SmithieForMayor NYC 2025

Public Safety as an infrastructure issue in New York City

NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / September 24, 2025 / Gather a few New Yorkers' from different backgrounds. Put them in a hall. Ask them about what they think of public safety in the city. And you'll be shocked to find out that all would naturally think NYPD patrolling the city, keeping lead on criminals, and preventing the homeless from lashing out at pedestrians.

Touch base on same issue with city workers, healthcare givers, and social service providers. And you'll be reminded of the benefits of having a robust and well funded social services. And, as if that's not enough, they'll also waste no time to connect lack of support for people with mental health issues and substance abuse to none other than Geraldo Riviera - a Fox News political commentator, who is forever guilty for - as they see it, Willowbrook shut down that eventually led to budget cuts, severe lack of funding and their inability to provide quality services to those who needed it most.

Engage small business owners in any of the five boroughs of New York City on this same issue of public safety. And they'll remind you of retail theft, gun violence, and other arrays of petty crimes that impact their daily lives as retail store service and essential commodity providers and shop front owners in their communities.

Now, go over to a driver, a food vendor, a teacher, hotel worker, the doorman or a pedestrian in Manhattan, and you'll be shocked to discover there's more to public safety than all mentioned so far. And that is because a consideration for the city's physical environment matters more to these class of people. It is what determines whether they'll be able to put food on the table for their families or not.

No one is wrong here. Public safety just happened to rub off New Yorkers' differently.

Take the current physical environment in Manhattan of today as an example. On almost every block, there's a new development and a redevelopment going on. These developments and the temporary structures they put up or dig up in some places, are a danger to pedestrians.

To drivers, the driven, and to members of the general public, these are impediments placed in the way of someone going about making a living.

Now, what happens when vehicles slow down and idle in traffic? They foul the air and therefore become the source of a polluted environment.

Once again, no one is wrong here. Public safety is that kind of issue that affects New Yorkers' differently.

Go all over the five boroughs, knock on doors, you'll realize the mode is similar, but the song is different when you start hearing parents nag about why elected officials allowed developers and landlords to build - for profit, with cheap, harmful paint and non-green materials that has been a major source of death for generations in their community.

And as if that's not enough, they'll follow up with how elected officials have undermined public safety through our combined sewage system. Reason is because they want you to know that New York City is that kind of city where waste and water for household sometimes merge - if there is a heavy rain, flood or rising sea level in some parts of Brooklyn, Queens and lower Manhattan.

Matter of fact is, this sewage system is not only old, rusty and antiquated, it is so bad, metal coatings and protectors have seen the good time off, and all that is left now are time-worn pipes leaking waste and water into our waterways.

Still, no one is wrong. Public safety is that kind of issue with a multi-faceted openings and approach. And our relaxed way of enforcing what is in the food and drinks we buy off our grocery stores and what we feed our families and kids at school is another one of these multi-faceted openings.

All in all, public safety rubs off New Yorkers' differently. We've got to see it for what it is to be able to deal with it. Blaming it all on the NYPD and promising to defund the police is useless.

We need to update our aging infrastructures and stop wasting time and money on procedural safeguards that offers the public the right type of protection needed nor solution.

Safety, order and civility is at stake here, if we don't look at public safety in New York City for what it is and address it on our streets, our neighborhoods, in classrooms, in our hospitals, in our subways, in the sky above us, as well as in our waterways.

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York. As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers. And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic.

I put New Yorkers first. Join me, vote better live this general election and let's rebuild your city.

https://www.rebuildnewyork.city

Follow my campaign, donate if you can, and help spread the word about SmithieForMayor NYC 2025.

Contact:
Abbey S Laurel-Smith
mayor@rebuildnewyork.city
@smithieformayor @SmithiesNewYork

SOURCE: Abbey S Laurel-Smith