Mayor Eric Adams gives Eyewitness News exclusive look at subway homeless initiative
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Mayor Eric Adams took Eyewitness News on an exclusive look at the City's outreach efforts to homeless New Yorkers sleeping in the subway system.
The program has often been criticized because it sometimes involves removing people against their will.
Mayor Adams is touting its success and says the safety of subway riders is the number one priority.
Beneath the glittering sidewalks of Herald Square, homeless outreach workers are pleading with a man with bare feet.
Others approach another man who doesn't want to move.
"This-this breaks my heart, right here," Mayor Adams said.
He said he is determined to change it.
"You came into office saying what?" Eyewitness News reporter N.J. Burkett asked.
"That we can't continue to act like we don't see you," Adams said.
The mayor invited Eyewitness News to tour the Herald Square subway station late Wednesday night, along with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, where nurses and social workers teamed-up with New York City police officers.
It's part of the mayor's latest initiative to offer shelter and services to the homeless, and to involuntarily commit those with severe mental illness, who refuse treatment.
"Critics say that he should have a right to be in a public subway system or on a public street. And he shouldn't be harassed by the city or by the police," Burkett said.
"The critics are so far removed from what everyday New Yorkers want, you know, they are being philosophical. And everyday New Yorkers, they are saying this should not happen," Adams said.
Over the past three months, more than 5,000 have been approached and roughly one third have accepted care, including treatment. The mayor insists that's progress.
"1,700 have taken us up on the services. Those are good numbers," Adams said.
Just Thursday morning, Eyewitness News saw three people, sprawled out across the seats sleeping-onboard a crowded uptown No. 2 train.
N.J. Burkett showed Adams a video of a man in the Fulton Street station, "This is a guy, he's got a Skittles box on his head."
"He's unkempt, he's soiled himself. This is a picture perfect example of why we should not be saying he has a right to be out there. He doesn't know he needs help. We have to give him that," Adams said.
Crime is down in the transit system so far this year, but the commissioner admits it doesn't feel that way.
"The mayor was very clear with me when I started this job, the priorities are bringing crime down and making people feel safer," Tisch said. "The mayor has launched a number of initiatives, this being a prime example to get at those things that create the feeling of disorder in the city."
"It's about understanding our responsibility to help people who are in desperate need but just can't recognize it, themselves. And so, to me, there's nothing aggressive about trying to help somebody and there's nothing respectful about leaving somebody to rot," Brian Stettin, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services said.
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