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As more workers return to offices after the coronavirus pandemic, New York Democrats They’re pushing them toward the Big Apple’s subway system with policies like the new congestion fee for cars and trucks entering busy parts of Manhattan.
The new fee, criticized as a road tax on the middle class and businesses, aims to encourage people to take the subway, reduce exhaust fumes and raise money for the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
It costs drivers $9 if they want to travel south of Central Park or enter midtown Manhattan from Brooklyn or New Jersey.
Sebastian Zapeta is arraigned in Brooklyn, New York, on January 7, 2025. Zapeta faces charges of murder and arson for allegedly setting Debrina Kawam on fire while she slept on a New York City subway train. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Scott Lo BaidoA Staten Island artist and frequent critic of New York Democratic leaders, he protested the measure this week with a rally at 61st Street and Broadway, the same intersection where supporters of the new fees celebrated when they went into effect earlier this week. week.
He said a passerby approached him and expressed support for the new rates because they would be good for the environment.
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“I just said, ‘Excuse me, son. I don’t feel like getting burned. I don’t feel like getting stabbed in the back of the head,'” LoBaido told Fox News Digital on Friday.
Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn after a woman aboard a subway car was set on fire and died in New York on December 22, 2024. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
LoBaido was referring to a series of recent attacks on the subway.
In one, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala is accused of setting a sleeping woman on fire, fanning the flames and watching her burn.
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Sebastian Zapeta was later arrested and allegedly told detectives that he did not remember what happened because he routinely gets drunk and rides the subway, according to court documents.
In another case, New York police arrested a man accused of stabbing two strangers in the back inside the subway system. On Christmas Eve, another man was arrested for an alleged unprovoked stabbing on the subway platform at Grand Central, a major hub for tourists and commuters.
Two people were injured after a knife-wielding man allegedly stabbed at New York City’s Grand Central Station on Christmas Eve. (FOX 5 New York)
“It’s crazy. You hear someone like Governor Hochul, who says the subway is safe… The guy who runs the MTA says it’s all in our heads,” LoBaido said.
Mayor Eric Adams promised this week to send more police officers to patrol the subway system, and Hochul sent in the National Guard last year.
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But while the authorities insist crime has gone downViolence and fear of violence continue to increase.
Felony assaults increased slightly on the transit system in 2024, and subway homicides doubled to 10 last year from five in 2023. Overall subway crime fell by 5.4% , according to the NYPD.
Kamel Hawkins, 23, was charged with attempted murder for allegedly pushing a 45-year-old man onto subway tracks as a train approached. (ATM)
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Janno Lieber, president of the MTA, told Bloomberg News earlier this week that the idea of crime “has gotten into people’s heads” but said the trains are safe.
“The overall statistics are positive,” he said. he told the media. “Last year, we actually had 12.5% less crime than we did in 2019, the last year before COVID. But there’s no doubt that some of these high-profile incidents, you know, horrific attacks, have been “They’ve gotten into people’s heads and made the whole system feel less safe.”
Daniel Penny arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on December 5, 2024. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
In addition to arson murder and random slashing, hangers are still dealing with shoving attacks, many of which have been fatal when victims fall in front of moving trains, and the trial of Daniel Penny, who was arrested and charged with manslaughter. involuntary and criminal. negligent homicide after intervening in a man’s violent death-threat rant.
Penny was acquitted of the lesser charge and prosecutors asked the court to dismiss the more serious charge after jurors deadlocked.
“The Boston Tea Party started the greatest revolution in the history of civilization with a 2% tax,” LoBaido said. “And this, what’s going on here is pure s—.”
Fox News’ Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
