MTA Apologizes After Removing Benches To Prevent Homeless From Using Them

BYCole Blake3.7K Views
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The MTA has apologized after tweeting that they removed benches to prevent the homeless from using them.

New York City Transit is apologizing after the MTA's Twitter account stated that they were removing benches from subway stations to stop homeless New Yorkers from using them.

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"Benches were removed from stations to prevent the homeless from sleeping on them," the MTA tweeted, in response to a user who inquired about their disappearance. 

The explanation went viral and was met with wide-ranging condemnation on the site. 

“We have inconvenienced you and made the station more inaccessible to the pregnant, disabled and elderly, but you must understand that lets us inflict further misery on people without homes," one user replied.

The MTA later released a statement to the New York Post, explaining that the tweet was incorrect, but reaffirmed that the subway is not a homeless shelter.

“The tweet was posted in error and it has since been removed. The subway is not a substitute for a shelter and homeless New Yorkers deserve much better care,” spokeswoman Abbey Collins said. “We have been working with the city on this important issue and have asked for more dedicated mental health and medical resources which are urgently needed to solve the homeless crisis that has been exacerbated by the pandemic.”

[Via]


About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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