NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Mayor Bill de Blasio is promising action when it comes to getting homeless people out of the subway and into shelters.
De Blasio was asked questions about it Tuesday at an unrelated press conference on health care.
"We will not tolerate people bringing vast amounts of belongings into a subway car, we won't tolerate people sleeping on the benches," de Blasio said, according to CBS 2.
"If someone is lying out on a bench, we want them to stop doing that and conform with the law," the mayor said. "If they refuse, we have the opportunity to take them out of the subway, and depending on the circumstances, there is obviously the potential for arrest."
New video from CBS 2 shows a homeless person taking over half of a train car with bags and clothing. And it's not uncommon to see homeless people using subway seats as beds, especially during the winter months.
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Edwin Rivera said he has trouble finding a seat on 2 trains in the morning because of the problem.
"The smell is terrible, sometimes they defecate on themselves and you have to leave that car," Rivera told CBS 2.
Ayman Said, who himself lives in a shelter, said the NYPD should crack down on homeless subway dwellers because they're taking up seats and disturbing tourists.
"They need to have constant people, like when the train gets to the end of the stop, people who are sleeping on there, they have to wake them," he said. "All they're doing is tapping and making them get on the next train."
An NYPD spokesman told CBS 2 that the NYPD and MTA have a pilot program underway that puts cameras on trains and in stations. It's unclear how widespread their use could eventually be.
