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Governor Fear-Mongers about the Subway


MHV9218

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Take a look at this a**hole. Now, granted, this is a meaningless political stunt designed entirely to make the city look bad and force more cops into the subway, so it shouldn't even be taken seriously, but the notion of the guy who's in charge of the MTA going on this fear-mongering nonsense... Insanity.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday insisted many New Yorkers are “afraid” to take the subway —and that he wouldn’t tell his own child to ride the rails — in a passionate defense of the MTA’s months-long push for more NYPD cops on city transit.

“You want people on the subways. You can’t ignore the reasons why people don’t want to go on the subway,” Cuomo said during a press briefing in Manhattan, in which he was asked to defend his appointed MTA leadership’s recent focus on crime and harassment.

“I relate to it because, as you know, I am a New Yorker, born and bred,” Cuomo — who has ridden the subway once during the pandemic– told reporters, before appearing to assume the perspective of an average straphanger.

“Don’t lie to me. And don’t play me as a fool,” he said. “‘Come on the subway. It’s safe!’ Oh really. Have you been on the subway? Because I have, and I was scared.'”

“‘Tell your child to ride the subway! It’s safe!’ Yeah, I’m not telling my child to ride the subway, because I’m afraid for my child.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD criticized MTA leaders last month for publicizing customer concerns about crime and harassment on the system, which the city officials said would “discourage” New Yorkers from returning to transit after the COVID-19 pandemic.

They noted that crime rates dropped in recent months, while ridership increased.

The subways saw 2.32 felony crimes per million riders in March 2021, compared to 2.65 felonies per million riders the previous month, NYPD stats show. But both figures are significantly higher than the 1.47 crimes per million riders across the year 2019.

MTA customer surveys found crime and harassment were among the top concerns of both current and “lapsed” straphangers, with 36 percent of lapsed riders saying those concerns are holding them back from returning to the system.

The MTA is preparing a publicity campaign to help bring riders back, state officials said.

“If you ignore the problem, you’re not fooling anyone. You’re not deceiving anyone. You can’t say to anyone in New York City today, ‘Don’t worry, it’s safe,'” Cuomo said.

“You guys have to get out of the mentality that everybody lives in Manhattan.”

Cuomo’s comments came after his announcement that 24/7 subway service would resume, as well as the lifting of some COVID-19 restrictions.

He instituted the policy a year ago with the goal of clearing trains and stations of homeless people and other stragglers so the system could be cleaned daily amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

He insisted on Monday that “homeless people on the trains” had deterred potential riders since the start of the pandemic, and urged the MTA and city to continue efforts to remove vagrants from stations and encourage them to accept services.

“We’ve gotten to this point where we’ve accepted, well, the subway system is really a homeless system,” he said. “No! No! I don’t accept that!” 

 

Ridiculous fear-mongering that will depress ridership and, shock of shocks, make the subway LESS safe and even worse for everyone else.

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more like he don't like to be forced to spend money on the (MTA) so he's gonna fear monger as much as he can so he can prove no one rides the subway so he can have a reason to remove funding.

 

now we know crime does happen but this is just a cop out for a reason to remove funding so he can do his pet projects.

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29 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

Take a look at this a**hole. Now, granted, this is a meaningless political stunt designed entirely to make the city look bad and force more cops into the subway, so it shouldn't even be taken seriously, but the notion of the guy who's in charge of the MTA going on this fear-mongering nonsense... Insanity.

 

Ridiculous fear-mongering that will depress ridership and, shock of shocks, make the subway LESS safe and even worse for everyone else.

You can call it fear-mongering, but the data shows that riders overall, the majority of them that took the (MTA) 's survey recently said that they are very concerned about crime in the subways, so at the end of the day, if the riding public doesn't feel comfortable using the system, the (MTA) must respond, or risk not getting a ton of riders back. That's just what it is. You may say oh well those people will come back because they'll be too much congestion, but work from home is here to stay, so if you only have to go to the office a few days a week, you can consider other options and not take the subway.

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3 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

Very different thing between acknowledging how some riders feel and point blank going out and trying to scare people with BS platitudes about your own daughters.

No one needs to be scared though, so it's a moot point. The riders made it crystal clear that they don't feel safe riding the subway, and that was well before Cuomo's comments. If anything, he's just taking a stab at your boy de Blasio for his inability to run the City efficiently and to deal with the crime issues and other quality of life problems plaguing the City. LOL I think it's funny as hell, and while I'm no fan of Cuomo, I do agree with him that de Blasio is incompetent when it comes to running things. He has shown this time and again. 

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As is being alluded to here, the issue is less about actual crimes and more about the impression of an unsafe riding situation, which I attribute to the return of all the homeless. I've been riding the subway about once a week for the last month, and boy oh boy have the homeless returned with a vengeance. Constant screaming about Jesus, vaguely threatening passengers to give money or food, walking around with no masks, it's back to the way it used to be, but with fewer passengers per train, it feels less safe. Have I witnessed any of these folks actually harm anyone? No. Do I feel uncomfortable as they come down the car screaming because I don't know what they will do? Yes. And I am not the only one who feels that way clearly. 

I think the point that all of us on here agree with is that services for the chronically mentally ill who live in the subway are severely under resourced, but it is not "sexy" to fund those programs, so the situation never really improves. Sigh. 

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2 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

de Blasio sure isn't my boy, but let's remember, the governor runs the subway. This is like telling people to be afraid of one of your own children.

Yes, but the Mayor is responsible for keeping the subways safe and providing police. The (MTA) Police do NOT deal with the subways. That's on the City and de Blasio.

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1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

As is being alluded to here, the issue is less about actual crimes and more about the impression of an unsafe riding situation, which I attribute to the return of all the homeless. I've been riding the subway about once a week for the last month, and boy oh boy have the homeless returned with a vengeance. Constant screaming about Jesus, vaguely threatening passengers to give money or food, walking around with no masks, it's back to the way it used to be, but with fewer passengers per train, it feels less safe. Have I witnessed any of these folks actually harm anyone? No. Do I feel uncomfortable as they come down the car screaming because I don't know what they will do? Yes. And I am not the only one who feels that way clearly. 

I think the point that all of us on here agree with is that services for the chronically mentally ill who live in the subway are severely under resourced, but it is not "sexy" to fund those programs, so the situation never really improves. Sigh. 

That too (addresing the mentally ill situation) is on the City, NOT the (MTA) , so again, the City needs to step up and provide the resources. "Thrive", de Blasio's wife's pet project, has been a disaster. No one knows where the $850 million went that was allocated to helping the mentally ill, and if anything, the mentally ill crisis has only worsened under the current administration. I am not a progressive, but I was actually open to de Blasio and hopeful when he took over his first term, but he is incompetent and unfit to run this City. He is incapable of handling multiple problems, makes promises to do XYZ and then can't keep them. If you think about every initiative he has undertaken, from housing to improving bus speeds, to providing more bus lanes, to the mentally ill, to even the basics like Sanitation, he has FAILED in his two terms in office. The streets remain FILTHY, even with fewer tourists and people around. 

The City is spending roughly $4 BILLION annually to supposedly address the homeless problem, yet the homeless crisis has only grown under his watch, and that's him trying to ram homeless shelters into every neighborhood. What a mess. Worst of all, the current people running for the position don't give me much hope, be it Democrats or Republicans. 

Edited by Via Garibaldi 8
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2 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

As is being alluded to here, the issue is less about actual crimes and more about the impression of an unsafe riding situation, which I attribute to the return of all the homeless. I've been riding the subway about once a week for the last month, and boy oh boy have the homeless returned with a vengeance. Constant screaming about Jesus, vaguely threatening passengers to give money or food, walking around with no masks, it's back to the way it used to be, but with fewer passengers per train, it feels less safe. Have I witnessed any of these folks actually harm anyone? No. Do I feel uncomfortable as they come down the car screaming because I don't know what they will do? Yes. And I am not the only one who feels that way clearly. 

I think the point that all of us on here agree with is that services for the chronically mentally ill who live in the subway are severely under resourced, but it is not "sexy" to fund those programs, so the situation never really improves. Sigh. 

Agreed 100%.

I haven't gone south of Yankee Stadium by subway alone since COVID started. All my loner trips to Manhattan have been on the express bus (Since the pandemic started I've ridden the BxM1/2/3/7 all for the first time). And out of my 5 trips on the subway in a small family group since March 2020, I've felt like I've needed eyes in the back and sides of my head for 4 of those trips. Even above ground I get skeeved out every now and then with some combination of someone bible preaching about lakes of blood, begging for money, or watching randoms assaulting people on the trains for no good reason on the news every other night.

For the mayor and his police chief to insinuate that there are no problems at all in the subway with personal safety is just ignorant.

The governor.... well.... whatever, but he's not totally wrong.

Edited by paulrivera
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7 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

As is being alluded to here, the issue is less about actual crimes and more about the impression of an unsafe riding situation, which I attribute to the return of all the homeless. I've been riding the subway about once a week for the last month, and boy oh boy have the homeless returned with a vengeance. Constant screaming about Jesus, vaguely threatening passengers to give money or food, walking around with no masks, it's back to the way it used to be, but with fewer passengers per train, it feels less safe. Have I witnessed any of these folks actually harm anyone? No. Do I feel uncomfortable as they come down the car screaming because I don't know what they will do? Yes. And I am not the only one who feels that way clearly. 

I think the point that all of us on here agree with is that services for the chronically mentally ill who live in the subway are severely under resourced, but it is not "sexy" to fund those programs, so the situation never really improves. Sigh. 

Forgive me for the question, but why isn't there enforcement of safety in the subway?

I was on a (4) yesterday and this homeless dude started banging and slamming on the walls of the car. Mind you this was a crowded train during rush hour. Then a few weeks ago one of them peed in the seat on the (5) and thankfully no one was sitting in that section but that's just unsanitary. 

Then you have the issue about cleanliness. MTA says they're cleaning the cars at each terminal and that's a downright lie. After that incident on the (5), I privately DM NYCTSubway and they told me they would inform the car cleaning team. I decided to stay on the train to see if they did, and sure enough when we got to Dyre Av the train sat for several minutes and went right back out with pee still on the seats. 

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8 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Yes, but the Mayor is responsible for keeping the subways safe and providing police. The (MTA) Police do NOT deal with the subways. That's on the City and de Blasio.

 

Giuliani used that dichotomy as an excuse to pull thousands of cops out of the subway system by dissolving the separate Transit Police Department:  The Mayor controls the police and the streets, but does not control crime or the subway system. Therefore, police belong on the streets while crime belongs in the subways. (Of course, he actually never said that out loud, but his actions reflected it.)

 

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19 minutes ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

 

Giuliani used that dichotomy as an excuse to pull thousands of cops out of the subway system by dissolving the separate Transit Police Department:  The Mayor controls the police and the streets, but does not control crime or the subway system. Therefore, police belong on the streets while crime belongs in the subways. (Of course, he actually never said that out loud, but his actions reflected it.)

 

Uh huh, but that doesn't change what I said above...

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3 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Forgive me for the question, but why isn't there enforcement of safety in the subway?

I was on a (4) yesterday and this homeless dude started banging and slamming on the walls of the car. Mind you this was a crowded train during rush hour. Then a few weeks ago one of them peed in the seat on the (5) and thankfully no one was sitting in that section but that's just unsanitary. 

Then you have the issue about cleanliness. MTA says they're cleaning the cars at each terminal and that's a downright lie. After that incident on the (5), I privately DM NYCTSubway and they told me they would inform the car cleaning team. I decided to stay on the train to see if they did, and sure enough when we got to Dyre Av the train sat for several minutes and went right back out with pee still on the seats. 

I have met some of the Customer Service Team in person down at 2 Broadway. They are nice people, but do understand that they are the in between folks and just because they inform this one or that one of a problem doesn't mean the issue can be resolved right away. They may not be able to get anyone when they reach out to those people. The way in which the communication arrangement is set up definitely needs improvement, that much I agree on.

On the enforcement side, realistically speaking, what the City should be doing is deploying cops to ride the subways and not just having them at the turnstiles or on platforms here and there, but even so, you are not going to have a cop riding every subway car. Not happening, but that is why de Blasio should direct Commissioner Shea to deploy more cops into the subway system so that there are more eyes.

I'll go one further... For the "woke" population that screams and yells about "defunding the police", they won't admit that we have a crime problem both underground and above ground (the stats don't tell the whole story about "perceived crime"). When you pull resources from the NYPD, it creates a situation where they simply don't have enough police to patrol where they need to. Since so many people now apparently hate cops, well now you have cops trying to retire in record numbers, and they are not being replaced as quickly as the City can recruit new cops. In fact there are reports out that de Blasio is trying to stop a number of cops from retiring immediately to avoid having even fewer cops available. If you're a cop in the current environment, why in the hell would you stick around in a hostile environment? They can put in their papers and retire with their pension, and that's exactly what they are doing. 

Instead of vilifying ALL police, deal with the corrupt/crooked ones. That's what should happen, but unfortunately, that's not the case. I have a number of friends that are cops that I went to high school with or college. Good people with families. Not all cops are pigs, but that's the new thing now here in NYC, and another thing that de Blasio has failed on.

Edited by Via Garibaldi 8
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6 minutes ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

Contracts can always be renegotiated or not renewed. MTA can even offer to directly hire the cops it's already paying for. 

Well, per Sarah Feinberg who was interviewed this morning, they already hired some unarmed security guards to help out a bit, but ultimately, they are not going to hire hundreds of security guards to police the subways when they are NOT responsible for providing security on the subways. You are basically saying that the (MTA) should blow up part of their budget to provide a service that the City is supposed to be providing. That sounds VERY fiscally responsible. <_< That agreement has been in place now for over 20 years, and asking the (MTA) to shoulder more costs at a time when they have been asking for federal funding to run service, etc. does not make much sense. That has been (and continues to be) the City's responsibility, and the Mayor needs to do his job and provide the police needed. The problem is de Blasio has alienated his own police force. I have never seen a NYC Mayor have the force turn their backs on them the way this police force has, both literally and figurately. 

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10 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Well, per Sarah Feinberg who was interviewed this morning, they already hired some unarmed security guards to help out a bit, but ultimately, they are not going to hire hundreds of security guards to police the subways when they are NOT responsible for providing security on the subways. You are basically saying that the (MTA) should blow up part of their budget to provide a service that the City is supposed to be providing. That sounds VERY fiscally responsible. <_< That agreement has been in place now for over 20 years, and asking the (MTA) to shoulder more costs at a time when they have been asking for federal funding to run service, etc. does not make much sense. That has been (and continues to be) the City's responsibility, and the Mayor needs to do his job and provide the police needed. The problem is de Blasio has alienated his own police force. I have never seen a NYC Mayor have the force turn their backs on them the way this police force has, both literally and figurately. 

 

(MTA) is already reimbursing NYPD for that police coverage (hence the contract), so paying for it directly is not really a stretch.

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Out of my last five subway rides, I have encountered four situations that made me feel uncomfortable. 

The last one was when I traveled from JFK Airport to Bed-Stuy on the A train, where I got two disturbances for the price of one.

No, the governor is not fearmongering on this issue. He is 100% accurate. People who can leave the system are not going to deal with this. This type of deterioration has happened before and that is how we got the EXPRESS BUS SYSTEM. Even though the subways are orders of magnitude better than in the 1970s, a ton of people scarred by that never fully came back to the subway. The problem is that de Blasio is a little too insulated to listen to normal people.

When he has city employees call out en masse because they are having issues on the subway, he will get it.

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1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

they already hired some unarmed security guards to help out a bit

Those security guards are exclusive to Fulton Center and probably Times Square tho.

1 hour ago, JAzumah said:

Out of my last five subway rides, I have encountered four situations that made me feel uncomfortable.

I went three stops on the (4) train this morning, above ground, and there was this homeless dude sleeping on the seat without a mask on. Even going three stops I have to stay alert looking in every direction.

Compare being hyper alert for a small 5 minute el ride (not even underground) to when I take Metro-North or the express bus where I can sit down, listen to music, charge my phone and take a nap.

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1 hour ago, JAzumah said:

No, the governor is not fearmongering on this issue. He is 100% accurate. People who can leave the system are not going to deal with this. This type of deterioration has happened before and that is how we got the EXPRESS BUS SYSTEM. Even though the subways are orders of magnitude better than in the 1970s, a ton of people scarred by that never fully came back to the subway. 

 

In that case, the obvious question is this:  Should subway service and security be improved to attract riders back? Or should both be kept substandard by official policy in order to justify subsidizing alternatives such as expanded express buses, ferries, and driving cars into Manhattan? (Don't laugh — a similar question resulted in the rise of charter schools.)

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1 hour ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

 

(MTA) is already reimbursing NYPD for that police coverage (hence the contract), so paying for it directly is not really a stretch.

Let's assume that they do reimburse them. That's still a huge difference from having to take over AND add an extra 500 cops on an annual basis. If it was that fiscally feasible, I would imagine the (MTA) would be doing it already.

1 hour ago, JAzumah said:

Out of my last five subway rides, I have encountered four situations that made me feel uncomfortable. 

The last one was when I traveled from JFK Airport to Bed-Stuy on the A train, where I got two disturbances for the price of one.

No, the governor is not fearmongering on this issue. He is 100% accurate. People who can leave the system are not going to deal with this. This type of deterioration has happened before and that is how we got the EXPRESS BUS SYSTEM. Even though the subways are orders of magnitude better than in the 1970s, a ton of people scarred by that never fully came back to the subway. The problem is that de Blasio is a little too insulated to listen to normal people.

When he has city employees call out en masse because they are having issues on the subway, he will get it.

I love it when the naysayers like you experience something. Then that makes it valid. :lol: The subways have been a mess wayyyy before COVID. Guess you just got the memo now. You should take the (A) further and you may find some people dealing with their addictions right on the platform if you catch my drift. The subways may not look as grimy as they did back in the 70s when the City was broke, but we're not too far off. We have random attacks now in the system in broad daylight, but as long de Blasio and his minions keep yelling that crime is down, they'll think that makes everything ok. The express bus system is a necessity regardless as are the ferries. 

28 minutes ago, paulrivera said:

Those security guards are exclusive to Fulton Center and probably Times Square tho.

I went three stops on the (4) train this morning, above ground, and there was this homeless dude sleeping on the seat without a mask on. Even going three stops I have to stay alert looking in every direction.

Compare being hyper alert for a small 5 minute el ride (not even underground) to when I take Metro-North or the express bus where I can sit down, listen to music, charge my phone and take a nap.

Yeah well she didn't specify where they were stationed or how many, but it seems evident that they don't have the resources to hire hundreds more of them to patrol the subways, and quite frankly, what are they going to do? Call a cop? LOL

26 minutes ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

 

In that case, the obvious question is this:  Should subway service and security be improved to attract riders back? Or should both be kept substandard by official policy in order to justify subsidizing alternatives such as expanded express buses, ferries, and driving cars into Manhattan? (Don't laugh — a similar question resulted in the rise of charter schools.)

I am laughing because the ferry service nor the express buses have anything to do with the current situation. Some areas have no subways, so regardless of how safe and how well they run, ferries and express buses will still be needed to serve people in subway deserts.

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2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

On the enforcement side, realistically speaking, what the City should be doing is deploying cops to ride the subways and not just having them at the turnstiles or on platforms here and there, but even so, you are not going to have a cop riding every subway car. Not happening, but that is why de Blasio should direct Commissioner Shea to deploy more cops into the subway system so that there are more eyes.

With all the police substations in the subway, and a whole NYPD Transit Bureau, if they're not in the subway policing, they're definitely not doing their job.

So why do they still have the jobs?

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11 minutes ago, Deucey said:

With all the police substations in the subway, and a whole NYPD Transit Bureau, if they're not in the subway policing, they're definitely not doing their job.

So why do they still have the jobs?

lol I guess you missed the part about police officers retiring en masse... There may be lots of stations, but the NYPD can't recruit fast enough to replace all of the cops that are throwing in the towel. When you have an anti-police environment, this is what you get. I have friends who are cops that I grew up with. They feel demoralized, unappreciated and undervalued, not just as cops, but as human beings. They have families to go home to just like we do.  When you have the bail reform changes, and you see the same perps being arrested and then released over and over again because they committed "non-violent crimes", you have to wonder what's the point? The City's goal is to empty out the jails so that they can close down Rikers and build those lovely borough-based jails. If you think it's because they give a damn about the conditions on Rikers Island, I have a bridge to sell you.

“Approximately 2,600 officers departed while another 2,746 filed for retirement

As anti-police sentiments continue to intensify across the country after a string of high-profile police brutality cases, officers are now leaving the New York Police Department in record numbers.“

https://news.yahoo.com/nypd-experiences-75-percent-increase-172356200.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY2l0eS1kYXRhLmNvbS9mb3J1bS9uZXcteW9yay1jaXR5LzMyNjU1OTEtbnlwZC1jb3BzLWxlYXZpbmctZHJvdmVzLmh0bWw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABvKVd6wMkWtwL8qWyObw5TkqKHSoVVfK7NmttkOBroPaYI41i5BvQz_RpTRrznrVnQWpXK6RyLe3v0v3FFVbIke8OeeY_8J8zL7HwLKtikR1ri6Uuo9a_W9KIfVIT4M_W2NjlBNTKmMZXTm5LmEI9u_PRONwyKrRCOnYGC4H6FY

Edited by Via Garibaldi 8
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