Angry graffiti appeared early on Friday at the 72nd Street station for the B-C line. Several tipsters sent in photos of the graffiti, which included a wide range of expletives cursing the MTA and police.
“At 730 saw it off the train. An MTA employee was scrubbing it. All over the walls and as displays on the downtown platform. Dreadful,” wrote one Upper West Sider in response to the writing.
There has been a backlash to the increased police presence in subway stations that was ordered by Governor Cuomo and the MTA. One Upper West Sider said four police officers were recently patrolling the 1-2-3 station at 96th Street.
The MTA decided to add 500 officers to combat fare-evasion and other crimes, but critics have argued they’re essentially criminalizing poverty — including detaining people selling things like churros. The graffiti, though, doesn’t make any particular arguments about this, beyond expletives.
Update: the graffiti was apparently part of a protest that included a rally at Grand Central.
Patrick Warren, MTA Chief Safety Officer, sent the following statement:
“This demonstration activity follows the dangerous pattern of previous activities that have resulted in vandalization and defacement of MTA property – clearly violating laws. Those actions divert valuable time, money and resources away from investments in transit services that get New Yorkers to their jobs, schools, doctors and other places they need to go. The MTA has zero tolerance for any actions that threaten the safety of the public and our employees, and impede service for millions of customers. We are monitoring conditions as we cooperate with the NYPD and MTA PD to maintain service while ensuring everyone’s safety.”
Looks like community outreach is really working. That definitely seems to be the way to keep fixing these issues. Keep it up!
News flash: Criminals don’t like cops and want them to remain in the station house.
Yep.
I imagine security cameras will identify the perps?
Then they’ll bring them to the station, take their names, and release them.
No punishing fine, no community service, no bail, no ankle monitor…no impact.
We should make any deliberate meddling with crucial public infrastructure an act of terrorism.
That’s what you voted for UWS (and more broadly, NYC). Now you’ve got to suck up the consequences.
Btw, even if the cameras identify these thugs, and even if police catches them, I guess with the new justice reform they would be let go with a citation. LMAO at how naive you are.
What happened to the older (homeless?) man who made the huge swastika out of paper on the subway wall? He was clearly visible in the video. Was he ever caught/arrested?
Fare invasion is a crime and all those who choose to jump the turnstiles should be prosecuted tip the fullest extent of the law. Please don’t use poverty as an excuse for breaking the law. Attacks on the subway and subway platforms is on the rise along with robberies. We as citizens who pay full fare to ride the subway have a right to feel safe when we go underground and have to worry whether or not we are going to be harassed by the homeless or attacked by criminals.
I welcome as many policemen the MTA puts in the subway stations and on the trains.
I for one applaud the job the police are doing.
You are correct. Poverty is no excuse for commiting a crime. The mayor and governor of NY have turned back the clock to the 70’s and 80’s when crime was rampant in the city and subways. I want More Police presence not less
When do these things happen? Who is supervising this area that something like this can happen? For a city that boosts being progressive we are regressing as a society.
Of course discouraging fares will improve the MTA & subway!
Logically, that means causing riots will further improve the subway riding experience as well!
Who gets hurt the most when subways break down? Hmm, sure not the limo liberals!
I didn’t realize Andy Byford was so upset…
Good one!
I wonder why anyone would not wants police officers in a subway station? Oh, people who commit crimes don’t want it. Maybe the people who commit crimes can tell us other things they want and don’t want, I’m sure it’s all fascinating and eye-opening.
Join the protests at Grand Central at 5. NYPD out of the subway. Decolonize this place.
You are a fool. Yeah, destroying the recently improved stations will really help reduce racism. People who don’t pay are criminals. You insult people of color by saying they are not civilized enough to pay a subway or bus fare. The protesters should be arrested and jailed. F*** the protesters!
Seriously? Decolonize the subway?
The concerns about stop and frisk and treatment of young black men are well known – but so are the issues with crime on the subway. I would not want to see how it would be without the police to protect us. (Though that does not mean carte blanche for the police either.)
If what you object to is enforcing the fare laws, I think you’re wrong there too. The system can’t run if people don’t pay their fares. That isn’t good for anyone.
Poverty isn’t resolved by allowing people to steal at will. Find better ways – and in the meantime, follow the law and encourage others to do so as well. The system will run better, everyone will be safer, and the police presence can be reduced if there is less crime.
I’ll tell you what I object to. Police pulling guns on unarmed teens and holding up the train to swarm him. Police making older women cry for selling churros. I object to police officers punching minors in the face on subway platforms. People who object to the issues organizations like decolonizethisplace are speaking out about must have their head in the sand, or are privileged enough to have never experienced this type of racial abuse. Follow the money and see who really benefits from the MTA, it’s certainly not taxpayers like me.
Well said, for the most part. That fare-jumper that it was so important to detain that a dozen of them pulled guns on him from the platform while he was on a train? They didn’t even have enough to prosecute him, in the end!
Incompetent, overaggressive policing makes everyone’s lives worse. I know there’s a non-trivial portion of West Side Rag readers who think they and their loved ones will always be on the right end of the baton–they’re kidding themselves.
Simple solution: focus on having the police behave properly. But continue to arrest those who break the law. If you don’t like the laws, change them.
I’ve been foolishly spending money on fares for years and now you tell me that I could have just claimed fares were oppressive and ignored them? What a waste.
I wonder if the perp paid his/her fare?
The politicians that you voted for are at fault here. Their collapse on crime, antagonistic approach to the NYPD, and race-baiting rhetoric were guaranteed to have consequences and here we are. Nice job, UWS and NYC.
Want a safer city? Toxic chemicals in our food, air and water kill and maim far more New Yorkers than thugs roaming the streets. Let’s get real and prioritize our scarce resources. Track and punish the polluters. Reduce number of combustion vehicles. Subways and busses should be free. Fares don’t pay nearly the cost of service and waste money collecting them.
Dan,
Can you show me proof that the fares do not help with the operating cost of the MTA. So would a special tax for all NY residents say 5000 dollars a year for a family of four be better then paying fares?
Can’t tell if this is serious….
Ok, just remember when you or someone you know gets knocked to the ground or mugged at knife point to blame it on toxic chemicals in our food, air and water.
I don’t care about fare evasion. I really don’t. And I don’t care about people selling food in the subway.
What I DO care about is the increase in crime (and no, fare evasion and selling food are NOT connected to it) so I don’t have a problem with increased police presence in the subway and on the platforms (where there reently have been instances of people getting pushed onto the tracks, punched, etc.).
That’s a somewhat simplistic view, I think. When you can get away with farebeating, you are emboldened to commit more serious crimes. That has been proven in the past when fare beating was focused on by the police, and those stopped and booked were shown to have a disproportionate number of unanswered citations / court appearances.
If you commit violence for political purposes, then YOU are the criminal (if not a terrorist).
They don’t like the increase in police presence that THE PUBLIC ASKED FOR after the recent increase in passenger-against-passenger violent crimes?
There is – and has been for a very long time – plenty to protest against the MTA. But these people today are not protestors. They are criminals. Literally. They have no validity, and their message doesn’t even make any sense. The arrests on homeless and unlicensed vendors is a fraction of the real problems in the subway.
With all the muggings and knife slashings and sucker punches and acid throwing over the past year or so, I am certainly happy to see cops on the subway.
Excuse me, I don’t remember being asked. I do not approve of more officers nor do I accept any police misconduct which is what sparked these protests.
I didn’t ask for it. When were we consulted, again?
I can only imagine the mess we’d be in if you were “consulted” about such things. Wanna gamble with your own safety and live in a constant state of anarchy? More power to you. But most people want better for themselves and their loved ones.
I am saddened that this happened and shocked at some of the comments who support this crime of vandalizing the subway.
They say “F*CK THE MTA” but also oppose privatization. Makes no sense.
This was not a “protest” as much as a tantrum. Embarrassing, shameful, and asinine. What a sad day for our city. And our government? Silent. Meaning approval. Thanks De Blasio, Corey Johnson and Helen Rosenthal, for putting yourselves above the interests of your constituents.
I would like to have at least 2 cops on every train. I had to go downtown for two weeks in a row on the #1. What a dismal experience. I complained 2x to the MTA about criminal activity including begging, people sleeping on the trains, filthy cars. I only saw the police once when the train was stopped @ 42nd and the conductor was calling for police assistance due to a fight. By the time the police arrived, several minutes later, the criminals had already left.
When I first came to NYC I was very young and my friends and I would take the train to Coney Island every weekend and there was a very heavy police presence. I was aware of that crime was happening, but I always felt safe, and at one point a group of officers stopped my friends and I at the CI station and told us there was gang activity that night and it wasn’t a good idea for us to be there and they instructed us to get back on the train and go home.
If a person isn’t doing anything wrong then why would they object to having more police presence?
If a person is black or brown and is followed around a store by security but hasn’t stolen anything is it still a violating experience? Most people would say it is. So yes, you can still object to heightened security measures even if you’ve done nothing wrong.
I don’t think you can compare being followed around while shopping with street and subway safety. If someone isn’t committing a crime (anywhere) then increased police presence shouldn’t bother them.
hey look, if you got nothing to hide, you wouldn’t mind the cops in stations.
I want coos in the subway& on the street! I miss Giuliani!