Today In HuffPost New York

One of the things that distinguishes New Yorkers from most of our fellow Americans is that we know we're not really in control. Many of us don't drive, and we know that forces far more powerful than ourselves will decide when the bus or subway is going to show up.

Even in our current low-crime era, we're keenly aware of all the bizarre misfortunes that can befall us. People innocently walking down the street can suddenly fall through a subway grate, get hit by a car that decides to jump over the curb, or be shot with an arrow by a mystery archer who's never found. Stuff just happens.

The good-news-bad-news story about the Stella D'Oro strike in the Bronx is a reminder of how institutions that are supposed to protect people from sudden disaster can be undone in a treacherous economy. The workers at the biscuit company have been on strike for 11 months, ever since Stella D'Oro's owner, a Connecticut investment firm, tried to slash their pay and benefits. The union stuck together. They sued the company for unfair labor practices and won in court.

On Tuesday, the workers returned to their jobs, victorious. And the company announced it was going to shut the plant down in 90 days. The union vowed to fight on and some of the workers said the struggle was worth it, no matter what happened. "Even if I go back for an hour, I'll get satisfaction," a Stella D'Oro mechanic told the Times. But the whole story calls up a feeling of helplessness that's not supposed to be the American way.

All around the country, we hear about similar heads-you-win-tails-you-lose situations. States can't come up with budgets because legislators aren't willing to accept heartbreaking options like closing parks and day care centers. That's just one other reason - one of about ten thousand we could name - that the standoff in the state senate in Albany is so maddening. It isn't about the economy. It isn't about lawmakers trapped between choices so impossible they're immobilized. At bottom, it's a bunch of politicians squabbling about who gets to control patronage jobs.

There are so many real disasters lurking out there, it's infuriating when you see people manufacturing one just for the heck of it.

On the blog front, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand writes about the nursing shortage in New York and her proposal for solving the problem. Jarrett Murphy talks about Mayor Bloomberg's high-roller campaign spending and wonders about the long-term impact his spending binge may have on the city's political system.

Comments

[Micah Landau]

Thanks for the sympathetic coverage of Stella D'Oro -- but "a feeling of helplessness" is not now nor was it ever during 11 months on strike the problem at the plant. The problem was and is greedy and unscrupulous private equity investors who are trying to suck every last cent out of their investment -- workers be damned.

I've been working on the campaign since December and in that time -- including since the announcement that Brynwood Partners will try to shutter the Bronx plant as early as October -- I've seen far more defiance and righteous anger than "hopelessn­ess."

The workers, their union, and an entire Bronx community are up in arms over the situation -- they're committed to fighting the decision to close and I think we've not yet heard the last from them. In fact, I think the good guys just may win this one.