ms. frankel for five minutes. ms. frankel: thank you and thank you to the witnesses. i know sometimes -- you're probably sitting there thinking that congress, we do a better job of criticizing than fixing. thank you for your patience and your courtesy. i live near a subway. i rode the metro. i used to love to ride the metro. the stories in the newspapers and on tv have been scary to me. my first question is, could you quantify, has there been a decline in the ridership? does that affect your budget? the other question i have, there's been these very high publicized criminal incidences. there was a young man that was stabbed multiple times. there was a woman that was recently sexually assaulted. and i don't mean to insinuate that was the fault of metro. but my question would be, is there anything that you can do to make it safer or what are you doing to make it safer for the riders? mr. wiedefeld: the ridership levels, yes, we have had a drop in the last five years. it's a combination, i think, of some of the service we provided but it's also a change in demographics.

ms. frankel for five minutes. ms. frankel: thank you and thank you to the witnesses. i know sometimes -- you're probably sitting there thinking that congress, we do a better job of criticizing than fixing. thank you for your patience and your courtesy. i live near a subway. i rode the metro. i used to love to ride the metro. the stories in the newspapers and on tv have been scary to me. my first question is, could you quantify, has there been a decline in the ridership? does that affect your budget? the other question i have, there's been these very high publicized criminal incidences. there was a young man that was stabbed multiple times. there was a woman that was recently sexually assaulted. and i don't mean to insinuate that was the fault of metro. but my question would be, is there anything that you can do what are safer or you doing to make it safer for the riders? mr. wiedefeld: the ridership levels, yes, we have had a drop in the last five years. it's a combination, i think, of some of the service we provided but it's also a change in demographics. telecommuti

ms. frankel. the chair: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida for three minutes. ms. frankel: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of this critical legislation to address the nationwide opioid epidemic which has affected south florida, where i am from, as it has communities from california to new hampshire. today, i want to tell you about a related crisis that is obstructing the recovery of addicts and damaging the character of south florida neighborhoods and neighborhoods across the nation. i'm talking about the overproliferation in residential areas of group homes of recovering addicts called sober homes. in theory, it's a very good thing, a way to integrate or reintegrate addicts back in the community. it's an activity protected by two historic laws that prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in housing. but this civil rights protection is being abused by o many unscrupulous actors who are luring young adults away from their families and placing them in group homes that have no standards and then leaving them to their