As more workers return to offices after the coronavirus pandemic, New York Democrats are pushing them into the Big Apple’s subway system with policies like the new congestion fee on cars and trucks that enter busy parts of Manhattan.
The new fee, criticized as a driving tax on the middle class and businesses, is meant to encourage people to take the subway, cutting down on exhaust fumes and raising money for the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
It costs drivers $9 if they want to travel south of Central Park or enter downtown Manhattan from Brooklyn or New Jersey.
Sebastian Zapeta is arraigned in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jan. 7, 2025. Zapeta is facing murder and arson charges for allegedly setting Debrina Kawam on fire as she slept on a New York City subway train. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Scott LoBaido, a Staten Island artist and frequent critic of New York’s Democratic leaders, protested the move this week with a demonstration at 61st Street and Broadway, the same intersection where supporters of the new fees celebrated when they went into effect earlier this week.
He said a passerby approached him and expressed support for the new fees because they would be good for the environment.
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“I just said, ‘Excuse me, son. I don’t feel like going on fire. I don’t feel like getting stabbed in the back of the head,” LoBaido told Fox News Digital 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 Dec. 22, 2024. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
LoBaido was referring to a string of recent subway attacks.
In one, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala is accused of lighting 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 he didn’t remember what happened because he routinely gets blackout drunk and rides the subway, according to court documents.
In another case, the NYPD arrested a man accused of knifing two strangers from behind within the subway system. On Christmas Eve, another man was arrested for an alleged unprovoked stabbing at the subway platform in Grand Central, a major hub for tourists and commuters.
Two people were wounded after a knife-wielding man allegedly went on a stabbing rampage in New York City’s Grand Central Station Christmas Eve. (FOX 5 NYC)
“It’s insane. You listen to somebody like Gov. Hochul, who says the subways are safe. … The guy who runs the MTA says it’s all in our heads,” LoBaido said.
Mayor Eric Adams vowed 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 authorities insist crime is down, violence and the fear of violence continue to rise.
Felony assaults increased slightly in the transit system in 2024, and subway homicides doubled to 10 last year from the five that happened in 2023. Overall subway crime was down by 5.4%, according to the NYPD.
Kamel Hawkins, 23, was charged with attempted murder for allegedly shoving a 45-year-old man onto subway tracks as a train approached. (MTA)
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Janno Lieber, the MTA chairman, told Bloomberg News earlier this week the idea of crime has “gotten in people’s heads” but claimed the trains are safe.
“The overall stats are positive,” he told the outlet. “Last year, we were actually 12.5% less crime than 2019, the last year before COVID. But there’s no question that some of these high-profile incidents, you know, terrible attacks, have gotten in people’s heads and made the whole system feel less safe.”
Daniel Penny arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City Dec. 5, 2024. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
On top of the arson murder and the random slashings, straphangers are still dealing with shoving attacks, many of which have been fatal as victims fall in front of moving trains, and the trial of Daniel Penny, who was arrested and charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide after he intervened in a man’s violent rant of death threats.
Penny was acquitted of the lesser charge, and prosecutors asked the court to dismiss the more serious one after jurors deadlocked.
“The Boston Tea Party started the greatest revolution in the history of civilization over a 2% tax,” LoBaido said. “And this, what is happening here is pure r—.”
Fox News’ Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
