The Public Safety Plan.
The Upper West Side and District 6 are lucky to have two of the best police precincts in the whole City. However, we have experienced a number of startling incidents over the past year. To improve public safety, it’s important to acknowledge concerns, work collaboratively with police, reopen our economy and schools, design safer streets, address the mental health crisis, and support communities targeted by hate crimes. My vision is for a safe and welcoming neighborhood for all.
Better Policing
Build Relationships and Trust with Police
Good, effective policing depends entirely on trust—residents who know and trust law enforcement and law enforcement that knows and trusts the community it is sworn to serve and protect. We’ll work to prioritize collaborative partnerships between our local police precincts and the Community Board, block associations, business owners, business improvement districts, parent teacher associations, and community based organizations.
Present, Visible, and Responsive Policing
We’ll work towards creating a present, visible, and responsive police force with an emphasis on foot patrols to proactively address immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues. We’ll use current crime statistics to continually reexamine what’s working in the neighborhood and what’s not, and whether our existing policing programs are moving us towards a safer neighborhood.
Pandemic Recovery
Address Unemployment
Unemployment is a safety issue. I believe our staggering 12% unemployment rate is a contributing factor to the elevated rate of burglary the neighborhood has been experiencing. We must create job opportunities by revitalizing our small business economy and investing in job training. With permanent, supportive housing for our unhoused neighbors, we will create stability for them and give them an opportunity to join the workforce.
Reopen Schools and After-school Programs
Without full time schooling, our kids have too little structure and meaningful engagement, and far too much idle time. We must prioritize the safe return of 5 day a week, in-person instruction with meaningful after-school and summer programs.
Recover the Lost Academic Year
We must demand that the Department of Education produce data on attendance records during the pandemic with the goal of identifying the students the school system failed to serve. Then we’ll prioritize bringing those students back into the system, funding private tutoring to catch them up academically, and connecting them with counselors and social workers to ensure they’re made whole mentally and emotionally.
Design Safer Streets
Well-lit streets are safer streets
With fewer pedestrians on the street at night and so many vacant storefronts creating dark and quiet sidewalks, Columbus, Amsterdam, and Broadway don’t feel like they used to. We will work to install new street lights and work with property owners to light up storefront windows to keep our neighborhood a welcoming place no matter what time of day.
Expedite the Removal of Scaffolding
When scaffolding goes up, small businesses see a measurable drop in revenue, and increase in rats, garbage, and crime. We’ll work with property owners to expedite facade repairs, set a time limit on how long scaffolding can remain on our streets, and step up enforcement.
Address Mental Health and Hate Crimes
Expand Crisis Response Teams Pilot Program
In coordination with the Departments of Health & Mental Hygiene, Homeless Services, and the FDNY, we’ll work to alleviate the burden on police by investing in crisis response teams that include mental health experts and social workers—those who are best equipped to respond to both homeless outreach and mental health calls. Sometimes, these calls can be dangerous. These professionals should be partnered with police as necessary. We’ll work to expand the pilot program for FDNY Mental Health Teams for mental health response calls throughout the City.
Expand and Prioritize Permanent Supportive Housing
The City’s current shelter system is meant to be temporary and yet too often those it serves end up on the streets. By transitioning away from a temporary shelter system, we can get more New Yorkers experiencing homelessness off the street and into permanent supportive housing in all five boroughs. That means affordable housing that provides case management with access to mental health services, substance abuse services, and job training to create stability and get people back on their feet.
Training Police to Identify Hate Crimes
New York State has strong hate crime laws, yet few hate crimes are successfully prosecuted, as conviction requires that a prosecutor can prove intent. In 2020, for example, we saw many anti-Asian hate crimes miscategorized as “anti-COVID” crimes. We’ll work to train every police officer to ask the right questions and collect the right data when responding to crime scenes so that hate crimes are properly reported, investigated, and prosecuted.
Empower and Invest in the Asian American community
One in four Asian New Yorkers lives in poverty. Asian Americans make up 15% of the city’s population, but organizations that serve the Asian American community receive only 1.4% of social services contracts. These organizations are the experts on the ground, we’ll work to fund and empower these organizations as they provide crucial language, legal, and education resources.
Teach Asian American History
We will work with state lawmakers to incorporate Asian American history into school curriculum throughout the state. Sen. John Liu has introduced legislation seeking to raise awareness of Asian Americans by directing the Board of Regents to develop a course of study incorporating the contributions, struggles, and accomplishments of Asian-Americans throughout the history of this nation. It’s a lot harder to “otherize” someone when you know that their history is your history.