New York, NY – TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano, along with Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, on Feb. 18, presented a united front at the Fulton Transit Center, touting the city’s new Subway Safety Plan.
Under the plan, the NYPD and outreach workers will attempt to tackle homelessness and law-breaking in the subway system. The teams will also be working to identify mentally ill and other homeless people and get them the help they need.
But while acknowledging the importance of that effort, Hizzoner also assumed a tough guy stance on lawbreaking.
“No more smoking. No more doing drugs. No more sleeping [in the subway]. No more doing barbecues on the subway system. No more just doing whatever you want,” Adams said.
The new mayor declared, “Those days are over.”
“Swipe your MetroCard. Ride the system. Get off at your destination. That’s what this administration is saying,” he added.
Governor Hochul, meanwhile, referred to “an unprecedented era [of cooperation] that will lead to real results,” and thanked TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano, and “all the TW workers who showed up day after day after day, not worried about their own safety during the pandemic they worried about the safety of the riders on the subways and buses.”
Utano voiced his appreciation and emphasized the importance of the plan for his members.
“What a difference a few months makes,” he said. “A governor, a mayor that really care about taking care of this problem that we in the Transport Workers Union Local 100 have been talking about for years. I want to thank Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul for recognizing that subway riders and workers do not feel safe enough riding the system and working in the system.”
Invoking their predecessors without directly naming them, Utano said the governor and mayor are not “burying their heads in the sand and pretending everything is wonderful.”
“We spend eight and ten-hour shifts, sometimes more down here,” Utano said. “So, when we urged the city to put more police officers into the system last year, we knew that that was only the first step… or not the only step. This plan is another major step forward for improving the subway environment and helping those who need help.”
The TWU Local 100 head recalled the tragic death of 36-year-old motorman Garrett Goble who died after helping to evacuate passengers from a burning subway car in 2020.
“He rode that train into the station and he made sure those passengers were out,” Utano said. “Then he got overcome by smoke and he died. He left a little baby that every year, when we have our widows and orphans [ceremony] I see that baby growing up without a father. So, this is very important to TWU. This is very important to the public. We need the system to operate safely and I’m glad that we now have a mayor and a governor that’s listening and doing the right thing.”
