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Curtis Sliwa: “Half the people don't pay [the subway fare] anyway.”

Featuring: Curtis Sliwa, Conservative | Radio Talk Show Host, Former Candidate, Mayor of New York City

NYC Debate For Mayor | Full NY1 Coverage

Published October 23, 2025 | Video Starts at 1:32:10

I get a good belly laugh. Zoran. Oh, all right, I'll keep practicing. I gotcha. I get a good belly laugh every time I hear you say free fair in the subways, Half the people don't pay [the subway fare] anyway. How about fair enforcement? I'm the only one who says we have all kinds of fair programs for the indigent and the poor, but if you don't pay your fare, there needs to be enforcement. (1:32:10–1:32:13)

CLAIM

Asserts that half of subway riders do not pay the fare.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Curtis Sliwa

“We have 6,000 empty apartments in NYCHA.”
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“We have 25 Empire State Buildings that would be empty and just have office space.”
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“The city and state should have been doing [tending to the needs of homeless, emotionally disturbed veterans] a long time ago, but neglected…”
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“$41,000 we pay per student.”
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“We have allocated $8 billion for four community jails. The price tag is now up to 16 billion and will only house 4,000 of the 7,000.”
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“They're now starting to build...lithium ion battery warehouses...38 [in] Brooklyn, 12 [in] Queens, four in the Bronx and none in Manhattan.”
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“I've served this city for more than 50 years.”
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“I'm going to share with you my vision and to make New York City safer again.”
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“To make New York City more affordable again, and where everybody once again can live the American dream.”
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“The local 5th Precinct...complain that they have to release [arrestees] because of no cash bail.”
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“The feds should not have stepped into this situation. There is not communication between the local authorities and the feds.”
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“He's already cut federal funding for Medicaid, SNAP program, and it's threatened to cut funds for nycha.”
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“I'm the only candidate up here who's been into many of the over 300 Department of Homeless Services shelters.”
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“The family shelters are unsafe for the families there.”
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“We have to bring teachers into the shelter.”
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“Many times the mothers or the guardian have to get on bus after bus and take them to a school that's two or two and a half hours away.”
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“Takes five years to build affordable housing.”
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“We need to make sure that the big realtors...have to pay a vacancy tax.”
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“We got to make sure it's a fair playing field so that the tenants are protected, but the landlords are protected.”
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“I'm the only candidate here on this stage who is opposed to the City of Yes.”
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“Retrofit them to affordable apartments.”
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“Absolutely. Local control, community board should have their say.”
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“I told you he was corrupt.”
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“I told you there would be chaos.”
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“I warned you in 2021 you should have elected me mayor.”
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“Mr. One and done. Dead.”
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“The mother of my two youngest sons who are raised Jewish, Melinda Katz, is prosecuting this person who came up and tried to do you harm.”
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“They view you as the arsonist who fan the flames of anti Semitism.”
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“My sons are afraid. Their family, their friends, many in the Jewish community, are concerned if you become mayor.”
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“I have 13 campaign offices open throughout the outer boroughs.”
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“I'm there to protect our pets and animals.”
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“I don't think [Commissioner Tisch] would serve with either Cuomo or Zoran because she has railed against no cash bail.”
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“Cuomo, the architect of no cash bail.”
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“Zoran, the apprentice of no cash bail.”
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“That's why criminals are running in the street.”
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“I've been in all 350 neighborhoods.”
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“I'm the only candidate that's on the subway each and every day.”
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“We need 7,000 police officers. We are badly understaffed.”
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“We need to bring back the Homeless Outreach Unit that was disbanded when de Blasio took a billion dollars out of the budget.”
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“These were men and women police officers who already had with them medical nurses and health care practitioners.”
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“It was de Blasio who abolished it.”
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“Misdemeanors of felonies, no cash bail releases him back in to the streets and both of you afford no cash mail.”
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“No, we need to start charging juveniles who commit violent crime in criminal court.”
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“I'll appoint criminal court judges who follow the law and don't just release them because of no cash bail.”
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“We so desperately need 7,000 new cops.”
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“Close them down.”
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“And another one. 2%. Keep your hands off the parts of greedy developers.”
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“License them, register them, and yes, do enforcement on them.”
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“Absolutely not. All the attention would go to the presidential election, not to the mayoral election and all the down ballot elections.”
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“No, only if the community wants it.”
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“I support ranked choice voting, but I'd only vote for myself.”
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“You talk about free, free, free, but we know that somebody's got to pay for it and that's you, the taxpayers, and that's going to lead to…”
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“The only reason that Zoran is on the stage is because of the failed Governor Cuomo, who was rejected by the Democrats the primary and…”
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“You have 13 deputy chancellors. You have about 50 department heads. Nobody at this school level ever deals with them.”
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“One third of our children don't even come to school each day.”
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“We need to raise the cap and have more charter schools for the children who have been waiting to get in for years.”
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“You keep Rikers island open. There are seven functioning buildings, three others that need to be rehabbed.”
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“We keep the inmates on Rikers island and we turn those four units in the neighborhoods into affordable housing.”
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“100,000 Condo & Co op owners, their maintenance fees will go up, up 30%.”
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“We haven't been able to meet the [electrical] need since [Indian Point was taken offline].”
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“Upstate [New York] they are already starting [new nuclear power plants].”
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“We have all kinds of fair programs for the indigent and the poor.”
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“The worst time was the summer of 2017, the summer of hell.”
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“Andrew Cuomo, when you were running the subway system as the head of the ncr.”
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“Everybody pays their fare. Enforcement. More cops in the street subway system.”
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“We can get more people to voluntarily actually sponsor their subway system stations.”
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“Yes, I would ask Bob Holden, who's taught 40 years. He leads Democrats for Sleewa.”
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“No, the. The johns. Yes. The pimps, the madams and the absentee landlords.”
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“He didn't get anything right during the COVID crisis? No.”
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