NEWYORK: New York city Mayor Eric Adams said that New York police removed over 17,000 illegal guns off our street and there were decreases in homicides, shootings, grand larceny, autos, burglaries, and transit crimes are down.
Speaking at media briefing, Mayor Adams said that he is really pleased with Commissioner Caban and the entire police executive team.
“ We announced last week how we’re making the city safer for our city. We removed over 17,000 illegal guns off our street and we saw decreases in homicides, shootings, grand larceny, autos, burglaries, and transit crimes are down,” he said.
“ I know it’s sort of hard to believe because, some of the most challenging aspects of our subway system get profiled a lot, but the reality is, if you were to look at the last 14 years, [2020] was the only time that it was lower, and that’s because no one was really on our subway system. It is clear that they did an immediate turnaround after the January slight bump,’ he added.
Regarding economy, he said that our museums are more than just places where art hanging on the wall or statues.
“It is an economic engine for us. We were able to, as I announced, $53 million back to 1,000 creative organizations. The museum that helps out tourism, $60 million last year, fourth largest in history of the city, $74 billion in economic activity with our tourism,” he added.
“ It’s just a major driver of how well we’re doing at the city, and any time you don’t believe the city’s back, just go hit Times Square and you see just the people walking, just enjoying being in our city.”
He said that NYC sanitation department has removed 14 billion pounds of trash bags off our streets since last two and half years.
“We’re actually just catching up to the rest of the globe, but we were committed and dedicated, our hats off to Commissioner Tisch for just making this go from an ideal to something real. When you look at the fact that we’re bringing down the cost of the bins, the cost of less than $50 per bin, and it’s just a real win for us,” he said.
To a question about modifying the sanctuary laws, Mayor Adams said that he has been clear on this sanctuary city conversation.
“I think Mayor Koch had it right when he first did it. I think Mayor Bloomberg had it right. I think the previous administration made a big mistake. I think we need to correct that aspect of it. If you commit a serious violent act in a city after you serve your time, you should not be in the city. New Yorkers have a right to be safe in their city. The same way anyone breaks the law or does something violent to New Yorkers, I’m going to voice my concern about that, he said.
“I think the overwhelming number of people who are in this city, they come here, they want to pursue the American Dream, and we don’t want them to be fearful of utilizing services in the city in the process of doing so. I also think people have conflated the migrant and asylum seeker issue with sanctuary city. It’s not. People are paroled into the city, into the country. They’re not part of the sanctuary city. I think that people just find it sexy to say lump everyone into sanctuary cities, but it’s not. You’re paroled into the country, that is different from sanctuary city,” he added.
