Photo Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
Jamaica Bay is an 18,000-acre wetland estuary in South Queens. “The days of turning a blind eye to this growing problem are over,” Mayor Adams said Friday.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A safe subway is a prerequisite for the City’s recovery, Mayor Eric Adams said on Friday as he released his Subway Safety Plan, which lays out how his administration will begin addressing public safety concerns and supporting people experiencing homelessness and serious mental illness on New York City’s subways.
The plan includes comprehensive investments in short- and medium-term solutions, including expanded outreach teams with City Police Department officers and clinicians, additional housing and mental health resources, and outlines long-term systems improvements through changes to state and federal laws to connect more New Yorkers to the care they need. A key component of the plan will also direct NYPD personnel to assist in enforcing certain subway rules, such as sleeping across multiple seats, exhibiting aggressive behavior to passengers, or creating an unsanitary environment.
The plan lays out how the Adams administration, in partnership with the MTA and other state entities, will confront these concurrent challenges on our subways. Investments in people will provide immediate support and protection to New Yorkers, while investments in places like drop-in-centers, safe havens, stabilization beds, and Street Homeless Outreach Wellness vans, as well as policy changes at local, state, and federal levels will provide medium- and long-term solutions. These include:
- Deploying up to 30 Joint Response Teams that bring together Department of Homeless Services, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, NYPD, and community-based providers in high-need locations across our city.
- Training NYPD officers in our subway system to enforce the MTA and New York City Transit Authority’s rules of conduct in a fair and transparent way.
- Expanding Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division “B-HEARD” teams to six new precincts, more than doubling the precincts covered to 11. These teams will expand on the already-successful pilot of answering non-violent 911 mental health calls with mental health professionals.
- Incorporating medical services into DHS sites serving individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Expanded DHS Safe Havens and stabilization bed programs will offer on-site physical and behavioral health care to immediately address clients’ needs.
- Immediately improving coordination across government with weekly “Enhanced Outreach Taskforce” meetings that bring together senior leaders from 13 city and state agencies to address issues quickly.
- Creating new Drop-in-Centers to provide an immediate pathway for individuals to come indoors, and exploring opportunities to site Drop-in-Centers close to key subway stations to directly transition individuals from trains and platforms to safe spaces.
- Streamlining the placement process into supportive housing and reducing the amount of paperwork it takes to prove eligibility.
- Calling on state government to expand psychiatric bed resources and amending Kendra’s Law to improve mental health care delivery for New Yorkers on Assisted Outpatient Treatment.
- Requiring — instead of requesting — everyone to leave the train and the station at the end of the line.
Some said more needs to be done than simply addressing the homeless on City trains.
“Gov. Hochul can make transit even safer by funding more frequent service in the state budget: Shorter waits mean less time on platforms and at bus stops. Faster trips will make transit more attractive and bring back riders, increasing the number of eyes on the system and helping New Yorkers keep one another safe,” Riders Alliance Policy & Communications Director Danny Pearlstein said.
