January 9, 2009
Surprises abound at lost and found
With 4.5 million people riding the subway on an average weekday, it's not surprising that over the course of a year thousands of umbrellas, bags, cell phones and keys -- and occasionally even a prosthetic device -- get left behind.
What is surprising is that more often than not these items get turned in to the New York City Transit Lost Property Unit, where the employees work to reunite wayward possessions with their rightful owners.
"A lot of times, people think that this is New York, and you're never going to find an honest person who's going to turn something in. But people are honest. They really are," said Leslie Allen, senior director of administration for New York City Transit.
The lost and found staffed by three workers -- is tucked away under the A, C, E lines at Penn Station. The office's entrance is guarded by an unclaimed stuffed Muppet character.
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A large storage room to the back houses row after row of shelves holding backpacks, briefcases, shopping bags and toys. The room has a low ceiling, and trains can be heard rumbling overhead every few minutes.
Last year, the unit received 8,600 articles of which 1,500 were claimed. New York City Transit wants to improve the return rate.
To that end, the agency has launched an awareness campaign whose centerpiece is a poster featuring a lost prosthetic leg -- which has been splashed all over the subways.
The office staff keeps a collection of oddities found over the years, among which are two prosthetic legs and a set of fake teeth.
With the more mundane stuff, the Lost and Found staff tries to find some identification so they can track down the owner. They keep items for about six months.
"It might be donated to charity or it might be held at auction," Allen said. "Or if it's something in bad condition, then it would just be disposed."
The types of things that are lost tend to vary with the seasons. In winter, many hats and gloves are turned in. "When the kids go back to school, you start seeing a lot of backpacks," said Allen.
Year round, the office receives books, CDs, umbrellas, keys and eyeglasses.
The No. 1 lost item is the cell phone. In order to protect against fraudulent claims, the office enforces strict rules before handing over a phone. A person must be able to call the phone or at least name people from the address book. If the phone is dead, they'll send you home to get your charger.
For the most part, people come in with legitimate claims.
"We had one woman, she was so surprised to get her wallet back and she was shocked to see the money was still there," said station supervisor Eulette Steward-Graham. "We all had to stand around her because we thought that she was going to faint."
"A lot of people from out of state think that New York is the worst place, and that they're never going to get their stuff back. When they get it back, they're like, 'We have to go back and tell people that New York is not so bad.'"
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Copyright © 2009, AM New York
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