Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15) is happy to piss off the political establishment — even if they are wearing the same Dem jersey as him — because he’s certain that “80% of New Yorkers agree” with him on quality of life issues. Earlier this month, Torres tweeted a video of a vagrant taking a leak on the 7 train.
“A mentally disturbed person is publicly urinating in the subway, pissing on a public transit system that pisses away $700 million a year in fare evasion,” Torres wrote on X, adding, “Why do we accept this? New York can do better than what a broken system can deliver.” In more civilized times, a politician sharing a urination video might not seem like the stuff of gravitas — but this subway rider felt good old-fashioned relief that Torres did. Finally, a pol is telling a simple truth: That our city, the greatest in the world, has accepted woefully subpar conditions on our subways and streets.
Someone in power is willing to acknowledge and diagnose the disease, not tell the patients that they’re imagining symptoms. “The lesson learned from the last election is that the American people aren’t stupid — and gaslighting doesn’t work,” Torres told me this week. As for his blunt tweeting style, the aim is to send a particular message : “We don’t have to accept what is unacceptable.
” That means demanding cleaner, safer trains; clamping down on fare evasion; and removing the severely deranged from our streets to help cut down on random violence..
