Mayor Highlights Local Anti-Violence Efforts Amid Shooting Spike
NEW YORK CITY — An upcoming anti-violence effort in Brooklyn by community members and police will serve as a blueprint for the city as it grapples with a spike in shootings, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Central Brooklyn residents this weekend can expect to see more NYPD officers patrolling and local residents — not gang members — "occupying" corners that have seen the worst violence, de Blasio said Wednesday.
"This is the way forward," de Blasio said.
New York City's recent surge in shooting violence had been an expressed concern for de Blasio and police and city officials for weeks. But the death of Davell Garnder, a 1-year-old Bed-Stuy toddler felled by a bullet in a local park, crystallized their concerns.
De Blasio said this weekend's "Central Brooklyn Violence Prevention" effort will have two prongs.
In one, there will be an increased NYPD presence in Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. De Blasio said they'll coordinate with community groups, who are the second prong.
Those community members will "Occupy the Hot Spots" on Friday and Saturday, he said, along with hold peace marches.
City Councilman Robert Cornegy, who represents Bed-Stuy and parts of Crown Heights, emphasized that those violence "hot spots" will also receive increased city resources. That means affordable housing, Jobs Plus and other tools to provide opportunities to underserved communities, he said.
"Where there is an uptick in crime, we're going to have an uptick in services," Cornegy said.
Ife Charles, who works with the Cure Violence movement, said the goal in Brooklyn is to "saturate" the community. Those who commit violence ultimately are a small number compared to the other people living in those communities, she said.
Many young people have not been exposed to other ways of life, she said. Efforts to curb violence can take time and "layers" of conversations to change the mindsets of people involved, she said.
But it works, she said, highlighting a woman who went from street life to become a Cure Violence staff member.
"I feel we have the solution," Charles said.
De Blasio said he made an effort to emphasize community efforts to curb violence. He placed the blame on the recent uptick on a "perfect storm" of circumstances around the coronavirus pandemic.
"I really ask everyone to have the intellectual honesty to acknowledge that when people don't have jobs — over a million people lost their jobs in the course of weeks — no school, no activities and the court system is not functioning... The criminal justice system is not functioning... Come on, that is foundation of what we're going through right here," he said. "And anyone with eyes to see can understand that."
This article originally appeared on the New York City Patch
