Courtesy Elizabeth Carr: NYC Moms For Safer Streets
Today, some of us met w ith Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer in her office downtown. We are pleased she engaged with us and appreciate her time. Here is the recap:
Her office is aware of the problems this group has been discussing/experiencing, though maybe not the full scope as experienced by us. We tried to impress our collective sense that this is not "business as usual" but rather a dramatic shift in both crime and quality of life conditions in the relatively recent past.
We continue to hear these issues are difficult. Gale is clearly a well-respected and effective leader with a lot of history in government (and esp. on the UWS) but we conveyed our perspective that this situation calls for dramatic/ new efforts, not incremental expansion of existing efforts.
She believes low-threshold shelters (e.g. can bring dog, no security screening, men and women together,etc.) are the key to getting people off the streets. One is being built on 14th St but the city needs many more. We expressed our families will find it difficult to continue as things have been trending for the many years until the necessary capacity will be completed.
Some of her staff think the opioid epidemic is playing a big role in street homelessness in the city but not all agreed.
We asked her a question we've been asking many people: What is the working theory for why crime is up and why aggressive, mentally ill homeless continue to root deeper into neighborhoods? Gale agreed to engage on a few fronts, including regarding precinct staffing; a survey of after-school programs for youth; a look into school safety efforts on the UWS; and a look into high-crime businesses (e.g. certain Duane Reade stores) and their private security or lack thereof.
We will keep you posted as we continue to dialogue with her.
In the meantime, please encourage all you know t0 join this group as **our strength is in our numbers**.
NYC Moms For Safer Streets was formed following an outpouring of concern following the 10/21/19 shooting near a playground in the W 60s/WEA. We are all NYC moms who care about our neighborhoods and our neighbors; are doing our best to raise our families in this crazy city; are deeply concerned about what seems to be an increase in crime and a decrease in overall quality of life; and want to connect and mobilize to initiate change ourselves and to pressure elected officials and other leaders to acknowledge the scope of these problems and to implement creative, effective solutions to address them.
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