With my tinfoil hat adjusted: maybe this is a plan to push for CCTV acceptance in NYC. Annoy commuters enough, present surveillance as a solution, get agreement.
There's a conspiracy theory guy (David Ike) who claims there's always the same pattern here: problem - reaction - solution.
You create a problem to provoke people reaction and then offer them a solution, which ultimately results in taking more and more control over them.
With my tinfoil hat adjusted: maybe this is a plan to push for CCTV acceptance in NYC. Annoy commuters enough, present surveillance as a solution, get agreement.