De Blasio Outlines First 'Sector Advisory Councils,' Announces New Open Streets
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday the first "sector advisory councils" that will help New York City restart its economy again.
The mayor reiterated that a restart of New York City's economy will not be like simply flipping a switch.
"There's no on-off switch here. This has to be done in stages. It has to be done gradually. That doesn't mean doing it any slower than it needs to be done, it means doing it just right," de Blasio said.
The councils "will help us understand what is needed to get this restart right."
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The mayor announced a total of 10 councils, with the first of them starting to meet as of tomorrow. Each group will have 20-40 members and will be led by 1-2 deputy mayors and heads of various agencies.
"Their views, their questions, their input are going to be used immediately in our restart planning," the mayor said.
WEB EXTRA: See Mayor de Blasio's 5/6 Presentation Slides (.pdf)
The first six councils to form are:
- Small business
- Large business
- Labor and workforce development
- Arts, culture, tourism
- Faith-based organizations
- Construction and real estate
The following councils are to come:
- Nonprofits and social services
- Public health and health care
- Education and vocational training
- Surface transportation
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De Blasio said the first night of shutting the subways to clean them brought some good news.
WATCH: Mayor Bill de Blasio Gives Coronavirus Briefing
"Last night, 139 homeless individuals out of 252 engaged by our outreach workers and by the NYPD officers specially trained in homeless outreach, 139 individuals agreed to accept support, accept services, and come in off the streets, come in out of the subways. This number is extraordinary," de Blasio said. "We have, more importantly, never, ever seen so much success in in a single night before. We've never seen this many people, this high a percentage of people who are living on the streets agree to something different.
"This number is staggering," he added.
The mayor also said the NYPD had dismantled three homeless encampments, and urged New Yorkers to report places where they see homelees people congregating to 311.
PHOTO GALLERY: Coronavirus Shutdown 30 Days In
The mayor announced an additional two miles of open streets throughout the city:
MANHATTAN
- Broadway 21st St-23rd St, 24th St-28th St, 36th St-41st St
- Orchard St from Delancey St-Houston St
- Ludlow St from Delancey St-Houston St
- Stanton St from Allen St-Essex St
- Rivington St from Allen St-Essex St
BROOKLYN
- Willoughby St from Pearl St-Lawrence St
- Lawrence St from Fulton St-Willoughby St
THE BRONX
- Willis Ave from 147th St-148th St
- 148th St from Willis Ave-Bergen Ave
QUEENS
- 34th Ave from 69th St-77th St
As far as the daily indicators, hospital admissions for COVID-19 were up to 109 from 75, the number of people in ICUs is also up to 599 from 596 and percentage of people tested citywide who turned up positive down to 15% from 22%.
