Mayor Adams Provides his Vision to Continue to Improve Safety and Quality-of-Life for New Yorkers

By Yehudit Garmaise

A year after Mayor Eric Adams took office and promised to “Get Stuff Done,” he said to his “fellow New Yorkers: the state of our city is strong. It’s strong,” the mayor declared at the Queens Theater.

“New Yorkers can finally see safer days ahead after several years of rising crimes,” said the mayor, who noted that major crimes were down last quarter for the first time in six quarters. “We will continue to work with our colleagues in government to combat gun violence in New York City and across the nation.”

Mayor Adams wants to continue to “increase our efforts to protect New Yorkers from robberies and burglaries, as well as other violent crimes.”

In particular, the NYPD’s Crime Prevention Unit will expand its focus on retail theft and work with business owners to prevent shoplifting, said the mayor.

In addition to continuing to focus on restoring both New Yorkers’ safety and sense of safety, Mayor Adams also focused on jobs, affordable housing, and care for those who need it in what he called his, “Working People’s Agenda.” 

For working people, the mayor wants to, “make it simpler for New Yorkers to access public benefits like unemployment insurance, Medicaid, and SNAP.

“Last year we announced we were putting $350 million back into the pockets of working people through our expansion of Earned Income Tax Credit.”

Reassuring working people that he “wants to make sure they get the support they need, Mayor Adams joked, “Don't let it fool you. I may wear nice suits, but I'm a blue-collar cat.

Noting that, “Every New Yorker needs a good paying job,” the mayor spoke of his investments “in a new generation of apprenticeships, community-hiring, and job training. 

“New York City has added more than 200,000 new jobs over the last year and our employment growth has outpaced the state and the nation,” said the mayor, who noted that “the unemployment rate for Black New Yorkers is at least three times as high as for white New Yorkers.”

To “bolster, build, and diversify” NYC’s talent, the mayor announced that by 2030 he is launching an Apprenticeship Accelerator that will connect 30,000 New Yorkers to apprenticeships with on-the-job experience and opportunities for permanent employment in high-demand careers. 

As part of his efforts to invest in jobs of the future, such as “sustainable biotech,” Mayor Adams is opening at Brooklyn Navy Yard, a first-in-the-nation incubator at which biotech startups will transform the way we eat, build, and protect our environment.

Another job-generator near Boro Park, “the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal will soon become one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the nation” and “will create a pipeline to employment.”

The mayor also wants to help New Yorkers train for jobs that are currently in high demand, such as jobs in tech, renewable energy, and nursing.” 

“Our city and country are already facing a nursing shortage and the federal government estimates we will need 275,000 more nurses nationally by 2030,” said Mayor Adams who announced a new Nursing Education Initiative in partnership with CUNY that will help New Yorkers to enter and remain in the nursing workforce.

“Nurses are the hands, the heart, and the soul of our healthcare system and we will never forget you and we will continue to supply you with the resources you need,” said the mayor. 

Nurses are far from the only New Yorkers who care for others, and Mayor Adams encouraged everyone in the city to provide, “just one hour” a week to volunteer and pray for others in need. 

“If we just give one hour, we will turn around the conditions of homelessness and despair in our city,” said the mayor, who volunteers at 34th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan every Wednesday at 9pm to give out food to the homeless, before venturing into the subway system to engage with the homeless. 

“Find a day, just one day, just one hour, and say I'm going to do something for someone,” the mayor said movingly. “Just one hour. And with 8.5 million New Yorkers, if we all just dedicate one hour to go to a homeless shelter and tutor a child who is homeless, one hour to pray for someone who is in need.”

“For far too long, New Yorkers were asked to accept things that should be unacceptable: crime, rats, trash, and traffic,” the mayor said. “Our administration is going to invest in improving the quality-of-life for New Yorkers across the board.