Adams Aims for NYC Renaissance With $100B 2023 Executive Budget

“We must restore the major drivers of our city’s economy, including the central business districts that have been critical engines of success for centuries,” Adams said. “We’re making big investments in the cleanliness and safety of our streets and supporting our businesses in Midtown and Lower Manhattan.” 

Celebrating his first 100 days in office, Adams told audience members at Kings Theatre in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on Tuesday that his budget includes $256 million for public safety programs, including homeless outreach, while another $118 million would be allocated for street and park cleaning. The budget also calls for $171 million previously announced to create 1,400 new Safe Haven beds for homeless New Yorkers.

Of the $22 billion, Adams’ budget includes an additional $5 billion which will be split between Housing Preservation and Development and New York City Housing Authority’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together program — which makes non-NYCHA apartments permanently affordable and grants tenancy rights similar to those in public housing — and unit repairs at Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Gardens.

“This is the biggest housing investment in generations, and it would impact many generations to come,” Adams said. “This money will help make critical repairs in NYCHA, subsidize those who need help staying in their existing homes to build more deep, affordable housing for the entire city,” 

Adams added that his office will release a “detailed blueprint for housing and homelessness based on the input of our city’s top experts” soon to “take this dream of equality and turn it into reality that is getting stuff done on a historical level.”

Real Estate Board of New York President James Whelan supported Adams’ effort to fund the housing to address the housing shortage.

“Comprehensively addressing this crisis will require more action at both the city and state level, particularly to advance policies that reflect the vital role the private sector must play in producing the approximately 560,000 new homes that will be needed citywide by 2030,” Whelan said in a statement.

Adams’ fiscal year 2023 budget must be approved by the New York City Council before it is enacted July 1. If the budget is approved, $904 million over the next five years will be committed to enhancing street safety with nearly $580 million in capital funding.

Adams announced last Friday that the street safety improvements would go toward revamping 1,000 intersections while his administration works to convince Albany legislators to allow New York City to set speed limits and control automated traffic enforcement. 

In an earlier release, his administration said it will work to protect cyclists, speed up buses and reclaim public space for pedestrians, as opposed to cars. It’s likely that considerable investments will be made toward bike lanes, bus lanes and open streets as previously laid out in the New York City Department of Transportation’s NYC Streets Plan.

But perhaps the most central message in Adams’ address was that his administration intends to restore order to a city with “far too much violence,” which he underscored by pointing to several cop shootings, including two fatal, that took place just one month into his administration and fatal shootings around the city.

Adams also committed an additional $55 million to the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division, which sends Emergency Medical Technicians and mental health professionals with police officers who respond to 911 calls.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.