Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

public safety

public safety

  • A Safer City to Rebuild New York and Bring Us Together

    Mayor Adams & an NYPD officer (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Those who live, work, and visit New York City deserve to feel safe, whether walking to the store, visiting a park, or taking the subway. For those who commute to work in the city, like many union construction workers, they deserve to feel safe and know they will go home to their families at night. Unfortunately, right now in New York City, crime is rising, and violence is permeating our normal way of life. It feels like every day, headlines are filled with stories highlighting preventable and tragic

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  • Max Politics Podcast: Asian-American New Yorkers Fight To Be Seen

    Jo-Ann Yoo of the Asian American Federation (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    March 2, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Asian-American New Yorkers Fight To Be Seen

    Jo-Ann Yoo, executive director of the Asian American Federation, joined the show to discuss how Asian-American New Yorkers are dealign with a spate of hate crimes and violence, how that trend can be stopped, a broader agenda for supporting and empowering Asian-American New Yorkers, what she recently asked of Mayor Eric Adams, and more.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on

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  • Shifting Power to the Community: A Hopeful Experiment in Brownsville, Brooklyn

    DA Gonzalez & others in Brooklyn (photo: Brooklyn DA's office)


    What does a safe community look like? We know the answer, because such communities exist, usually in well-resourced, predominantly white neighborhoods where people have the resources to meet their basic needs—including healthy food, shelter, transportation, clean and inviting public spaces, childcare, education, and health care. A safe community is also a place where people know and trust their neighbors, take care of each other, hold each other accountable, and resolve conflicts peacefully when they arise.

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  • Stemming Violence by Investing in Civic Goods

    Summer Youth Employment Program rally (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    The criminal justice system is not the only entity that contributes to public safety. There is evidence from across the United States on “civic goods” — interventions, unrelated to the criminal justice system, that have been shown to have meaningful effects on violent crime in the short- to medium-term. 

    Interventions for Children and Teens
    Many kids don’t feel safe going to school each day due to violent crime....

  • New York’s Endangered Subways

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    On the subway (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    My friend and I had left the theatre on 42nd Street around 11 p.m. on a recent beautiful night. We walked peaceably to catch our usual #1 train at Times Square—the station where a young woman, Michelle Go, had been pushed to her death in front of a train by an apparently deranged, homeless man just days earlier.

    The platform was packed but the train, also packed, came quickly. Almost immediately we sensed something was wrong, as people shifted uncomfortably and looked to the

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  • In the Face of Anti-Asian Violence, We Want Budget Justice

    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

    A remembrance for Michelle Alyssa Go (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Over Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, 40-year-old Michelle Alyssa Go was pushed from the Times Square subway platform to her death. This tragedy follows a year that saw a 361% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and came less than two weeks after ...

  • Manhattan District Attorney Candidates Bragg and Kenniff Debate Resumes and Visions

    Gotham Gazette:

    Manhattan DA candidates Alvin Bragg, left, & Thomas Kenniff


    The two candidates running for Manhattan District Attorney in the imminent fall election met recently for a spirited televised debate, with issues ranging from the bail system to gun violence and each aspirant’s record of public service.

    Democratic nominee Alvin Bragg, a former prosecutor and top deputy New York Attorney General, and Republican nominee Thomas Kenniff, a former military judge and criminal defense attorney, sparred over their resumes and visions for the office in a debate hosted by

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  • ‘Vigilante’ Mayoral Candidate Narrative Obscures History of New York City Resident Patrols

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    Curtis Sliwa & the Guardian Angels (photo: @CurtisSliwa)


    Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee for New York City mayor, has portrayed himself as a police advocate and crimefighter dating back to his founding of the Guardian Angels in the late 1970s. But the image Sliwa has crafted of himself as the original civilian crimefighter distorts his role with the renegade patrol group.

    While the Angels – a group of largely young African-American and Latino New Yorkers that began patrolling subways – may have been the most ...

  • Public Safety Focus Could Look Different with Majority-Women City Council

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    (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office)


    With women poised to take a majority of seats in the New York City Council for the first time come January, new ways of addressing public safety could be on the way.

    Jennifer Gutierrez, who won the Democratic primary by a wide margin in the 34th City Council District and is likely to win the general election easily, is among those expected to be part of that new Council majority. Gutierrez, who has worked in the office of term-limited Council Member Antonio Reynoso, the likely next

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  • Stop Living in Fear of the ‘80s Crime Wave — It was an Aberration and It’s Not Coming Back

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    Mayor de Blasio and police officials (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Stephen Sigmund recently wrote an op-ed published by Gotham Gazette calling on New York’s young progressive activists to tread carefully in their pursuit of radical transformation or abolition of the NYPD, lest these reforms bring forth a repeat of the era of mass violent crime and urban decay that they are a bit too young to remember. I was glad to read this piece, because while I vehemently disagree with its

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  • New York’s Wrongly Open Skies

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    helicopters in Manhattan (photo: Julia Vitullo-Martin)


    Helicopter crashes in the skies of New York City — two in 2019 —temporarily bring renewed attention to the odd situation by which hundreds of vehicles weighing up to 12,000 pounds each fly low every day over the country’s densest city, a city that was attacked from the air in 2001.

    Precisely how many flights there are, by whom, and for what purpose are secrets kept by New York City’s Economic Development Corporation, which oversees three heliports on behalf of their owner, New York City.

    Manhattan Borough

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  • Facts Don't Support Expanding the Size of the MTA Police Force

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    (photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority/Patrick Cashin)


    MTA Chair and CEO Pat Foye says the transit authority’s operating budget is in “dire” condition and independent budget watchdogs are alarmed its deficit is growing to unmanageable levels. Citizens Budget Commission estimates the MTA will be $740 million in the red in 2023 -- and this does not include new debt payments for the new, massive $51.5+ billion 2020-2024 capital plan. Separately, NYPD data shows subway crime is down 3% from

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  • A Public Safety Agenda for 2017 in Albany

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    An NYPD family (photo: @NYPDnews)


    As we continue to dissect the election that just occurred and look ahead to the Trump presidency, there is also business close to home to consider for 2017. New Yorkers must contemplate the grotesque failures of leadership exposed by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, while the Brennan Center for Justice has repeatedly told us that New York’s in the most dysfunctional state government in the nation.

    Still, there are substantive matters that deserve our attention, and we must push state lawmakers, including Governor Andrew Cuomo, to

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  • Even with Crime Low, De Blasio and Police Union 'Worlds Apart'

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    Mayor de Blasio speaks at NYPD graduation (Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Last month, contract negotiations between City Hall and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the union that represents the city’s rank-and-file police officers, again reached a standstill.

    On June 28, the PBA filed a Declaration of Impasse with the New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) asking it to appoint a mediator in the negotiations over a contract that goes back to 2012. The union, which

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