'm thinking of all the angles
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: we want the engineers to get paid. And then Janel
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Leebert's main takeaway from his statement is, we don't want
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: to implode the state's budget for the MTA. We don't
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: want to implode the MTA budget. Meanwhile, Ryan, they're okay
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: with imploding our wallets by raising the fairs and oh,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: by the way, not canceling congestive fees, which Bruce Blakeman
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: has been fighting for this weekend.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I was just gonna say, I mean, you heard nothing about, oh,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: let's say, spend the congestion tax while the strike is
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: going on, and especially because the MTA shocker controls that
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: as well. But it really doesn't strengthen their argument about
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: blowing their budget entirely, because you know, they can play
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the cry poorer card all they want. But really, the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: fact that they're not suspending the congestion tax, it shows
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: me they're doing just fine money wise exactly.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: And then the healthcare, Why shouldn't these engineers get healthcare?
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, come on, this is the most ridiculous thing.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: And then god forbid, the MTA wants the engineers to
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: sell out the newer guys just for and then.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: To even add to this part of the recreation situation
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: here in New York City, Mom Donnie's having a Jewish
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: heritage event, Like I just I want to just give
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: up at the moment. This is ridiculous to me and
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Jewish Jet prominent Jewish leaders are not going to attend
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: the event rightfully. So the guy Mam Donnie went to
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: a mockery of a satyr earlier this year, you continue
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: to see, even after the condemnation of I think Hamas
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: or something like that, these idiots still protesting in favor
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: of Hamas over the weekend. By the way, with all
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: that's going on, does anybody catch any of this happening?
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Or am I just filling in the gaps here for people?
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I mean maybe so. But this is also kind of
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: an eight dimensional chess move the way I see it
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: from Hochel because conveniently suspending the train service, it's not
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: allowing people to get to this Momdani event anyway. So really,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: you know, the way I look at it, Kathy Okle
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: playing at.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Chess, it is It is insane And I really thought
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: it'd be a two day affair of this strike, but
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: now it's into day three. Now it's a day work week,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: and this coming during an election year? Do the unions
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: know what they're doing? Also, are they trying to make
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: look make Hokele look back. I don't know. They're always
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Democrats pro Democrats anyway.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: But well, in fairness to Kathy Hokel, she's also just
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: making herself look bad because you saw Alex who she
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: immediately went to go blame after the strike happened the president,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: because yeah, the President has complete and total authority on
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: whether or not the Long Island Railroad st Chanel. Now,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: she sent a tweet that Trump basically allowed this to happen.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: But what she, I guess conveniently forgets is the fact
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: that she asked for Trump's intervention to prevent this strike
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: from happening in September twenty five, right conveniently when the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Ryder Cup was taking place on Long Island, with the
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Long Island Railroad being a huge part of getting fans
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: to and from Bethpage Black. So it's TDS at its finest, really,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: and you're really and this is not gonna help her
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: in an election year. I'm sorry. And granted, I don't
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: know where Bruce Blakeman's chances at winning the governor's race
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: stands as a right now. I still think he's the
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: underdog very much. But this is only gonna give him
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: and everybody else running against Kathy Hokl much more, Ammo.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: This does nothing to help her by passing off the
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: blame to other people instead of, you know, taking accountability
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: for it.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: All right, you're gonna share your POV traveling in from
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Massapeka earlier today, but just give my listeners a bit
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: of an insight of what you went through.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, well, I made it to Manhattan in one piece,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: so that was a pretty good thing. But maybe take
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: about I'd like to say it took two and a
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: half hours for me to get here today. Now, just
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: for some normal context, coming in from massive Pequa, it's
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: normally about an hour and a half that it takes
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: me to get in. But with the added shuttles as well,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: because I went up to Hicksville to go catch one
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: of the shuttles up there, where it actually did not
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: look that busy unless you want to count all the
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: engineers that were on strike over there. They got a
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: pretty big start out over at Hicksville, which you know,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I respected.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: That hard too. I'm very curious she would, yeah.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Very much so. And even on the way in passing
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: by Limbrook Station on sunrise Highway. Definitely not as big
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: of a crowd compared to a shot of location like Hicksville,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: but you still had your fair share of engineers.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Now, usually you get out of the house by like
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: ten or eleven. Now you gotta get up earlier and
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: do this whole thing.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: And by the way, I mean, if I want to
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: get in by ten thirty, then I'm leaving the house
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: at eight.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: So that's that's what's happening now under the strike, it's
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: it's embarrassing. And then they could cross on it all
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: they want, but they got to come to.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: A deal and and quickly.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: It also does make the MTA look anti worker does
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: it not.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Very much does, especially again when they don't suspend the
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: congestion tax. They're clearly not worker friendly based off a
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: general lever statement alone. And we already knew they weren't
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: that commuter friendly either. So really they're just not friendly
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: to anybody, it seems, except for the people running the ship.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: And I'm gonna add a I'm gonna add a sidebar
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: to this. I did apply to become part of the
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: advisory committee for the MPTA Accessibility Board, which I still
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: think could do good. But Ryan, I feel like that
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: would be a complic of interest if I wanted to
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: call out the mptape for things like this, because you
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: got that freedom to just still call them out of
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: I'm not part of a board, you know what I mean.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Because then you'd have to reverse course entirely on every
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: single critique you've had in the MTA and all that.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's a huge conflict of interest. So I
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: can't blame you as seeing where you're coming from there.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: And look, I want accessibility for all our subways and trains,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: but I also want the average community to be respected
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: as well. I think this is a slap in the face.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: And I just saw this morning someone actually saw their
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: train go by with nobody. It's just it's chaos. It
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: is utter chaos in an election year. And you know,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: I do think the cities and states problems are under
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: stated because of all the national stuff going on. But
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: it is impacting New Yorkers and it should be a
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: national story because ah.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, it shouldn't be understated enough either, just the
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: fact that New York State alone is losing sixty one
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: dollars or so a day each day that the Long
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Island Railroad strikes because this is a scenario where and
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I hate to say it like this, but everybody loses,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the commuters New York State Long Island Railroad, Janel Liber especially,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: nobody does have the power to fire from maybe the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: unions that are advocating for their fair wages, but even
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: then it's not like they're getting paid or anything like that.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: She's kind of losing to an extent too.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Does she have the power to fire them and fire
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: General liber Or?
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, considering that the MTA is a state run entity. Now,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: not one hundred percent certain if Hokeel could fire Janeo Liber,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: but I mean she is, I feel like, the overseeing it.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: So she definitely has a bit of power over Janel
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Liber's head, no question.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: And if he doesn't get it right, I don't know.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: And that statement was just so just so damp, very
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: very slapping the face. So and look, I'm not always
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: been a fan of his either, but it's just this
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: one takes the cake as far as his responses go
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: to these things. So a lot more on the subways.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: I did notice that today. I mean, look, people, you
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: can't just jump on the LR in Jamaica. You gotta
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: get on the subway and as you know, and as
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: everybody knows, the subways also take longer in general, Like
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: do you realize how much of a difference it is?
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: And because the delays and all that, and it's just
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: it's a miracle. I got it in time. I'll put
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: it that way. That's how it felt today.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's a miracle. I even got in before
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: eleven am to Lower Manhattan. But Alex, the one thing
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: we're not taking into account, we haven't even reached the
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: fun part of the first actual business day of the strike,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: which is going to be the commute home. Now, going
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: into this morning, I had no idea what the heck
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: it was going to be like, because even if you
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: try to plan out, Okay, how am I going to
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: get to the city, you know, in what ways am
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I going to do that? Whether it's through one of
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: these shuttles or through nice Boss or what have you?
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Even driving in there's still this huge factor of the
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: unknown that just clouds everything.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Now did you park where you went to the shuttle
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: bus or how did that work out?
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: So they have a garage I believe a block down
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: from Hicksville Station. A lot of the spots like.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Two and a half hours to go back.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: That is pretty much because the main lot at Hicksville
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Station was actually taken by the engineers striking over there,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: so they pretty much all parked in that main lot.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: And you know, me, being union strong on packs perspective,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I want to be respectful to them, but also at
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: the same time, you know, it's a nice day at
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: why not enjoy some sun before being trapped in an
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: air conditioned bus for an hour and a half. Not
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: not an hour and a half but maybe closer to
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: about seventy minutes. Still over an hour.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll have to say it's one of the most
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: coordinated efforts to try and get commuters to where they
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: got to go, I'll tell you that much. And in
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: that regard that part of the MTA is is working
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: their ass off with nice but but they've got to
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: get something done. This cannot go on for another couple
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: of days, especially because you know Monday you might be
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: able get away with it because that's when commuters literally
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: aren't coming in as much. But someone said on one
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: of our shows here Tuesday through Thursday.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Is the commuter dead And how many people are gonna
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: be taking their sick days too? Like a lot of people.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: They usually either work from home or in this case,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: they probably be taking a sick day.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: There's already an advisory for the World Cup to work
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: from home. This is getting crazy. This is getting more
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: chaotic by the day. And the Knicks are home tomorrow night.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you this much. If Knicks fans aren't
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: able to get from Long Island into the city for
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Game one of the Conference Finals, there's definitely gonna be
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: some huge problems. Because you know how Knicks fans are.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you and I, we both know it. They're
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: not going to take too kindly to any minor inconvenience
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: that comes their way, even something as simple as a
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Pacers fan walking near the garden after they made it
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: to the Conference finals last year. And they're not going
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: to take too kindly to that.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: I don't know, man, it's it's it's a tough predicament.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: I find it funny that I live in Queens, but
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: I don't mind the LR even from Jamaica, because it
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: is at twenty minute commute rather than a forty minute commute.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: There is a big difference there.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: The city tickets too, and all of that. Not like
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: you're showing out three hundred for a monthly that I
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: can't even use today.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: That's true, and I wonder how they're going to reimburse those.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they'll be fixed up. Yeah, So the MTA they
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: did say they were going to offer pro rated refunds
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: at the end of the month for commuters holding a
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: monthly for any business day affected by the strike. That's
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: all we know as of now, on the first actual
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: business day where normal operations are being affected. So I
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: don't know when we're going to know further details about this.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I'm sure it'll be coming soon from the MTA, but
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I know that isn't their main priority, of course, the
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: main one being let's just come to a deal and
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: get these trains back up and run, even if they
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: have priorities.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Even it's like a six month deal, it would be
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: a great boon for her election bit, I'll tell you
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: that much. But all right, one last thing, I gotta
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: shout out Ryan, who goes from when we first started hit,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: you know, working together, we talk about the Gilgo Beach
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: killer right at his hometown to now the l R strike.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: What else can we talk about? Crazy times?
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: My simple answer is yes, yeah, Well.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: And we'll talk about the Subway series with Lou Terminel
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: attle Bit later today because that's another Yankee disaster that
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: I was at and with Ryan on Friday night. That's
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: the the game the Yanks one, but Saturday was a
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: disaster yesterday they blow a three run lead. Maybe Ryan,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: you'll dreaming impas and Termineo's take later to give your
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: take on that as well, might have to be done.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: All right, A lot of Ryan, a lot of Alex,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: a lot of packs protect one like Alex. But this
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: kid's on the ground. So that's why I gotta getm
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: on here.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: It's on the ground journalism right there. There a lot
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: of video journalism to be captured on the shuttle ride home.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: And where can we find you on Instagram?
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: By the way, Yeah, so I got two instagrams. If
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: you want to catch up with me on the personal
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: side of things, it's Ryan Underscore Underscore on Instagram. But
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: if you want to check out more of my podcast endeavors,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: more boots on the Grand journalism, Ryan Pagg's Underscore podcasting
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: is where I post as well, So you can find
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: a good abotomy on both of those pages.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: And you know I mentioned a while ago with Sherry
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: my friend Sherry, how I dealt with the l I show.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I guess I got out of town. I got out
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: of town in New Jersey, met all the people that
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: helped out Sherry score at Project Walk, which she's referenced
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: on the show before. So I figured giving odd to
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: her crew that I met yesterday. And that's how I
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: got out of Dodge for a little while before the chaos.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: All right, l R, come MTA, come do a deal
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: with the engineers, and for goodness sakes, for goodness sakes,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: get everything back up and running. And and Mom, Donnie,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: what are you doing with the Jewish heritagement? It feels fake.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Do better, everybody, And that's my message at one Lego
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Blex Ideas