Evening Roundup: Mayor Adams Scales Back Schedule, A New Candidate A New Candidate Enters Public Advocate Race, Holocaust Exhibit Debuts, Subway Safety Repor...

Jared Marcel: Welcome to NYC NOW, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jared Marcel. Mayor Eric Adams is scaling back his schedule this week and will attend several doctor's appointments. That's according to his spokesperson, Fabien Levy. Levy posted on social media Sunday night that the mayor hasn't been feeling well in recent days and will undergo routine medical tests. He emphasized the mayor's right to privacy but said updates would be provided if Mayor Adams becomes unable to perform his duties. Levy declined to share details about Adams' symptoms. By law, if the mayor was unable to fulfill his responsibilities, the city's first deputy mayor, Maria Torres-Springer, would assume leadership.

State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar is officially running for New York City Public Advocate. The Democrat who represents parts of Queens like Glendale, Richmond Hill, and Woodhaven had previously considered a run for City Comptroller this election cycle. The public advocate acts as a watchdog for the mayor's administration and is second in line to the mayor at City Hall. Rajkumar joins the race alongside fellow Democrat and incumbent Jabali Williams. While Williams has been a vocal critic of Mayor Eric Adams, Rajkumar is considered one of the mayor's closest allies.

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New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage is launching a new exhibit to mark the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. The exhibit features artificial intelligence technology, allowing visitors to interact with virtual versions of Holocaust survivors and hear their stories. Toby Levy, a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor from Occupied Poland, says she's proud to be part of the project.

Toby Levy: I'm scared. When I am gone, all the deniers will come up to say it never happened. Well, we have live witnesses forever now.

Jared Marcel: The museum interviewed nine other survivors for the interactive exhibit, which is 1 of more than 100 programs open to the public. Up next, a new report shows how time and location affect subway safety across New York City. That's after the break.

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Jared Marcel: A new report reveals that when and where you ride the subway in New York City can affect your chances of encountering violence and criminal activity. My colleague David Furst spoke with WNYC's Brittany Kriegstein about the findings following a series of high-profile subway crimes.

David Furst: Brittany, what are the riskiest times and places to ride the subway according to the data?

Brittany Kriegstein: This report was put together by Vital City, which is a non-profit organization that analyzes crime data in New York. They looked at incidents on the subway from the early 2000s through 2024, and their data tells two stories, I'd say, about the risks to subway riders at different stations. Overall, the highest number of crimes against commuters are recorded during peak hours at stations like 125th Street in East Harlem, Lexington Avenue, 59th Street, Jackson Heights, Roosevelt Avenue, then 59th Street, Columbus Circle, Franklin Avenue, and Grand Central. Those big stations.

However, the report says that commuters are more likely to encounter violence at smaller stations during overnight or early morning hours, when they're likely to be alone or among few other people. That's just statistics. You know, fewer people at a particular station and on the train means higher risks to individuals, even though we have to say the risks still remain relatively small.

David Furst: Well, we've been hearing a lot about crime in the subways these days. Does the report explain more about what's actually happening on trains and in stations?

Brittany Kriegstein: Yes, and that's what the researchers say is a little bit disconcerting. The report delves into different kinds of crimes being committed and how the trends have changed over time. These days, they say, and the data shows that we're seeing fewer robberies and burglaries on the trains, but more of the serious assaults that leave people with injuries. The Vital City researchers say that these assaults on trains have almost quadrupled since 2009, and they largely happen between people who don't know each other.

David Furst: How does crime in the subway system compare to crime in the city in general?

Brittany Kriegstein: Right, so we have to start off by saying that riding the subway statistically remains really safe. We know about 4 million people ride each day, and only a handful, a handful of crimes are actually committed. Gun violence and murder on the subway remains extremely rare, but commuters are still fearful, David, and the data about assaults supports those fears.

I mean, in 2023, according to the data, there are about 28,000 assaults above ground. That's people walking down the street. About 540 felony assaults were recorded in the subway system that same year. Obviously, there's a huge difference between those two numbers, but the nature of the subway system, of course, with people next to people that they don't know, in a fairly confined environment definitely has sparked a lot of fear amongst commuters that we're seeing now.

David Furst: What can you tell us about who is committing these crimes?

Brittany Kriegstein: That's another interesting branch of this report. Vital City was able to get arrest records from the NYPD, which show that the people arrested in subway assault cases are most often people with long criminal records, people with histories of mental health issues, and people with histories of homelessness. We'll hear from Paul Reeping, the organization's director of research.

Paul Reeping: Even when we look at then the top decile of overall subway arrests who had a history of subway violence, 89% were homeless or EDP at some point, so that's really high.

Brittany Kriegstein: I should say EDP refers to emotionally disturbed person or people who have severe and documented histories of mental health challenges. Reeping says it's hard to understand exactly why these assaults are spiking even as other major crimes decrease. One thing we do know is that violent assaults at street level are also on the rise. As we discussed, they actually went up 5% citywide in 2024. The researchers all say there's something larger happening here. We don't quite know what the cause of it is, other than a prevalence of people suffering from mental health and homelessness who are committing these kinds of crimes and often in public transit.

David Furst: Well, what are police and the MTA doing about this, and is it helping?

Brittany Kriegstein: Of course, we know that Governor Hochul asked for police officers to patrol every subway train overnight. The NYPD has also increased efforts to crack down on things like fare evasion, which often leads them to catch people who would have committed a crime otherwise, they say, but about 150 million people evade the fare each year, so that's a lot of arrests to make. By comparison, there are only about 2,000 subway crimes reported every year. That's kind of a difficult numbers game if you're trying to arrest people who are going to be committing crimes and evading the fare.

The MTA has also improved the system itself. They've installed cameras in every car, which has been helpful in catching perpetrators, they've said. In response to all this data, an MTA spokesperson says the agency is calling on the courts to find better ways to keep repeat offenders from getting back out onto the streets and making it to the subways.

David Furst: In our few moments we have left, can you mention a few practical things riders can do to keep safe on the subway?

Brittany Kriegstein: Absolutely. We have a story on our new site, Gothamist, by my colleague Samantha Max, that I would recommend checking out. Talks about this in detail, but of course, be aware of your surroundings. Don't stand right next to the tracks. Experts recommend not having headphones in while riding the train so you can hear what's going on around you. Once you get on the train, the safest cars are in front with a conductor, or the middle, where another MTA worker is stationed. If something doesn't feel right, just get off at the next stop and wait for another train.

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Jared Marcel: That's WNYC reporter Brittany Kriegstein in conversation with my colleague David Furst. Before we go, a quick reminder that Lunar New Year is this week, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. Wednesday, January 29th, is the annual firecracker ceremony from the Better Chinatown Society. The festival begins at 11:00 in the morning at Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

In some Asian traditions, the Year of the Snake marks a year of transformation. In New York City, schools are off on Wednesday in honor of the holiday. The big Lunar New Year parade kicks off at 1:00 in the afternoon in Chinatown on Sunday, February 16th. A longer list of Lunar New Year events are available at our news site, Gothamist. Thanks for listening to NYC NOW from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Jared Marcel. See you tomorrow.

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