A New York City Council member is declaring a humanitarian crisis on the west side of Manhattan.
The number of mentally ill people on the street has prompted Councilmember Erik Bottcher to appeal to New York City Mayor Eric Adams to fulfill a promise made last year that has seemingly stalled.
Signs of despair in Midtown West were hard to miss on Monday.
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Council member Erik Bottcher called on the mayor to expand a program that of mental health crisis responders in response to a “humanitarian crisis” unfolding on the West Side of Manhattan
In a letter to Mayor Adams, Bottcher urged him to bring the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division (B-HEARD) into all the precincts covering his West Side council district.
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Spend an evening riding the subway in New York City, and it will be clear to you that we’re in the throes of a mental health crisis. It’s a humanitarian crisis caused by decades of failed policy and disinvestment in mental health care. Policymakers have begun to take some steps to address it, notably with the restoration of 350 of the roughly 770 psychiatric hospital beds that were eliminated during Governor Cuomo’s administration.
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A housing crisis threatens New York City? A pair of politicians believe they have an answer: a new “league” of officials like themselves who want to welcome development, including development of market-rate apartments.
The two officials, Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president, and City Councilman Erik Bottcher of Manhattan, started the group to counter the long-held theory that opposing development is a political win.
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Bicyclists in the Big Apple will now be getting another reminder to yield to pedestrians, as Manhattan Council Member Erik Bottcher on Thursday unveiled a new public awareness campaign targeting rule-breaking pedal pushers.
Aptly named “Slow Your Roll, Respect The Stroll,” the informative blitz will consist of messages on LinkNYC kiosks throughout Council District 3, where Bottcher represents Manhattanites from Columbus Circle to Tribeca.
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With more metropolitan cities abolishing horse-drawn carriages, animal rights activists say it’s long overdue that New York City follows suit.
At a rally on July 13, the one-year anniversary of the introduction of Ryder’s Law, representatives from NYClass, animal rights activists, and elected officials gathered outside City Hall, demanding the City Council finally act on the legislation.
Intro #573, dubbed Ryder’s Law after the
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Around 22% of New York City is covered by trees right now. The City Council wants to increase that to 30%.
At a Council Committee on Parks and Recreation hearing Tuesday, members discussed how to protect the more than 50% of city trees managed by the Parks Department, in addition to planting new ones.
“The critical need of properly growing and maintaining the city’s tree stock is obvious,” committee Chair Shekar Krishnan said.
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With the city’s bumpy return to life in the third year of the pandemic, comes the resurgence of street trash cans with piles of garbage spilling out — and city leaders are pushing the Adams administration to address the issue.
“The second things started to turn around, we were back to overflowing garbage cans,” said Andrew Fine, the Vice President of the East 86th Street Association on the Upper East Side.
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