By Celeste Katz
and Pete Donohue
Daily News Staff Writer
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New York's lovely ladies began railing yesterday when an electronic message board in a Manhattan subway station suddenly declared: "PRETTY GIRLS DON'T RIDE THE SUBWAY."
The offending message - subsequently proven wrong by an in-depth Daily News investigation - flashed from an electronic message board in the W. Fourth St. station in Manhattan for several hours yesterday. Transit officials switched off the sign altogether just after 8 p.m. last night.
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Electronic message in W. Fourth St. station yesterday.[/align]
It wasn't clear if the off-message message was an inside job or the work of a high-tech prankster. A Transit Authority spokesman said the agency was investigating the incident.
Token booth clerk David Romero, who notified the TA command center of the bogus message, speculated that someone broke into the TA's computer system.
The boards usually flash public service messages reminding parents to hold their tykes' hands on escalators and to fold up strollers.
Some riders at the busy hub that serves seven lines took offense, while others laughed it off.
"It's a vicious lie," said Rachel Russell, 37, an East Village arts-program coordinator, mostly in jest. "I think someone is trying to be clever."
Lucia Morales, 31, a social worker from East New York, Brooklyn, was waiting for a downtown
A train to take her home from celebrating a promotion.
"That's horrible," she said of the sign. "I'm pretty, and I take the subway every day."
Nick Bello, 57, a technical representative from Brooklyn, said he has seen proof that the message is wrong. "It's very strange," he said. "I see a lot of pretty girls on the subway."
Actress Katharyn Bond, 33, of the upper West Side, who was wearing a little black dress with heels and a pink shawl, was taking the subway to a theater to see a play. "Pretty women," she said, "take the subway so we can go spend money on more important things - like alcohol."
With Nicole Bode
Source
