De Blasio Appears At Gunfire Free Queensbridge Houses To Announce Anti-Violence Initiative
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio was at the Queensbridge Houses on Friday, to announce the creation of the Mayor's Office To Prevent Gun Violence.
As 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported, there was not a single shooting or homicide at the Queensbridge houses in 2016.
"Not so many years ago the sound of gunfire was common in this development. It's been a year of golden silence," the mayor said.
De Blasio thanked the growing partnership between the NYPD and teams of trained violence interrupters who step into conflicts and defuse them without guns.
Kay Baine leads one of those organizations and said the job is stressful but rewarding. He's drawn from life experience.
"You get to use some of the mistakes and some of the things you've done so terribly wrong in your life, and then some of the positive choices to influence a young person," he said.
The mayor said the city will dedicate $16-million a year to the effort and expand on the strategies with a new office of gun violence prevention.