Saturday, May 28, 2016
Free newspaper hawkers banned from subways
From WNYC:
Earlier this year, the MTA announced an agreement with the publishers of amNY and Metro — both free dailies — that prohibits these modern-day "newsies" from working in the subway, and allows the newspapers to place self-service metal racks stands in stations instead.
The MTA argues that the hawkers contribute to excess trash in the stations, which is a continual struggle for the agency, and contributes to track fires. There were over 1,000 subway fires last year, according to a report from the MTA. This new agreement holds the newspapers accountable for the disposal of leftover papers at the end of each day. Metro has already begun to withdraw hawkers, while amNY is expected to follow, said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz. (A spokesman for amNY wouldn't comment.)
Though banned from the subway, the hawkers will continue to physically distribute newspapers in NJ Transit, LIRR and Metro- North stations, according to Metro's media kit.
7 comments:
What is the enforcement plan? Follow these guys until they leave a station? Confiscate their papers?
Quality of life in the subway is really crappy with all of the panhandlers. They need to get rid of all of these singers, instrument players, dancers, etc.
But don't most newsies stand outside on the sidewalk near the subway entrance handing out papers?
What about the hawkers standing right at the street level subway entrances? It's a problem here along the Queens Blvd line--they have the paper right in your face as you are trying to get ready to negotiate down the stairs--some people grab it, then fling it in the station--that's the big problem!
"They need to get rid of all of these singers, instrument players, dancers, etc. '"
Tell me about it. At various stations, there is a different subway musician playing different styles of music and different styles of instruments every fucking day. I don't mind the occasional busker or even bucket drummer now and then or even those shitheads who break dance in the subway cars, but I think that the majority of these performers aren't panhandlers but being financed by the city with our taxes for the constant pandering to tourism in a lame attempt to imitate the vibe of walking down bourbon street or somewhere in Paris.
But yet again this is another case of scapegoating the working poor for the habits of everyone to deflect attention from the incompetence of the MTA, the worst fucking transit system in the universe. Because the majority of vendors physically handing out these papers are outside as with the thousands of boxes that contain them, isn't in possible that papers from the boxes outside made it to the subway? And there are racks at certain stops just standing there with stacks of paper. Maybe if they didn't phase out token clerks and replaced them with those constantly malfunctioning metrocard machines there would be extra eyes on the platform to watch for littering. Or maybe if they hired more custodians to commensurate with the abominable amount of civilians that commute currently to sweep up all this trash being accumulated.
Are they going to ban the Somali booksellers from Downtown NYC in the Area of The WTC? ACLU says bannig them violates their constitutional rights..
You've got Korean church hawkers at the southeast corner of Depot Road and 164th Street.
They wear yellow sashes and hawk religious literature. "English services too...upstairs". (For the round eyes).
Let them reform the four whore houses in the vicinity. Damn nail salons and liquor store too.
Drunks hanging out in LIRR station and street corners. Broadway's little Deadwood turf.
Good job, MTA, putting a whole bunch of minimum wage people out of work.
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