New York City Mayor Adams announced on December 9 the launch of the comprehensive pilot program “Every Block Counts,” which aims to allocate substantial city resources to residential streets with high crime rates to reduce crime, enhance community safety, and improve quality of life.
“Every Block Counts” focuses on violent crimes, particularly in neighborhoods with the highest number of shooting incidents and most severe quality of life issues. Each precinct of the New York City Police Department will select the five blocks with the highest number of shooting incidents in the past five years to provide intensive support and resources from city agencies to reduce crime, restore safety, and create livable environments.
In the pilot program, each street is designated a resident as a “Block CEO,” responsible for liaising between the community and city officials, regularly reporting progress on pilot improvements, and conveying ongoing community concerns and suggestions.
This initiative was initially piloted in October this year in five blocks in the 46th Precinct in the Bronx and the 73rd Precinct in Brooklyn. It involved resources and services from agencies such as the police department, fire department, buildings department, environmental protection agency, health department, housing preservation and development department, housing authority, parks department, sanitation department, and transportation department.
During the 56-day pilot period, there were no shooting incidents in these blocks in the 73rd and 46th Precincts, compared to three and four incidents respectively during the same period last year. Moreover, the major crime rate in these blocks in the 73rd Precinct decreased by 55%. Additionally, residents of the pilot blocks collaborated with city agencies to identify 146 improvement items for each block, and 111 have already been resolved.
Due to the successful outcomes in the two precincts’ pilot areas, the city government has decided to expand the comprehensive pilot program. Mayor Adams has pledged not to stop until this mission is accomplished.