Man Sleeping On Subway Fuels Fight Between De Blasio, MTA

NEW YORK CITY — The New York Post's photo of a man sleeping under subway seats spurred the latest fight between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the MTA on Monday. MTA Chairman Joe Lhota accused the mayor of trying to "distance himself" from the agency after de Blasio pledged to have police get sleeping homeless people off of trains.

The Post published a photo Saturday of a man snoozing underneath a section of seats on a 3 line train. De Blasio said it was "not acceptable" and that MTA rules "give additional enforcement ability to the NYPD."

"A case like that would be enforceable and we’ll enforce it," de Blasio told the Post. "We’ll put whatever personnel we need on to stop something like that from happening."

But in Lhota's eyes, the mayor even mentioning the transit authority meant he was abdicating the city's responsibility. The chairman put out a statement Monday afternoon pointedly noting that the NYPD has had "primary jurisdiction" over the subways since 1995.

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The MTA has "repeatedly" asked the NYPD for help connecting homeless people in the subways with shelter or other services they need, Lhota said, calling for police to "up their presence and increase enforcement."

"The response is not to defend or excuse the presence of the homeless, but to get them the help they desperately need. Every New York City Mayor since Koch has realized this except our current Mayor," Lhota said in the statement, referring to Ed Koch, who led City Hall from 1978 to 1989.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo — de Blasio's political nemesis who controls the MTA and appointed Lhota to lead it — also took the mayor to task on Monday. "You do not help a homeless person by saying, 'We'll let you sleep in the train,'" he said in an interview with NY1.

Lhota also used the occasion to demand that the city fund half of his $836 million Subway Action Plan to rescue the city's rail system. But City Hall repeated its call for Gov. Andrew Cuomo — the MTA's effective boss and de Blasio's nemesis — to return money that he took from the MTA budget for the state's general fund.

"The State and MTA holding New York City trains hostage to avoid their responsibility represents a new low in government effectiveness," Eric Phillips, de Blasio's press secretary, said in a statement. "The Governor should return the money he siphoned from the MTA and fix the subways he runs. Criticizing the NYPD’s work on homelessness in subways won’t fix the subways."

The latest dispute escalates de Blasio's feud with Cuomo and Lhota, who have argued in recent months that the city needs to shoulder more of the subway system's funding burden. The mayor argues the governor is shirking his responsibility for the MTA, and vice versa.

The NYPD defended its enforcement record, saying cops have arrested more than 3,500 people and issued 12,300 summonses for "quality-of-life" offenses this year.

"The New York City subway system is among the safest places in the safest City in America. The chance of being a victim of a major crime is roughly one in a million," Stephen P. Davis, the NYPD's top spokesman, said in a statement. "Any other characterization denigrates the hard work of the men and women of the NYPD."

At last count, there were 1,812 people living in the subway system, according to the NYPD. That reflects a 15 percent increase from last year, while the number of adults living on the street has risen 39 percent, Cynthia Wilson, assistant director of the MTA's Homeless Outreach Services, told an MTA committee on Monday. The city manages that program, of which the NYPD is a part, and helps fund it with the MTA, Wilson said.

Police can't kick homeless people out of subway stations if they're not breaking any rules, Davis said. Lying on a subway floor or platform is punishable by a civil fine of up to $100 or criminal penalty of $25 or 10 days in prison.

De Blasio said it would be up to officers whether to arrest someone for sleeping on a train, according to the Post. The city has encouraged cops in recent months to issue civil tickets rather than criminal penalties for low-level crimes.

(Lead image by Shant Shahrigian/Patch)