Dan's Papers - January 11, 2008 - The Hampton Subway Newsletter

Delays: A burst water pipe inside a concrete stanchion on the D line between Wainscott and Sagaponack slowed down the trains considerably beginning last Thursday. Engineers are still trying to get to the burst pipe with jackhammers and the water is still flowing, but pumps on that line have kept the flooding on the tracks to just six inches and so the trains continue to be able to plow through, although only at 10 miles per hour.

Our condolences go out to Wendy Aspinall, the daughter of our commissioner Bill Aspinall. She was the first person eliminated from the competition on the new "Voice of the Hampton Subway Show," which aired on Fox 5 this past week. The booing by the audience as she performed was totally uncalled for and that Fox would choose to leave it in for their 9 p.m. Wednesday evening coast-to-coast displays a despicable lack of taste. Also, it came as a complete shock to our commissioner. Fox is helping Hampton Subway choose a young lady become the new voice of the subway system, announcing on tape "watch for the closing doors" and "sharp curve, hang on" and "next stop Montauk" for our riders. Ratings for this first week were very poor, even though the time slot for the show immediately follows Fox's "Kitchen Disasters." We expect the ratings to pick up.

A plan proposed by a prominent New York City labor negotiating lawyer Theodore Kheel to triple the toll price presently charged to go across bridges and tunnels into New York in order to create free bus and subway service in that city is believed to not be a good idea, according to officials at Hampton Subway.
Last night, the board of directors of the Subway voted 4-3 to approve a "sense of the Hampton Subway" press release stating that fact. Commissioner Aspinall, at their direction, will hold a press conference this afternoon at 2 p.m. on the front steps of the subway's Hampton Bays headquarters to announce that "sense."
Mr. Kheel's plan is widely opposed in the city of New York as well. Although it would be fine for the citizens of the city who use the subway and busses there, it would be a major hardship for motorists heading into or out of the city to pay $16 or $20 to cross one of the bridges.
As for Hampton Subway, although not owned by the same semi-public company as the New York Subway System, it does share certain services with the New York Subway in a loose affiliation called the NY Metro Subway Condominium. Lawyers are still poring over the wording of the papers that created that affiliation in 1938, and so far they have concluded that if New York Subway becomes free, then so will Hampton Subway. And since there are no bridges that currently charge a toll on the East End, there are no tolls that can be raised, and that cannot be allowed to happen.

The plan put forward last week by the prominent labor negotiator lawyer Theodore Kheel poses a grave threat to Hampton Subway, make no mistake about it.
I spoke to Town Supervisor Linda Kabot of Southampton about the two bridges in that town where there might be tolls - the Shinnecock Canal Bridge and the Sagaponack Rail Bridge - and she said no way. I heard the same comment from East Hampton supervisor McGintee about the Cranberry Hole Bridge.
Mr. Kheel has been an advisor to three Presidents and four Mayors of the City of New York and many years ago headed off a major citywide transportation strike. He also represented the City of New York in successful negotiations with the City's teacher's union. So when he speaks, people listen.
Mr. Kheel also heads up the Advisory Board of Dan's Papers here in the Hamptons, and has been the head of that board for nearly thirty years, as he is a good friend of Dan Rattiner, the founder.
As Dan's Papers publishes our weekly newsletter, which is distributed in racks on all our station platforms along with other publications, and is even handed out by conductors throughout the train just because everyone likes Dan's Papers, I would like to issue a warning to the editors there that that at our board meeting, where we voted 4-3 to oppose Kheel's plan, we also discussed whether it's a good idea to continue to allow the distribution of Dan's Papers on our trains and platforms. This is not a threat. It is just a friendly reminder.
As for my daughter Wendy, who is now back home and recovering in her room from her loss on FOX to become "The Voice of the Hampton Subway," I would like to tell all friends who wrote in to encourage her to overcome the sense of loss in this competition that their cards and letters did cheer her up noticeably and she is doing much better, thank you. She has asked me to transmit to all her smile and her wave, that pretty little girl, and she will be back.