March 4, 2024
The Hunter College auditorium was standing room only yesterday afternoon for Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine‘s 2024 State of the Borough address. A number of other elected office holders were also on hand including U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) and District Attorney Alvin Bragg. There were performances by Jazz Power Initiative, Dances For A Variable Population, and Tony Choi Lion Dance.
Bragg; Espaillat.
The theme of Levine’s address was that it shouldn’t be so hard to do x, y, and z. He cited the urgent need for a lot more affordable housing, for more accessible transit, for more hospital beds for psych patients, and for more public bathrooms. Some of the stats were astonishing. The average rent in the City is now over $5,000 a month. There were 80,000 applications for a new building with 200 affordable apartments. There is only 1 public bathroom for every 6,000 New Yorkers. There are 4,000 construction scaffolds, including some that have been up for 10 years or more. There are just 19 psych beds at Bellevue. Hate crimes are way up, mostly against Jews (48%) but also Blacks, Trans, Gays, Muslims, Sikhs, and Asians.
Levine offered solutions for those problems. For housing, his office identified 171 sites where new housing could be built creating 70,000 new units, 41% of which would be affordable. Levine warned that the City will lose the next generation of young people if they can’t afford housing and that goes for teachers and other public employees too.
“Too Damn High”
He called for 600 new psych beds. He proposed more public bathrooms and said City buildings should be opened up for people to use the facilities. He wants to limit how long scaffolds can stay up and impose penalties when they overstay. Levine also mentioned new or upgraded venues for the Arts, including one here in Inwood.
Dances For A Variable Population.
Levine boldly called for removal of the FDR South of the Brooklyn Bridge. The highway separates the waterfront from the population and that section of roadway has the lowest traffic volume. He envisions a human friendly promenade like Hudson River Park on the West Side, which also used to be a highway. He wants a million more trees Citywide.
The address was very well received and quite a few people stood up and clapped. Afterwards Levine hosted everyone at a reception across the street where they were able to take photos with him. There was some free merchandise including canvas tote bags with BP logo and DIY Covid-19 tests. There were also cupcakes and cider.
