by Long Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
The days of New York residents being in Billy Joel's New York State of Mind are apparently so far gone, that even a Yankees return to greatness with a World Series victory can't change the matter. But the deterioration of New York State has not happened overnight, but rather from years and years of betrayal by corrupt politicians, loaded agendas and bad policy. The sad result is that the good people of New York who have yet to flee the State, are stuck in a New York State of Crime.
While there are far too many contributing factors to the demise of New York State to list here, many believe that the following are some of the most pervasive. Back in 2020 New York State enacted the so called "Bail Reform," which instead of reforming bail laws essentially transformed bail laws to effectively allow for the mass release of criminals. In addition in that same year, former Mayor Bill de Blasio gutted the NYPD budget by slashing it by One Billion Dollars, as he went down the "Defund the Police" rabbit hole. The result was an unsurprising drastic increase in crime.
As the 2020 seemingly never ending "Summer of Love" continued, crime spread across the country and New York State with up to 2 billion dollars in damage accumulated from virtually unchecked rioting and looting. Subsequently, New York became a sanctuary City and State, with a "catch and release" policy toward criminals. In 2021, then Mayor Bill de Blasio proudly proclaimed NYC to be the first in the nation to facilitate illegal drug use, by creating safe spaces for addicts and other drug users to "shoot up" with illegal drugs. Perhaps the highlight of 2021 was when then Governor Andrew Cuomo was compelled to resign in disgrace under a litany of potential scandalous criminal charges involving nursing home deaths, sexual harassment and the fabrication of Covid data.
More recently, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg enacted a policy where a laundry list of crimes such as resisting arrest, trespass, prostitution and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle were no longer going to be prosecuted. In addition, Bragg announced that incarceration would not be pursued for crimes unless they involved murder, death or a felony. Bragg also announced that he would request a maximum of 20 years in prison for all crimes that did not have a life in prison option and would never under any circumstances request life without parole.
While many had hoped that NYC's new Mayor Eric Adams would improve things, especially in light of him being a retired NYPD Captain, he promulgated that Alvin Bragg's position on crime is "No different than mine." He also quickly appointed his brother to a deputy commissioner position inside the NYPD at a salary of almost 1/4 million dollars per year, raising serious questions of nepotism. The current unelected Governor Kathy Hochul, is labelled by many to be the proverbial "devil you don't know" and accordingly believed to be far worse than disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo. In fact Hochul's Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin, who is a heartbeat away from being the Governor of New York State, was just arrested and indicted for alleged bribery charges.
All of this coupled with runaway crime in New York State and most recently the horrific subway shooting in Brooklyn, are just some of the reasons why New York residents are living under the dark cloud of a New York State of Crime. People are moving out of New York State in record numbers and are not likely to ever return. Instead of New York politicians changing as needed and in accordance with the wishes of the people in order to remedy what ails New York, they continue to double down on failed policies that impose their personal beliefs and desires on the people. But come the next election we could only hope in the words of The Who, that the people "Won't get fooled again."
Long Island Lawyer
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
www.liattorney.com
The days of New York residents being in Billy Joel's New York State of Mind are apparently so far gone, that even a Yankees return to greatness with a World Series victory can't change the matter. But the deterioration of New York State has not happened overnight, but rather from years and years of betrayal by corrupt politicians, loaded agendas and bad policy. The sad result is that the good people of New York who have yet to flee the State, are stuck in a New York State of Crime.
While there are far too many contributing factors to the demise of New York State to list here, many believe that the following are some of the most pervasive. Back in 2020 New York State enacted the so called "Bail Reform," which instead of reforming bail laws essentially transformed bail laws to effectively allow for the mass release of criminals. In addition in that same year, former Mayor Bill de Blasio gutted the NYPD budget by slashing it by One Billion Dollars, as he went down the "Defund the Police" rabbit hole. The result was an unsurprising drastic increase in crime.
As the 2020 seemingly never ending "Summer of Love" continued, crime spread across the country and New York State with up to 2 billion dollars in damage accumulated from virtually unchecked rioting and looting. Subsequently, New York became a sanctuary City and State, with a "catch and release" policy toward criminals. In 2021, then Mayor Bill de Blasio proudly proclaimed NYC to be the first in the nation to facilitate illegal drug use, by creating safe spaces for addicts and other drug users to "shoot up" with illegal drugs. Perhaps the highlight of 2021 was when then Governor Andrew Cuomo was compelled to resign in disgrace under a litany of potential scandalous criminal charges involving nursing home deaths, sexual harassment and the fabrication of Covid data.
More recently, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg enacted a policy where a laundry list of crimes such as resisting arrest, trespass, prostitution and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle were no longer going to be prosecuted. In addition, Bragg announced that incarceration would not be pursued for crimes unless they involved murder, death or a felony. Bragg also announced that he would request a maximum of 20 years in prison for all crimes that did not have a life in prison option and would never under any circumstances request life without parole.
While many had hoped that NYC's new Mayor Eric Adams would improve things, especially in light of him being a retired NYPD Captain, he promulgated that Alvin Bragg's position on crime is "No different than mine." He also quickly appointed his brother to a deputy commissioner position inside the NYPD at a salary of almost 1/4 million dollars per year, raising serious questions of nepotism. The current unelected Governor Kathy Hochul, is labelled by many to be the proverbial "devil you don't know" and accordingly believed to be far worse than disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo. In fact Hochul's Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin, who is a heartbeat away from being the Governor of New York State, was just arrested and indicted for alleged bribery charges.
All of this coupled with runaway crime in New York State and most recently the horrific subway shooting in Brooklyn, are just some of the reasons why New York residents are living under the dark cloud of a New York State of Crime. People are moving out of New York State in record numbers and are not likely to ever return. Instead of New York politicians changing as needed and in accordance with the wishes of the people in order to remedy what ails New York, they continue to double down on failed policies that impose their personal beliefs and desires on the people. But come the next election we could only hope in the words of The Who, that the people "Won't get fooled again."
Long Island Lawyer
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
www.liattorney.com
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