Days after yet another stranger-on-stranger subway murder rattled New Yorkers, the governor and the mayor stood together to reassure commuters.
asserted
governor → rattle → commuters
“We will do whatever it takes to make our subways safer,” vowed Gov. Kathy Hochul.
asserted
Hochul → do → whatever
Oops: Hochul didn’t make these remarks last week.
asserted
Hochul → make → remarks
She made them four years ago.
asserted
She → make → them
The subways today aren’t much safer — but Hochul, on the eve of another re-election, is hoping you’re exhausted by the topic.
asserted
you → hop → topic
This year looks eerily like 2022: In little more than two weeks, two innocent commuters lost their lives in unprovoked attacks.
asserted
commuters → look → attacks
Both incidents show the cost of a lenient criminal-justice system.
asserted
incidents → show → system
On Sept. 30, construction worker Mesias Lojano lost his life on a Queens J train after Jyrell Thomas allegedly stabbed him repeatedly.
uncertain
Thomas → lose → him
Weeks earlier, police had arrested Thomas for shoplifting at a Bronx Target, and for fleeing arrest — but under laws that Hochul supports, a judge released him.
asserted
judge → arrest → him
On Oct. 17 Darrel Rodriguez, coming home from his security job, was shot to death on a Midtown subway platform, allegedly by 17-year-old Xavian Collins.
uncertain
Rodriguez → come → Collins
Collins was reportedly smoking pot in the station, and Rodriguez told him to knock it off.
uncertain
Rodriguez → smoke → it
Because the state goes easy on juvenile offenders — under another policy Hochul supports — we can’t know if police had arrested Collins before.
But the killing itself is exactly the kind of case that broken-windows policing was invented to prevent.
asserted
policing → go → that
A masked and hooded kid toking in the subway is exhibiting antisocial behavior.
asserted
kid → toke → behavior
Once upon a time, cops could have arrested him for the smaller infraction — and prevented a killing.
Except: We’ve stopped arresting people for smoking pot altogether.
uncertain
We → arrest → pot
And Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s NYPD is doing less criminal enforcement in transit this year, period.
asserted
NYPD → do → transit
Serious subway violence is up 6%, and seven people have been murdered, up from four last year.
asserted
people → murder → four
Things really aren’t better than they were in 2022, when Hochul, in a close race against GOP challenger Lee Zeldin, stood with then-Mayor Eric Adams and trumpeted more cops, more cameras and more mental-health support in the subways.
asserted
Hochul → stand → subways
Back then, through August (the latest month for which year-by-year comparisons are available), subway riders and workers suffered 783 violent felonies — compared to 722 for the same period this year.
asserted
riders → suffer → period
That’s 8% fewer, sure — but the problem, four years ago and now, is how much worse things are this decade, compared to the safety that persisted for a generation before 2020.
asserted
that → ’ → 2020
Today’s incessant felony violence remains 27% above the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.
asserted
violence → remain → 2019
Over not quite seven years, we’ve suffered a level of killings that, before 2020, took 22 years to rack up.
asserted
that → suffer → years
In 2022, we ended up with 10 subway murders, a modern record (matched in 2024).
asserted
we → end → 2024
With the seven killings so far in 2026, we’re not far off.
asserted
we → ’re → 2026
Hochul, on her third mayor, has never figured out how to deal with recidivist criminals and the severely mentally ill.
asserted
Hochul → figure → criminals
With Adams as mayor, she pushed the NYPD to flood the subways, paying for the overtime with state funds.
And when cops do apprehend perps, they’re quickly released.
asserted
they → push → perps
The man who allegedly killed the elderly Ross Falzone in May by pushing him down a flight of Chelsea subway steps had left Bellevue Hospital hours before.
uncertain
who → kill → Hospital
The real difference between this year and 2022 is that Hochul doesn’t see a need to reassure the public.
asserted
Hochul → see → public
Yes, she had a press conference with Mamdani last week, after Rodriguez’s murder — but it was focused on her new favorite topic, child care.
asserted
it → have → topic
When asked later about subway violence, she lamely claimed that “it seems a lot more scary in scale” than it is.
asserted
it → ask → scale
Meanwhile the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which Hochul oversees, last week halted the civilian fare-enforcement teams it had been dispatching to city buses.
asserted
it → oversee → buses
Civilians clearly aren’t equipped to do this job; armed, trained police must do it.
asserted
police → equip → it
So how many bus fare-evasion tickets has Mamdani’s NYPD written so far this year, compared to 2025’s year-to-date 1,053?
asserted
NYPD → write → 1,053
It gets worse — after a recent month of inactivity, in which the NYPD issued zero bus tickets, it erased the line altogether from its regular CompStat report.
asserted
it → get → report
Under Mamdani, the NYPD has quiet-quit the fare-enforcement business.
asserted
NYPD → quit → business
Hochul is betting that voters have gotten used to what once would have been an unacceptable level of subway crime; that they’re too concerned about inflation and unaffordability.
asserted
they → bet → inflation
Next week, we’ll find out if she’s right.
asserted
she → find → ?
Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal and a 2026 Moynihan Center fellow.
asserted
Gelinas → contribute → Journal
The Aporia
