'They deserve better' says daughter of union members
Jasper Wittenhagen, 23, of Seaford, woke up at 5:15 a.m. Monday for her commute to John Jay College, which began with a 15-minute drive to Hicksville. She then boarded a shuttle bound for the city.
She said she didn’t mind the commute of about two hours each way, given that both of her parents are union workers.
“It’s not my favorite thing to do in the world, but I support the union, because they need better pay, they deserve better pay,” Wittenhagen said before boarding a bus at the Howard Beach-JFK station. “I understand how unions work, and I understand that it’s important they get what they need.”
Reginald Leone, 20, of Bay Shore, used the shuttles to commute into the city Monday for jury duty, which he described as “tedious, long and annoying.”
He was less down on the commute.
“The subway is fun. The subway is untouched, it’s just that the bus is the thing that took a little longer, but that’s about it,” he said. “I like seeing the scenery and stuff like that. We took Sunrise Highway to get here. I like Sunrise Highway.”
Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
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