Of the four candidates vying to govern New York City, only Eric Adams, the current mayor, is able to run on his record of having done just that. And with less than seven weeks to go till Election Day, a new trove of information on that record is now public.
On Wednesday, the city released the annual statistical extravaganza known as the Mayor’s Management Report — 544 overstuffed pages of charts, tables, critical indicators and arrows pointing up and down, covering the performance of just about every city agency, from the Business Integrity Commission to the coroner’s office.
As with every edition of the report, this one, covering the fiscal year that ended in June, is a decidedly mixed bag, offering the mayor much to crow about and plenty of fodder for his critics.
Even the same statistic can be interpreted as good or bad, depending on your perspective. The number of potholes repaired, that classic index of local government responsiveness and competence, topped 180,000, up 17 percent from the previous year. But it is down more than 20 percent compared with 2019, when Bill de Blasio was mayor. Summonses for illegal dumping are up 21 percent. But is that a sign that the city is cracking down, or that public spaces are becoming dirtier?
Here is a sampling of highlights and lowlights from the report:
Public Safety
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Crime rates: Mr. Adams, a Democrat running as an independent in November, boasted in a news release accompanying the report that his administration is “dropping crime to historic lows,” noting that six of the seven major felony crime categories decreased this year, with robberies falling 17 percent. But crime is up across the board compared with 2019, the last year before the Covid pandemic: Murders are up 22 percent, felony assaults are up 30 percent and car thefts more than doubled.
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Jail violence: City jails have become much more dangerous: The rate of serious injuries sustained by inmates in violent incidents involving other inmates has increased 440 percent since 2019 — to 13.5 serious injuries per thousand inmates per month, from 2.5 per thousand per month in 2019.
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Police misconduct: Complaints substantiated by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent oversight agency, topped 1,000, up from 768 the year before and 295 in 2019.
Transportation
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Bus lanes: Mr. Adams “continues to fall woefully short of his pledge to create 150 miles of bus lanes in four years,” Councilman Lincoln Restler, a Brooklyn Democrat and frequent foil of the mayor, lamented on X on Wednesday. The transportation department installed just 5.5 miles of bus lanes this year, down from 15.7 last year.
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Traffic deaths: The number of people killed in crashes fell 24 percent compared with last year, to 211, from 276.
Housing and Homelessness
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Affordable housing: Construction was started on 11 percent more new affordable housing units compared with last year, and 10 percent more than in 2019.
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People leaving shelters: Nearly 10,000 single adults moved from homeless shelters to permanent housing, up 6 percent from last year and up 11 percent from 2019.
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Supportive housing: The number of new supportive housing apartments, which include on-site social services, fell 17 percent compared with last year and was down 30 percent compared with 2019.
Education
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English scores: The percentage of students in third through eighth grades meeting grade standards in English Language Arts rose to 57 percent this year, a four-percentage-point increase from last year. The figure is also an improvement from 2019 (46 percent), despite widespread concerns about students falling behind during the pandemic.
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Math scores: The percentage of students meeting standards in math also rose, to 56 percent from 53 percent last year. That’s an increase of 10 percentage points compared with 2019.
Health
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Lead poisoning: The number of children under 18 with elevated lead levels in their blood fell to about 3,300, a 5 percent decline compared with last year, and is down 30 percent compared with 2019.
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Infectious diseases: New tuberculosis cases rose 24 percent from last year, to 839 from 679, and are up 52 percent compared with 2019, while infectious syphilis cases have fallen 17 percent since last year and 28 percent since 2019.
Poverty
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Cash assistance: The number of people receiving cash assistance at some point in the year — about 600,000 — rose 8 percent compared with last year and is up 81 percent compared with 2019, when only 332,000 people were on cash assistance.
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Food stamps: The number of people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — nearly 1.8 million — was about the same as last year but up 18 percent compared with 2019.
Sanitation
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Discarded needles: The number of hypodermic needles removed from public spaces has soared to more than 126,000 this year, up from 32,000 in 2021.
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Rats: Nearly 20 percent of pest control inspections conducted this year found “active rat signs” — down from 24 percent last year but up from 12 percent in 2019.
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Compost: The city’s compost program continues to grow, with 166 tons of compost diverted from landfills this year, up from 130 tons last year.
Andy Newman writes about New Yorkers facing difficult situations, including homelessness, poverty and mental illness. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
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