Latest news with #JohnChiarello
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MTA plans to add 300 new transit jobs
NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – The MTA's proposed capital plan for the next five years includes over 300 new jobs, officials said Monday at a committee meeting. Part of the MTA's 2025-2029 Capital Plan, currently 'under negotiation in Albany,' will bring more construction projects in-house. More Local News Some $6 billion of work in the 2025-2029 budget will be completed by in-house workers over private contractors, according to David Soliman, vice president of subway facilities. This will require 300 more jobs to New York City Transit, which oversees subway and bus service, he said. Some of these jobs will include interior staircase renovations, platform barrier installation, above-ground station roof and enclosure work, and work at shops and yards. The union representing New York City transit workers said the new jobs were negotiated in Albany. 'We successfully made the case that work done by TWU members is of higher quality, more cost-effective, and is completed more quickly than projects given to private contractors,' TWU Local 100 President John Chiarello said. 'We fully support this capital plan and want to see it funded and implemented.' More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State The $68 billion 2025-2029 capital program was first released in September. 'Our capital plan is hanging in the balance,' MTA Chair Janno Lieber said. 'There is a lot at stake and we did adopt it some time ago, even though there's not a program on the table at this minute.' To find open MTA jobs, click here. Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter who has covered New York City since 2023 after reporting in Los Angeles for years. She joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Yahoo
$7K reward for info on R train bandits as rogue riders' photos are released
The NYPD and the transit union alike are asking for any information that could lead to the arrest of six suspects thought to be behind the wild late-night joyride of two stolen R trains last weekend. John Chiarello, interim president of Transport Workers Union Local 100 — which represents more than 40,000 subway and bus workers — said it would match the NYPD's $3,500 bounty on the young train hijackers, after the NYPD released surveillance photos of the group late Wednesday. 'A bunch of reckless teens took a $20 million piece of equipment out of a secure transit layup area, endangering themselves, transit property and transit workers who may well have been working on the tracks,' Chiarello said in a statement. 'I'm outraged that this theft occurred and [we are] determined to stop copycats.' The combined $7,000 reward comes as police issued an update with surveillance camera footage showing the teens getting off a Manhattan-bound R train early Sunday morning at the 36th St. and Fourth Ave. stop in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Unlike in previously released footage, five of the six suspects have their faces uncovered in the station surveillance tape. One teen has a digital camera hung around his neck. Still photos released by police show at least one suspect jumping a turnstile. As previously reported by The News, the crooks are suspected of having broken into at least two sets of R160 subway cars while they were being stored overnight on the express track of Brooklyn's Fourth Ave. line. Cellphone video taken by one of the subway-stealing suspects and posted on Instagram shows they traveled through at least one local station on the express track and went through at least one signal. The video shows several of the illicit straphangers at the controls of one R160 subway car traveling at speeds upward of 30 mph. They may have passed at least one in-service train during their joyride, with one of them shouting, 'Train!' before telling another, 'Check [the] radio now,' apparently to see if they'd been spotted. One of the rogue riders appears to be sitting outside on the front of the lead subway car, his feet dangling over the tracks. Transit workers preparing to put the trains into service Sunday morning discovered them out of place, with paint covering the onboard security cameras and damage to the door locks on at least one train.
CBS News
29-01-2025
- CBS News
New video shows suspects who stole NYC subway, took it for a joyride
NEW YORK - The search is on for several suspects who police say stole and vandalized a subway train. According to police, an R train was reported stolen at around 10 p.m. Saturday. The MTA said people entered an unoccupied train that was left secured in a layup area at the 71st Avenue Station in Queens, where trains are stored when they are not in service. Authorities said the people who entered the train vandalized it by breaking numerous train car windows and operated it for a short distance. Video of the thieves operating the train was posted to social media, and shows them inside the conductor's cabin. One person operates the controls, while another sits with his legs dangling out the open front door of the train over the tracks, with another person standing beside him. Police have now released additional surveillance video of the incident, which shows at least six people moving inside the train car. So far there's no official word on how long the group operated the train or how far it was taken. The video posted by the suspects, however, shows the train operating at a high rate of speed. The suspects wore black outfits and masks and covered cameras inside the train with black marker, authorities said. Police say the suspects could face reckless endangerment charges. "Any breach of security on our rolling stock affects not only NYCT personnel but the riding public as well. We are all at risk – trains in active service with members of the public on board can also be compromised," TWU Local 100 interim president John Chiarello said. "Because train keys have been available to bad actors like these youngsters, we are fighting an uphill battle." It's not the first time New York City subway trains have been taken for joyrides. Back in September, two 17-year-olds were charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief after trying to operate an unoccupied train in Queens and crashing it. And last January, another vacant R train was taken from the Forest Hills/71st Avenue station and driven onto train storage tracks. Anyone with information in this case is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
