The recently passed budget shifted capital spending on housing to later years. But some in the housing world think good news from Washington could lead the city to change course.
For the city’s borough-based jail plan, this is a temporary halt, not a permanent rest. And for the community members fighting the plan, there’s still a long way to go.
‘My family—and families like mine all over this city—deserve to be able to call for help and actually get it.’
Two things can be said about the fiscal 2021 budget. One is that it made almost no one happy.
The other is that it did not meaningfully reduce the operational size of the nation’s largest police force.
The final fiscal 2021 spending plan staved off cuts to smaller housing programs, but retained a shift of roughly a billion dollars in capital spending on the mayor’s affordability plan.
‘You needed us when COVID hit and we have been there. Stand with us and demand adequate funding for our essential workers.’
Not everyone agrees on what defunding would mean, or what it would look like.
The mayor’s decision to open parks but ban swimming has prompted an outcry. Meanwhile, proposed budget cuts to the already underfunded Parks Department threaten to strain the system during a summer when New Yorkers will likely flood to those spaces.
‘We are not asking to be prioritized over doctors and nurses. We simply need to be given the same resources.’
‘As we start to recover from this pandemic, it’s clear that New York City’s investments in natural areas need to be sustained for both their short-term benefits — like recreational space to socially distance and hundreds of green jobs — and long-term benefits — like climate change mitigation and adaptation.’
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