By Illegal Day Care Center Crackdown – The Mayor and Health Department have launched a series of reforms aimed at improving the safety of day care centers across the city. The new policies include the creation of a unit tasked with identifying unlicensed sites; increasing inspections of repeat violators; adding inspection staff; and the development of enhanced investigative protocols to help identify problem cites using citizen complaints. The City is also pushing to force operators to publicly post their licenses, and for expanded Health Department authority to issue license revocations and track day care center ownership.
Tenant Support Unit – In July of last year Mayor de Blasio launched a first-of-its-kind office charged with assisting New Yorkers victimized by unscrupulous landlords. Last week the Mayor announced the Tenant Support Unit had resolved its 1,000th case, that of a Brooklyn woman whose apartment had no gas, a mice infestation, and a leaky ceiling. The unit has knocked on 57,000 doors and made 23,000 phone calls in its efforts to identify tenants who need help staying in their homes or getting critical maintenance done on their apartments.
NYPD Subway Patrols and Expanded Presence in SE Queens – The Mayor and Police Commissioner announced that they are adding cops to subway patrols and aiming additional resources at a spate of underground violence that has captured headlines in recent weeks. In addition, the 105th precinct in Queens will see a 24-hour expansion of a satellite outpost covering the covering the neighborhoods of Laurelton, Rosedale and Springfield Gardens. The office will receive 18 additional police officers and two sergeants. The 1-0-5 is the fourth largest precinct in the City. The satellite office was opened in 2007.
Bayside Town Hall – The Mayor continued his town hall series with stop in in Bayside, Queens, this week. He took questions from local residents on everything from homelessness to property taxes to public safety.
Legal Services Up, Evictions Down – Evictions fell 18% last year, to the lowest level in a decade – prompting the The New York Times to profile the Mayor’s $46 million, two-year investment in expanded legal services and emergency rental assistance for tenants. The Mayor also cited last year’s first-ever rent freeze on regulated apartments as playing a role in the progress. The Mayor’s work was praised by a leading tenant advocate and the judge overseeing the City’s housing court.
Link Between Neighborhood Poverty and Infectious Disease Exposure – The Health Department this week released a report outlining the link between poverty and rates of infectious disease. Researchers found that New Yorkers residing in very high poverty neighborhoods were more likely to be diagnosed with 21 of the 38 infectious diseases examined – providing an important backdrop for Health Department programs focused on reducing such health disparities. The City has committed to reducing premature mortality rates by 25% by 2040 in the OneNYC plan, and the Mayor announced the expansion of community clinics and the opening of three new Neighborhood Health Action Centers to expand access to care in areas of the city with high rates of premature mortality.
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