On back-to-back nights last week, I bumped into two New Yorkers made famous by the subway: Lenore Skenazy and Daniel Penny.
Skenazy rose to prominence in 2008 as “America’s Worst Mom” for letting her 9-year-old son ride the 6 train alone; Penny in 2023 for restraining Jordan Neely, a repeat offender menacing other passengers, in a headlock that would lead to Neely’s death.
Skenazy’s and Penny’s incidents took place 15 years apart, but are united by a perennial question: Is the subway safe enough for New York’s most vulnerable?
Back in the oughts, Skenazy argued that the real threat to kids wasn’t dangerous riders, but overprotective parents who never let them develop the skill of independence…