MTA officials, NYC Council members spar in
hearing on subway station bench removal
BY MARK HALLUM
MTA Chairman Pat Foye was accused
by City Council members
on Wednesday of performing
“hygiene theater” in removing subway
station benches and overnight cleaning efforts
under the supposed guise of sanitation
concerns in the ongoing pandemic.
Foye argued during a City Council hearing
that touch points are still a COVID-19
exposure risk and that the agency is following
recommendations from the FTA, CDC
and EPA in suspending 24/7 service since
May for deep cleaning.
“Current CDC and EPA guidance suggest
frequent hand washing, as well as
cleaning and disinfecting surfaces that
are frequently touched by many people.
That guidance is echoed by the CDC, and
the FDA, and frankly their counterparts
across the world. High touch surfaces
on subway stations and in subway cars
require multiple disinfecting during the
day,” Foye said. “The only way we’re
able to accomplish that is by the 1 a.m.
to 5 a.m. closure, because it is far more
effi cient to do this disinfecting regime
when there aren’t customers on subway
platforms and subway stations, and to
be able to continue to tell our customers
that we’re doing everything we can to
minimize health risks.”
Council Speaker Corey Johnson
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL MTA Chair and CEO Pat Foye
however, pointed out that the majority of
emphasis toward prevention of the spread
of COVID-19 from most authorities
focuses on aerosol mitigation rather than
surface disinfection.
The City Council grilling follows Twitter
outragefrom the week before when New
York City Transit’s account attributed the
removal of benches in stations to a measure
to prevent homeless people from using
them as beds.
According to Foye, benches were not
removed to prevent homeless from sleeping
on them and New York City Transit
President Sarah Feinberg testifi ed that the
23rd Street station benches on the F line
were removed for sanitation before being
replaced.
“We are ground zero for folks who are
having a mental health crisis. And frankly,
we’re not necessarily ground zero for a
homelessness crisis, we don’t ask people
their, you know, their housing situation
when we are dealing with an emotionally
disturbed person or someone who’s in the
middle of a crisis,” Feinberg said. “We’re
just dealing with the moment that we’re in
and trying to solve for that. There is, I can
tell you, no policy that is punitive towards
those who are experiencing homelessness,
or, frankly, even those who are experiencing
a mental health crisis. If there’s anything
we’ve done over the last year, it’s just
beg for more help.”
While Johnson asked for metrics that are
guiding the decision of when the subway
can open overnight again, Foye repeated as
he and other offi cials have since May that
there is no defi nitive date for this.
When Governor Andrew Cuomo
declares an end to the pandemic and the
state of emergency, Foye said, the MTA
would return to a normal overnight service
schedule.
One lawmaker wasn’t buying the MTA’s
arguments.
“I don’t think it’s the real answer, I
believe that you’re engaged in hygiene
theater, I think it’s a cynical approach,
the science would support reopening the
subways overnight in a way that was safe,
and if you helped communicate to riders
so they understood it was safe, it would
work,” Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander
told Foye. “Let’s get serious about ending
homelessness, let’s get serious about keeping
our subways safe and clean.”
There have not been discussions about
whether or not 24 hour service would
never be reinstated, Foye was resolute that
it would.
Over the course of the pandemic, the
MTA has lost up to 140 employees from
COVID-19.
New York City middle schools to resume
in-person learning Feb. 25, de Blasio says
BY BEN VERDE
New York City public
middle schools will
reopen this month for
in-person learning after being
closed since mid-November due
to the COVID-19 pandemic,
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
Monday morning.
Middle schools have the goahead
to reopen on Thursday,
Feb. 25, according to City Hall.
“Our educators have done an
incredible job supporting students
remotely but as we’ve said from
the beginning nothing can replace
in-person learning and the support
our students receive in-person,”
Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza said during de Blasio’s
morning press briefi ng. “We’re so
thrilled to be able to provide that.”
Students at public middle schools in New York City will be able
to return to in-person learning on Feb. 25, Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced on Feb. 8, 2021.
As part of the reopening plan,
middle school teachers in the Department
of Education system returning
to work in-person will be
given priority for the coronavirus
PHOTO BY REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID
vaccine at city-run hubs between
Feb. 12 and Feb. 21 and during
the mid-winter recess.
The Department of Education
will conduct weekly testing
throughout the middle school
system and add additional staff to
its situation room. As it stands,
two confi rmed cases in any public
school cause the school to shut
down temporarily.
City Hall’s announcement
comes as concerns rise about the
prevalence of new, more contagious
variants of the coronavirus,
the presence of which has been
confi rmed in New York.
City offi cials insisted that the
school systems’ ardent safety precautions
would prevent the spread
of the variants in school buildings,
which caused school buildings to
shutter throughout Europe.
“There were no European
countries adopting the same rigorous
approach that we have adopted
here,” said Dr. Jay Varma,
a public health advisor with the
mayor’s offi ce. “That means universal
masking regardless of age,
universal maintaining of physical
distance, aggressive symptom
screening, all the ventilation
improvements.”
Leaders of the United Federation
of Teachers, the union that
represents public school educators,
said they will monitor the
system to ensure that widespread
testing, use of personal protective
equipment, and physical distancing
are adhered to.
Union offi cials repeated the
City Hall talking point that public
schools are the safest place to be
throughout the city.
“These strict standards, and the
requirement that buildings close
temporarily when virus cases are
detected, have made our schools
the safest places to be in our communities,”
said UFT President
Michael Mulgrew. “They will
continue to be the strongest protections
for the health and safety
of students and staff.”
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