NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to say New York City subways are safe and point fingers, as the MTA and riders plead for more protection.
“What’s happening right now is clearly at the instruction of the governor. The MTA leadership is fear mongering,” de Blasio said in an interview Friday. “I’ve ridden the subways, so many folks in my life ride the subways all the time. They’re overwhelmingly safe.”
The mayor says the city has already added about 600 officers underground, but the MTA says it needs about 1,500 more.
“Putting on rose-colored glasses, pretending that there’s no problem is not a way to lead the city,” said New York City Transit Authority Interim President Sarah Feinberg.
(Credit: TWU Local 100)
In one of the latest incidents on the rails, an off-duty MTA conductor was nearly blinded Thursday on the J train in Brooklyn. Police said a stranger slashed him in the face with a box cutter.
“Mister mayor, I am saying to you, it is not safe for the transit workers or the public to ride trains, buses and everything,” the victim’s aunt, Cassandra Sykes, said.
De Blasio has touted that overall transit crime is down compared to this time last year, but assaults are up some 20%.
Friday morning, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea tried to inspire confidence among current and potential riders.
“The subways are coming back. The ridership is slowly increasing,” he said. “When you look at the crime levels in the subway, they’re down pretty dramatically.”
“What’s really going to help the subways get safer is more and more people riding them,” the mayor added.
CBS2 has reached out to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the MTA for a reaction to de Blasio’s comments.
from CBS New York https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/05/07/de-blasio-says-cuomo-is-fear-mongering-about-subway-crime/
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