4 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 6, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
24-hour NYC subway service back on May 17
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced
on Monday, May 3, the long-awaited
return of 24-hour service on subways
aft er showcasing a plan for regional
reopening as over 7 million New
Yorkers across the state are vaccinated.
Starting May 17, Cuomo said the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
could cancel the 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. shutdown,
which was originally instituted
for aggressive COVID-19 cleaning
eff orts as well as removing homeless
people from the system.
“I can’t tell you how many New
Yorkers say to me, there were fewer
homeless who are now on the trains,
because when they closed in the evening
for a couple of hours at night,
they did the cleaning and they refer the
homeless to supportive services, which
is what they needed in the fi rst place,”
Cuomo said.
“Nobody wants the MTA to now go
back to the old days. So I told the MTA
– for my two cents – 24-hour service,
yes, but trains must remain clean and
we have to help the homeless, and we
can’t go backwards on the quality of service,”
he added.
Transport Workers Union Local 100,
which represents up to 40,000 MTA
employees, had some concerns about
the resumption of the New York City
staple of overnight mass transit service.
“Felony assaults are up 42 percent
this year compared to three years ago –
when there were 3 million more people
using the subway every day,” Local 100
President Tony Utano said. “Restoring
24-hour subway service is a great idea,
but the city has to add more mental
health services, homeless outreach and
uniformed police offi cers to the system.
Too many transit workers and riders are
being harassed and assaulted right now
with the current hours of operation.”
Cuomo reconciled the possibly false
pretense of cleaning surfaces when the
scientifi c community has known for
months COVID-19 does not spread via
surfaces by explaining that the eff ort
instituted under his direction made
people feel better about riding while
giving homeless New Yorkers options
between the streets and shelter.
“Riders organized and won back 24/7
subway service. Aft er more than a year
of punishing overnight commutes that
impacted tens of thousands of essential
workers, New Yorkers will see a
long-overdue return to a crucial part
of normalcy,” Riders Alliance Executive
Director Betsy Plum said. “New York is
a 24/7 city because of our subway. Th e
restoration of 24/7 service is a victory
not only for the city’s reopening but for
New Yorkers’ determination to hold our
public offi cials accountable.”
Riders Alliance rallied with Senate
Majority Leader Charles Schumer on
Sunday calling for the restoration of
24-hour service.
Cuomo eases mask order for fully vaccinated New Yorkers
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced
last week that New York state would
be following the Centers for Disease
Control’s latest guidance that fully vaccinated
individuals do not need masks outdoors
unless in a crowded setting.
Additionally, all state mass vaccination
sites as of April 29 will not require an
appointment, Cuomo announced in a
press conference, and every location will
have capacity to accommodate every New
Yorker, 16 and up, looking to get inoculated
against COVID-19.
“We have a call once a week where the
governors speak with the White House.
Th e CDC announced today new guidance
saying for New Yorkers, Americans
who are fully vaccinated: When you are
outside, biking, hiking, running or in
small gatherings, you don’t need to wear
a mask,” Cuomo said. “So that is liberating,
especially now that the weather is getting
warmer. New York has adopted that
guidance, so that’s going to go into eff ect
in New York state also. We want to thank
CDC for that.”
Local jurisdictions will have the freedom
to decide for themselves whether
or not to make vaccinations walk-in
as opposed to requiring appointments
made online — which has proven to be
an obstacle for many New Yorkers facing
technical barriers.
While Cuomo said he believed the state
was making progress in deploying the
vaccine, things are slowing down not
because of distribution but because of
reduced demand.
“But we’re seeing a reduction in the
number of people coming in for vaccines.
We were doing about 175,000 vaccines
statewide every 24 hours. Th at number
is down to now about 115,000 vaccines
every 24 hours,” Cuomo added.
“You don’t have to call. You don’t have to
make an appointment — all New Yorkers
16-plus, just come in to a mass vaccination
site on Th ursday, and you are eligible
for a vaccine.”
Th e embattled governor did not take
questions from members of the media
during this appearance aft er a testy
exchange between him and a number
of outlets regarding the pending allegations
of sexual misconduct against him
which are currently under review by both
the Assembly Judiciary Committee and
Attorney General Letitia James’ offi ce.
Cuomo denied the allegations against
him once again and expressed confi dence
he would be vindicated in the AG’s report
on the investigation.
Photo via Andrew Kelly/REUTERS
Photo by Mark Hallum
24-hour subway service is set to return on May 17, 2021.
Sign up to watch debates online at www.PoliticsNY.com/Debates
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
/Debates
link
/Debates
link
link
