Republican New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino doesn't have much sympathy for the congestion toll pricing activist who was attacked on the subway recently, telling Newsmax on Thursday that perhaps the "elitist" could muster more empathy for every day New Yorkers.
Paladino joined "Rob Schmitt Tonight" to talk about last week's "distressing and painful experience" suffered by Layla Law-Gisiko, president of the City Club of New York, a driving force behind the city's new charge on drivers in the name of reducing "greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas."
"I say tsk tsk, that's really too bad. You know these activists that refuse to face facts have to face reality of what the subways are really like. You know, it's our elitists, once again," Paladino said. "Reality maybe needs to hit them once or twice more to really get the idea of what every day New Yorkers go through. Our crimes are through the roof."
The new toll, $9 for passenger vehicles during peak hours, for example, is forcing more people onto the subway, which is rife with crime and thugs, like the one that allegedly left Law-Gisiko bruised and sore. Paladino scoffed at the ideas to make the subway system safer.
"You could put a million cops down there. So long as bail reform is in place and everything is going on the way it's going on, nothing's going to stop. Nothing's going to change. Our cops are handcuffed," she told Schmitt. "So you're going to put state troopers down there; OK, fine. You're going to put the National Guard down there; OK, fine. You're still going to have those people jumping over the turnstiles and all of this.
"You could change whatever you want; unless you start to arrest people and have consequences for their actions, you know."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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