New York City Transit created a social media kerfuffle on Saturday when it deleted a maligned tweet announcing that the agency would remove the subway station benches “to prevent homeless people from sleeping on them.”
The flap kicked off Friday morning, when a Twitter user with the handle @ Des4gr8ness, using only ‘Jeremy’ as his display name, posted a photo of an empty platform at a 23rd Street station with the comment, ‘Damn, the benches were f – increase the budget that much? That’s crazy @MTA. “
The official metro feed, @NYCTSubway, replied, “Hi Jeremy. Benches were removed from stations to prevent homeless people from sleeping on them. ^ JP ‘
The initials at the end resemble those of the person who wrote the tweet response.
The post was shared thousands of times and received hundreds of responses Saturday morning, with critics telling the agency to put the f-king couches back in the quintessentially colorful New York language.
Indeed, many of the comments suggested that the MTA violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by not offering disabled customers a seat while they wait for the train.
One of the more polite answers was, “Hello, NYCT Subway. No one’s compassion for other people may depend on the weather or the death toll of a disease – but at a time like this – this choice is especially disgusting. You don’t just deny humanity. homeless people, you also hurt disabled customers. “
Another said, “We’ve harassed you and made the station inaccessible to pregnant women, the handicapped and the elderly, but you have to understand that this can cause even more misery for people without a home.”
The original poster, @ Des4gr8ness, made his account private amid the uproar, and by early afternoon on Saturday, NYC Transit’s response was removed.
But that didn’t stop New Yorkers from giving the desk some extra shade.
Each of the official tweets posted about the subway on Saturday continued to receive comments about the banks.
To a post saying, “Northern ACF trains are delayed after we take a train wagon with mechanical problems out of service at Jay St-MetroTech,” one woman asked, “Was it a mechanical problem or was there a homeless person sleeping in it?”
The MTA said in an email comment, “The tweet was accidentally posted and has since been deleted.”
“The subway is no substitute for a shelter and homeless New Yorkers deserve much better care,” said the email from spokeswoman Abbey Collins. “We have worked with the city on this important issue and have called for more dedicated mental health and medical resources that are urgently needed to resolve the homeless crisis exacerbated by the pandemic.”
It is not the first time that the MTA has removed benches to deter homeless people. Last year it made the same move in West 4th Street Station.
