Op-Ed | Keeping New York City safe for everyone

Making New York City a safer and more affordable city has always been the mission of our administration. Every day, we fight to ensure that New Yorkers can pursue their dreams without fear for their safety and with a better quality of life. I am proud to say that New York remains the safest big city in America, and we are continuing to get safer each day.

As a result of our administration’s successful public safety strategy, our streets and our subways are safer. New York City has seen eight straight months of overall crime reduction across the five boroughs, realizing a significant 6.4 percent decrease in crime citywide for the month of August compared to the same time last year. Overall crime continues to trend downward and is down year to date as well. Additionally, last month, we had the fewest shootings of any August since the NYPD started tracking crime through CompStat in 1994.Homicides are down double digits for the year and for last month. Car theft is also down double digits. And burglaries are down, too.

Our public transit system is the lifeblood of our city, so keeping New Yorkers safe on the subway is key to ensuring that New York remains the safest big city in America. That is why we surged more than 1,000 additional officers in the subway system in February and introduced additional technology, including cameras and data driven officer deployment. As a result, overall transit crime has been down for seven cumulative months, and robberies are at the lowest point in recorded history. These numbers don’t lie, our safety strategy is on track and working.  

We know that community input is critical to improving public safety and that every community has its own unique needs. That is why we are bringing partners from across the city together to find innovative approaches to reducing crime and improving quality of life. Issues like illegal vending, retail theft, substance use, the mental health crisis, scaffolding, and unlicensed cannabis shops have no place on our streets. And our administration refuses to tolerate an atmosphere where anything goes.

That is why we launched our “Community Link” initiative, which works with multiple agencies, as well as community partners, to make our city safer and more livable for all. We have Community Links established across the city, including on 14th Street on the Lower East Side, 125th Street in Harlem, Central Park near 110th Street, and around Washington Square Park — all areas in which we have seen unacceptable quality-of-life issues take hold. This approach works hand-in-hand with the community to bring tailored city services right to their doorsteps.

Just last week, I was happy to convene members of the NYPD, the Department of Sanitation, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and others to launch “Operation Front Door,” a targeted operation focusing on quality-of-life issues in and around Times Square, the front door to the world. In one night, we seized 36 illegally operating pedicabs, issued 45 summonses, and shut down six food trucks for various health and safety violations.

Times Square is the welcome mat to our city, a place where the hospitality, entertainment, tourism and business industries meet. Millions of tourists continue to visit Times Square and are often targeted by illegal vendors and pedicabs. The unsafe and unregulated practices of illegal vendors and pedicabs not only put tourists’ safety at risk but undermine legitimate business trying to make a living. With Operation Front Door, we are taking decisive action to keep Times Square safe for New Yorkers, tourists, and businesses.

We came into office with the clear goal of making our city safer, more affordable, and more livable for all New Yorkers. We are making improvements that New Yorkers feel every day. And ensuring that New York remains the safest big city in America.