A coalition of more than 230 business, civic, and labor leaders – including 16 Real Estate Roundtable members – on Jan. 31 expressed broad support for New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s efforts to increase public safety in the wake of a series of violent crimes across the city. New York is one of several cities across the nation facing a spike in crime since the start of the pandemic. (Partnership for New York City letter, Jan. 31 | Reuters and CQ, Feb. 3) 

Private Sector Support

• Roundtable Board Member Rob Speyer (President and CEO, Tishman Speyer), above, and Steven Swartz (President and CEO, Hearst) – Co-Chairs of the Partnership for New York City – stated, “We support Mayor Adams’ comprehensive approach to reducing crime and gun violence. The return of the pre-pandemic vibrancy of our city depends on his success.” (New York City’s website)
  
  
• The coalition letter also noted, “New York cannot recover from the devastating impacts of the pandemic without first restoring the sense of personal security that every resident, worker, visitor, and community in our city has the right to expect.”
  
  
• “[I]t is equally necessary to invest in mental health care and alleviate conditions that contribute to violent behavior” such as homelessness, the letter explains.
  

• Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer, above, stated, “The Real Estate Roundtable is highly supportive of governmental efforts nationally and locally to address violent behavior, substance abuse, homelessness, and joblessness. We join with our New York-based leaders in supporting efforts to address these troubling realities in New York City and we applaud President Biden for his announcement this week on community safety.”
  
  
• The coalition letter comes a week after Adams proposed a comprehensive Blueprint to End Gun Violence. President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland yesterday traveled to New York to offer federal support to the plan of Adams and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to crack down on illegal guns coming into the state. (New York Daily News and Reuters, Feb. 3) 

The White House yesterday announced President Biden’s plan to urge Congress to allocate $500 million more to combat gun violence into a fiscal 2022 spending package. (White House Announcement, Feb. 3) 

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