Politics

NYC Mayor Takes New Tack After Latest Grand Jury Decision

Published

9 years ago

February 18, 2015

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, address Police Academy graduates during their graduation ceremony, Monday June 30,2014 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

JONATHAN LEMIRE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Eric Garner and Akai Gurley were black men killed by New York City police officers. Although both deaths provoked anger in the city’s minority communities and renewed debate about policing in the nation’s largest city, the grand juries in each case brought different outcomes, with one officer indicted, one not.

And there was another striking difference: the public reactions from Mayor Bill de Blasio.

De Blasio was emotional and pained in December after a grand jury declined to indict an officer for placing Garner in a fatal chokehold, but he was cool and restrained last week when the officer who shot Gurley in a darkened stairwell was charged with manslaughter. That measured response may have helped the mayor maintain the uneasy truce he has struck with a police force that recently rebelled against him.

“The change in strategy implies the mayor may be trying to avoid fallout similar to the prior incident,” said Costas Panagopoulos, a Fordham University political science professor. “If his previous response was judged to be problematic, the mayor may be learning from what he perceives to be mistakes.”

Garner’s death last July was captured on cellphone video shown around the world. It included his repeated cries of “I can’t breathe!” after Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is white, wrapped Garner in a chokehold. Police maintain it was a legal takedown maneuver.

When the grand jury on Staten Island, the city’s only majority white borough, declined to indict Pantaleo on Dec. 3, it reignited a rage that had been simmering since a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, declined to charge a white officer in the shooting death of Michael Brown, a black unarmed 18-year-old.

The moment was precarious for de Blasio, who enjoyed the support of the city’s African-American community and centered his administration on mending relations between the nation’s largest police force and the communities of color.

With protests breaking out across the city, he traveled that night to a small church on Staten Island where the Garner family worshipped and addressed the moment by saying he understood black families’ despair, framing it in the context of his own biracial teenage son.

“I’ve had to worry over the years, (my wife) Chirlane has had to worry: Is Dante safe each night?” he said. “And not just from some of the painful realities of crime and violence in some of our neighborhoods but safe from the very people they want to have faith in as their protectors.”

Two weeks later, when a man who had ranted online about Garner and Brown killed two city police officers, de Blasio’s words were held against him by police union leaders, who blamed him for creating an anti-New York Police Department sentiment they believe led to the killings. Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, said the mayor had “blood on his hands,” and officers turned their backs to de Blasio repeatedly.

After weeks of tension, the rift faded, in part because public opinion turned against the police as de Blasio took the high road, largely refusing to criticize the union leaders.

That peace was endangered Feb. 10 when a Brooklyn grand jury indicted Officer Peter Liang, who is Asian-American, for shooting Gurley in a housing project stairwell. As minority activists applauded the indictment, police union leaders, who had called the shooting accidental, were quick to urge that Liang receive a fair day in court.

With his relations with police again in the spotlight, de Blasio took a very different tack than he did two months prior.

Instead of an emotional speech, his press office put out a three-sentence statement in which the mayor “urged everyone to respect the judicial process as it unfolds.”

The next day, de Blasio faced reporters and was careful not to say anything that could appear to antagonize the police or share in any satisfaction that minority communities may have felt about the indictment. He again deferred to the judicial process, warned against comparing the two cases and noted that the Garner case was particularly painful “because people watched every second of his death.”

His aides dismissed the notion that de Blasio changed tactics because he was second-guessing his comments after Garner’s death.

“He calibrates according to context and circumstances while always steadfast to the core principles of public safety and reform,” Peter Ragone, a senior adviser to de Blasio, said Monday.

The police unions, to this point, have declined to comment further. Liang could face up to 15 years in prison.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

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MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

Published

1 week ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Mayor London Breed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

***PRESS RELEASE***

MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

HUD’s Continuum of Care grant will support the City’s range of critical services and programs, including permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and improved access to housing for survivors of domestic violence

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program is designed to support local programs with the goal of ending homelessness for individuals, families, and Transitional Age Youth.

This funding supports the city’s ongoing efforts that have helped more than 15,000 people exit homelessness since 2018 through City programs including direct housing placements and relocation assistance. During that time San Francisco has also increased housing slots by 50%. San Francisco has the most permanent supportive housing of any county in the Bay Area, and the second most slots per capita than any city in the country.

“In San Francisco, we have worked aggressively to increase housing, shelter, and services for people experiencing homelessness, and we are building on these efforts every day,” said Mayor London Breed. “Every day our encampment outreach workers are going out to bring people indoors and our City workers are connecting people to housing and shelter. This support from the federal government is critical and will allow us to serve people in need and address encampments in our neighborhoods.”

The funding towards supporting the renewal projects in San Francisco include financial support for a mix of permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and transitional housing projects. In addition, the CoC award will support Coordinated Entry projects to centralize the City’s various efforts to address homelessness. This includes $2.1 million in funding for the Coordinated Entry system to improve access to housing for youth and survivors of domestic violence.

“This is a good day for San Francisco,” said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “HUD’s Continuum of Care funding provides vital resources to a diversity of programs and projects that have helped people to stabilize in our community. This funding is a testament to our work and the work of our nonprofit partners.”

The 2024 Continuum of Care Renewal Awards Include:

$42.2 million for 29 renewal PSH projects that serve chronically homeless, veterans, and youth
$318,000 for one new PSH project, which will provide 98 affordable homes for low-income seniors in the Richmond District
$445,00 for one Transitional Housing (TH) project serving youth
$6.4 million dedicated to four Rapid Rehousing (RRH) projects that serve families, youth, and survivors of domestic violence
$750,00 for two Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) projects
$2.1 million for three Coordinated Entry projects that serve families, youth, chronically homeless, and survivors of domestic violence

In addition, the 2023 CoC Planning Grant, now increased to $1,500,000 from $1,250,000, was also approved. Planning grants are submitted non-competitively and may be used to carry out the duties of operating a CoC, such as system evaluation and planning, monitoring, project and system performance improvement, providing trainings, partner collaborations, and conducting the PIT Count.

“We are very appreciative of HUD’s support in fulfilling our funding request for these critically important projects for San Francisco that help so many people trying to exit homelessness,” said Del Seymour, co-chair of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board. “This funding will make a real difference to people seeking services and support in their journey out of homelessness.”

In comparison to last year’s competition, this represents a $770,000 increase in funding, due to a new PSH project that was funded, an increase in some unit type Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and the larger CoC Planning Grant. In a year where more projects had to compete nationally against other communities, this represents a significant increase.

Nationally, HUD awarded nearly $3.16 billion for over 7,000 local homeless housing and service programs including new projects and renewals across the United States.