ARCHIVES OF THE MAYOR'S WEEKLY COLUMN Archives of Rudolph W. Giuliani

Making Our City's Remarkable Progress Permanent

In my eighth State of the City address last week, I outlined the initiatives my administration will pursue during its last year in office to make New York City's remarkable progress over the past seven years permanent.

What was once considered the crime capital of the country has been the safest large city in America for the past five years. Since 1993, there has been a 64% reduction in murder, and a 57% reduction in overall crime.

To build on New York City's historic record of crime reduction, we are launching public safety programs to target career criminals. Because a great deal of crime in any city is caused by repeat offenders, one of the most effective ways we can reduce and prevent crime is to target those individuals with outstanding warrants and those who have violated parole.

Operation Discover will commit $4 million and add 600 new police officers over the next six months - doubling the size of the warrant squad - with 300 of these officers assigned to the task immediately.

The State Legislature should end parole entirely, but while it exists I've created the Parole Violator Task Force to catch people who violate the conditions of their parole. The Task Force will expand our Joint Absconder Warrant Squad (JAWS) citywide, and work to improve communications between City and State law enforcement officials to speed up the apprehension of parole violators.

In the area of education, I'm proud of the modest progress we've made together in improving the current system, and I've announced a number of additional proposals to further enhance instruction and upgrade school facilities and equipment.

The City will work with the Board of Education to establish, for the first time, programs of weekend instruction, beginning the first week of February, for students who need extra help in science, math, and English.
And as part of an ongoing effort to eliminate social promotion, an additional $25 million will be provided to enroll in summer school 50,000 more students who are performing at low levels.

To address our expanding student population, the School Construction Authority will accelerate its schedule and begin building 12 new school facilities (seven new buildings, five additions), 11 of which are in Queens, and one in the Bronx. And the City will create mini-libraries in each of the City's 21,000 public school classrooms in grades K through 8.

Working with the private, non-profit group Take the Field, the City last year helped fund an initial redevelopment of seven high school athletic fields as part of a pilot program designed to ensure that sports remains a vital part of the educational experience for public school students. We're now going to ensure that all 52 high school playing fields will be redeveloped.

To build on the City's record job growth, we are moving forward with several economic development projects in all five boroughs. The Brooklyn Cyclones Minor League Stadium will prove to be the anchor tenant for the revitalization of Coney Island.

In Queens, we've announced a plan to work with Borough President Claire Shulman, the City Council and others to implement a major urban renewal plan for Willets Point, in order to give the neighborhood the tools to put itself on sound economic footing.

The Fulton Fish Market will be relocated to Hunts Point, moving 1,000 jobs to the Bronx in a brand new 300,000 square foot, fully-enclosed, refrigerated facility that will centralize the City's food distribution system.

Staten Island can look forward to the Fresh Kills Landfill closing by July 4th , as well as a summer concert series in the magnificent setting of the Staten Island Yankees Stadium.

Also this summer, the City will break ground on the reconstruction of East River Park, which will extend from the FDR Drive to the East River, and from 12th Street to Montgomery Street. The park will be renamed for the late Mayor John V. Lindsay.

This is going to be a wonderful year, a very active year, with much to accomplish. With your help, we're going to turn the city over better, not worse, than when we found it.