Teacher: 'It's very nerve wracking'
Commuters wait to board a train at Mineola LIRR station Friday morning. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
Amanda Gordon, of Mineola, uses the train to commute to Queens "every single workday" for her job as a pre-school teacher in Jamaica. She has to make it to work on Monday because her class is going to an indoor playground for their one field trip of the year.
But Gordon is "not quite sure how I'll do it" if a strike shuts down the railroad.
"I do not have a driver's license ... and I am very nervous. I've been thinking about it for weeks, about how I would get to work. I have to be there at 7 a.m., so it's a really big issue," she told Newsday at the Mineola station Friday morning.
Gordon "was going to be telling my boss that I'm not coming in Monday until she reminded me about my field trip. Now, it's not really an option."
The teacher said her only choice may be to get a cab, which she said was a very expensive alternative that might cost her between $40 and $50.
"It's not exactly the easiest thing. Again, I'm a teacher, so not really income-friendly," she said. "It's very nerve-wracking."
Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
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