Hochul: More Cops in Subways, Extend Q Line, Pushes Childcare, Affordability and Safety.
Gov. Hochul’s State of the State address in Albany promises a grab bag of goodies for NYC, including funds to keep night time patrols by cops on subways, a proposed westward extension of the Q line, more affordable housing and childcare and protection of houses of worship from protestors.
Albany /
| 16 Jan 2026 | 12:48
Gov. Hochul is proposing to allocated $77 million to extend the police surge in NYC subways so that every train running from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. has two cops on board. Cops above were at the 7th Ave. Penn Station stop. (
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Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers a State of the State address in Albany with lots of goodies for NYC. (
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Under a new law being proposed by Gov. Hochul, demonstrators outside houses of worship would have to stay at least 25 feet back from the property line of the building such as the Park East Synagogue (above) on E. 67th St. It was the scene of a raucous anti-Israel, pro-Hamas demonstration in November. (
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Two NYPD officers and two members of the National Guard at the 34th St/Penn Station subway station. Gov. Hochul proposed funding the copss/National Guard surge at least six more months. Subway crime began to dip after the first surge delivered a year ago in Feb. 2025. (
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Despite the drop in crime on the New York City subways in 2025, Gov. Kathy Hochul in her state of the state address said she is budgeting $77 million to put more cops and National Guard troops in New York City subways. There were quite a few other goodies in the grab bag that will have an impact in New York City.
The wide ranging speech touched on topics from child care and Universal pre-K to the Second Ave. subway extension. It came as Hochul starts to moves her reelection bid into high gear, facing a challenge from her own Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado in the Democratic primary as well as Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman, the Trump loving Nassau County executive.
Hochul said the funds she proposes will enable the NYPD to put two cops on every overnight train from 9 p.m. until 2 p.m. She said initially the extra cops were going to start on Jan. 19th. But the NYPD pushed back slightly and said it would require a more gradual rollout over several months. The NYPD is operating at about 2,000 short of the target goal of 35,000 officers that Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he supports.
Hochul also proposed upping the number of subway stations with platform barriers to 200 system wide, in a system that has 427 stations.
“On our subways, we’ll maintain enhanced police patrols, install platform barriers at 85 additional stations and expand our elite mental health units that get people in crisis off the train and into care,” Hochul said.
On the Second Ave. subway, it may have to change its name. The Q line is currently in the process of adding three new stations culminating at 125th St with work expected to be done in 2032. Hochul is now proposing to keep the tunnel boring machines moving westward to add three more stations at Lenox Ave., St. Nicholas Ave. and Broadway in Morningside Heights. In total, only about 2.2 miles of the socalled Second Ave. subway will be running under Second Ave. Gothamist said that the design phase for the three new stops will be included in Hochul’s upcoming executive budget proposal.
She said she would propose increased funding for childcare.
“Five days ago, I stood with Mayor Mamdani to announce the State will fully fund the first two years of his Universal 2-Care program while also helping New York City realize the full promise of Universal 3-K.”
“Statewide, we’re taking a different, but equally ambitious approach: Universal Pre-K for every single 4 year old by 2028!
“This year, we’ll also pilot community-wide child care to provide year-round, full-day, affordable care for newborns to 3 year olds.
Mamdani, the former state assembly member from Queens who was back in the state capitol for the first time since he assumed office as mayor, joined in a standing ovation. That prompted Hochul to quip, “Republicans have kids too. You can stand.”
She also took time to propose limitations to ICE and lash out at President Donald Trump.
“The State of our State is strong! And we’re just getting started,” Hochul said. “But I need to level with you: This moment carries real threats from Donald Trump and his enablers in Congress. Driving up costs on everything from groceries to farm equipment through these reckless tariffs. Killing major infrastructure projects that put union members to work. Tearing nursing immigrant mothers from their babies and calling it public safety.
”Well, here’s the thing about New Yorkers: We don’t back down. We rise up,” said Hochul. “When they tried to take away funding for first responders and law enforcement, we made them restore it. When they tried to kill congestion pricing, we beat them in court again and again. The President even made another threatening post less than 24 hours ago. But my message to the wannabe king remains the same: We will not bow.”
And she also proposed a state ban on protests within 25 feet of any religious institution or medical facilities including abortion clinics. It Protestors made pro-Hamas chants outside a synagogue in Kew Gardens, Queens recently and earlier at the Park East Synagogue on E. 67th St. in Manhattan in November.
Hochul, whose own grandparents hailed from County Kerry, Ireland, said New York has always been a state built by immigrants.
She also referred to the case of the Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez a Venezuelan-born data analyst for the NYC City Council who was arrested Jan. 12 at he believed was going to be a routine immigration check-in on Long Island. The arrest enraged city leaders who flocked to a demonstration outside the Varick St. holding complex in Manhattan where protestors believed he was being held on Jan. 13, the same day Hochul was delivering the state of the state in Albany.
“Is this person really one of the baddest of the bad?” Hochul asked in the speech. “Is this person really a threat?
“I will do whatever it takes to protect New Yorkers from criminals, but people of all political beliefs are saying the same thing about what we’ve seen lately: enough is enough.”
She also said she would stand against ICE agents who abused their power. “We will not allow masked federal ICE agents to storm into our schools, daycares, hospitals, and houses of worship for civil immigration raids unless they have a judicial warrant, meaning signed by a judge. And when boundaries are crossed, accountability matters. No one from the president on down is above the law.
Let me repeat: No one.”
In all, Hochul unveiled over 200 new initiatives that must go to the state legislature before it can be approved and implemented. Political observers viewed the address as a bid by Hochul to thread the needle between progressives on her left flank and conservatives on the right.