nydailynews.com
Unlucky No. 7 line: Latest subway window smash spree adds to
‘intolerable’ $300K in vandalism, MTA says Ellen Moynihan, Cathy
Burke 3 minutes

A relentless wave of smash-and-run vandalism continued on the No. 7
subway, with nearly two dozen windows bashed in the latest spree —
adding to a damage bill that’s topped $300,000 since spring, the agency
said Saturday.

Patrick Warren, the MTA’s chief safety and security officer and acting
chief operating officer of NYC Transit, said the latest smash-up targeted
21 windows on two different No. 7 trains, and was discovered around
10 p.m. Friday at both the Vernon Blvd.-Jackson Ave. station and 103rd
St. station.

“This is absolutely infuriating for the people of New York and of
course, the MTA, to have to continue to work through this challenge of
vandalism on our system,” he said.

“It is costing the New York City customers, the taxpayers, money. Just
last night was probably $10,000 in damages, which is added on to the
over 400 … windows being broken out since the spring.”

“The cost of this is in excess of $300,000 at this point, which is
intolerable.”

According to Warren, the smash thugs are using “what appears to some
kind of blunt instrument, could be a hammer, could be a pipe, a baseball
bat, and breaking windows from the inside.” Subway windows are up to
a half-inch thick, he noted.

The damage will take a will take a heavy toll on subway service,
Warren said.

“We are only as good as supply chain. We have yet to have to pull trains
out of service for extended periods of time, but that’s certainly a
possibility going forward,” Warren added.

Breaking News Newsletter

As it happens

Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens
with our free breaking news email alerts.

After broken windows are discovered, all the cars on a train are emptied
and brought back to repair facilities at the end of the line for fixes
that can take hours.

“We have to take train out of service when we find broken windows in
it because of the safety hazard,” Warren said.

Warren vowed the MTA will ramp up surveillance with the NYPD, and
suggested a revival of the controversial broken-window method of policing
might be useful — clamping down on small crimes to prevent bigger ones.

“If there’s any time that we should think about maybe a broken window
strategy, this may be that moment in time, and we certainly would like
to continue and work with the NYPD on that strategy,” Warren said.

The subways now carry 1.3 million passengers daily — well below a year
ago, but “steadily increasing,” Warren said.