She did her ‘fare’ share
IT WAS HARD for Shani Rahman to share her story in the Daily News last May — when she wrote about having to beg for a swipe into the subway or the bus just to get her daughter to school or herself to work from the shelter where she lives.
“It's also embarrassing because people know who you are and they're like oh, well, she's struggling, she doesn't really have it all together, you know?” Rahman said.
But on Tuesday, the fast food worker was beaming — standing alongside Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson at Fulton Center, as Johnson credited her for the second time in two days as one of the reasons the city will spend $106 million to fund “Fair Fares,” which will provide low-income people like Rahman half-priced MetroCards.
“It's exciting that because I shared my story and what I'm going through in life, it's (going) to help benefit more than just me,” Rahman told the News.
While Johnson had made it a budget priority, de Blasio insisted for months the city couldn't afford to pay for the program. In an op-ed for The News on May 21, Rahman urged de Blasio to change his mind.
“Most weeks, I worry that I won't have enough money to afford the subway fare. When I don't have enough money for a MetroCard, I have to wait for people to swipe me in,” she wrote. “When I'm with my daughter, people are more generous, but it's embarrassing that she sees me ask strangers for help. Even though she's only 3, she's started repeating what she sees me do, asking for swipes on her own. It breaks my heart.”
Johnson first mentioned Rahman at Monday night's budget handshake agreement, and again on Tuesday -when she joined him at a “rally” to celebrate Fair Fares in the Fulton Center stop.
“One of the most moving moments of this entire process was reading the op-ed in the Daily News, was reading the op-ed of Shani Rahman who works not that far from here in a restaurant on Fulton Street, and wrote really beautifully about her experience and why Fair Fares was important to her to be able to support her family,” Johnson said.
The speaker also recalled his own family's struggles to make ends meet — how his mother worked two jobs and he was raised in public housing.
“I really do remember my mom having to make decisions based on whether or not we could get enough gasoline that week or whether or not we had to scrimp by and not have a meal that we needed,” he said. “And for me to be able to participate in this campaign and to be able to help so many low-income New Yorkers and make their lives better, this is why I ran for office.”
The inclusion of the program represents a considerable win for Johnson in his first budget -- and despite his earlier resistance, de Blasio fully embraced the program Tuesday, tying it to his 2013 election slogan.
“This is another day of taking on that tale of two cities and say we're going to put it in our past, we want a New York City that actually works for everyone,” de Blasio said.
The push began with the Community Service Society and the Riders Alliance, who were both on hand Tuesday to celebrate and praise the program as a move toward a fairer city.
“You can't get ahead if you can't get around,” John Raskin of the Riders Alliance said.
Backers have long argued that without such a program, the poor often put themselves at risk of being arrested for fare evasion — though de Blasio has insisted in the past many who jump turnstiles are not poor.