Over lox sandwiches and locally roasted coffee, New York City rabbis, imams, pastors, priests and other religious leaders came together Tuesday to be sold on city initiatives to help the neediest New Yorkers.
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A homeless woman sits on 5th Avenue in NY on Monday as she tries to stay warm in the cold temperatures. Mr.de Blasio’s plan would affect about 20,000 unionized workers, mostly represented by District Council 37, and 30,000 employees of outside organizations – like day-care providers – whose services are paid for by the city.
In another development in the city’s homeless problem, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order on January 3 mandating that homeless individuals be removed from the streets and placed in homeless shelters when temperatures fall to 32 degrees or below. You have to wake up at a certain time and leave at a certain time.
Under current state law, a police officer or outreach worker can take people from the street only if they appear to be in imminent danger or display signs of mental illness. Moving people inside against their will is not an answer to the fundamental causes of homelessness. Six homeless people suffered cold-weather-related deaths in the city during the winter of 2013-14, the last season for which statistics are available.
If politics is the art of compromise, as some have said, then Midwood/Boro Park City Councilman David G. Greenfield is a master of the trade. Lisa Evers reported that the city houses people who are not citizens of the city as part of their homeless outreach.
Tackling homelessness will be a top priority for the new deputy mayor. The governor’s office later appeared to walk back that interpretation.
She comes on board as de Blasio grapples with a growing homeless population and is overhauling the agencies that handle the problem in a 90-day review.
Currently, every New York City public school receives security provided by NYPD school safety agents regardless of its size, location or the particular threats to campus security.
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The move will assure all city staffers earn a minimum of $15 hourly by 2018. The bill provides for uniquely tailored training for security guards to provide them with the expertise needed to work in the city’s diverse non-public schools and keep New York’s children safe.
