We’ve wondered how long we’d see those words brought up again during any briefing. Having survived the weeks of fireworks in New York City, there are still the massive numbers of complaints over noise, crowds and non-adherence to numerous COVID-19 regulations.
Governor Andrew Cuomo yesterday on July 23:
“New York City must focus on quality of life and essential services. The rationale used in Chicago was crime. We have had a crime increase in New York City, we have to get on that, the homelessness, the graffiti. So we have some work to do here in New York.”
“So this is a very delicate moment that we’re in. You put on top of that the crime increase, put on top of that the scenes of looting that we’ve seen, put on top of that issues with the homeless, issues with graffiti. It’s a bad combination that we’re going to have to address. Now, one thing at a time, we have to get through the current crisis, which is dealing with COVID.”
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio on July 6:
“We have heavy quality of life issues throughout the city. We need to deal with our communities and see how they want us to deal with it. A lot of these quality life issues are what led us to be able to reduce crime by addressing these quality of life issues. So, we need to know from the communities how they want their neighborhoods, please. And, again, we’ve mentioned this insane diaphragm law that the City Council passed. It has our cops hesitant to enforce some of these quality of life issues.”
The following statement by Mr. de Blasio is hilarious considering the noise and other concerns brought on by outdoor dining in some spots of the city.
The Mayor on July 2:
“We thank everyone from all the BIDs and other neighborhood organizations who made the case that expanding the vision of our Open Streets program to grow outdoor dining will be good for New Yorkers’ quality of life and the city’s bottom line.”