New York governing authorities are attempting to make the subways into a zone full of police and surveillance. There has been no substantial decrease in safety on the subway. The subways themselves are behind on maintenance but money is going to cops instead of the transit authority. In addition, despite the normalization, there is still actually a pandemic going on that masks prevent the spread of.
I am curious to know the real reasons for the push. Possibly to privatize the subway? Just a grift for cops? At some point in the various administrations there are strategists presenting options and executives making decisions.
Just your standard reactionary authoritarian stuff, plus the NYPD I’m sure prefers a mask ban.
Next: pants will be banned in the subway to curb public urination for easier id
That’s some fair weather governing IMHO
“We will not tolerate individuals using masks to evade responsibility for criminal or threatening behavior,” Hochul said on Thursday, adding that “on a subway, people should not be able to hide behind a mask to commit crimes”.
Maybe she should consider addressing the committing crimes part instead of the wearing masks part.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
But she has said that she is motivated to act by “a group donning masks that took over a subway car, scaring riders and chanting things about [Nazi dictator Adolf] Hitler and wiping out Jews”.
Hochul may have been referring to a recent episode involving a pro-Palestinian rally in which a man led a small group on a New York City subway car in chanting: “Raise your hands if you’re a Zionist – this is your chance to get out.”
The potential move comes close to four years after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic during which New Yorkers initially struggled to obtain enough masks to slow the spread of the virus.
Masks then became a defining feature of the era, but recommendations to wear them have been dropped as protective vaccines have become available and the rate of spread has slowed.
New York has historically had a push-and-pull relationship with face coverings dating to 1845, when they were banned in response to attacks by tenant farmers on landlords.
Hochul, who last week put on hold a plan to charge drivers for entering lower Manhattan over concerns it could interfere with the city’s ongoing economic recovery, said the mask issue was “complex”.
The original article contains 522 words, the summary contains 202 words. Saved 61%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Hochul yokel