RAB Source Entry #2 – Abel Tricoche

Part 1 MLA Citation

Newman, Andy. “Advocates for Homeless People Sue the New York Subway System Over Pandemic Rules.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Feb. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/nyregion/homeless-nyc-subway.html.

Part 2 Summary

In this article, “Advocates for Homeless People Sue the New York Subway System Over Pandemic Rules” Andy Newman tells us about the laws that were enforced for public safety because of Covid that have greatly impacted homeless people, as well as the lawsuit filed by Urban Justice Safety Net towards MTA. The rules consist of prohibiting people staying in the subway station for more than an hour or after a train is taken out of service. According to the author the laws were supposed to safeguard public safety and health and maintain social distance. The rules go against many people who perform in subways and seemed like the real purpose of the law was to exclude homeless people from the subways. The Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net took action in regard to the homeless people the law affected and state the rules violate state human and civil rights law and the rules did not receive proper review.

PART 3A: REFLECTION

This article makes me understand the two sides of MTA trying to protect everyday riders and advocates for homeless people. This article was written when the spread was still very bad and when subways were shut down for nightly cleaning, which was another thing that affected homeless people. It is a hard situation for both parties because we are human, and it is a very unfortunate situation for homeless people to be going through during a pandemic especially since the world is already cruel towards them. I think in general there needs to be more opportunities for homeless people to get help for shelter and health instead of being treated like nothing. They deserve basic rights and shelter even if they don’t have money to pay for it all, if there was some type of program or law that allows these people in need to get the help they need and get a second chance they would take it, no one wants to be treated like trash and be alone forever.

PART 3B: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

The genre is an informative report. The purpose is to inform and spread awareness. The writing style is expository, and the tone is objective. The audience is New York City citizens and other advocates. The New York Times is one of the most popular news productions, it’s reliable because of its worldwide readership and the team behind the scenes cite properly and are very well respected. Andy Newman is a journalist who writes about social services and poverty in NYC. He was the founding reporter of the NYTimes column and ran the NYTimes popular City Room blog. He has covered the New York metropolitan area for The Times for 25 years and written nearly 4,000 stories and blog posts.

PART 4: NOTABLE QUOTABLES

 “Many homeless people now avoid the city’s barracks-style group shelters for fear of contracting the coronavirus.”

“Advocates for homeless people in New York City sued the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Friday over a series of Covid-19 rules that the suit says unfairly target people who shelter in the city’s subways.”