As more people go back to work after the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats in New York are pushing them to use the subway system. One way they are doing this is by putting a new congestion fee on cars and trucks that enter busy parts of Manhattan.
People in the middle class and companies have called the new fee a driving tax. Its goal is to get more people to take the subway, which will cut down on pollution and raise money for the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
People in cars have to pay $9 to go south of Central Park or into downtown Manhattan from Brooklyn or New Jersey.
Scott LoBaido, an artist from Staten Island who often criticizes New York’s Democratic leaders, held a protest this week at 61st Street and Broadway to oppose the move. This is the same intersection where fans of the new fees celebrated when they started earlier this week.
A person walking by told him they agreed with the new fees because they were good for the environment.
“Excuse me, son. I just said that.” I don’t want to start a fire. She told Fox News Digital on Friday, “I don’t feel like getting stabbed in the back of the head.”
It was LoBaido who was talking about a recent string of subway killings.
In one, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala is accused of setting a woman on fire while she was sleeping, fanning the flames, and then watching her burn.
According to court papers, Sebastian Zapeta was later arrested and told detectives he didn’t remember what happened because he often rides the subway while drunk and passes out.
In a different case, the NYPD arrested a man who they say knifed two people from behind in the subway system. On Christmas Eve, another man was arrested for allegedly stabbing someone without reason at Grand Central, a bustling area for tourists and workers.
“That’s crazy. You believe someone like Gov. Hochul when they say the subways are safe. “The MTA boss says it’s all in our heads,” LoBaido said.
This week, Mayor Eric Adams promised to send more cops to patrol the subway system. Last year, Hochul did the same thing by calling in the National Guard.
But even though the government says crime is going down, violence and the fear of violence are still going up.
In 2024, there were a few more felony assaults in the subway system, and from 2023 to 2024, there were ten underground murders, up from five. The NYPD says that overall crime in the subways went down by 5.4%.
The head of the MTA, Janno Lieber, told Bloomberg News earlier this week that people are thinking about crime more than they should, but the trains are safe.
He told the outlet, “The overall stats are good.” “There was 12.5% less crime last year than in 2019, the year before COVID.” However, it’s clear that some of these high-profile events, like the terrible attacks, have made people think that the whole system is less safe.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, straphangers also have to deal with shoving attacks, many of which end in death as victims fall in front of moving trains, and the trial of Daniel Penny, who was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide after he stopped a man from making violent death threats.
Penny wasn’t found guilty of the less serious charge, and after the jury couldn’t decide, the lawyers asked the court to throw out the more serious charge.
“The Boston Tea Party started the greatest revolution in the history of civilization over a 2% tax,” he said. “And this, what is happening here is pure r—.”
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