NYC Awakes, Belatedly, to Join the National Plight
As the child of an immigrant family, I have always understood these numbers, while the wise minds at the NYT simply could not see what was happening out here in the rest of the country until the problem finally reached their streets, up in the north east corner of the country many many miles from where the southern borders are first crossed and travelled:
On May 10, with migrants bused from the southern border overwhelming the city’s shelter system, Mr. Adams issued an emergency order suspending parts of that mandate. On May 23, the Adams administration went further, asking a court to narrow the 1981 consent decree that established the law by permitting the city to deny shelter if it lacks the resources to do so. Agreeing to that request by effectively abolishing the right to shelter would be a grave mistake. It would put people experiencing homelessness at extreme risk. The policy change could also transform the streets of New York City by filling them with thousands of people who have nowhere else to go. Mr. Adams has justified his actions by pointing to the migrant surge, which is a real challenge for New York, and could cost up to $3.7 billion through the end of fiscal year 2024. The federal government, which supervises immigration, should pick up that cost.
We can not support a quick influx of American workers without building up our primary schools and community centers, our government services, our medical clinics and rural hospitals (people have babies everywhere, and need to be stabilized for basic emergencies), and ... our Housing Stock.
The more people come -- even if they live as group units and don't abide by single-family resident regulations -- the more people need places to stay. Especially in the harsher environments, people need structured shelters from the elements.
You can't keep admitting -- officially or not -- hundreds of thousands of bodies, and not address the human needs they bring with them. New York City? This problem has been going on for decades in the rest of the nation. Get in line.
I too wish it were simply as easy as waving a magic wand: "The federal government, which supervises immigration, should pick up that cost." They won't. You see, that's why the importance of national politics, and an executive who is willing to address the issue and nudge Congress to do their job, is important.
For all his legislative budgetary fixes, and tamping down of everyday prices at the grocery store via inflation control, people who rent need to be able to afford places to live and the people who are secure in their housing want safer streets and healthier people to minimally interact with in our shared world.
Do you see the connection now in providing basic needs (food, shelter, healthcare, education) to all people via free-market regulation as well as government-incentive programs and fair Labor laws, enforced as written? Are you starting to see the appeal perhaps that smart moderates maybe have for a regulated system that counts all people living in our country? That's why the Census battle was so important -- liberals wanted everyone counted, conservatives did not.
People never wanted to date Donald Trump, or cared much about his well-known past. They wanted what he promised: somebody in power to open already-woke eyes and address what is happening in this country today -- the dysfunction that is building because a lot of well-paid people refuse to do their jobs and focus on the nation's needs, which in turn is failing our people.
The future won't stagnate forever, no matter what the meritorious barnacles riding it might think. (I think, personally, the crust is gonna blow atop that seafood pot pie if the temps get hot enough and nobody is able to turn the temperature down...)
Make it a great Sunday. Exhale. There's so much this summer to do. Like with this full column, distance runners know pacing... or/
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