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New York Post
30-05-2025
- New York Post
Mayor Adams expands key safety program to Central Park to crack down on aggressive pedicabs, illegal hawking
Mayor Eric Adams is expanding his multi-agency safety initiative to Central Park in a push to address quality-of-life concerns in the city's most iconic green space. The expansion of the administration's 'Community Link' program will bring in 20 city agencies and cultural institutions as part of a coordinated response to various issues, such as illegal vending, unlicensed pedicabs, excessive noise and park rule violations. 'Central Park is the backyard of New York City,' Adams said. 'Everyone — families, kids, joggers, cyclists, and tourists — must be safe and feel safe while enjoying this iconic space.' Mayor Adams announced the Community Link expansion Friday Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office The new initiative, dubbed the Central Park Conservancy Partnership, includes increased enforcement by the NYPD, Parks Enforcement Patrol and the Central Park Conservancy's new Ranger Corps. Adams said the extra effort will result in a safer and cleaner Central Park. The program expands on previous Community Link deployments in New York City's worst crime and drug-ridden neighborhoods like Midtown West and Roosevelt Avenue. A Community Link initiative has already been operating along the park's northern edge at 110th Street. The enforcement has resulted in over 1,000 summonses and 111 arrests since it began in April 2024. Year-to-date data showed a 50% drop in crime in the Central Park Precinct, including a 90% reduction in robberies and a nearly 29% decline in grand larcenies, according to the mayor's office. A cornerstone of the Central Park crackdown that Adams announced Friday is the newly launched Central Park Ranger Corps, which now patrols the park daily. Betsy Smith, president and CEO of the Central Park Conservancy, said it makes the park more 'welcoming and enjoyable.' 'Central Park is one of the most visited places in the country, with millions of visitors every year,' Smith said. 'This creates unique challenges in how we manage the use of shared space for the benefit of everyone.' Though they do not have enforcement authority, Rangers serve as visible guides and liaisons, responding to complaints, supporting first responders and addressing recurring issues like dogs off-leash, misuse of e-bikes and aggressive solicitation by pedicab or horse carriage drivers. The New York Pedicab Association will also partner with the interagency task force to rein in rogue pedicab drivers and educate terrorized park-goers of their rights and how to report violations. To support the stepped-up enforcement and further deter crime, the NYPD, Parks Department and Department of Transportation are also repairing lighting and installing security cameras. 'We are working to make the park more welcoming and enjoyable for everyone,' Smith said.
New York Post
29-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Adams takes ride down slide as he announces NYC is expanding free after-school program — as issue becomes central in mayoral race
Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday he wants to make New York City more affordable for families by expanding a free after-school program — an issue that's grown as a hot topic in the mayoral race. Adams said he plans to send 20,000 more kindergarten through fifth grade students to the after-school initiative over the next three years, earmarking $331 million for it in his upcoming executive budget. It means Hizzoner's spending plan for the 2026 fiscal year — which he dubbed the 'Best Budget Ever' and is expected to unveil Thursday — will bring the total spending on after-care to $755 million. 3 Mayor Eric Adams celebrated an expansion of a free after-school program by sliding down a slide alongside Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar at PS 20 in Manhattan. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office 'To make New York City the best place to raise a family, we need to make sure our young people and families have opportunities to thrive, and that is why we are launching a big, bold vision to achieve universal after-school for free for all students who want it,' Adams said from PS 20, the Anna Silver School, in Lower Manhattan. The initiative — run by the city Department of Youth and Community Development Programs — will be fully rolled out by the fall of 2027, with seats going to students in kindergarten through eight grade and to neighborhoods with 'greater need' first, the mayor said. 'When we do analysis of where after-school programs are — and where (there are) opportunities for doing extracurriculars after school — there are clearly communities where they don't exist,' Adams said at the new conference — where he zoomed down a slide alongside Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar. The issue of affordable childcare has become central in the mayor's race with nearly all of the candidates linking lack of affordable childcare to the city's affordability crisis. 3 Adams said the city's new after-school seats will be rolled out in neighborhoods with the greatest need first. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who is running in the crowded June 24 Democratic primary, ripped Adams' announcement as a 'copycat' plan. The lefty mayoral hopeful claimed universal free after-school for city students was his idea first. 'This isn't even a good dupe,' Myrie said in a statement. 3 'Our parents shouldn't have to choose between picking up their child or working a job to put food on the table — and now they won't have to,' Adams said. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office His proposal also calls for free 3-K for all students until 6 p.m. at public schools. Democratic Socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani wants the city to offer free childcare for every New Yorker from 6 weeks to 5 years old, according to his campaign website. A plan posted to Andrew Cuomo's campaign website said the former governor wants to expand a preexisting universal 3-K program, broaden eligibility requirements for childcare subsidies and incentivize employer-sponsored childcare.
