Local lawmakers and the mayor’s office need to “assess and address” a surge in people being arrested and taken to court for lying down or spreading out in New York City’s public transit system, the leader of the City Council committee that oversees homeless services said in response to a Gothamist data analysis this week.
“It feels problematic to me to know there’s a significant spike in people who are being charged for lying down or sleeping on the train,” said Councilmember Crystal Hudson, chair of the Committee on General Welfare. “I would say that if they had a safe, stable bed to sleep in, then they wouldn’t be sleeping on the train.”
Rather than criminally charge people, she said, “I think we need to be thinking about what types of resources we can actually offer.”…