Recently, there has been a slew of ongoing protests against the MTA and the NYPD in New York City. Activists, who have long been fed up over the city's policing and arresting of fare evaders, finally had enough when the city's recently crackdown on said evaders produced two viral tweets near the Halloween last month. Each incident involved people of color being beaten and arrested by the New York City Police for supposedly evading fares (https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-mta-subway-protests-demonstrators-called-out-overpolicing-racism-2019-11). After both of those incidents above went viral last month, protests began and culminated in a large storming of the subway and jumping of the turnstiles which can be seen in the attached tweet: (https://twitter.com/elaadeliahu/status/1190427589455863808).
Even New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez vocied support for the activists, tweeting "Ending mass incarceration means challenging a system that jails the poor to free the rich. Arresting people who can’t afford a $2.75 fare makes no one safer and destabilizes our community. New Yorkers know that, they’re not having it, and they’re standing up for each other" (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-encourages-new-york-city-subway-fare-jumping)
Unfortunately, the police deny any wrongdoing and the state of New York (which controls the New York City Subway System) made the decision that these police are necessary to help make up revenue, which the system desperately needs as it is severely underfunded. Activists are claiming that these actions are disproportionately affecting people of color and that frankly, these extreme policing measures are actually hurting the MTA in the long run. As The New Republic States,
"Moreover, were the MTA actually concerned with lowering its operating costs, hiring 500 full-time officers would seem counterproductive. The Citizens Budget Commission, a non-profit, nonpartisan group that studies how tax dollars are spent with a focus on efficiency, found in September that the first year of paying the salaries and benefits of the officers, and 81 managers needed to oversee them, will cost the MTA $56 million; if the MTA maintains this approach for ten years, the annual cost will double to $119 million, over a third of what it says it now loses to fare evasion." (https://newrepublic.com/article/155540/class-war-fare-dodging-crackdowns)
Personally, I think this ties in quite well to the discussions we've had in class this semester, from talking about the city/built environment as racist and classist, to access to public space and who is allowed to go where. The New Republic article above makes a great point about the "ways that poverty is de facto criminalized in American life." I full hardheartedly agree with this sentiment, and one must look no further than the Department of Justice's report on Ferguson Missouri's police department and their fine collection activities to see this action. As for New York City and its subway, I find it quite funny how state leaders and agencies are so focused on making a profit, and yet everyday, we subsidize millions of miles of road construction and repair, and do not expect any sort of profit to be turned from driving. I think that the end of this article sums my feelings well, as it states,
" New York’s anti-fare-dodging campaigns involve people at the top, hauling down seven- and six-figure salaries, telling working people able to afford weekly and monthly MetroCards that the people making even less than them are the problem. An alternative to participating in this campaign would be simple: If the fare machines are even functional that day, and you’re lucky enough to be able to afford a weekly or monthly card with unlimited rides, don’t snitch—just swipe it forward."
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