The city that was once the biggest in the world has become the latest to rebound from COVID – and it’s no secret.
The one-party democratic regime has stood in the way of a return to pre-pandemic normality, and it has led to one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. The unemployment rate in New York is 7.6%, about double the national rate.
The rebound has been unquestionably slower because the city has the highest income tax rate in the nation for many New Yorkers; the erosion of public safety due to cashless bail and district attorneys like Alvin Bragg refusing to enforce the law; pandemic-related lockdowns and other crippling restrictions; an anti-corporate culture that has prevented moves into the city, such as a new Amazon headquarters in Queens; and a failing public school system are just a few of the many factors holding the Big Apple back.
Political failures pile up
Mandates related to COVID-19 continue to significantly restrict our eligible workforce. New York City recently laid off nearly 1,500 city workers, including 914 New York City teachers, 101 Housing Authority employees, and 36 NYPD and 25 FDNY employees. The city government even demanded that the private sector follow suit, which also caused many other people to lose their jobs.
Pandemic policies targeting education have taken their toll, with the number of home-schooled children in New York rising by 88%, or about 14,800 children since the onset of COVID. Remote learning, mask mandates and other restrictions have caused many New York families to flee the city altogether and raise their families elsewhere. In many cases, this means quitting their job and moving to other places that better value their freedom, safety, wallet, and raising children.
Moreover, with COVID-19 related social programs like the Excluded Worker Fund and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) lasting much longer than they should have, it is no surprise that many able-bodied adults have chosen to stay home rather than re-enter the workforce even with the jobs available to them.
New York City officials and bureaucrats have done a lot of damage in other ways to drive out tens of thousands of well-paying jobs. Amazon, for example, was to split its second headquarters between Long Island City and Northern Virginia, and promised that the Long Island City campus would create 25,000 “good-paying” jobs. That was, of course, until far-left activists forced Amazon to back down.
Skyrocketing crime has only exacerbated rising unemployment and a sense that our neighborhoods have turned into a dystopian wasteland. Cashless bail, the Less is More law, district attorneys refusing to enforce the law, violent protests, frequent looting, legal injection sites, disastrous homeless policies and many more yet have fueled a raging crime epidemic. Repeat offenders are back on the streets just hours after being apprehended, Asian Americans and Jews are the targets of violent hatred, and law-abiding citizens are being pushed around in front of arriving subway cars. reverse. Irresponsible leadership negatively impacts tourism, small business, public transportation, and the overall New York City economy.
We can and must bring New York State and New York City back to glory. The solutions are obvious. It’s time for New York to be that great city of not too long ago again, cutting taxes, getting rid of all COVID-19 mandates once and for all, slashing destructive regulations of jobs, getting people back to work, improving education and making our streets safer.
Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-Suffolk) is running for governor.
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