State of the Borough Address as Delivered by means of Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine
Dai ga ho!
Welcome, everyone; thanks such a lot for coming!
Bienvenidos a todas y a todos! Si algunos de ustedes me están entendiendo ahora, por want déjenme saber con un poco de bulla. Así es. Bienvenidos a nuestro discurso del estado del condado – el condado que está en el mismo medio del universo, el condado de Manhattan. (Alguna gente del Bronx no les gustó eso jaja).
ברוכים הבאים לכולן וכולם! התכנסנו כאן ביחד היום, כדי לחגוג את רובע מנהטן האהוב שלנו, לציין את ההתקדמות והאתגרים שלנו ולהסתכל יחדיו לעבר עתידנו המזהיר.
Welcome, everybody, to Hunter College, crown jewel of upper ed in New York City, Founding pillar of our treasured CUNY gadget.
Welcome to the bustling and colourful group of Lenox Hill. Welcome to the one and simplest Upper East Side, which in keeping with a contemporary file by means of the New York Times lately has the most up to date eating place scene in New York City. Don’t blame me i didnt write the article!
Welcome to the Borough of Manhattan. The world epicenter of artwork, innovation and social activism—the place the power and variety are like nowhere else in the global.
Yes, Manhattan has taken some blows in recent times. The 9/11 terror assault. Superstorm Sandy. The COVID pandemic. And every time, the naysayers counted us out. Remember this headline from August 2020?
Well, I’ve some breaking news: Manhattan isn’t useless. We are alive and kicking and colourful and there are such a lot of vacationers in Times Square at the present time that you just must steer clear of it in any respect prices.
Just kidding!
In my place of business, we put our hearts and souls into preventing for this borough each and every unmarried day. And I would like you to grasp that Manhattan is served by means of an impressive staff, together with Deputy Borough Presidents Aya Keefe and Keisha Sutton-James, two super leaders in their very own proper, and our whole workforce. I need to ask everybody on the staff to thrill stand. I’m so thankful for the paintings you all do. You encourage me on a daily basis.
Our staff has made our northern Manhattan place of business a hub of process, helping 1000’s of Manhattanites with the whole thing from inexpensive housing packages to getting warmth became again on by means of negligent landlords. We run a small trade mortgage fund that has now given out $2 million in zero-intest loans, overwhelmingly to MWBEs.
We’ve held myriad cultural occasions all through the yr, honoring the oustanding leaders and various communities of this borough. I believe sorry for you should you ignored our Black History Month tournament closing week honoring MANHATTAN legends of Hip Hop—sure Bronx BP—there are Manhattan legends of hip hop, ever listen of Doug E. Fresh? And be certain to sign up for us in a couple of weeks for our annual Women’s History Month tournament.
Our Northern Manhattan place of business is one of the simplest puts in the town the place you’ll pick out up unfastened N95 mask. We’re providing unfastened tax preparation help each and every Friday. And a lot more. So come on by means of anytime to 431 W. a hundred and twenty fifth St.
Our staff couldn’t do all we do with out our Manhattan Volunteer Corps—over 500 Manhattanites of every age who’ve labored with our staff to present out covid take a look at kits, to scrub up parks, and to get meals to needy households. Over 10,000 foods delivered and disbursed in the previous yr. And we’ve a lot more to do, so sign up for our Manhattan Volunteer Corps simply join on the link on the display screen.
Many of you right here have stepped up now not simply to volunteer, however to guide on your group and your borough in a shockingly impactful manner: by means of making use of to sign up for your Community Board. To the over 900 Manhattanites who carried out closing yr: Thank you.
And large news: we’ve prolonged this yr’s software cut-off date. You now have till this coming Friday. So get your software in and step as much as lead for our borough. And would all present and previous Community Board participants right here please stand so we will be able to applaud your onerous paintings.
Many of you’ve stepped as much as serve our younger folks by means of volunteering to guide for our faculties, as participants of Community Education Councils, the PEP, as PA presidents and participants. And I’m so thankful to all of you for appearing as much as combat for our youngsters. Of direction there are not any faculties with out our glorious academics: we adore you, please give our academics a spherical of applause!
In reality, shout out to all the hard work right here nowadays! Union employees stay this town working. You stay us secure. You stay us wholesome. You are development our long run. I’m proud to face with you nowadays and on a daily basis. I’m additionally thankful to every other team of leaders right here, our NYCHA Tenants Association Presidents and TA board participants. I’ve been commemorated to paintings with you all. Our town owes you and your citizens a method to the many years of overlook and underinvestment in public housing, and I can now not forestall till you’ve the respectable housing you deserve.
All of us on this room, whether or not native activists, elected officers, or common New Yorkers…we’ve a accountability to each have fun the development of our borough and town and to name out the demanding situations we proceed to stand. And I trust the Manhattanites you heard in that cool video a couple of mins in the past– Vic, Teddy Mariella, and Wilma. They are all right here with us nowadays let’s give them a large spherical of applause. Like those 4 leaders stated, as New Yorkers, we don’t be expecting lifestyles right here to be EASY. But guy, some issues shouldn’t be so onerous.
It shouldn’t be so onerous to get to paintings on time.
It shouldn’t be so onerous to get your child right into a just right faculty.
It shouldn’t be so onerous to come up with the money for kid care.
It shouldn’t be so onerous to discover a public toilet.
And it maximum without a doubt shouldn’t be so rattling onerous to search out an rental you’ll come up with the money for.
And it doesn’t need to be.
History has proven that once New Yorkers have the will, once we come in combination, there’s not anything we will be able to’t do. And we will be able to take on the demanding situations of the present second, too. Every one of them. Today I need to discuss what we will be able to do in combination to make lifestyles for the folks of this borough somewhat more straightforward. We’ll discuss the whole thing from subways to streets bushes and—you higher imagine it —housing.
If we’re to return in combination to tackle those demanding situations, and we will have to, then we wish to get started by means of status as much as the emerging ranges of hate on this town, the place the quantity of hate crimes has been often expanding yr after yr since 2016.
Hatred in opposition to Asian American New Yorkers, who have been viciously centered right through the pandemic, and feature suffered repeated bias assaults since. In this Year of the Dragon, and annually, we reinforce our AAPI communities and strongly reject anti-Asian hate.
Hatred in opposition to LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, together with our trans siblings, who’re below relentless political assault nationally, too ceaselessly spilling over to violent penalties, like the vile homicide of O’Shea Sibley in Brooklyn closing yr. To our loved LGBTQ+ network, we are saying we adore you precisely as you might be.
Hatred in opposition to Black New Yorkers, and the grinding long-term results of racism which without delay affects your bodily and psychological well being, manifesting in the unacceptably top hole between black and white maternal mortality in New York City which we will have to do extra to deal with.
To our Muslim neighbors, who, in a deeply traumatic echo of the post-9/11 generation, have in fresh months been subjected to emerging Islamophobia, with, amongst different issues, repeated incidents of the disgusting act of ripping a lady’s hijab off on the side road or in the subway. And it pains us that Sikh New Yorkers were centered as properly. To our Muslim and Sikh neighbors, you’re a valuable and essential phase of this town, and we reject this hatred in opposition to you.
To my fellow Jewish New Yorkers. We make up simplest about 13% of this town’s inhabitants, however 48% of hate crimes right here in 2023 have been antisemitic. To Jewish younger individuals who now disguise their Star of David pendants in class, to people who now really feel it’s more secure to put on a baseball cap over their yarmulke in public, I say our City can’t and won’t settle for this, we will be able to combat again in opposition to the alarming upward push of antisemitism.
.נתגבר ביחד. נעבור את זה ביחד. אני מבטיח
A los quisqueyanos aquí, a los boricuas, a todos mis hermanas y hermanos hispanos, que tanto han enriquecido a esta ciudad, lamento mucho el aumento de los angeles xenofobia en estos años.
That’s why I’m proud to be operating with DA Alvin Bragg, Assemblymember Grace Lee and Senator Brad Hoylman-Segal to cross state law making sure that each one of those incidents is correctly charged and prosecuted as a hate crime.
And I need to say one thing without delay to the migrants: Sé que ustedes vinieron acá a progresar, y se que van a ser algo muy positivo para esta ciudad.
Et j’inclus également nos francophones d’Afrique.
And whilst we proceed to plead for extra migrant the help of the federal govt, together with the issuance of paintings allows, I’m extremely proud of the compassion that New Yorkers have proven against the migrants from the day this disaster started a yr and a 1/2 in the past.
We additionally wish to display compassion for the team which is in all probability the maximum prone in the town: New Yorkers suffering with critical psychological sickness. Too ceaselessly, folks on this sort of disaster cycle out and in of the emergency room, by no means having access to the long-term care they want, finishing up touchdown unsheltered on the streets. This is a human tragedy that we see taking part in out round us— in stairweels, in our parks, in our subways. We need to do extra to get those fellow New Yorkers into the remedy they want.
It merely shouldn’t be so onerous to get anyone with critical psychological sickness right into a clinic mattress. But it’s, as a result of we’ve misplaced over 400 in-patient psychiatric beds in Manhattan over the previous decade and a 1/2. Even Bellevue, the flagship of psychiatric care in New York City, has simplest 19 beds in its prolonged care unit.
My place of business is main the fee in this concern, and in December we issued a file on how we will be able to repair our damaged psychological gadget. We referred to as for 600 new in-patient psychiatric care beds at H+H and at the State Psychiatric Hospital on Randall’s Island. We referred to as for investments to deal with staffing shortages in behavioral well being, enlargement of confirmed and efficient community-based psychological well being systems, and of direction an greater tempo of development supportive housing. The disaster of critical psychological sickness in New York City isn’t hopeless. But we wish to double down on making an investment in the systems that we all know paintings.
We additionally wish to double down on funding in our transit gadget. Thankfully, subway ridership continues to extend, and now robotically tops 4 million riders in keeping with day. But too ceaselessly, New Yorkers on the subway revel in unreliable carrier and intensive delays, even right through the morning travel. It in reality shouldn’t be so onerous to get to paintings on time.
The complete gadget desperately wishes modernization, upgrades, and enlargement. It is, in spite of everything, a gadget that also runs partially on antique Nineteen Forties switches. We wish to meet up with the leisure of the global and set up platform display screen doorways, which stop passengers from falling or being driven, and save you trespassing onto the tracks. I’ve been pushing onerous for platform doorways since I took place of business two years in the past, and I’m happy the MTA is now operating on a pilot program to put in them in 3 stations, together with at the Times Square 7 educate and the third road L educate.
We have a fair larger combat on our fingers to make all of the subway gadget available. Today absolutely 70% of subway stations in New York City are nonetheless inaccessible to anyone the use of a wheelchair. We wish to push a lot more difficult to put in elevators in each and every station that wishes them.
We don’t simply wish to IMPROVE the subway gadget, we wish to extend it. And in Manhattan there is not any larger precedence than finishing the subsequent segment of the second ave Ave line as much as a hundred and twenty fifth, after which—pay attention to this—let’s stay the uninteresting system going to convey the line all the manner throughout a hundred and twenty fifth Street to Broadway.
We need all of these items— trendy alerts, extra elevators, new stations, new subway vehicles— which is why we want an added supply of investment for our subway gadget. I do know congestion pricing is debatable, and we completely wish to type out the main points to ensure they paintings for Manhattanites. But the program will supply 1000000000 bucks in keeping with yr for desperately wanted transit upgrades— enhancements that may make the gadget extra dependable, more secure, and extra available.
We wish to do higher for New Yorkers on the rails—and in addition do higher for New Yorkers on the sidewalks. It merely shouldn’t be so onerous to pass the side road safely. In 2023, tragically, 101 pedestrians have been killed in New York City. Thankfully that dying toll, whilst nonetheless a ways too top, has come down in recent times. But sadly, the quantity of cyclists killed closing yr, at a painfully top 30, is the maximum since 1999.
That’s why we want more potent enforcement of the whole thing that strikes on our streets, whether or not vehicles, vans, e-bikes, or mopeds. But for enforcement to paintings, we urgently wish to crack down on the unexpectedly spreading epidemic of pretend, obstructed, defaced and easily lacking automobile license plates.
We additionally wish to PHYSICALLY reinforce our streets to cause them to more secure for everyone—pedestriansc, cyclists, seniors, individuals who use wheelchairs. We want wider sidewalks in crowded spaces, pedestrian islands, and site visitors calming measures throughout the borough. Manhattan has now secured over $40 million for upgrades like this in communities throughout the borough, via the State DRI program.
Shout out to my glorious predessor Gale Brewer for kicking it off used to be a big award for the Chinatown DRI, and I’m delighted that over the previous two years we’ve secured further DRI awards of $10M for East Harlem, $5 million for the Garment District, and every other $5 million for Hudson Square, to make public realm enhancements in every of the ones communities.
It’s onerous to assume of any stretch of roadway extra in want of an replace than direction 9A, aka the West Side Highway. And I’m delighted that this week, following our two-year advocacy marketing campaign, the State has introduced they’re starting a learn about on attainable improvements of 9A to raised serve everybody, together with pedestrians and cyclists.
We have a possibility to do one thing impressive on the east aspect as properly, in decrease Manhattan round the Seaport— if we tear down the FDR south of the Brooklyn Bridge. Yes, you heard that proper. The extension Robert Moses constructed south of the bridge in the Nineteen Fifties is the least closely used phase of the FDR, and it has created a loud, unpleasant barrier between the folks of Lower Manhattan and their waterfront. It’s additionally nearing the finish of it’s useable lifestyles. So now could be the time to rip down the FDR south of the Brooklyn Bridge. In its position, let’s construct a grand, inexperienced, multi-use street.
Maybe we will be able to construct a public toilet there once we do this undertaking. Lord is aware of we want extra of the ones on this town. It’s okay to admit it—we’ve all been stuck available in the market. It simply shouldn’t be so onerous to search out a rest room when you wish to have one! The numbers don’t lie. We have only one public toilet in New York City for each and every 6,000 citizens, in the back of virtually each and every different main town in America.
But we’re converting that, in partnership with the nice Teddy Segal, the inspiring influencer in the back of the viral “Got 2 Go NYC” Tik Tok account. If you don’t observe it you must! I’m delighted that we handed law in conjunction with councilmember Rita Joseph that calls for the town to search out new places for bogs all throughout the town. And we aren’t finished but! Last week we offered law that may in an instant open for public get admission to many extra bogs in CITY-owned structures throughout the 5 boroughs.
Now, the interest of New Yorkers for extra public bogs might simplest be exceeded by means of their interest for reining in the epidemic of scaffolding on this the city. I’ve met people who find themselves actually single-issue electorate in this one. There are just about 4000 sidewalk sheds up on the streets of Manhattan at the moment. This hurts native companies, this is a public protection drawback, and it’s simply simple unpleasant. Most egregiously of all, masses of those sheds were up for greater than 5 years. Some even longer than 10 years.
We need facade paintings finished speedy, we would like sheds to be much less unpleasant once they do pass up, and we need to reform Local Law 11 so that there’s flexibility in the inspection agenda according to the precise stage of possibility. I’m delighted we’ve nice companions in the Council preventing for law on all this, thanks Keith Powers, Shaun Abreu, and Erik Bottcher. Our purpose is discreet: stay pedestrians secure and make sure our sidewalks don’t seem to be blighted by means of sheds an afternoon longer than they need to be. We need as a way to see our gorgeous structures once more, proper?
No gorgeous side road is entire with out one the most important piece of infrastructure: Trees! Trees don’t simply blank our air; they take in carbon dioxide, catch typhoon run-off, and funky neighborhoods on scorching days. But there may be monumental inequality in the place side road bushes are planted. Low-income communities of colour, like East Harlem, have a ways fewer bushes in keeping with block than wealthier portions of the town.
That’s why all 5 Borough Presidents have come in combination to name for the planting of one million extra bushes throughout the 5 boroughs— on streets, in parks, in schoolyards, NYCHA campuses, on rooftops. This will make it conceivable for us to succeed in the essential purpose of 30% inexperienced cover quilt for our town.
But our side road bushes and our town’s inexperienced areas general can simplest thrive due to a military of employees who take care of them. This is parks gadget that has masses of hundreds of thousands of visits annually. So shout out to our Parks employees! Fighting cuts to this essential body of workers will likely be one of my most sensible priorities on this yr’s funds combat.
You know what else is essential to the lifestyles of this town? The arts! And it’s a difficult time for that sector now. But there may be just right news. We have transformative cultural tasks being constructed round our borough that I need to let you know about, and each and every one of those I’m proud to have helped fund.
A brand new house on a hundred and twenty fifth St. for the iconic National Black Theater.
A brand-new house on Central Park West and 96th St. for the wonderful Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
A brand-new heart for dance at the Joyce Theater coming quickly to the East Village
An even more recent New Museum down on the Bowery, with a brand new wing designed by means of none instead of Rem Koolhaas.
A brand new state-of-the-art house for the People’s Theater Project, uptown on 206th, the place numerous tales will likely be informed like by no means ahead of.
And additionally coming quickly to Inwood: a long-overdue Dominican Cultural Center, ya es tiempo coño!
Try to compete with all that, Brooklyn!
All informed, I’m proud to have allotted over $20 million bucks to cultural organizations in the borough, and we aren’t finished but.
The arts shouldn’t simply be in massive establishments although. They wish to be in our faculties, too. Arts schooling has a confirmed sure impact on the creativity and well-being of scholars in any respect grade ranges—whether or not via dance, tune, theater or visible arts. Investing in the WHOLE kid yields effects throughout the board, together with on instructional good fortune. That’s why I imagine we want extra social employees and substance use counselors in each and every faculty, and we wish to be certain a full-time faculty nurse is in each and every faculty development on a daily basis.
We additionally wish to get ready our youngsters for the technological revolution forward. They will likely be coming into a role marketplace radically redefined by means of advances in AI, the place the people who find themselves relaxed the use of those new equipment will likely be the ones who get forward in just about each and every box. Yet nowadays, lower than a 3rd of DOE graduates have had any pc science schooling in highschool in any respect. Almost none have had coaching on subjects like system finding out which might be going to be essential to working out the global that our younger individuals are heading into. A half-century in the past, after Sputnik, we pivoted our faculties to show each and every child chemistry. And nowadays, there are chemistry labs in virtually each and every faculty. Now, it’s time to pivot once more.
We wish to train each and every child media literacy, in order that they know the way to identify bias, inaccuracies, and deepfakes in what AI is outputting. Today, as a substitute of educating youngsters the obstacles and functions of new AI equipment, two-thirds of public faculties in New York City have in fact BLOCKED ACCESS to ChatGPT on their units and networkers. This signifies that simplest youngsters who personal a smartphone or have a pc at house can find out about those tough new equipment. How is that truthful?
It’s now not simply faculties. Every company of City govt must handle the fast advances in AI which might be already right here. That’s why closing September my place of business launched a file laying out what our town must do to capitalize on the alternatives and mitigate the threats of this era. And I’m main by means of instance. This week the Manhattan Borough President’s Office was the first company in NYC govt to liberate a complete coverage on worker use of AI, in order that we empower employees when conceivable and steer clear of the threats to privateness, accuracy, copyright and extra.
But if we’re actually enthusiastic about our long run, about the long run of this borough, of this town, about the long run that we would like for our youngsters right here… then we will have to discuss HOUSING. We are in the midst of the worst housing affordability disaster in the historical past of New York City. The moderate hire in Manhattan for marketplace price flats is now $5,044 per thirty days.
Specifically for 2 bedrooms it’s $6,051 per thirty days.
For 3 bedrooms it’s an astounding $9,525 per thirty days.
Raise your hand if you’ll come up with the money for those rents.
It shouldn’t be so rattling onerous to search out an rental you’ll come up with the money for.
We are observing a long run the place we, THE PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM, can’t come up with the money for to are living in our loved Manhattan. For low-income households, that is devastating. It is without delay contributing to our homelessness disaster. There are households in our shelters nowadays as a result of of the ones astronomical rents. But it’s now not simply low-income households. Bus drivers, nurses, academics are getting driven out of Manhattan too. And for younger individuals who have grown up in our wonderful borough— your youngsters, my youngsters…we’re giving them virtually no hope of residing right here once they wish to get their very own position. We will lose the subsequent technology of Manhattanites until we cope with this housing disaster. We may also pressure folks to transport to Jersey, god forbid.
There is just no getting round it: we will have to construct extra housing for the folks of New York City. The price of housing manufacturing plummetted right here in 2023. Manhattan is now development much less housing than Durham, North Carolina. Not much less housing in keeping with capita. Less housing length. Meanwhile, Jersey City—Jersey City!—is allowing housing at double the price of New York City. I imply come on guys!
Because we’re development so little, when marketplace price flats do open up there are bidding wars. Literally. And low-income and working-class individuals are without a doubt now not profitable the ones bidding wars. The landlords, on the other hand, make out like bandits. And what about the inexpensive housing we ARE growing?
This month, a beautiful development with deeply inexpensive rents is opening in Inwood, it’s referred to as the Eliza. Just $585 for a two bed room. Perhaps you’ve observed this development pass viral on TikTok? But wait…there have been 80,000 packages for the 174 flats there. The want is solely determined.
None of what we’re doing is sufficient. Housing shortage isn’t operating for New Yorkers. We want housing abundance. Now some say there is not any extra space to construct housing in Manhattan. They are improper. Last yr, we scoured each and every block of this borough and put out a plan figuring out no fewer than 171 websites the place 70,000 gadgets might be constructed. 70,000 gadgets! In empty loads, floor parking, vacant structures, underutilized City-owned houses.
We know getting every of those constructed goes to be a combat. But we’re already profitable the ones fights round the borough with tasks that at the moment are shifting forward.
Projects like 5 World Trade Center, a brand new development will upward push quickly now not with places of work however with 1,200 flats, together with no fewer than 400 inexpensive gadgets for an area that has observed virtually no new inexpensive housing in many years.
At 388 Hudson St, the place quickly an RFP will likely be launched for a undertaking that will likely be 100% inexpensive, a real rarity in the West Village.
On East 94th side road, a space lately zoned for production as it was a brewery district. Well the breweries closed many years in the past and now ultimately we’re going to rezone it for housing.
And by means of the manner my place of business became that advice round in file time, simply 5 days.
In East Harlem on 106th Street, the place 32 supportive housing gadgets are being constructed— it’s an out of this world undertaking, an LGBTQ-affirming buildng for previously homeless early life, elderly 16-24.
These are just a few of the 17 websites in our Housing Manhattanites plan which might be already shifting ahead. And many extra to return.
But even this isn’t sufficient. To actually meet our housing wishes, we want additional motion from our companions in State govt. Albany controls New York City’s assets tax code. They make our hire regulations. And extremely, they even restrict how massive our rental structures can also be. Thankfully we’ve some wonderful warring parties for housing in the state legislature right here with us nowadays, together with your native assemblymember Alex Bores. We wish to push onerous, shoulder to shoulder with them, to get a significant bundle of pro-housing, pro-tenant insurance policies handed now. That’s manner I introduced my State housing time table 3 weeks in the past.
In our time table, we made transparent that we want a State program for changing vacant Midtown place of business structures into housing, together with inexpensive gadgets. We want the State to enact a alternative for 421a to get development of condominium flats going once more in Manhattan, with promises for deep affordability and respectable employee requirements. We want Albany to present again New York City regulate over how large we would like our rental structures to be, by means of lifting the FAR cap. We want regulations in position in order that marketplace price tenants can’t be evicted with out just right reason, so nobody sees their hire double at the finish of their hire. We wish to construct on the fabulous good fortune of the Right to Counsel legislation that Borough President Gibson and I handed for New York City tenants dealing with eviction and make it a state-wide proper.
We have a window to do all this now ahead of the Stat funds is due on April 1st. But we wish to push onerous.
We even have top stakes housing fights down at City Hall, the place we’ve a possibility to replace our out of date zoning code to create extra of the housing we desperately want. The Department of City Planning’s “City of Yes for Housing Affordability” plan isn’t radical; it will create somewhat bit extra housing in each and every group, with an emphasis on deeply inexpensive gadgets. But in general, this zoning trade would create an estimated 100,000 desperately wanted properties throughout the town, with tens of 1000’s in Manhattan by myself.
The combat to create extra housing on this town and particularly extra inexpensive housing, is probably not simple. We are going to wish all hands-on deck to get this finished. Community forums, Local leaders, elected officers. I understand how dedicated all of you might be to addressing our housing emergency whilst additionally balancing the distinctive wishes and historical past of each and every group. We can paintings in combination to search out that steadiness.
For years, we have shyed away from this difficult paintings. We’ve been simplest too glad to permit landlords to fee ever upper rents amid housing shortage. It’s time we grasp regulate of the narrative. So that we get the housing that New Yorkers want at rents they are able to come up with the money for.
To the doubters who say we will be able to’t do that, I say sure, we will be able to.
To the Red State haters who say Manhattan is useless, I say you don’t have any thought what you’re speaking about, and also you’ve most certainly by no means even been right here.
To the critics who say this may occasionally not be a spot the place folks need to are living, play, paintings, seek advice from, learn about…. I say you might be improper.
Manhattan’s inhabitants is rising. Tourism is booming. Subway ridership is up.
Of direction, folks need to be in Manhattan. Because there is just one Apollo Theater. There is just one United Palace.
There is just one Loisaida. There is just one Barney Greengrass Deli. There is just one Museo del Barrio.
There is just one Stonewall Inn. There’s just one Mott St in Chinatown. I may just pass on all day, however you get the level…
Yes, Manhattan maximum without a doubt has a long run.
And it’s as much as us to make a choice what we would like the long run of our Borough to be. Are we going to permit inequality to develop ever wider in Manhattan?
Or can we make sure that our Borough is a spot of alternative the place nobody is left in the back of? Are we going to forget about existential threats to our surroundings?
Or to can we combat for each and every block in Manhattan to be greener, more healthy, and extra resilient than ever? Will we settle for this turning into a spot the place simplest millionaires can come up with the money for an rental?
Or can we create the housing we want in order that Manhattanites of all backgrounds and all earning can proceed to name our Borough house?
Let’s construct that long run in combination, Manhattan!
Hagamos esta visión realidad, por el bien de nuestros niños, por el bien de nuestro futuro.
Thank you…..