I'm standing on the crowded Lexington Avenue subway platform, waiting for either the N or W Train to take me off the island of Manhattan. A drone-like female voice booms over the loudspeaker: "Ladies and Gentlemen, pan-handling is against the law. Please do not give to law-breakers. Please give instead to charities that support those in need. Thank you."
I look around to check for reactions but I get nothing. Poker faces. One might be excused for thinking the people on the platform did not even hear the announcement (those wearing iPod earphones surely haven't). We are being asked-check that-we're being told to not only view desperate humans as law-breakers but also to ignore them. No one flinches.
Let's rewind back to, say, 1973. If some sci-fi flick injected that exact pre-recorded spiel into a futuristic subway scene, we'd all have chuckled at the representation of such a callous-and highly unlikely-future.
The W Train arrives and we are soon in the tunnel under the East River (which is really an estuary but...) on our way to Queens. That's when we get our next lesson in freedom in the form of announcement #2: "Passengers are advised that their backpacks and other large containers are subject to random search by the police."
Again: no response. The words "subject to random" were just enforced upon the weary commuters in this tin can to hell but I'm left to wonder if I imagined it...because the decree doesn't even warrant a raised eyebrow.
The W Train grinds to a halt and we're treated to announcement #3: "Due to a sick passenger at Queensboro Plaza, we are being held momentarily. We will proceed as soon as possible. We're sorry for the delay and we appreciate our patience."
This broadcast is heard loud and clear. Immediately, everyone on the train sighs, sneers, and makes graphic gestures of rage. One guy not too far away from me yells out, "Fuck!" Extraordinary, huh? This man doesn't have a single ounce of sympathy for another human being that is sick. All that matters to this misguided miscreant is that he is being inconvenienced.
In no time, the W Train begins to move. We can see the sky as we emerge from tunnel. Almost everyone around me pulls out a cell phone to check messages. Wouldn't want to miss anything, would we?
I think it is you Mr. Mickey Z who needs to learn a lesson or two here. Obviously you do not live and work in New York City and are one of the millions of tourists that visit this city every year and complain about New Yorkers. You have a few lessons on humanity to teach us? Let's look at your observations here.
#1 "Ladies and Gentlemen, pan-handling is against the law. Please do not give to law-breakers. Please give instead to charities that support those in need. Thank you."
You wrote:
"...we're being told to not only view desperate humans as law-breakers but also to ignore them"
Everyday I encounter people pan-handling for money, on the street, on the train, in the train station, in front of stores, in front of my office, everywhere! Many of these people are indeed desperate, desperate for a drink or a fix. I give to legitimate charities and volunteer time when I can to help people in need through ways that can actually make a difference to those who really want help instead of blindly handing out cash with no idea of how it will be spent.
And, by the way, the streets and subways were just as filled with homeless people in 1973.
#2 "Passengers are advised that their backpacks and other large containers are subject to random search by the police."
I disagree with this policy. I have only been asked to have my bag searched once in the 4-5 years they have been doing this. I was searched at the entrance of the station, where all these searches I have seen occur, you do have the option to exit the station and refuse the search. This practice was challenged by the ACLU in the courts and was upheld as legal. We have not had an attack on the subway in NYC as many other cities have. Again I do not agree with the unwarranted searches but am thankful to get to work and back home again on public transportation safely everyday.
Maybe you would prefer that we each drive our SUV's into work everyday like the majority of the rest of the people in this country. I wonder how complacent they all look, lined up in traffic, one after another, polluting our planet?
#3 "Due to a sick passenger at Queensboro Plaza, we are being held momentarily. We will proceed as soon as possible. We're sorry for the delay and we appreciate our patience."
Here is an excerpt from a few articles on this subject:
"Sick subway passengers, most of them dieters who faint from dizziness, are among the top causes of train delays, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority."
"An average of 395 delays per month are caused by sick customers. Only track work and signal troubles triggered more delays.
While flu-symptoms, anxiety attacks, hangovers and heat exhaustion also strike passengers, Nelson said, they pale in comparison to fainting caused by missed meals."
Are you starting to see the big picture here Mr. Z? We are not callous, cruel, insensitive, uncaring, rage-filled, inhuman monsters. We are tired, over-worked, struggling to get by in this expensive city, and bombarded daily by panhandlers, drunks, junkies, police investigations, and 3-4 million tourists like you a year who do not have a clue about what it is like to live in New York City!
So please, keep your judgments at home, and if all you can do is complain, stay there yourself! We have enough to deal with already!
by
ingiro (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 45 comments)
on Friday, February 2, 2007 at 1:14:35 PM
Welcome to OpEdNews. I see this is your first comment. But don't just come here and tell someone else to shut up. It's fine to disagree. But not okay to silence others. If you have an opinion, feel free to express it and also respect others opinions and their right to express theirs.
by
Rob Kall (760 articles, 3847 quicklinks, 320 diaries, 1640 comments)
on Friday, February 2, 2007 at 3:14:11 PM
First of all, MickeyZ lives in NYC, so he knows it as well
as you do (and probably understands it better, because hnis perspective is more focused on the larger picture.)
Secondly, just looking at your intensely defensive response, it seems that Mr Z's observations, which all have been made many times before & are hardly surprising or novel, really struck a nerve with you. You reacted to a quasi-banal article with the equivalent of guns blazing and torpedoes launched. One can only wonder why...
by
Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1120 comments)
on Friday, February 2, 2007 at 6:53:26 PM
We hear those things all the time, Z. Oh, news flash, the government, particularly the present one, isn't very nice to beggars. That doesn't stop people from giving them money anyway. People don't respond becuse they find it annoying and they don't care. The police don't search people on the train very much. What's the point? If they're on already then they can blow the thing up. Nobody agrees with the policy except the police. As far as the groans from the delays, well, DUH! It's the first bit of news the passengers got that they feel actually affects their lives. Oh, Z, is this all you could say about Manhattan? I work at ground zero. Next time you're in town give me a ring and I'll show you something a bit more interesting.
by
joe (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Friday, February 2, 2007 at 1:42:29 PM
Many poor pan handlers have been cast aside by the system, in a crowed city as New York its even more obvious. The let downs in life lead them to such a sad life style, that does not means they should not deserve charity, even if its for booze to escape there harsh lives for a second.
For some its not until they truly hit rock bottom before they change and improve there lives. For those that do bounce back from an opportunity that dollar or some change makes a world of difference.
When I use to haul orange juice out of Fla. to a cold storage in Seacaus New Jersey, I'd stop at one of the Big Boy's on the Jersey tow road. Once or twice a month this old sot who could hardly utter words out, would come up to my rig stinking to high heaven asking for change and cigarettes. I'd give him whats left of my open pack of smokes, take him inside and feed him what ever he wanted and pass him some change before I'd leave. I always looked forward to seeing him towards the end of knowing him, but at first I kind of despised him. Until a fellow truck driver out loud had said the only help for him come out of a gun barrel.
by
Fred F (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 363 comments)
on Friday, February 2, 2007 at 9:10:08 PM
I live in NYC and take the subway every day too...
... I hear the same thing on the loudspeakers everyday.
What I know for sure is that we have failed those who are down on their luck and are the most vulnerable in our society.
I dont know what the city and the MTA are doing for these people but it is not enough. There are answers out there, there is more that can be done.
At the same time, I have been accosted by drunk or unruly homeless people on more than one occasion so in a small way, I understand the poster who had a differing opinion, but only in a small way. I cannot imagine living the life of one of these people and I feel a huge amount of compassion for them.
Buildings need to be built to house them, psychiatrists need to be hired to get them off drugs and alcohol and they need to be brought back into society. This city has the money to do it, it just chooses not to do so.
by
Steven Leser (193 articles, 37 quicklinks, 32 diaries, 1298 comments)
on Saturday, February 3, 2007 at 1:34:39 PM
Here in Arcata, many members of the long-term chronic homeless (not the working poor or elderly without rent money) consider efforts to give them a place to live and get them treatment as a fascist plot. They show up at City Council meetings and complain that the "housed" are discriminating against them because they want to live a simpler lifestyle. (Of course, they haven't noticed that without the capitalist infrastructure they would be gathering acorns, berries, and mussels to live on...)
by
khedges1 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 19 comments)
on Saturday, February 3, 2007 at 5:08:19 PM
