Gov Cuomo on New York’s Recovery from the COVID-19 Crisis: “We’re going to be the first and the fastest to rebuild… A moment for a New York Renaissance”
On this first week of May 2021, Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke of the immensity of what was possible through a New York State recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
He referenced a re-imagining of New York to one which has never existed before wherein the state would emerge faster than any of its supposed competitors. Interestingly, Mr. Cuomo also made use of the word “reset”.
Yours truly has written on the subject long ago when the Governor first coined the idea of a re-imagining for New York. That which was in store for our recovery fell extraordinarily short of what we had in mind. Regardless, there’s no doubt that the opportunity is there for major changes to take place in the way the state and its namesake city conducts business going forward. After over a year of suffering through a state of emergency, it’s highly likely our path is an ascending one of sorts.
Following the video, is the related transcript of the Governor’s words as provided by his office.
Governor Cuomo:
“Yay, we’re reopening.” Yes, but that’s not the goal – reopening. A lot of damage was done on many levels – economic damage, social damage, psychological damage. Number of divorces worldwide went up something like 300%. What was the effect on children who were left at home for a year and didn’t socialize? What’s the effect on people who have been isolated from loved ones? I mean, there’s tremendous damage that has been done, and not just in New York, everywhere. So I don’t think of it in terms of reopening, I think of it more in terms of post 9/11, post Hurricane Sandy.
It wasn’t about reopening and rebuilding what we were, no. If the house gets knocked down, we’re going to build a better house than we had before, we’re not going to replace, we’re going to advance. Let’s advance. And let’s be honest, New York wasn’t perfect before this happened. It’s not like we had the perfect home that was destroyed and therefore we’re going to rebuild the identical home because it was perfect. There was a lot of work to do. And part of being New York tough is, yeah you knocked us down, yes it hurts, yes there was pain, but we’re going to get up. And we’re not just going to get up, we’re going to get up smart and strong and united, and we’re going to make this a moment of opportunity because everybody has to rebuild. New York is rebuilding, so is California, so is Chicago, so is Canada, so is Europe. We’re going to be the first and the fastest to rebuild.
We think there’s a moment of opportunity here and we’re going to build a totally different New York. We’re going to re-imagine it. We’re going to renew it. It’s going to be a New York that never existed before. And we’re going to take this moment of reset internationally, and we’re going to use it to our competitive advantage because we’re fast and we’re good. And we’re smart. And we’re going to come out of this reset ahead of our other competitors. And we’re going to fix a lot of the things that we should have fixed all along. It can be a moment for a New York Renaissance. Our New York has to be cleaner. It has to be safer. It has to be fairer. It has to be more economically competitive.
We have to reform public safety. The rate of crime, especially in New York City, is unsustainable. We have to repair the relationship between the police and the community. It has to be done. It came to a head at the George Floyd killing – it still hasn’t been fully resolved – that has to be done. You know what New York’s economics are tied to? The crime rate. Go back and look at the crime rate and look at the economic activity rate. When crime goes up, the economy goes down.
We have to repeal SALT. The taxes on the middle class, property taxes are a killer in this state. Yes, we’re the greatest state in the nation. How much of a premium do we expect people to pay to live here? The federal government did it. It was an attack. It was wrong. It was political. Every federal politician promised to redo it. Chuck Schumer said, I promise. Kirsten Gillibrand said, I promise. Jerry Nadler said, I promise. All right. Repeal SALT. Because when president Trump did it, they all put out statements saying we’re going to repeal it. It was terrible. Repeal it. That is a major tax cut for New Yorkers.
We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, our mass transit system, which should have been done years ago, and we’re going to lead the nation in the green economy period, because that is the future. And whoever gets there first wins. We’re going to learn from this COVID nightmare that took this country unprepared and we’re going to have the best public health system in the nation. That’s how you seize this moment. To have a New York that’s better than ever. And we will.