JANUARY 29 -- Among the first people to open the Daily News each morning are the transit workers who get up while the City sleeps. Today, they got a treat -- a special 12-page section inside the paper showcasing the News's 2015 Hometown Heroes in Transit -- TWU Local 100 members who have distinguished themselves by helping fellow New Yorkers, often at risk to their own safety. Before the day's end, the Hometown Heroes section will be seen by nearly two million people. Honorees joined TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen, Daily News Publisher Mort Zuckerman, and other luminaries at a breakfast hosted by the Municipal Credit Union at Manhattan's Edison Ballroom. Also on hand was Daily News transit reporter Pete Donohue, who has done so much to tell the stories of transit workers that President Samuelsen called him the reportorial voice of blue collar New York. The entertaining morning of presentations was MC'd by New York 1 morning anchor Pat Kiernan, who shares with many transit workers the distinction of having to get up at 3 AM. We can't do justice to Donohue's great article on the hometown heroes in transit, so we're linking to it here so you can read it. And while it's on the stands, get out and buy today's Daily News. It's a honor for us all.
Today's honorees included a Bus Operator who drove a critically wounded teen to an ambulance station after gunfire erupted on her bus (and whose name is being withheld because of the incident), Conductor Jonathan Cassell, Train Operator Luis Manrique, Eagle Team Member Bob Esposito, Track Workers David Soto, Louis Albino, Clyde Ferguson, and Stewart Azzato, Car Inspector Kenny Williams, SIR Conductor James Thompson, Station Agent Theresa Green, Machinist Frank Gurrera, and Bus Operator George Smith.
