Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since my last post! So much to report, but let's start with Noa's most recent appearance on NBC - our post-strike interview:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/School-Bus-Strike-NYC-Union-Meeting-191437101.html
Throughout the strike, I kept in touch with Pei-Sze Cheng, who interviewed us for the first piece we did on the eve of the strike, so it was fitting that I found out about the end of the strike when she called to tell me that she'd heard the drivers would announce an end to the strike that evening and asked if I want to make a comment. I told her this was the first I'd heard of it and she said "well, then I guess I am bringing the news." Funny! As you'll see, Pei-Sze actually didn't do this interview, but it's a nice piece and Noa really got to be the star in this one (though if you understand ASL you'll see her signing "poop" quite a lot. She'd just gotten off the potty, but I like to think of it as her own commentary on the whole affair).
In terms of the money we put out, we still are waiting for some of that to be re-paid. We were recently told that the City decided it would only pay back $200/day; which I told them wasn't going to work for us since they never told us ahead of time of any limit, and actually there is no way to get a wheelchair car to and from Westchester every day for less then that (if they wanted it to cost less they should have provided it). ANYWAY, they now say that was a "mistake" and that they'll pay us the rest. We'll see. As I repeatedly told the woman who called me, they'll pay us. They can do it now, or they can do later after a big pain the butt, but they'll pay us.
Of course the really funny thing is that after this interview, the folks at NBC made sure to let us know that if the City did give us any trouble, they'd like to know about it... so maybe another spot in the future if they don't pony up. They also haven't given us any answer about reimbursing the cost of having someone take Noa to school on days when we couldn't. So, the strike is over but remnants of it still linger like a strange after taste.
Also, props to Ben - during the interview he tried his darnedest to get out a message about where parents could go for help getting reimbursement, but NBC didn't include that in the spot. The thing you really learn is that you're there to play a role - as soon as they left I told Ben my "Christmas Miracle" comment would make it and I was right. That's the part of the narrative I was there to fill. And though they wanted to know if we had trouble getting money from the City, actually providing information to help parents get that money was not a part of the narrative for this story. Not a complaint really - because I'm grateful for the opportunity to get the story out at all - just an observation.
In any case - it's over for now. The drivers say the strike is "suspended" not "over" - but I think that depends on what the next mayor does. They realized they would get nowhere on this, and the "agreement" with the Democratic candidates was mostly a face-saving move that allowed them to go back to work without feeling like the thing was for naught.
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