Adrienne Adams, speaker of the New York City Council, outlined her goals for the upcoming year in her second State of the City address on Wednesday. She suggested funding for underfunded municipal agencies all around the city, more affordable housing, and an extension of the transit discount program.
The councilmembers’ first Black female speaker, a Democrat, delivered her address the same week they started studying the city’s $102.7 billion preliminary budget proposal. Adams spoke about creating a budget that “delivers for our communities and our working families” making him the second-most powerful elected leader in the city behind Mayor Eric Adams (not related).
- Advertisement -
Whatever suggestions Adams made will probably be discussed during budget discussions before a final plan is ready in June.
The following are some key points from her speech:
Adams promised that the Council will try to broaden the city’s Fair Fares program, which lowers the cost of bus and subway fares for qualified citizens by half. Adams’ suggestion would increase eligibility to cover New Yorkers with an annual income of $27,180. According to Adams, the program’s coverage will roughly quadruple as of Wednesday.
Speaker Adams’ expansion plan would put several hundred dollars back in the pockets of New Yorkers who most need a break, according to Danna Dennis, senior organizer at Riders Alliance, who noted that expenses for housing, food, daycare, and transit are on the verge of reaching all-time highs.
Prior to the mayor’s city budget proposal last year, the speaker and the mayor agreed to support the program with $75 million. Advocates claim that the program, which was introduced in 2019, has excluded a large number of New Yorkers who would have benefited from subsidized rates. The program has more than 280,000 residents signed up as of right now.
The speaker also presented a strategy to alleviate the serious housing shortage in the city: She suggested building more houses on vacant NYCHA land, a suggestion made by past mayoral administrations.
In accordance with her plan, new public housing units would be built on NYCHA property in an effort to improve living circumstances for community members who have endured a plague of quality-of-life problems. The site would be utilized to build mixed-income and cheap housing, with public housing receiving priority.
I want to be clear. Adams stated in her presentation that tenants should determine if these advancements are acceptable.
Adams backed a long-running campaign to shutter Rikers Island’s prisons. The island’s detention facilities have long been the subject of debate about the treatment of its inmates, many of whom are still awaiting trial and have not yet been found guilty of any crimes.
By 2027, the city intends to shut down Rikers and replace its facilities with prisons in the surrounding boroughs, however the mayor has voiced doubt that the present target date can be realized.
“Week after week, we see someone lose their life on Rikers at levels that are nearly unprecedented,” the speaker added. “This is inhumane. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to tragedy or ignore the pain this inflicts on families and communities.”
Adams continued by mentioning her own mother, a former Rikers jail employee who thought the facilities ought to have been shut down “a long time ago.”
According to Adams, Rikers is no longer serving the city.
Adams also gave high priority to a proposal to open up public access to pools run by the city’s education department and to increase access to city-owned pools by introducing legislation that would provide swimming year-round and free-swimming lessons.
“Some of us can recall when Black families were excluded from public pools – often the only access we had to enclosed water,” Adams added.
“And so today, when 1 out of 3 Black students can’t swim, while only about 1 out of 10 white students cannot, access to public pools and swimming programs must be considered a matter of justice.”
Adams stated that the Council intended to prioritize a measure to increase pool access.
