The New York City transit boss, who insists subway crime is “in people’s heads,” makes $400,000 a year and has a driver.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber made the provocative claims in one Bloomberg job interview on Monday.
And now critics have focused on his prerogative, with former mayoral candidate and public safety campaigner Curtis Sliwa insist Lieber ‘NEVER uses the subway.’
MTA officials have insisted that Lieber use the subway to travel between his $2.2 million Brooklyn home and his FiDi office. But they also admitted that he sometimes uses a driver.
Lieber’s OMNY account shows that he “wiretapped” the MTA system 600 times during a 12-month period ending April 30, according to transit officials. Newsday reports.
He stated that crime in the metro fell 12.5 percent last year compared to 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.
“The overall statistics are positive,” Lieber emphasized. “Some of these high-profile incidents, you know, terrible attacks have gotten into people’s minds and made the whole system feel unsafe.”
His comments come just weeks after Debrina Kawam, 57, was set on fire and burned on a subway train while she slept.
The gruesome murder is just one in a series of high-profile incidents that have left New Yorkers feeling unsafe while using the Big Apple’s underground transportation system.
MTA chairman sparks anger after dismissing subway crime as ‘just in people’s minds’
Last week, 45-year-old Joseph Lynskey barely survived after being pushed onto the subway tracks when approached by a random assailant.
Meanwhile, two men were stabbed in separate attacks on the subway on New Year’s Day.
Despite Lieber’s insistence, an analysis of NYPD data by the New York Post shows that the subway’s 10 homicides last year reached a decade-high.
Meanwhile, the 579 crimes also represented a slight increase on last year’s figures, according to preliminary data.
However, an 18 percent drop in robberies could help explain the reduction in major crimes.
The Transport Workers Union was among those who decried Lieber’s comments.
‘Total BS. This MTA fraudster is ignoring the fact that violent crime is skyrocketing. The number of crimes increased by 51.6% and the number of murders by 233% last year compared to 2019 (January to January 29).
“Such # are published in the MTA’s own committee books. Ignite this GOBS***E!’, the union wrote.
The group’s boss, John Samuelsen, added in his own post: ‘If CEO Janno Lieber was routinely attacked like hundreds of @transportworker members have been under his tenure, or pushed in front of an oncoming train, or set on fire by a crazy lunatic,” then he would be much less snarky and indifferent to the travails of working New Yorkers.”
His comments came days after homeless woman Debrina Kawan was set on fire and burned on a New York City subway.
The revelations came amid the bitter battle over the $9-a-day congestion charge imposed by Lieber.
New York Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Anthony D’Esposito co-sponsored a bill to revoke Lieber’s access to a government car in protest of his policies.
However, the subway violence has so shocked New Yorkers that the vigilante group Guardian Angels has resumed its patrols.
The recent incidents have also led to renewed calls to install guardrails on platforms similar to those in other countries.
However, Lieber stated that this is not currently a priority for the network, which will instead focus on fare dodgers.
“We have put a billion dollars into our new capital program since the tariff evasion and this whole phenomenon has certainly accelerated after the COVID-19 crisis,” he said.
However, there have been a number of high-profile incidents in recent times. Shocking footage captured the moment Joseph Lynskey, 45, was pushed under a New York City subway train by a masked assailant who fled the scene
Transportation union members denounce Lieber’s comments, pointing to a rise in subway murders and assaults
Lieber makes $400,000 a year and lives in this $2.2 million house in Brooklyn. He insists he regularly uses the metro to travel to work
“So we’re going to start replacing all these tourniquets that worked when I was a kid, but are now clearly ineffective in the age that we live in.”
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, meanwhile, has pledged 200 additional officers to reassure subway riders and hinted that more could follow.
“We still need to do more because people don’t feel safe on our subways,” she said.
DailyMail.com has contacted the MTA for comment.