Mayoral candidate Helen Gym is launching a public safety plan with proposals that range from increased officer foot patrols to block party supplies in an effort to reduce crime and strengthen community.
Gym, a Democrat, is set to introduce her safety agenda Monday and provided NBC10 an advanced copy of the 16-page plan that starts with an open letter from the former city councilmember declaring, “We must restore the village to our city.”
“We’ve had an inordinate focus on just one aspect of safety in our city, which is solely around policing and that is why we have the problem that we’ve got,” Gym said in an interview on NBC10 @issue that aired Sunday, arguing that safe cities “invest in people.”
Gym’s proposal induces some initiatives that are similar to those of other candidates, including addressing vacant lots and abandoned cars, improving the 911 system, getting more officers on the streets for patrols and declaring a state of emergency.
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Gym’s plan pays specific attention to schools and young people, and overlaps with an education plan she recently launched, aiming to increase youth employment by 50 percent in her first summer in office.
She plans to put a focus on student safety going to and from school and putting trauma and other resources at certain elementary and middle schools that feed into the high schools where students have been most impacted by gun violence. Her plan also makes multiple references to targeted efforts in the 57 blocks of the city Gym says are most impacted by gun violence.
In a section focused on neighborhood quality of life, Gym’s plan calls for extended hours for libraries and recreation centers, and also funds for a “‘Block Party in a Box’ program where neighbors seeking to build community can access city-provided moon bounces, and supplies from food to bubbles.”
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The plan also calls for investments in surveillance cameras, training more detectives, technological upgrades to a police system to track crime and support for victims of crime. When asked about how she’d pay for the investments detailed in her agenda, Gym pointed to the size of the current police budget and said, “we have enough money within the police budget to handle many of the things that we need to be doing.”
“The issue isn’t about just the spending,” Gym said. “It’s how we’re leading and marshaling all of our forces, pulling them together with a common mission towards improving community safety and making sure residents feel safe and are safe.”
