A coalition of local and state-elected officials held a press conference on Nov. 1 in front of the offices of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in Manhattan, demanding “an immediate response to a letter sent to its executives some weeks ago, which asked how emergency evacuation procedures and other security measures are being communicated to minority populations who do not speak English and who ride the trains and buses every day.”

According to Assemblyman Peter Rivera, in spite of repeated telephone calls and letters to MTA President Peter Kalikow over the past six weeks, he has still received no answer.

“In times when we ought all to be working together to increase the public’s security, the MTA has left us in the dark. This is unacceptable,” said Rivera.

The group of elected officials avers that the directions for emergency evacuation and other security measures implemented by the MTA “are not being communicated to tens of thousands of Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and members of other minorities in New York City,” since the MTA posters and brochures are available only in English, with a little bit of Spanish.

“In addition, the Spanish-language announcements on the MTA Web site have been characterized as inadequate or simply not seen at all by public transportation consumers. And there are no emergency signs either in the trains or on buses in Korean, Cantonese, or other Asian languages,” Rivera said.

Assemblyman Jimmy Meng, a member of the Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, said: “At this moment, New York City is one of the areas at greatest risk (of a terrorist attack) in the country. It worries me that people who speak languages other than English have no access to materials that affect their security and well-being.”