DANGEROUS
BY BEN BRACHFELD
Mayor Eric Adams on Feb.
18 released a new plan to improve
safety on the subway,
saying he intends to mobilize
his entire administration to
prevent violence underground
and ensure those experiencing
homelessness in the system
get the help they need.
The plan, unveiled by Adams
and Gov. Kathy Hochul
at the Fulton Street subway
hub, calls for increased NYPD
deployment and “omnipresence”
in the subterranean
transit system, a requirement
to enforce the MTA’s “code of
conduct,” cross-agency teams
tasked with outreach towards
those experiencing homelessness
and mental illness, and
connecting them to services.
“The subway plan is a comprehensive
civic strategy that
will do more than deal with
a temporary fi x,” the mayor
said. “You cannot put a bandaid
COURIER L 22 IFE, MARCH 4-10, 2022
on a cancerous sore.”
The new plan comes amid
a rash of violent incidents in
the subway attributed to those
experiencing homelessness
and untreated mental illness,
most notably the death of Michelle
Go after she was pushed
onto the subway tracks at
Times Square.
“Going forward, we will no
longer give an option to exist in
the system in this way,” 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,
if someone is in physical
or emotional distress, we can’t
leave them on the train, for
their own safety and the safety
of others. That’s a betrayal. We
must intervene and get help.”
Up to 30 of the interagency
“Joint Response Teams,”
collaborations between the
Health Department, Homeless
Services, NYPD, and community
based providers, will
be deployed at transit hubs
and at end-of-line subway stations
with the aim of engaging
homeless people in the system
and connecting them to shelter,
housing, and services.
The mayor said that the aim
of the new plan was to ensure
people get the help they need
and that offending behavior is
corrected, rather than a show
of force, but said that people
would be forcibly ejected if
they were found to pose a danger
to themselves or others.
Meanwhile, offi cers will
have to be more dogged in
enforcing the MTA’s code
Mayor Adams unveils his “Subway Safety Plan” alongside Gov. Hochul on
Feb. 18. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
of conduct, which prohibits
smoking, using drugs, panhandling,
carrying one’s belongings
in a large shopping
cart, and otherwise using the
system as shelter rather than
transportation.
The measures on the city
level will be coupled with an
increased investment in mental
health services on the state
level. The governor said that
her budget proposal includes
$27.5 million for more psychiatric
beds, $12.5 million for 500
new supportive housing beds,
and $9 million to recruit psychiatric
health care personnel.
The plan also calls for new
“drop-in centers” for those experiencing
homelessness and
an increase in “safe haven”
and stabilization beds this
year. The mayor also called on
the state to expand “Kendra’s
Law,” which empowers authorities
to involuntarily commit
people to outpatient treatment.
Homelessness in the subway
has been on the rise in recent
years but has come to the forefront
in the wake of Go’s death,
where a mentally ill homeless
man who had encountered barriers
to treatment pushed her
onto the tracks, to her death.
Adams releases ‘subway safety plan’
to remove, service homeless people
40 STAY INFORMED!
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