If the MTA is so interested in paying tribute to Rosa Parks lets see their fat asses make some kind of scarifice themselves. Maybe the execs could stand all day at the office. Or actually take public transportation. How dare they decide on a tribute that their CUSTOMERS are then forced to make a sacrifice to respect - or risk ending up appearing racist and politically incorrect.

Last time I checked the "bus system" in Newark is the statewide New Jersey Transit, which also runs commuter trains and light rail trains. For one, a more accurate term would have been "transit system" and a bit more research wouldn't have hurt.

So, I took the B35 this morning and the sign was on the seat, but there was this sorry little handwritten note on notebook paper taped to the seat reminding people not to sit there.

Why is the MTA (!) in charge of a Rosa Parks tribute? A civic or cultural institution should be leading activities or presentations or designing flyers or anything before the MTA for god's sake!

While walking along Prospect Park West in Park Slope this evening, I counted eight buses without any signage over the front seat. Only one bus passed with any indication of the Rosa Parks observance: it had the poster taped to the window, visible to those outside the bus, not to passengers. Seems like a rather lame effort by drivers and supervisors at our local bus depot (the "Jackie Gleason" depot on Fifth Ave. and 36th St.).

It is as sloppy as MTA's ridiculous slogan "if you see something say something", and even more pathetic their appalling Spanish translations, in this case they litery translated into Spanish: "if you see what ever, say what ever".

Get a better translator, man.

welp heres cleveland:

RTA News

Nov. 30, 2005,

RTA co-sponsors Dec. 1 tribute to Rosa Parks

CLEVELAND – The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) is co-sponsoring a 50th anniversary salute to Rosa Parks from 11:30 a.m.- 1 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, in the first-floor Rotunda of City Hall, 601 Lakeside Ave.

Sheryl King Benford, Deputy General Manager – Legal, will speak on behalf of RTA.

The event is free and open to the public.

Other sponsors are the:

City of Cleveland

NAACP

Ohio Civil Rights Commission.



Mayor Jane L. Campbell has dedicated Dec. 1 as Rosa Parks Day in the City of Cleveland.

On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks entered history, not by standing up, but remaining seated. Known fondly as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement, she became an icon of civil rights, a symbol of the power of one person to change the world.

Keynote Speaker will be native Clevelander Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley from the State Department in Washington, D.C. She is involved internationally in civil and human rights.

A 1950s bus will be parked in front of Cleveland City Hall from 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. The bus is on loan from the City of North Olmsted.

FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES ONLY:

Wendy Boerger, City of Cleveland, 216-664-2238

I think it's a great idea, but when I got on the bus today (and mind you, it wasn't even crowded!), SOMEONE WAS SITTING IN THE "ROSA PARKS SEAT"! Very tacky on her part... They should have had a big bow, or at least thumbtacks.

On both buses I was on today had people in those seats. The first bus, there was someone in the seat so I couldn't tell if the sign was posted at all. On the second bus, the sign was actually posted on the window behind the seat. Of course the person didn't read it--who reads those Bus Talk signs anyway?!

The whole thing seems tacky - too literal. Rosa should be rememebered for the abstract idea of saying 'enough is enough' not as 'the bus seat lady.'

(correction: tried and polite=tired and polite.)

The week that Rosa Parks died Seattle put the following large sticker on the seat on every public bus in Seattle.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39882521@N00/60777873/

Not to have a bad attitude about good intentions or anything, but I think this is a rotten idea. What happens when the bus is crowded and crammed full of people? What happens if you don't feel well and really need to sit down? What happens if you're pregnant or disabled or something else? I fainted once on the subway when it was crowded and hot and I couldn't stand up anymore. It was very embarrassing and everybody saw my underwear when I hit the floor! Will this happen to other people on the bus who get woozy but don't want to look like a douchebag sitting in the Rosa Parks seat? Give her a statue or something, just don't leave us tried and polite people passing out all over the floor because we couldn't sit in the one remaining seat! It makes me feel like Rosa Parks reincarnated.

Yeah, I've had to listen to it all afternoon. It's a rally against "war, racism and poverty." Awfully ambitious, don't you think? They're really tackling a lot of issues for one day.

There is supposedly a Rosa Parks rally at Wall St & Broadway until 6pm. When I walked by around 3:00 a lady was yelling in a loudspeaker about how Bush lied and two guys were holding a banner saying "9/11 was an inside job." What does this have to do with Rosa Parks? The whole thing turned my stomach.

after the $1 fare discount, the MTA couldn't splurge on ribbon.

And you KNOW some jackass planked his/her behind right on the seat at some point today.