A Safer Midtown BID Coalition

SAFETY & JUSTICE FOR ALL NEW YORKERS

OUR MISSION

The Midtown BID Coalition is a partnership of seven Manhattan BIDs, including the East Midtown Partnership, Fifth Avenue Association, Garment District Alliance, Grand Central Partnership, Hudson Yards Hell's Kitchen Alliance, Madison Avenue BID and the Times Square Alliance, advocating to enhance public safety, providing effective services and support for the unhoused and seriously mentally ill, and finding solutions for our housing challenges.

Mental Health:

We urge the New York State Senate and Assembly to support Governor Hochul’s increase in psychiatric beds, supportive beds for persons leaving psych care, and accountability mandates for hospitals with regards to discharge evaluation and planning. But there is more that can be done including:

Clarifying the definition of “harm to self” to explicitly include inability to meet basic health care needs
Broadening the scope of professionals who can order and assist with 958 mental health removals

Public Safety:

We need a comprehensive approach to achieve a greater level of public safety in our state. We urge the New York State Senate and Assembly to support alternatives to incarceration, and discharge and re-entry plans for those being released from incarceration and foster care (beyond just dropping them into the homeless shelter system.) But, along with those programs, additional tools are needed to address chronic repeat offenders.

We urge the New York State Senate and Assembly to support Governor Hochul’s $40 million investment in combating retail theft and new legislation to strengthen the Cannabis Law, helping the Office of Cannabis Management and local governments seal or padlock unlicensed businesses.

Adaptive Reuse:

With a high percentage of commercial vacancy, there is an opportunity to rethink about alternative uses to office space.
We support Governor Hochul’s new tax incentive for converting office buildings and extended eligibility for 421-a projects.

The Midtown BID Coalition stands with Governor Kathy Hochul and key provisions in her FY25 Budget- we support her vision for a safe city, one where we provide services to those in crisis.

LETTER SUPPORTING GOV. HOCHUL'S 2024 BUDGET

April 23, 2024

Dear Governor Hochul:

We commend you and the New York State Legislature for passing the FY2025 budget, which included policies advancing our most important priorities – public safety and mental health. Combatting retail theft is key for our retailers and the combination of increased penalties for assaulting retail employees, higher penalties for repeat offenders, and added enforcement mechanisms will make a real difference. The proliferation of illegal cannabis stores also contributes to disorder and crime. The passage of the SMOKEOUT bill will finally give local law enforcement the authority to inspect and immediately shut down these illegal businesses, which also undercut the legal cannabis market.

The Midtown BID Coalition, along with our community partners, have strongly advocated for strengthening and clarifying the mental hygiene law and improving the mental health care continuum for patients. We were very pleased to see the budget includes the addition of 200 in-patient psychiatric beds at state-operated psychiatric facilities, stronger regulations guiding the discharge planning and continuum of care for individuals from psychiatric settings and hospital emergency rooms, and improvements for assisting individuals living with mental illness in and exiting the criminal justice system. We would welcome the opportunity to work with you on further efforts to help those living with severe mental illness on our streets who are service resistant.

We thank you for standing strong in your commitment to addressing quality of life and moving our city and state forward. All New Yorkers deserve a decent quality of life, whether that is feeling safe at or on the way to work or receiving much-needed mental health care. We applaud you, and the State Senate and Assembly, for making real investments to achieve that goal.

Thank you,

Midtown BID Coalition