Eight years of de Blasio: the results of his work as mayor of New York in numbers

When Bill de Blasio first ran for mayor in 2013, he pledged to reduce inequality in New York, where he argued poor people were far behind economically. New York Times spoke about the results of the work of the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio for two terms of office.

For eight years, he has succeeded in solving several key tasks:

• creation of universal preschool institutions;
• police reform, in particular the introduction of body cameras;
• reduction of stops and searches of passers-by by police;
• construction of affordable housing.

But he has failed to cope with other major problems - homelessness, inequality in schools and in access to transport.

The proportion of New Yorkers living in poverty declined during de Blasio's first term, but the pandemic exposed the city's deep-seated weaknesses and the number of poor New Yorkers rose again. However, the outgoing mayor has helped tens of thousands of families save money by eliminating pre-school fees.

He actively promoted a minimum wage of $ 15 an hour. At the same time, many more lonely elderly people now live in homeless shelters in very difficult conditions.

Here's how de Blasio tackled six of New York's key challenges:

Police

93% Reduction in Police Stops

De Blasio based his campaign on police reform, but the results of his work in this direction are mixed.

The mayor ordered not to appeal a federal court ruling that the NYPD's use of "stop and search" tactics was unconstitutional and disproportionately targeted at blacks and Hispanics. As a result, the number of stops by New Yorkers by the police plummeted. In 2019, there were approximately 13 stops. This is much less than in 400 (before de Blasio took office), when there were 2013 of them. The maximum figure was 191 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 800.

However, the inequality in the actions of the police could not be eliminated. In 2020, 86% of New York City police detainees were Black or Hispanic. As a result, the courts decided that 61 percent of them were innocent.

De Blasio undertook major reforms

Over the past four years, the number of arrests for small amounts of marijuana has dropped by more than half. But it was also disproportionately targeted at blacks and Hispanics. In the first quarter of 2021, before marijuana was legalized by New York State, 90 percent of the 163 New Yorkers arrested for possession of marijuana were Black or Hispanic. Marijuana possession subpoenas were also disproportionately high for New York City blacks and Hispanics. It only declined after marijuana was legalized in 2021.

Yet de Blasio carried out major reforms. His office adhered to the concept of "policing precision". This is a policing model where more resources are directed to certain areas with high crime rates. De Blasio's office has created an infrastructure to reach out to populations in high crime risk areas. The NYPD began 2013 without body cameras. Now they are used by most of the patrol and specialized units.

The pandemic compounded the impact on law enforcement as gunfights and killings increased. Although both areas have recently shown signs of improvement, neither has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Schools

70 percent of schools are still segregated

The mayor made a pledge to tackle inequality in the largest school system country. But for most of his tenure, he has been oblivious to some of the underlying issues that drive segregation in urban schools.

By the beginning of his second term, pressure from activists to take integration measures had intensified. This forced the mayor's office to admit the problem. According to the Civil Rights Project, the number of New York schools that are “severely segregated” remains high, dropping slightly from 72 percent in 2010 to 70 percent in 2019.

De Blasio's push to cancel the entrance exam, which requires admission to the city's eight so-called specialized high schools, has failed. The task force that studied the integration solutions suggested that he close the classes for the gifted and talented. He ignored this recommendation for years. However, he later issued a similar plan himself just a few months before the end of his term in office. Mayor-elect Eric Adams has already announced that he will not implement the plan.

Defended aspects, but did not create them

Ultimately, the most significant efforts to integrate schools have come from individual school districts that have well-organized parent groups. They have spent years creating plans to change schools in their neighborhoods, including the Lower East Side and the ranks of Brooklyn's wealthy neighborhoods. The number of schools that voluntarily adopted integration measures, such as allocating places for low-income or homeless children, increased from 7 to 100 schools. De Blasio approved, and in some cases defended aspects of these proposals, but did not create them.

And if the diversification of the city hall's schools failed, then de Blasio has achieved much more success in creating a system of preschool education. The massive expansion of preschool education for 4-year-olds, and more recently for many 3-year-olds, is considered de Blasio's calling card. When the mayor took office in 2014, there were about 4 places available for 19-year-olds in the Pre-K school system. Now there are 000 thousand of them.

Fighting homelessness

65% increase in the number of single adults living in shelters

Shortly before taking office as mayor in 2013, de Blasio described "the history of two cities." He cited the rise in homelessness as a prime example of how the city had failed the poor.

“We just won't let this reality continue,” he said.

But when it comes to homelessness, something like a fairy tale of two shelter systems has emerged. Overall, the number of residents in homeless shelters, which grew by 2014% between 2019 and 17, declined again by 11% during the pandemic (compared to 2013, when de Blasio was elected). But the numbers for family shelters and single adult shelters have diverged.

The population of family shelters, including children, fell by about 30 percent under de Blasio. In 2013, about 41 families were in the main shelter system. As of last week that number was about 29. This is partly due to the introduction of a moratorium on evictions during a pandemic. But the number of families in shelters was declining even before the pandemic began. It continues to decline due to programs created and expanded by the de Blasio administration. Programs include:

• vouchers to help pay rent;
• priority for homeless families when approving applications for subsidized housing;
• rent arrears assistance program.

However, the population of single adult shelters is more than 60 percent higher than when de Blasio took office. The mayor admitted that the homelessness crisis was his biggest setback. The number of single adults living in the shelter system has increased from about 10 in December 100 to 2013 today.

Affordable Housing

200 affordable housing units built or retained

De Blasio has invested in affordable housing the cornerstone of its strategy to reduce inequality. Due to the sharp rise in rents, people were left homeless or could hardly afford to pay rent.

Its administration said that in 8 years, more than 200 affordable houses have been preserved or started construction. The construction of housing is mainly due to government subsidies for the construction of new houses or fixing the rent.

Under de Blasio, the total number of apartments available exceeded those of his predecessors. But the mayor has been criticized for not doing enough to help low-income New Yorkers. Most of the investment went to residents earning at least $ 53 for a family of three. But the greater need was for those who earned less, according to a report released in February by the Public Works Society of New York, a poverty alleviation group.

The invested funds were not enough

The public housing system has been vital to many low-income New Yorkers. The mayor promised to solve long-standing problems. But under de Blasio, conditions continued to deteriorate. Serious problems were identified with lead paints (children were poisoned because of their toxicity) and the provision of heating in subsidized apartments.

On the subject: De Blasio says New York is safer under his rule, but this is not entirely true

De Blasio has invested more money in the system than his predecessors. However, this was not enough to meet the growing needs of NYCHA's subsidized housing program, which is in need of an estimated $ 40 billion in major renovations.

Another indicator of the condition of housing in the city - the number of applications for eviction - has decreased. In 2013, there were 100 evictions for every 11,2 houses with tenants. In 2019, before the pandemic, that number dropped to 7,9. This is partly due to measures signed by de Blasio to protect tenants.

Transport

12 km / h: New York has the slowest buses of any major American city

The mayor of New York does not control the subway system - it is run by the governor. But de Blasio did have a significant impact on city streets. During his reign, bus speeds remained exceptionally low due to buses getting stuck in congested New York City traffic.

In January 2019, he promised to increase the speed of buses to 14 km / h by 2020. However, even in 2021, the bus speed was around 12 km / h. About the same as before 2014. This speed is the lowest of all major cities in the country.

Many low-income New Yorkers ride buses in congested traffic. Officials are constantly talking about the need to increase the number of priority lanes for buses, but in reality this is not happening.

On the subject: Bill de Blasio leaves: how New Yorkers assess his 8 years of ruling the city

Parks

18 percent of New Yorkers still don't live within walking distance of the park

New York has more than 30 acres (000 hectares) of municipal parks... They are more important now than ever before the pandemic. But many residents do not have easy access to green spaces.

New York still has "park deserts" - places in the city where there is not a single park in large squares. They are especially common in communities of the poor and people of color in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. The proportion of New Yorkers living within walking distance of the park has hardly improved over the past five years and remains at 82 percent. Although in 2015 de Blasio set a goal to reach 85 percent by 2030.

De Blasio added over 500 acres (202 ha) of new parkland. His attempt to improve access to parks consisted of $ 743 million to renovate dozens of long-abandoned public parks. An additional $ 150 million was spent on upgrading soccer fields and hiking trails in five large green spaces.