NYC CEOs plead with de Blasio to crack down on crime, quality-of-life issues
By Julia Marsh
New York Post
September 10, 2020
The heads of over 160 major corporations, from Macy’s to MasterCard,
are pleading with Mayor Bill de Blasio to finally crack down on crime
and address quality-of-life concerns so New Yorkers can return to work
after the coronavirus shut down the city.
“There is widespread anxiety over public safety, cleanliness and
other quality of life issues that are contributing to deteriorating
conditions in commercial districts and neighborhoods across the five
boroughs,” the powerful business leaders wrote to de Blasio on Thursday.
“We need to send a strong, consistent message that our employees,
customers, clients and visitors will be coming back to a safe and
healthy work environment. People will be slow to return unless their
concerns about security and the livability of our communities are
addressed quickly and with respect and fairness for our city’s diverse
populations,” they wrote.
“We urge you to take immediate action to restore essential services
as a necessary precursor for solving the city’s longer term, complex,
economic challenges,” the letter added.
Those services support quality of life in the city from law
enforcement to sanitation and homeless management — all of which took
multimillion-dollar hits in the budget passed in June, including $1 billion from the NYPD and $100 million from the Department of Sanitation.
Shootings have skyrocketed in the last few months with a 50 percent increase over Labor Day weekend alone compared to last year, while arrests for gunplay are down by about 13 percent.
Garbage is overflowing on city streets as budget cuts reduced the number of weekly pickups, and homeless encampments have proliferated around the five boroughs.
Less than 10 percent of the city’s office workers had returned to their desks by last month.
“We look forward to your response and to partnering with you and
others who share a commitment to a vibrant recovery and a great future
for our city,” the business leaders concluded.
The effort was organized by the Partnership for New York City, a
business group whose members employ over 1.5 million New Yorkers.
Beyond the heads of Macy’s and MasterCard, the signatories include
Stephen A. Schwarzman, CEO of the investment giant Blackstone; James S.
Tisch, president of the hotel conglomerate Loews Corporation; and John
Zimmer, co-founder of the ride-sharing app Lyft.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who’s also a Republican
candidate for mayor, said “these guys and gals in the suites” are
addressing what people in the streets face every day.
“To expect major corporate figures to encourage their workforce to
return when the quality of life has fallen so measurably, it’s a wake-up
call to the mayor.
“It’s time for the mayor basically to wake up and get this city back on track,” Sliwa told The Post.
Civil rights attorney Maya Wiley, a Democratic candidate for mayor
who used to work for de Blasio, commended the Partnership for “taking up
the call on basic services that’s already come up from Harlem, Hunts
Point and other communities on the front line of impact and recovery.
“This is an unprecedented crisis that requires all hands on deck from
bankers to barbershop owners, everyone has a contribution to make,”
Wiley told The Post.
Bill Neidhardt, de Blasio’s press secretary, said the mayor needs outside help to address the issues raised in the letter.
“We’re grateful for the business community’s input, and we’ll continue partnering with them to rebuild a fairer, better city.
“Let’s be clear: We want to restore these services and save jobs, and
the most direct way to do that is with long-term borrowing and a
federal stimulus. We ask these leaders to join in this fight because the
stakes couldn’t be higher,” Neidhardt said.
2 comments:
DeBlasio is a "true believer" and I suspect completely uninterested in other's opinion of what he should do. He doesn't give a shit what other people think. He doesn't give a shit if NYC turns into an even bigger bankrupt shithole than it is now. As long as he remains true to the cause he is happy. He is rich, he doesn't have to give a shit.
"Let’s be clear: We want to restore these services and save jobs, and the most direct way to do that is with long-term borrowing and a federal stimulus."
Typical liberal thinking. We can fix the problem by throwing other people's money at it. And if the Federal government won't give it to us...we'll Demand it. And Boo Hoo Hoo.
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