MESSAGE
| DATE | 2018-04-23 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Keep the trains moveing
|
http://secondavenuesagas.com/
Categories : East Side Access Project
Comments (1)
Apr
16
Byford to NYPD: ‘You cannot stop the service for 90 minutes for a fight’
By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (33) ·
NYC Transit President Andy Byford last week urged the NYPD to prioritize
moving trains.
A disputed seat becomes a fight between passengers becomes a crime scene
becomes a 90-minute rush-hour delay to police activity. It all happens
in the blink of an eye as it did last Thursday morning when a fight on
an A train at High St. snarled rush hour service on both the 6th and 8th
Avenue lines for 90 minutes. And now it’s touched off a bit of a war of
words between new NYC Transit President Andy Byford and the NYPD over
the right way for the cops to respond to subway disruptions so as not to
snarl service for hundreds of thousands of riders.
The details regarding the incident on the A train at around 8:15 on
Thursday morning are nearly inconsequential. Two people got into a fight
over a seat on a crowded train, and a fight ensued which involved mace
and reportedly some blood. The new combatants left the train and kept
fighting on the platform at High Street, but cops held the
Manhattan-bound A train in the station for 90 minutes. This led to
MTA-acknowledged delays on the A, C, E and F trains and more crowded
trains reported by riders along 6th Ave.
In the aftermath of the delay, Andy Byford diplomatically suggested that
perhaps delaying service for 90 minutes isn’t quite the best way to
handle it. Here is his full answer, via Dan Rivoli, in response to
questions regarding whether the cops handled the situation appropriately:
“I need to look into it a bit more. The fact that it lasted so long
would suggest to me – no. I very much appreciate what the police do. But
we shouldn’t have been at a stand for that long so I’d say actually it’s
between us and the police.
It should have been escalated certainly to my Chief Operating
Officer’s level and ultimately to mine because I would have been all
over that saying you have the train but you’re not having it there.
We’ll give it to you, you could take it somewhere else but you cannot
stop the service for 90 minutes for a fight.”
The cops of course responded graciously and with an acknowledgement that
they would do better in the future. Oh wait no they didn’t. In anonymous
comments to The Post, one law enforcement source was dismissive of
Byford’s statement. “Where are you gonna move a train to if a police
investigation is being conducted? Maybe Mr. Byford has a suggestion,”
the source said. In milquetoast on-the-record comments to The Times on
Friday, an assistant NYPD commissioner said the crime was “spread over a
large area and needed to be handled with care” and that “safety of our
subway system is a top priority.”
It’s indisputable that Byford is correct. The first priority, especially
in a non-fatal situation, should be to get rush hour (or any-hour)
trains moving as soon as possible, and a 90-minute delay in service for
an investigation that led to one arrest on reckless endangerment charges
is unacceptable. It’s also correct for Byford to engage in a dialogue
with the NYPD on this approach to subway policing, as various MTA
officials and spokespeople may clear on Thursday and Friday.
But it’s also notable and laudable that Byford even started to broach
the topic in public and so directly, and it’s a good sign that he’s
willing to advocate for keeping trains moving even in the face of an
immovable object such as the NYPD. Keeping trains running smoothly at
rush hour must be a top priority of both the MTA and NYPD, and I can’t
recall an NYC Transit president willing to tackle this subject head-on.
If that means addressing how police respond to incidents in the subway
so that policing is more efficient and investigations conducted with an
intent to move trains as soon as possible, that’s a good outcome for
every straphanger and a good sign as Byford goes to bat for riders who
have not often had a forceful, vocal ally leading the TA.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources - Unpublished Archive
http://www.coinhangout.com - coins!
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
_______________________________________________
Hangout mailing list
Hangout-at-nylxs.com
http://lists.mrbrklyn.com/mailman/listinfo/hangout
|
|
