The Democratic mayor has given the order to evict anyone who takes refuge in the train cars, in the corridors or on the platforms of the New York network, where crime and extreme poverty have increased since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. .
On Feb. 18, New York City authorities pledged to drive out the city’s massive subway system the countless homeless people who survive there but are also blamed in the recent crime surge.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, rates of delinquency and extreme poverty have increased in New York City, and in particular in the subway – without however reaching the levels of the 1980s-90s.
The network is not made to house, but to transport [les gens]
Democratic but center-right mayor Eric Adams, an African-American former police officer, was elected in November on a crime-fighting platform. He took office on January 1 and had to respond to a succession of assaults and shooting murders. The city councilor announced that he had instructed the police forces and social workers of the municipality to expel anyone who took refuge in the train carriages, in the corridors or on the platforms. “The network is not made to accommodate, but to transport [les gens]“, he hammered during a press briefing. He also promised that the New York police (NYPD) would crack down on smokers and drug addicts on the subway.
Homeless people accused of assaulting passengers
The platforms and trains of the New York subway – whose infrastructure is aging – have been frequented since the pandemic by a number of homeless people who can annoy travelers more or less aggressively, according to municipal authorities.
According to Eric Adams, measures are planned so that social workers and the police can refer homeless people to shelters or hospitals. The Governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul, clarified alongside her that she would demand the creation of reception centers and 500 additional beds, in a megalopolis of nine million inhabitants with deep socio-economic inequalities. .
According to the NYPD, there were 488 homicides in 2021 in the city, up slightly from the sharp increase in 2020 (468 homicides, up from 319 in 2019). Violent crimes have increased by 25% in the metro between 2019 and 2021. But all crimes in the metro represent only 2% of all crimes committed in the gigantic city with five districts (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island).
In January, Michelle Go, a 40-year-old Asian American, died after being pushed down a subway track by a homeless man with a psychiatric disorder as a train pulled into the Times Square station. the beating heart of upscale Manhattan.
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