Former Governor Paterson supports mask ban to expose crime and hate

metro

From Carl Campanile

Former Governor David Paterson on Sunday called for reinstating the ban on masks in public to stop moped criminals, Jew-hating rioters and other lawbreakers who wear these face coverings to hide their identities.

He said civil rights activists should stay out of the way and not try to block such a law.

“Many of the [moped bandits] wear masks so victims cannot identify them to police,” Paterson said Sunday on radio station 77 WABC's “The Cats Roundtable.”

He noted that both Governor Kathy Hochul and New York Mayor Eric Adams support reviving the law, which was repealed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exceptions apply to people who wear a face covering for religious or health reasons, at a cultural event or as a holiday costume.

“Sometimes you have to control what's going on around you and you can't always stick to some vague principle that doesn't help,” Paterson told host John Catsimatidis.

“The New York Civil Liberties Union has spoken out against the mask requirement. [ban] because they see it as an infringement on freedom of expression and, of course, freedom of action,” said the Democrat, who held the government in New York from 2008 to 2010.

“But at the same time, unless you have a better proposal for how to reduce crime, you should just step back and let the people who are in charge of this find their own way. And if the legislature wants to pass a law, then that law should take precedence over your interests,” he added.

The campaign for a reinstated mask ban gained momentum after masked thugs occupied a subway car in Manhattan last week and demanded that “Zionists” raise their hands – then added: “This is your chance to get out of here.”

Masked vandals also splattered the door of Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak’s home with red paint and unfurled a banner calling her a “white supremacist Zionist.”

Meanwhile, masked moped riders are responsible for numerous shocking robberies throughout the city.

The state's Attorney General, Letitia James, also supports the effort to expose haters and criminals.

“No one should be able to hide behind a mask to spread hate,” a spokesman for AG James told the Post on Friday.

Overall, Paterson praised the Adams NYPD's offensive against reckless moped riders.

“Some of the things they do on their bikes should put them in jail,” he said of the criminals.

New Yorkers still do not feel as safe as they did “five or six years ago,” the former governor said.

“Just getting out of a car is an invitation to an attack. I hope the police continue to work hard, they seem to be making progress. If they make enough progress, we will feel it,” Paterson said.

Paterson added that he would be “shocked” if Hochul approved the $15 congestion toll for Midtown south of 60th Street after the November election, after he repealed the unpopular pricing system at the last minute on the grounds that it was too expensive for New Yorkers. The nation's first congestion toll was set to take effect on June 30 before Hochul rejected it earlier this month.

“That would fuel some rumors that she actually delayed the campaign until after Election Day so that the Democrats would have a better chance in the congressional elections,” Paterson said of the idea that Hochul would revive the campaign after November.

“I would be shocked if that happened. I got the feeling that as the deadline approached she became uncomfortable with the whole process and is now going to try to do something different,” he said.

“It would be in their best interest to find another way [to finance the MTA].”

He said the big advocates of congestion pricing – first former Mayor Mike Bloomberg and then former Governor Andrew Cuomo – “now see that maybe [the toll] was not the best decision.”