New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s plan to create a safer subway environment took effect Monday after a weekend of violent attacks.
Six stabbings at stations in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn were reported over the weekend. More than 270 subway crimes have been reported in 2022 so far, compared to 167 last year.
Adams’s plan aims to stop homeless people from sleeping on trains, urinating on platforms, and bringing shopping carts of belongings into the subway, instead encouraging the homeless and mentally ill to accept help. He called it an effort to “ensure that fear is not New York’s reality.”
“We got so used to being dysfunctional, that it became the normality,” Adams said. “The system is not made to be housing. It’s made to be transportation, and we have to return back to that basic philosophy.”
The plan includes deploying 30 police response teams to enforce transit rules such as sleeping across multiple seats, exhibiting aggressive behavior, and creating an unsanitary environment. Police will also require that trains be cleared at the end of the line.
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Adams insisted enforcement will not be heavy-handed.
“It’s imperative that we have the right response that has the combination of being humane, but clear,” Adams said. “We’re not saying if you break a minor infraction that we’re going to put handcuffs on you. We’re going to correct the conditions.”
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New York State will also invest nearly $40 million to help support hospitals’ ability to admit more psychiatric patients. The funding will help to open 500 supportive housing beds and 600 psychiatric beds.
