A strong dose of coffee from the Wall Street Journal:
Business Leaders Urge Mayor de Blasio to Stop New York City’s Decline
More than 160 business leaders, including executives at Citigroup Inc., Mastercard Inc. and Nasdaq Inc., have signed a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio warning of New York City’s deteriorating condition in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and growing anxiety over public safety, cleanliness and other quality-of-life issues.
In a letter sent Thursday, the leaders said the pandemic has devastated the city’s economy, causing high levels of unemployment. They urged the Democratic mayor to restore essential services that have been cut from the budget that he and the New York City Council recently approved.
The budget reduced or eliminated services like garbage pickups and graffiti removal, as well as shifted nearly $1 billion in funding away from the New York Police Department. The city still faces a $9 billion deficit over the next two years and may have to lay off 22,000 government workers in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the city has seen a surge in violent crimes and thefts over the summer as officials loosened restrictions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
For the four-week period that ended Sunday, the city recorded 55 homicides, up 49% from 37 in the same period last year, according to NYPD data. The city also had 222 shooting incidents during those four weeks, more than double the 90 shootings a year earlier.
“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,” the business leaders’ letter said. “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.”
I love it. Show some leadership, turn the city around, kick out the bums or we are outta here.
The New York Post also writes about the letter:
NYC CEOs plead with de Blasio to crack down on crime, quality-of-life issues
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.
Some bits:
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.
And this:
The effort was organized by the Partnership for New York City, a business group whose members employ over 1.5 million New Yorkers.
That is a lot of jobs. A big chunk of the tax base too. I do hope he listens or that the voters get their collective heads out of their butts and elect someone good this time around.
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