New Yorkers of virtually all ages, races and geographies agree the city should prioritize making transit safer and reducing homelessness to improve their quality of life, according to the results of an ambitious new survey.
NYC Speaks It gathered 62,000 answers to 27 questions on a variety of public policy topics and posted Tuesday on the website where the answers can be analyzed in millions of different ways. The private management initiative is supported by the City Council and aims to inform the policy options of the new administration.
When asked to rank the top three ways city government could make neighborhoods safer, the #1 answer was “build more affordable housing and reduce homelessness.” Across all districts, age, gender, race, ethnicity, income, LGBTQ+ identification, and housing status, probably all demographic groups ranked first in reducing homelessness.
(The one exception was those who identified themselves as “East and Southeast Asia,” for whom they increased staffing and police presence was the top priority.)
On the question of what would help people to move around the city better, the main answer in the survey was “feel safer on public transport”. It was the top response across all demographics.
The organizers of the survey are now planning a series of public meetings in the city to review the results, before the delivery of an action plan from the Mayor’s Office this June.
–
