Christopher Herrmann, associate professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Last year was a difficult year for those of us who are really concerned about crime in New York. While we celebrated the significant decreases in shootings and homicides, all the other major crimes increased in 2022 and were much higher than their prepandemic levels.
While the property crimes of auto theft, larceny, and burglary are trending in the wrong direction, I would still like to hear that Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Sewell remain focused on the violent crimes — murder, rape, robbery, assault, and shootings. These are the things that New Yorkers (and those who commute into New York City for work, school or entertainment) are most interested in.
People want to feel safer going to and from home, work and school. This means feeling safer on the streets, on the subways and the buses, and in their homes.
The perceptions are not in step with the reality. You have a better chance of winning the lottery than you do of getting victimized on the New York City subway, but a lot of people are fearful of the subway, for some reason.
Andrew Rein, president, Citizens Budget Commission
Of course he will reflect on where the city is now, which is certainly a challenging time economically. On the fiscal side, there is money in the city coffers for the short term, but the economic and fiscal headwinds are not only large but they’re also very clear. He has a budget that has baked-in fiscal cliffs because we have ongoing programs that are funded with federal Covid aid as well as city money that is just put in for one year at a time. The future budget gaps that you can see and the fiscal risks that are not even on paper are large, so he’s got to start addressing those now.
Which leads to the next part. He has announced many plans and blueprints for housing, for economic development, for the ferries. To install Many plans. Year 2 should be about organizing and managing to get those done. With the lessons from Year 1, how will he hone his management structure so all these plans actually deliver results? That’s the task for Year 2. I hope he does it all great.
Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
I hope he would reiterate that New York is a welcoming city for migrants. In this new surge since last summer, New York has maintained the tradition of being welcoming. We’re going to continue to do this as a city. But at the same time, he should continue to call for a response by the federal government, because that’s what’s needed — and do it in a variety of ways to make the case that it’s a national responsibility. Going to the border was a way to do it. But we need to look at this as a national problem. We need congressional action.