$107 Billion N.Y.C. Budget Deal Spares Libraries but Cuts Rikers
“It is essentially a one-year budget that again unfortunately delays the wise but hard choices needed to stabilize the city’s fiscal future,” said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission.
City Council leaders had pushed for more funding for affordable housing, universal prekindergarten, the City University of New York, parks, discount MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers, free legal services and home delivery meals for seniors, along with a restoration of the programming cuts at Rikers. They were successful on many fronts, though in some cases won less funding than they had requested.
Ms. Adams, the City Council speaker, highlighted the tense tone of the budget negotiations, calling it a “difficult process” and saying that the talks were “uniquely challenging because of how much they focused on restoring cuts to so many important programs.”
A Democrat from Queens who was not the mayor’s first choice for speaker, Ms. Adams has taken an increasingly combative stance toward him, calling forcefully this year for closing the Rikers Island jail complex by 2027, as required by law, after Mr. Adams raised doubts about that timeline. On Thursday, Ms. Adams said she was disappointed that the Council was not able to restore some cuts, including to homeless services.
“We got some fantastic wins for the people of the city, but some were left out,” she said.
Nonprofits have for decades provided services at Rikers. The Fortune Society, for example, has worked with detainees on nonviolent conflict resolution and employment skills training; the bulk of its programs at city jails have now been eliminated, the society said.
Source: The New York Times
