NYC Faces ‘Crisis Of Confidence’ Amid Coronavirus Recovery: Study

NEW YORK CITY — Real threats and “unsubstantiated fears” alike threaten New York City’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, a new study found.

The Regional Planning Association study — “New York’s Next Comeback” — lays out a sprawling look at the pandemic’s effects on the city.

The coronavirus and ensuing crisis claimed more than 47,000 lives, 1.89 million jobs across the region and have deepened disparities for low-wage workers and immigrants, it states. The study also indirectly identifies city leadership under Mayor Bill de Blasio as a potential problem.

“These interlocking crises of public health, economic disruption, and racial injustice have seeded a fourth crisis, a crisis of confidence,” the study states. “With so many hurting and with so much uncertainty, it can be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Political polarization and mixed messages from different branches of government add to the sense that events are spiraling out of control.”

The city may be facing its greatest crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic and Great Depression, but the study also warned against “mistaking short-term disruptions for new paradigms.”

New Yorkers likely will return to public transit and won’t continue to gobble up homes in the suburbs once a vaccine becomes widely available, the study states.

Likewise, the city’s recent shooting spike and increase in murders, while concerning, is so large because the baseline crime rate is so low, the study states. The murder rate still lags far behind other cities like San Francisco, Boston, Denver and Minneapolis, it states.

“The 305 murders committed so far in 2020 are a fraction of the 2,262 murders committed in 1990,” the study states. “New York remains an incredibly safe city by any and all standards.”

But there still remain challenges, especially if leaders fail to act, the study argues. The city is at a “critical point,” it states.

“Things such as the inability to adequately plan for restarting public school or put in place an efficient COVID-19 contact tracing infrastructure are symptoms of this overall declining standard of public services,” it states. “A normalization of things like rolling blackouts, overflowing trash cans, and uncertain school schedules not only greatly degrades life for everyday New Yorkers, but puts us one more step behind contemporary world cities. If we cannot adequately maintain public services and repair and expand our infrastructure, New York risks losing its place as a preeminent global city.”

Read the study here.