Coronavirus Update: De Blasio Announces Creation Of 'Food Czar'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia will take on a new responsibility: COVID-19 food czar.
"This is a brand new concept and it reflects the reality of what we're dealing with today," de Blasio said. "I'm desperately concerned that a lot of New Yorkers are running out of money, and that's the money they use to buy food among other crucial necessities."
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Garcia will create a citywide network to make sure food is available to people who can't afford it. She'll be coordinating the various nonprofits, city and state agencies, food banks and more.
"It's going to take a mobilization such as we've never seen before," de Blasio said. "She's going to build something bigger and more comprehensive than we've ever seen in New York City on the assumption that food will become much more of an issue going forward and that many people will have a strain that they've not experienced previously because of huge disruptions in their own income."