Electing a New Mayor and Approving Charter Reform
By Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Last week, New Yorkers turned out at the polls to set the future course
of our City. In electing a new Mayor and approving five new charter
proposals, we have committed ourselves to building upon the progress
and successes of the past eight years: an unprecedented 57% decline
in overall crime, the shift of more than 640,000 people from welfare
to work, and the creation of a record 450,000 private sector jobs.
I am confident that Mike Bloomberg will carry on these accomplishments.
Mike's understanding of economic issues and his success in creating
jobs makes him the right man to lead our City right now, and I strongly
encourage all New Yorkers to unite behind him to move our City forward
in these difficult times.
I am also pleased by the across-the-board approval that our Charter
proposals received from voters. These Charter reforms will help to
make our progress permanent.
For example, the Administration for Children's Services, which we
transformed from a poorly managed branch of the Human Resources Administration,
will now be a permanent independent agency. ACS has proven its effectiveness
by processing a record 21,000 adoptions, collecting over $2 billion
in child support, and becoming the nation's model child welfare agency.
Likewise, the Office of Emergency Management, which played a crucial
role in the rescue and recovery efforts following the September 11th
terrorist attacks, will now have a permanent role in helping to protect
New Yorkers from natural and man-made disasters.
New Yorkers and all Americans now have a newfound sense of the importance
of protecting public health. One of the approved Charter revisions
increases the number of medical experts appointed to the Board of
Health. This will allow the City to draw upon a wider range of medical
perspectives in making informed public health decisions, while the
merger of the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Health
into the new Department of Public Health will allow for greater coordination
in this crucial area of municipal government.
In addition, the voters approved strong steps such as banning gun
sales to those under twenty-one, creating an organized crime control
commission, and improving school safety, which will ensure that New
York City will continue to move forward and build upon our successes.
We have learned many important lessons on what policies and practices
best serve the people of this great City, and voters have decided
to preserve those agencies and methods that have yielded overwhelmingly
positive results.
On another note, I want to extend my thoughts and prayers to the
families of those on American Airlines Flight 587 and all of those
affected in the Rockaways, where the airplane went down on Monday
morning. This proud community suffered tremendous losses in the attacks
on the World Trade Center because so many of its sons and daughters
work in the Fire Department and Financial Industry. Now they have
been called upon to bear yet another heavy burden. Our hearts go out
to them. We are being tested, yet again. But I have every confidence
that we will meet this challenge and emerge even stronger.
