Ever since he founded the Guardian Angels in 1979, Curtis Sliwa has been committed to helping New Yorkers in need, especially in the transit system. That help extends to New Yorkers of all walks of life, but it especially applies to the homeless, a segment of the population that has very few resources it can use to help its downtrodden members. Unlike some public servants, Curtis actually helps people who can’t always help themselves.
On 710 WOR’s Curtis Sliwa and Larry Mendte in the Morning program, Curtis recounted the story of a recent round trip he took on the Staten Island Ferry, in which a different homeless person went on a wild rant in front of passengers on each leg of the trip. He then offered his explanation of how he would have tackled the homeless situation if he had been elected mayor in 2025.
Curtis laid out three basic reasons why he believes the homeless have become an almost expected part of daily life without getting the help they need: “A, the subway system, [is] the largest of any of those systems in [any other] city. So, it’s like a moving hotel. Number two, it’s almost impossible to get somebody remanded to a psychiatric facility beyond going to a hospital for, like, a 72 hour- they call it a psych observation- and then they cut them loose. And the third thing is, is I think New York City, folks that live here, are becoming so use to it, they’re immune to it. Whereas before they would get up out of the car, they’d run away, they’d look for a cop, they’d look for any kind of [help]; now, they basically just sit, hunkered down, bear with it.”…