The New York City Council is one of those political bodies a Gothamite hears about, but perhaps doesn't understand fully. It is worth knowing about, for the NYCC is a powerful body indeed.
The NYCC began as the Board of Aldermen in 1898, and after various amendments, evolved into what we have now. Composed of 51 members--one from each of the five boroughs' districts--it acts as a check on the mayor's power. Further, it votes to form and carry out the duties of a broad group of special committees, such as the Committees on Welfare, and Education, and Public Education, and Technology, to name but a few.
As one might expect, the NYCC is a deeply progressive body, with 46 of the 51 seats held by Democrats.
HOLY CR*P 🚨 Nonprofit Illegal Migrant Shelter Organization New York City Council
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) December 18, 2024
“Report points to 5 nonprofits where executives rake in more than $700,000 annually”
- President making $935,391 PER YEAR
- Another President making $750,000 PER YEAR
“Another 8 nonprofits where… pic.twitter.com/3PnT9A4IGa
So it was a bit of a surprise to discover that the NYCC has uncovered significant and widespread graft in the budgets of homeless housing nonprofit agencies. Should homeless housing executives make more than $700,000?
One president of a homeless services nonprofit is paid more than $930,000, another comes in at $750,000. The spirit of endeavoring to fine humane solutions for New York City's vast homeless population would appear to be lost on such a deep-pocketed lot.
In what will come as a surprise to no one who followed the two terms of Bill DeBlasio, the budget of the Department of Homeless Services grew from roughly $1 billion to nearly $3 billion after two terms in office. Adams' mayoralty lagged Biden's term in office by one year, so he has dealt with the challenge of increased illegal immigration from day one. The budget is now nearly $4 billion per year, a massive drain on city resources.
Yesterday, Adams sat down with Governor Kathy Hochul to request approval for the involuntary removal of mentally ill individuals from the streets and public transportation. That's how much of a sacred cow the homeless have become: they are a legally protected class.
Mayor Adams presses Gov. Hochul face-to-face on involuntary removals of mentally ill in NYC https://t.co/lTAsuvQi44
— Fredric U. Dicker (@fud31) December 17, 2024
Street corners and public transport free of deranged homeless people would make Adams into a hero among taxpayers. Everyone who rides buses and subways would be happy to have the likes of Jordan Neely out of our midst.
It isn't simply a matter of urban aesthetics. New Yorkers are fed up not only with uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous encounters with the mentally unwell. There is also the matter of simple morality.
The video below examines how we've gotten to where we are now. Aired in 2019 on PBS, the Right To Fail story follows the historical journey from massive state-owned mental hospitals, to smaller, profit-driven "adult homes", to the "Supported Housing" program, whereby the state subsidizes apartment units in the city for high-functioning mentally disabled.
Right To Fail examines the decades-long failure of progressive lawmakers--such as the NYCC. With each new intervention, with each new attempt to give the mentally unwell "agency", the problem grows larger and more expensive. The people it was meant to reach become harder to find and help.
Nestor Bunch is one of the subjects of the documentary. He went from a large psychiatric hospital, then an adult home. Then, out of the blue, he was assigned to a Supported Housing apartment, essentially removed from a community and placed, alone, into an apartment in an unfamiliar neighborhood.
The moral dissonance
— lisam (@leesatime) December 16, 2024
Bunch abandoned his apartment after five months. He went to Elmhurst Hospital, reporting thoughts of suicidal ideation. Checks that were supposed to reach him from a number of state-funded agencies never did. His apartment was reportedly left in a state of deep and foul disrepair.
And on and on the story goes, new experimental living situations also failed Bunch, until he died, naked, in the stairwell of the apartment building where he had been placed.
