Meet the Hometown Heroes in Transit – Class of 2017
Seventeen Local 100 members were honored Thursday morning at the Daily News’ fifth annual Hometown Heroes in Transit award ceremony in Manhattan.
The men and women called into the spotlight on the Edison Ballroom stage on W. 47th St. included: CTA Darren Johnson, who chased down and held a subway groper for police; Train Operator Trina Hayes, who coaxed a suicidal man off the tracks of the Rockaway Shuttle; Bus Operator Diana Belgrave, who calmly confronted a knife-wielding lunatic who was harassing passengers, and Track Worker Maurice (Moe) Jackson who runs a Saturday morning basketball program for kids in his Queens neighborhood. You can read all the winners’ full profiles here.
The Hometown Heroes were heralded by some of the biggest names in media, entertainment and politics. The presenters included television news anchors Mary Calvi (CBS), Greg Mocker (WPIX) and Cheryl Wills (NY1), Daily News Co-Publisher Eric Gertler and Bill Mulrow, Secretary to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo would have attended but had to stay in Albany to work with the state Legislature on the budget, Mulrow said.
“I want to say that transit workers rock,” Local 100 President John Samuelsen said. “Transit workers are the most professional workforce of any transit system in the world, and the transit system is the best transit system in the world. This system is absolutely incredible, and I’m thankful to the NYC transit workers who keep it moving every single day.” The News also quoted Samulesen in a special edition published Thursday. Transit workers are “as New York as you can get,” he said. “We are exposed to extreme hazards, including live train traffic and the electrified third rail. But as these award winners highlight, transit workers never hesitate to put themselves in even greater danger to serve the riding public, bravely and professionally. WE are the first responders of the transit system.”