Mayor Bill de Blasio Criticized for Photo of Man Sleeping On Subway
A viral photo of a homeless man sleeping under a seat on a 3 train heading to Manhattan gave Governor Andrew Cuomo and MTA Chairman Joe Lhota the opportunity to slam Mayor Bill de Blasio for failing to address his people's needs.
"The New York City Police Department polices the subway system," Cuomo said. "It's up to them. Period. [Mayor] Rudy Giuliani did that."
Every New York City mayor since Koch has addressed the issue with the exception of the current mayor, Lhota stated.
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The Governor also took a shot at de Blasio, whilst flaunting his record with helping the homeless. He said that they need to be taken out of the stations to make commuters feel safe. Additionally, he stated that allowing the homeless to sleep on trains is not a way of helping them.
Cuomo suggested that de Blasio should fix the pervading problem instead of focusing on police crackdowns.
NYPD has primary jurisdiction over the subway system since the MTA board granted Mayor Giuliani the authority to fuse the Transit Police with the NYPD.
De Blasio has seen the photo. He was at a news conference in Midtown when he saw the photo and said that it is "unacceptable" for citizens to sleep on the train like that.
The mayor said that he will assign the necessary personnel to keep that from happening.
As for City Hall, they dismissed the governor's criticisms, saying that his criticizing the NYPD is an attempt to distract New Yorkers from the more important issue of having the subway system that he runs fixed, which the governor is unwilling to do.
City Hall spokesperson Eric Phillips emphasized the futility of the governor's efforts to criticize the NYPD as it "will not fix the trains and will not get the homeless New Yorkers the help they need."
