NYC By shutterupeire @ Shutterstock.com, Boston By Sean Pavone @ Shutterstock.com
“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,” implored over 150 business leaders in a letter to NYC Mayor de Blasio.
From the “Partnership for New York City”
“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.”
That’s putting it gently, writes The Editorial Board of the WSJ.
Mr. de Blasio’s two terms have been a slow-rolling disaster that New Yorkers experience on a daily basis from rising vagrancy and public drug use to faltering subways, a public housing scandal, and failing schools. The city’s prolonged economic lockdown, new state bail law that makes it harder to hold suspects after arrest, and a $1 billion cut to the police budget have magnified the growing public disorder.
Dick and I spent a night in Boston last week. We can’t say that Boston is as bad as NYC, since we have not been to NYC recently, but we both felt Boston was undergoing a tragic transformation. Homeless encampments and drug-addled users swarmed Mass Ave.
Mayor de Blasio’s two terms have been “a slow-rolling disaster that New Yorkers experience on a daily basis from rising vagrancy and public drug use to faltering subways, a public housing scandal, and failing schools,” continues the WSJ.
The city’s prolonged economic lockdown, new state bail law that makes it harder to hold suspects after arrest, and a $1 billion cut to the police budget have magnified the growing public disorder.
Women have complained about being stalked by homeless men whom the city has put up in nearby hotels. Last month a man on his way to work was randomly shot in the arm in Grand Central Terminal. Meantime, hundreds of businesses have shuttered, many permanently, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo has reopened only very slowly. New York City’s French bakery chain Maison Kayser declared bankruptcy this week, and New York Sports Club said it plans to file as well.
The WSJ predicts that damage to NYC will take years to right.
Mayor de Blasio’s response has been to threaten the wealthy with higher taxes. On Thursday he tweeted businesses to lobby Congress for more budget relief.
“To restore city services and save jobs, we need long term borrowing and a federal stimulus—we need these leaders to join the fight to move the City forward.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo has fought against raising taxes. This week, however, he threatened to impose them if “Washington doesn’t bail out the state.”
(Cuomo) and Mr. de Blasio know that a blue-state rescue is less likely as long as Republicans control the Senate, so they are probably trying to pressure the business class to lobby the GOP or support Democratic Senate candidates. Stick ’em up.
Boston Medical Center’s Written Statement:
“The opioid crisis has created significant challenges to communities across the nation. This epidemic recognizes no geographic or social boundaries and City leaders and the Boston Police Department are working hard to address this problem in our own community. As the largest safety-net hospital in New England, Boston Medical Center will continue to engage with the City, Boston Police and the community to find solutions and to ensure a safe and secure environment for patients, visitors, employees and students.”
