New York – Acrobats, dancers and musicians who perform in New York City’s subway system are decrying what they say is heavy-handed policing.
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Several performers championed their cause outside City Hall Tuesday. Police had no immediate response.
More than 240 subway performers have been arrested so far this year. That’s about four times as many as the same period last year.
Transit rules generally allow performing for tips in parts of subway stations, but not in trains or with amplifiers, unless artists have permits.
Some performers say they comply but still get arrested.
Others acknowledge breaking the rules but say the police should focus on crime, not on entertainment.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said these may not seem like big offenses, “but breaking the law is breaking the law.”
The subway is not a circus, let these clowns join the circus!
NYC adopted the ‘broken window’ policy, which means that small crime begets big crime. It was during the time of Mayor Guiliani that this brought crime way down and made NYC a much safer place to live.
Now small crime is starting again. I am for the police cracking down on small crime so that it does not encourage serious crime problems as was in the past.
I’m waiting for the police to catch the elderly dude who rides the B train from Brooklyn in the mornings, singing in a foreign language (Russian?) over a microphone and amplifier.
These people don’t seem to understand that they are thieves: stealing the time that riders would prefer to devote to quietly reading or to listening to their own music or shiurim.