Press Room

"I want to congratulate Chief Keechant Sewell on her selection to become the first female Commissioner of the NYPD. I believe that new leadership from outside the Department’s ranks could be crucial in bringing the changes in culture, policies and practices that are critical as the new administration takes office.

"We need a new era of transparency and accountability, and a new approach to co-producing public safety that recognizes law enforcement’s role without solely relying on it. This means more fully embracing and structuralizing successful strategies such as the crisis management system (CMS) as full partners in public safety. It was very encouraging to see the appointment announced at 696 Queensbridge, a CMS site that has shown impressive results. Amid a nationwide rise in gun violence and other crimes, the work ahead is real and daunting. It will require ignoring the loudest voices that fear monger against any kind of progress, and resisting a push to return to failed over-policing policies of the past. As even the creator of the distorted broken windows theory agreed when I spoke with him many years ago, police do not have to be the ones responsible for fixing a broken window.

"There is an immense amount of work to be done to reimagine and protect public safety, and I look forward to speaking with the incoming Commissioner about what the role of police will be in our city, and how we can create new systems to make and keep New York safe without relearning painful lessons."

"Throughout the pandemic I’ve encouraged masking requirements – masks work, and they’re a simple measure we can take to protect ourselves and one another. Today’s policy is an important measure to limit the spread of the virus, particularly as people travel and gather indoors for the holidays. Vaccination screening requirements in indoor venues not only protect people in these establishments and encourage them to patronize businesses, but incentivize people to get vaccinated. They’ve worked extremely well in New York City, and the Governor should expand screening requirements statewide.

"At the same time, we know that amid the rise of Omicron and the prevalence of Delta, breakthrough cases are a real risk. I urge New Yorkers to be diligent in masking up indoors, regardless of the vaccination requirements of the venue. As we have seen, we cannot delay and risk greater harm or additional restrictions which could have been prevented and avoided. We must take the precautions now to prevent New York from again becoming the epicenter of the epicenter of a deadly surge."

The New York City Council will vote Thursday afternoon on Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams’s nomination of tenants rights attorney Leah Goodridge, Managing Attorney for Mobilization for Justice, to serve on the City Planning Commission. This follows a unanimous committee vote to approve the nomination on Thursday morning.

Leah Goodridge, a Brooklyn native, has spent her career fighting for housing rights, racial justice, and community empowerment. A Fulbright scholar with a focus on community economic development, which centers community stakeholders in urban planning, she became a housing rights attorney after witnessing the effects of displacement and gentrification in New York. Over the last decade, Leah has won several eviction defense cases with published decisions and has argued before the New York State Court of Appeals. She has served as a tenant representative on the Rent Guidelines Board since her appointment by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2018.

If confirmed, Goodridge will fill a seat on the 13-member body which also includes an appointment by each Borough President and six by the Mayor, who also appoints the commission’s Chair. Her nomination, as a tenants’ rights advocate, would help to shape the work of the commission and the future of the city to better serve New Yorkers. Commissioners serve for five years, and may serve multiple consecutive terms.

“Development in our city is too often focused solely on profit, not on people – I believe it is not only possible, but essential to pair economic growth with community strength, and the City Planning Commission has an essential role in that work,” said Leah Goodridge. “Throughout my work to uplift and empower tenants and communities across our city, I’ve centered racial justice and equity. I’m eager to bring that perspective and lens to the work of the City Planning Commission, and I thank Public Advocate Williams for this opportunity to help shape our city.”

The City Planning Commission is responsible for the conduct of planning related to the orderly growth and development of the City, including adequate and appropriate resources for the housing, business, industry, transportation, distribution, recreation, culture, comfort, convenience, health and welfare of its population. The Commission meets regularly to hold hearings and vote on applications, as described above, concerning the use, development and improvement of real property subject to City regulation.

“The City Planning Commission should prioritize community impact, and center community involvement, in making decisions about the future of our city,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. “Leah Goodridge will be an invaluable voice on the commission, empowering marginalized and disadvantaged communities as she has throughout her life and work. The Commission helps to shape the city, now and for decades to come, and Leah’s background, experience, and dedication, is perfectly suited both to this moment and to the long-term growth of the city as we pursue progress that is beneficial to all communities across New York.”

"After likely the final crime statistics announcement under this administration, as we look ahead to the next, it is critical to acknowledge both the successes and failures of the city’s public safety strategies.

"Despite the effectiveness of new approaches that I and others pushed for which helped make New York City the safest it had been in decades through 2019, this administration's failure to more fully integrate and structuralize some of these successful approaches contributed to crime in our city rising with the national tide that accompanied a global pandemic.

"If this administration had not been so reluctant to fully embrace the innovative, and comprehensive approaches to public safety that were called for, New York would likely be a safer city today and better prepared for the future.

"While we should look to and learn from the past, we can’t simply go back – not to the way some things were pre-pandemic, and not to the overpolicing, or the hyper-focus on policing that harmed communities and detracted from more comprehensive public safety policies. Instead, we need to more firmly integrate holistic, community-centered strategies into our overall approach to public safety – not as supplements, but essential elements.

"In looking at the current statistics and environment, we have to ignore the voices that decry any attempts at progress or reform, regardless of the results. The surest way to bring back the bad old days is to revert to the reactionary. To play on fears and slogans rather than forward-looking solutions. In defining the future for New York, we cannot go back to the mindsets of the past."

"I welcome the new vaccine mandates for private sector businesses in New York City, and wish it had gone into effect earlier than four days before the current Mayor leaves office. Previous mandates have played a major role in increasing the city’s vaccination rates, and amid the uncertainty of the Omicron variant and the certainty of holiday travel and gatherings, this new measure can help save lives.

"I am also glad to see the administration expand the requirement under existing mandates to full vaccination rather than a single dose– as I and others have called for– because incomplete protection is not nearly enough amid rising cases and the new variant. It is now incumbent upon the administration, in the next days and weeks, to advise and aid our city’s businesses on issues of implementation and enforcement that have not been adequately explained. 

"The citywide vaccine mandates for indoor dining and entertainment venues have been widely successful in spurring vaccination, encouraging New Yorkers to patronize businesses, and simultaneously limiting the kind of spread we have seen in other areas across New York State. Amid the holiday season, as people travel across the state and the majority of gatherings move inside, it is critical that the Governor implement these vaccination screenings statewide, in addition to widespread masking requirements. We have the tools and the capacity to prevent another deadly surge of the virus, now we must have the will to use those tools, the urgency to act now, and the spirit of solidarity to protect our fellow New Yorkers."

"We have much more to learn about the Omicron variant, and much more to investigate about the newly reported case with ties to our city. But what we can assume is that there has been community spread of the variant in New York City, potentially tied to the Anime NYC convention. What we know is that we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past in our response, and what works best to protect ourselves, our neighbors, our city and state.

"This is a time for preventative, proactive steps to limit the spread of the Omicron variant. On a city and state government level, we must take the immediate steps of expanding rapid testing capability and reach, particularly as we approach the holidays, increasing funding to community organizations reaching New Yorkers to provide direct access to vaccination, and broadening the city’s mask advisory to the entire state. On an individual level, we must commit to the well-being of our fellow New Yorkers by getting tested when exposure is suspected, wearing masks indoors, getting fully vaccinated and receiving booster shots when eligible."