Safety & Accessibility Concerns Spur Petitioning To Bring Back Subway Booths & Agents at 86th Street Subway Station

Upper East Side, N.Y. – Ben Kallos, candidate for City Council on the East Side of Manhattan and Roosevelt Island, took to the street this morning to petition for safer subways, with campaign volunteers, Upper East Side residents and students to voice their concerns over safety, security, and accessibility in the subways and collect petition signatures calling on Acting MTA Chair Fernando Ferrer to “bring back the booths” and agents to the 86th Street Station’s northbound platform.

“These platforms are overcrowded and people are getting pushed into the tracks,” Kallos said, in the midst long lines for MetroCards and a chaotic crowd on the platform. “With no cell service and 911 underground, we need agents and the booths in Subway stations so that if anything happens again, especially on the overcrowded 4, 5, 6 tracks, people can actually be helped.”

A team of volunteers joined Kallos at 7:00 a.m. in below freezing temperatures to talk to subway riders about the recent MTA cutbacks and to collect signatures for a petition.  

“Safety on the subway is clearly on the riders minds right now.” said Volunteer and Yorkville resident Aaron Burke. “I wasn’t surprised that in spite of the morning rush, riders were enthusiastic to sign the petition to bring back our booths,”

Catching the eye of the morning straphangers were mock MTA Service Change Advisory signs announcing the removal of the station booths and agents.

Local residents first raised concerns over the removal of the clerk booths at a January meeting of Community Board 8’s Transportation Committee, as reported on DNAInfo.com by Victoria Bekiempis. With no improvement in the situation for the past month, Kallos decided to take action.

In the first day of petitioning, Kallos and volunteers collected signatures, distributed literature to residents, but they are not going away. Kallos and team will be out again Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m. collecting signatures, this time at 77th street. The Bring Back Our Booths petition can be signed at http://KallosForCouncil.com/BBB.

Benjamin Kallos is the Executive Director of a leading Good Government group, entrepreneur, attorney, and the former Chief of Staff for Assembly Member Jonathan Bing.  You can learn more about his  run for City Council District 5, to succeed Jessica Lappin who is running for Manhattan Borough President at http://KallosForCouncil.com.

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