Guest op-eds, City Limits bloggers and reaction from readers
“Two years into the pandemic, the city is moving ahead with a return to ‘normal,’ but the pre-pandemic real estate market’s ‘normal’ is not something to which we should aspire to.”
“Unemployment continues to be higher in places like Flatbush, Brooklyn—my neighborhood—than in the wealthiest parts of the city and state. For my unemployed neighbors and those earning low wages, price increases hit us much, much harder than the richest residents of the Upper East Side who may own two or three homes.”
“Beyond the emotional toll, I have learned firsthand what people mean when they say, ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ As time goes on, witnesses move and their memories fade; every day the case is dragged out by motions like qualified immunity, justice becomes more fleeting.”
“The city is still tinkering with designs that started to seem old more than a decade ago. We’re moving too slowly (while our cars still go too fast).”
ANHD’s 2022 Housing Risk Chart highlights the compounding pressures, and risks, to affordable housing in dozens of neighborhoods. Indicators of speculation, gentrification, and displacement pressure are distributed throughout the city and show the necessity of tenant and homeowner counseling and support programs that defend affordability in every neighborhood.
“Concerns about the creation of ‘mega jails’ have hounded the plans to close the jails on Rikers Island since before the historic vote in 2019. It has served as a useful boogeyman for opponents of the Rikers closure plan, especially in Manhattan. It’s also a fabrication.”
The reality is that many older adults have already survived trauma—and those experiences carry so much wisdom, perspective, and resilience to share as a result. Investments to increase access to mental health support for seniors would go a long way.
“The Carbon Free and Healthy Schools plan would be transformational: it would institute energy audits and retrofits of each school, repair and replace HVAC systems, invest in climate resiliency upgrades, and electrify our fleet of school buses. It would make use of schools’ large rooftops to generate solar power and increase school buildings’ overall energy efficiency.”
“We must demand systemic changes to ensure that incarcerated mothers have the opportunity to be part of their kids’ lives. Not just during Mother’s Day, but all year round.”
“Treatment Not Jail offers the possibility of mental health treatment courts for all justice-involved New Yorkers and improves upon the prevailing model of drug courts.”