Putting First Things First
By City Councilmember
Eric Gioia

I was born and raised here, and it’s important to me that my neighbors in Woodside, Sunnyside, Long Island City, Astoria and Maspeth feel proud walking around a clean, safe neighborhood. In fact, I believe Roosevelt Avenue should be just as clean as Park Avenue. A decade ago, naysayers surveyed the proliferation of graffiti, squeegee men and panhandlers and declared that that was how New York would always be. Indeed, they said, we would face an inevitable decline no matter what we did.We proved them wrong by addressing these conditions as a top priority. Working from the "broken windows" theory—that a single broken window conveys the indifference and neglect that precipitates a neighborhood’s decline—we focused on so-called "low-level" offenses. This resulted in dramatically increasing our quality of life and lifted the spirit of the entire city.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been bombarded with images of dirty streets and subways, of trash cans overflowing and even of New York’s Bravest abandoning a rat-infested firehouse. Meanwhile, surveys show New Yorkers increasingly dissatisfied with the way things are going and scholars talk about a crisis in confidence in government. The connection is clear. When government cannot manage to keep streets clean and safe, people lose faith in its ability to successfully tackle more intractable issues, like educating our children, fighting terrorism and spurring a meaningful economic growth that creates real jobs paying a living wage.

Restoring people’s faith in government starts with collecting the trash before it spills over onto the street. It starts with removing graffiti as soon as it goes up, and with responding rapidly and competently to fires and other emergencies. Budget deficits have created tough times, but fiscal difficulties don’t absolve government of its basic responsibilities. Rather, in times like this, we must refocus on fundamentals and find economical new solutions to old problems. We must put first things first, and do ordinary things in extraordinary ways. And we must remain focused on keeping this city a viable—and desirable—place to live, work and raise a family.

I believe that by acting collectively, our city can accomplish great things. but we can’t get there until we rebuild people’s confidence in government. In my neighborhood, we are implementing some small initiatives that are making a big difference. To keep the streets clean in this crisis, I found an answer in The Doe Fund. Through its Ready, Willing & Able program, The Doe Fund hires homeless men to clean city streets while they live in drug-free shelters, go through substance abuse treatment, and take life-skills courses and job training until they are prepared to obtain full-time employment and live clean and independently. Funding for bringing this great program to our neighborhood came from both public and private sources, including a wonderful local community organization, Woodside on the Move. I am proud to say that in spite of our fiscal situation, the main business districts of Woodside and Sunnyside are now cleaner than ever. In a single push of a broom, Ready, Willing & Able provides a viable solution to some of the most notorious ills of urban life: homelessness, substance abuse—and litter.

Dirty streets are an invitation to crime, and nothing makes a good neighborhood look bad like graffiti. Here in western Queens, we are fighting this battle and winning. Experts say that if you’re persistent in painting over graffiti, eventually it won’t come back. I’ve worked with neighborhood leaders to jump-start community groups that fight graffiti day after day, week after week. Our community cleanups have mobilized hundreds of volunteers and helped build neighborhood pride. Many have taken on the ongoing upkeep of their adopted mailboxes and other street fixtures. In addition, I am trying to stop graffiti before it starts by speaking to more than 5,000 students about the harm graffiti does and asking them to pledge never to do it themselves—and to paint it over when they see it. I am showing children that they, too, have a stake in how our neighborhood looks. I also wrote some of the city’s newest graffiti laws. By fighting graffiti with legislation, persuasion and paint, we are solving a vexing neighborhood problem and building a stronger community.

In addition to clean streets, every New Yorker should rest assured knowing that they are safe sleeping in their own beds. We simply cannot cut corners on public safety. Nevertheless, recent Fire Department data shows that response times have increased since the mayor closed six firehouses. The rallies, vigils, petitions and protests were ignored, but we’ve taken the fight for Engine 261 to the courthouse. This goes back to basics, whatever the fiscal situation, we should not compromise on our safety.

At the barest minimum, we rightly expect local government to keep our streets clean and to keep us safe. It’s the fulfillment of these basic functions that keeps us tolerant of the taxes we pay. More importantly, it’s the foundation of a government’s credibility. From quality of life problems to fears about declining fire protection, our city’s ability to perform its basic services is being called into question every day.

To put these questions to rest, government must renew its commitment to providing basic services in an effective way. We must not only ensure that New Yorkers in all five boroughs live in a safe and clean city. Before we begin to tackle grand policy, we must put first things first. Only by achieving the little things can we restore people’s faith that we can act collectively to accomplish great things.

Eric Gioia represents the 26th Council District, [serving the areas of] Woodside, Sunnyside, Long Island City, Astoria and Maspeth.