The NYPD and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) together doled out 5,197 tickets to vendors last year, with the police department issuing significantly more tickets, despite a de Blasio-era pledge to shift them away from enforcement. After an eight-month delay, the DOHMH will also begin issuing applications for new supervisory licenses for vendors by the end of the month.
“In 2004, the Republican National Convention came to New York City. Outside, the NYPD perpetrated some of the worst offenses against civil liberties in the city’s history. Cops rounded up 1,800 protesters in a single day, most of whom were demonstrating peacefully.”
“For decades politicians have focused on reducing crime while communities end up with nothing that actually solves violence—and often with strategies that make it worse.”
“Though society is scared and grieving, we cannot allow the knee jerk reaction to the devastating mass shooting in Uvalde to ignore the systemic, policy, and evidence-based realities and root causes of gun violence.”
Some in Sunset Park worry their experience of random violence will invoke a response more focused on carceral measures than addressing structural inequalities that shape public safety. “When I think about safety here, I think of how we need stimulus relief bills, unemployment and healthcare,” one local resident told City Limits. “Not police.”
“As mayor, Adams now wields more power and influence than ever before, and for this reason, his pro-respectability mindset is a serious cause for concern.”
“The tragedy occurred despite the massive resources poured into NYPD and the continued expansion of its law enforcement powers.”
“If we are truly invested in preventing and eventually ending this horrific blight of hatred and violence against people who are homeless, we must work to end homelessness itself. This can be accomplished in two phases: immediately offering stabilization beds to New Yorkers living on the street, and providing permanent affordable housing.”
“Our elected officials are threatening hard-fought reforms designed to counteract the historic – and present – racism in law enforcement that targets my neighbors and eventually will target my son. Meanwhile, they fail to invest in our communities.”
“We must reject policies that single out, scapegoat, and sweep away the rights of our neighbors with mental illness.”
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
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