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Following reports of Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen. Chuck Schumer pestering commuters on the R train Thursday morning, mysterious Twitter celebrity and Photoshop wizard @darth (real identity unknown) produced a new sign to add to the MTA's recent courtesy campaign.
(The MTA's signs address things like "Showtime" dancers. A parody campaign added signs admonishing people who monopolize subway poles with their butts.)
The politicians rode the subway from de Blasio's gym in Park Slope to City Hall with some fanfare Thursday morning to urge New Yorkers to help them push for transportation funding from the federal government.
But according to a pool report submitted by the lone New York Times reporter the mayor allowed to accompany him on the trip, several straphangers seemed to not appreciate the interruption into their morning commute, responding to the politicos' pestering as though the men were proselytizing subway preachers.
From the report:
Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Schumer worked their way to the south end of the car, where the senator began filibustering a half-dozen riders about the gas tax.
A woman got up to leave. “Is this your stop?” Mr. Schumer asked.
She walked toward the doors but did not get off right away.
One man had begun recording the two speakers with his phone. Two seats over, a woman, inches from Mr. de Blasio, declined to look up. She was reading Page Six of the New York Post.
The mayor should understand — He's not much of a morning person, either.
Here’s a bonus picture, also by @darth, of the mayor as a Showtime dancer.
