2021 State of the City
State of the City 2021: Mayor de Blasio Announces A Recovery for All of Us
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a bold recovery plan for all New Yorkers as part of his 2021 State of the City address and unveiled the City’s recovery website: RecoveryForAll.nyc.gov.
“New York City always fights back,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “And we will do so again. Together, we will create a stronger, fairer and safer city for all New Yorkers.”
The Mayor’s 2021 agenda is centered around using public health to drive a fair recovery for all New Yorkers. The plan prioritizes vaccinating against COVID-19 to jumpstart the recovery, using the City government to fight inequality, building a fairer economy, helping our children recover emotionally and academically from the impact of COVID, strengthening community based solutions to public safety and fighting the climate crisis.
RECOVERY FOR ALL
The foundation of a recovery for all of us is a massive vaccination effort. In 2021, New York City will lead the largest vaccination effort in our history to defeat COVID-19 and supercharge our recovery.
Reaching the 5 Million Milestone in June
New York City’s Vaccine for All campaign has already vaccinated more than half a million New Yorkers and has reached a pace of one New Yorker every three seconds. Last week alone, New York City vaccinated more people than the equivalent of six sold-out crowds at the next World Series game in Citi Field. With 412 vaccination sites spread across the city, from 24/7 mega vaccination sites to dozens of community health clinics, New York City will meet our aggressive goals if we receive enough supply and the freedom to vaccinate.
New York City’s vaccination effort is the foundation of a recovery for all of us. With every vaccine shot, New York City moves closer and closer to fully reopening our economy, restoring the jobs we lost and ensuring equality in our comeback.
New York City is staking out a radical new goal to supercharge that recovery. We will reach a high level of immunity by achieving the 5 million New Yorkers vaccinated milestone in June. That is the pace we must meet to drive a recovery that works for all of us.
BEND GOVERNMENT TO FIGHT INEQUALITY
A recovery for all of us means reimaging what New York City government can do to confront the inequalities and systemic racism that pervade America. This year, we will enact real structural reforms to change the nature of government and ensure the Office of the Mayor of New York City is permanently positioned to combat racism and inequality.
Permanent Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity
Established during an historic nationwide push for racial justice in 2020, the NYC Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity quickly became a force for equality. The Taskforce is comprised of leaders of color from across city government who identify new opportunities to push for progress and address inequality.
Restore and Surpass Record Job Levels of 1 Year Ago
As recent as February 2020, New York City had record employment levels. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leading to a global economic crisis and the loss of 900,000 jobs in New York City. By the end of 2020, New York City recovered nearly one third of those jobs, including saving over 100,000 jobs through Mayor de Blasio’s Open Restaurants program.
A recovery for all of us means job growth to lift-up the communities that were hit hardest by COVID-19. The Community Hiring First plan would provide thousands of construction jobs for low-income communities leading to an estimated $1 billion in wages and benefits for target communities during the first full year of the program. In addition to the City’s project labor agreement to require City construction projects to hire within the surrounding community, the City will push state lawmakers to pass legislation that requires more contractors and businesses to hire low-income New Yorkers and New Yorkers from high poverty communities.
Creating Jobs at Minority and Women Owned Businesses
We must also ensure job growth is fueled by minority and women owned businesses. Building off the City’s new equitable ownership requirement established in 2020, the City announced that the New York City Acquisition Fund, a $210 million public-private affordable housing loan fund, will only finance projects led by a minority-owned developer, women-owned developer or non-profit developer with a minimum 51 percent ownership stake in the project.
Tax the Wealthy and Redistribute Wealth
During the pandemic, 120 New York billionaires grew their net worth by $77 billion. There is clearly enough money in New York to invest in a fair and fast recovery – it’s just in the wrong hands.
Simply put, this is about redistribution. So far in his tenure, Mayor de Blasio has redistributed over $20 billion to New York City’s working families through programs like Pre-K for All and NYC Care, and we must grow that number. The pandemic has laid bare the drastic disparities we all knew existed in New York City long before COVID-19.
New York City will fight for new progressive income taxes that establish brackets with increased tax rates for high earners and the ultra-wealthy. And with more billionaires in than any other city in America, New York City will push for a billionaires’ tax. The billions of dollars raised from these progressive taxes will go into investing in New York City’s schools, working families, and a recovery for all of us.
Revitalize Small Businesses
NYC Small Business Recovery Tax Credit
New York City will provide direct support to our city’s small businesses to boost our recovery and put New Yorkers back to work. The NYC Small Business Recovery Tax Credit will be a $50 million rental assistance program for up to 17,000 small businesses in the arts, entertainment, recreation, food services, and accommodation sectors that have experienced hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Businesses in these sectors with gross revenue below $1 million will be eligible for a tax credit equal to 6% of their calendar year 2021 rent, up to maximum credit of $10,000. Businesses will need to retain their current workforce to be eligible, driving job retention in our neighborhoods.
The new tax credit program will require State legislation, and New York City will expand it if Washington provides a robust stimulus with direct local aid for cities. The City would look to expand the program to additional small businesses and increase the value of the credit to incentivize hiring more New Yorkers, saving and creating over 10,000 jobs.
NYC Small Business Recovery Loans
In addition to expanding the Recovery Tax Credit with stimulus funds, New York City will also establish the NYC Small Business Recovery Loan program to help shops keep their doors open and recover. New York City will provide low-interest loans of up to $100,000 to over 2,000 small businesses in the communities hit hardest by COVID-19 to drive a recovery for all of us.
Small businesses will be able to apply for loans from a $100 million fund built from City funds that leverage outside lenders. The loans will go to small businesses that have experienced hardship due to the pandemic and have submitted a recovery plan to rebuild their business and bring our city back.
Bridge the Digital Divide
Every New Yorker must have affordable broadband access to truly achieve a recovery for all of us. New York City will make leaps and bounds in 2021 to bridge the digital divide with a massive effort across the city.
The City will further drive competition by putting in place new franchises this year to facilitate creation of new low-cost internet options from new companies across all five boroughs. In addition, under terms of a new agreement with Verizon, 500,000 more households will have access to FIOS service by 2023.
The Year of 5G
The next generation of economic growth demands that new broadband connections, including 5G, are built equitably. 2021 will be the year of 5G in New York City. The City will aggressively expand 5G infrastructure across the City, by offering up 7,500 pole tops starting this year to build new 5G networks, particularly in boroughs outside of Manhattan, with a priority focus on underserved neighborhoods to ensure that New York City has the connectivity foundation to support a recovery for all of us.
End Street Homelessness
The global economic downturn fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to many people being faced with homelessness. In response, New York City is expanding on the Journey Home Action Plan to End Long-Term Street Homelessness. New York City will establish an additional 1,000 new Safe Haven beds in 2021, on top of the more than 1,000 additional beds opened in 2020. In addition, in 2021, the City will end the decades-long cluster shelter program put in place during the Giuliani administration and achieve our goal of siting 90 new borough-based shelters. All of these polices share the same goal: Ensuing every New Yorker has the quality services they need to get back on their feet and be lifted up by our economic recovery.
CLOSE THE COVID ACHIEVEMENT GAP
A recovery for all of us has already started in our public schools. New York City schools will reach every child – academically and emotionally – to close the COVID Achievement Gap.
Fully, Safely Reopen Our Schools
The key to jumpstarting a recovery for all of us is opening our schools to all students, safely and on-time, to start the next school year. This will not only give our students the time in classrooms they’ve been desperately missing, it will help jump start our recovery in working class neighborhoods. New York City established the gold standard in school safety protocols during the pandemic, with increased ventilation, social distancing, mandatory masks for all, and a robust testing regimen leading our schools to be some of the healthiest spaces in the entire city during the pandemic. That model will be repeated until our vaccination effort drives our city to full community immunity.
2021 Student Achievement Plan
Students faced unprecedented challenges last school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools were shutdown, classrooms became virtual and many grades have yet to fully reopen. The 2021 Student Achievement plan is constructed to help our students recover and continue their education.
Reach Every Child
Building on ThriveNYC’s years of investments in the social emotional wellbeing of students, the 2021 Student Achievement plan includes a three-pronged approach to confront the trauma and mental health crisis faced by our students. Beginning in the communities hardest hit by COVID-19, the DOE will make social, emotional, and academic behavior screeners available for all students K-12, hire 150 additional social workers, and add a community school in each of these hardest hit neighborhoods. This first phase will serve approximately 380,000 students across approximately 830 schools.
Drive Diversity in Our Schools
A true recovery requires that every child across New York City, no matter their family’s income level or zip code, has a high-quality education. This year, the City will take concrete steps forward to continue to desegregate our schools to truly reflect the diversity of our neighborhoods. The Department of Education will support five additional districts in implementing District Diversity Plans to foster greater integration in their classrooms. Middle Schools screens have been postponed in 2021 and district priorities for high school admissions, and all other geographic priorities, will be eliminated in 2021. We will develop a new system for identifying and serving gifted and talented students and implement it later this year.
COMMUNITY POWER IN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICING
Joint Force to End Gun Violence: Fight Back Against Shootings
Overall crime decreased in 2020 in New York City, but the national surge in gun violence was felt in far too many of our neighborhoods. The majority of perpetrators make up a small group of people, and New York City will be focused on addressing these individuals specifically to prevent violence and keep people safe.
To achieve this goal, we will launch the NYC Joint Force to End Gun Violence to maintain a sustained focus on likely shooters. The Joint Force will be comprised of members of NYPD, Cure Violence groups, District Attorney offices, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, City agencies, and additional local community groups and law enforcement organizations.
Double the Cure Violence Workforce
The Cure Violence movement and the Crisis Management System (CMS) has worked across New York City to bring communities closer together and stop violence. Teams of credible messengers—community members whose backgrounds allow them to connect with and motivate those at-risk—mediate conflicts on the street and connect high-risk individuals to services. These services include a year-round employment program, mental health services, and trauma counselling.
Training to Put Community Engagement First
Community engagement that genuinely gives people a voice in determining what public safety means to their community will be a top priority of the NYPD in 2021, and the training officers receive must reflect that. Beginning this Spring, New York City will expand the People’s Police Academy, a community-led training program for local precinct personnel. Learning what public safety means to residents is integral to serving that community.
FIGHT THE CLIMATE CRISIS
New York City will lead by example in fighting the climate crisis by making historic green investments and reducing our dependence on cars and fossil fuels, while deepening Vision Zero.
New Public Spaces for Neighborhoods Hardest Hit by COVID
As we drive a recovery for all of us, there is an opportunity – and a need – to reimagine public spaces. This year, New York City will create new spaces in more than 30 of the neighborhoods hit hardest by COVID-19.
These new spaces will help support local small businesses, foster community ties and provide space for arts and culture as we all come back together. Each community will have a space that best reflects their needs. Some neighborhoods will have a new pedestrian plaza or new amenities like Greenmarkets and Night Markets. Other neighborhoods will have Open Streets, Street Seats or completely newly designed open space. No matter the setting, New Yorkers will be able to gather together and begin to rebuild the city we love.
Bridges for the People
The Brooklyn Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge are iconic and deeply intertwined in the daily lives of countless New Yorkers. Now, it’s time to bring them into the 21st century and embrace the future with a radical new plan. On the Brooklyn Bridge, we will ban cars from the innermost lane of the Manhattan-bound side to transform it into a two-way protected bike lane and turn the existing shared promenade space into a space just for pedestrians. On the Queensboro Bridge, we will begin construction this year to convert the north outer roadway into a two-way bike-only lane and convert the south outer roadway to a two-way pedestrian-only lane.
New Bike Boulevards in Every Borough
We will reimagine our roads by installing new Bike Boulevards across the city. In 2021, New York City will begin construction on five new Bike Boulevards, streets that are designed to give bicycles travel priority and put cyclist safety first. These boulevards will have unique design elements to slow vehicle speeds and reduce volume with traffic diverters, signal timing changes, shared streets, Open Streets and gateway treatments.
Make Open Streets Permanent
When the pandemic hit, New York City embraced open space like never before. Open Streets popped up across the city, and neighborhoods embraced the new space for community building and supporting our small businesses. While we leave the rest of the pandemic behind, Open Streets will become a permanent part of our landscape. Starting this year, we will continue the Open Streets program of 2020 with many of the streets from the previous year. The Department of Transportation will also open applications for new streets, with a focus on local partner management and support. As with all parts of our economic recovery, equity and inclusion will be at the heart of the Open Streets expansion, with underserved neighborhoods getting new opportunities to participate.
