While Mayor Bloomberg has faced his fair share of critics in Queens over the past 12 years, the outgoing city leader made one final attempt to persuade borough residents that he has made neighborhoods from Astoria to Arverne better places to live.
Speaking at Long Island City’s Bard Early College High School, the mayor touted several categories that he said have significantly improved during his tenure, including public safety, education, economic development, parks, arts and cultural affairs, and public health.
Bloomberg said that, through Dec. 15, overall crime in Queens has dropped by 37.6 percent since 2001 – with 22,897 reported felonies in 2013, compared to 36,678 at the same time in 2001. Murders have also fallen in the borough , dropping from 84 in 2001 to 56 this year – a 33 percent decrease. Shootings are down from 216 in 2001 to 154 this year, and traffic fatalities too have dropped, going from 109 in 2001 to 88 in 2013, Bloomberg said.
Joined by city Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, the mayor said 81 new schools have opened in the borough and 41,500 school seats have been added. Critics have pointed out that many of the new schools are smaller institutions that opened in space already allocated for other schools that the city shuttered.
Private sector jobs in the borough have increased by more than 46,300 to about 486,1000 since 2002 – a jump of 10.5 percent, according to Bloomberg. From 2002 through 2012, there was also a nearly 19 percent increase in the number of private employers in the borough, compared to 12.6 percent nationally.
The mayor too said he has strived to better Queens parks. In the borough, the city has added 26 new parks, as well as 174 acres of parkland and 146 acres of waterfront acquisitions.
The city has completed about 75 cultural capital projects in Queens since 2001, including the first LEED Platinum building at the Queens Botanical Garden, renovations at the Noguchi Museum and Queens Theatre, a visitor kiosk at MOMA PS1, and the expanded Queens Museum, which opened its doors this fall. Attendance at city-owned cultural institutions rose over the past 12 year by more than 168,700 visitors, increasing from 1,039,442 to 1,208,148, the mayor said.
And, as for public health, Bloomberg said borough residents are living longer than they were in 2001. On average, men and women in the borough live more than two years longer than they did 12 years ago, and the mayor stressed that between 2002 and 2012, the smoking rate in the borough has fallen from 20.8 percent to 14.9 percent.
Mayor Bloomberg said in Queens last week that he has bettered the boro, from adding green space to decreasing crime. Photo Courtesy NYC Mayor’s Office
By Anna Gustafson
