Ron's View

There was an article in today’s NYT with a reassuring account of the New York Police Department’s recent early morning work on the subway. A young actor/waiter was returning home to Brooklyn from work in Manhattan when he arrived at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue stop and was asked by an NYPD officer to get off the train. He was then issued a summons for “seat hoggery, a violation of part of Section 1050.7 of the Rules of Conduct, which says that no one shall ‘occupy more than one seat on a station, platform or conveyance when to do so would interfere or tend to interfere with the operation of the Authority’s transit system or the comfort of other passengers.’ ”

Mind you, it was 1:30 AM.

“I wasn’t drunk or rowdy. I was literally reading my book on an empty train,” Mr. LaMont said. “I didn’t argue with them. I said, ‘I understand what you’re doing, but in what way was I obstructing someone else from sitting down?’ The officer said, ‘Look, man, this is just what we’re doing tonight.’ ”