Contact: Colleen Roche/Jack Deacy (212) 788-2958
"The Mayor's Management Report for Fiscal 1998 demonstrates that the City has made great strides in ensuring efficient and effective delivery of services to its citizens," Mayor Giuliani said. "The evidence is clear: New York City is safer, cleaner, healthier and economically stronger that it has been in decades. We recorded the fewest major felony crimes in three decades, the fewest civilian fire fatalities in any four-year span since the postwar period and the cleanliness ratings for our streets, parks and playgrounds are the highest ever recorded. Our schools and students are showing marked improvement, job growth is strong and our economy is expanding. Nevertheless, there is still much to be done. We must build the best possible future for our children, a future in which growing up as a New Yorker carries all the advantages of living in a great city, including safe neighborhoods, a quality education, economic opportunities, a heathy environment and access to recreational and cultural activities."
Among the Report's significant findings:
Major felony crimes declined by 49% from the period of January-June 1993 to the same period in 1998, with murder and non-negligent homicide declining 69%, robbery 55%, burglary 51%, and motor vehicle theft 59%.
Shooting incidents decreased 67% during the same period.
Every borough experienced an overall crime reduction of at least 49%, with crime in individual precincts declining from 35% to 68%.
The merger of the Emergency Medical Service and the Fire Department has contributed to notable improvements in public safety. In Fiscal 1998 the combined response time of ambulances and trained fire units to life-threatening medical emergencies was 6 minutes 43 seconds, by far the fastest average ever recorded in New York City and over 2 minutes below pre-merger times. Response times to fires declined as well.
The number of civilian fire fatalities dropped to 145 in Calendar 1997 and to only 50 in the first half of Calendar 1998. If this trend continues, 1998 will see the fewest such fatalities ever documented.
The City's domestic violence initiative continues to demonstrate significant results. Arrests for violating orders of protection have doubled over the past four fiscal years, while family-related arrests rose by 31% from Fiscal 1995 to Fiscal 1998.
During the first half of 1998 overall narcotics arrests increased 24% compared to the first six months of 1996, when the new Anti-Drug Initiative was introduced, and 86% since the first six months of 1993. Misdemeanor narcotics arrests increased 50% from the first half of 1996 and 210% since the first six months of 1993.
The City is also becoming safer for motorists and pedestrians. There were 36% fewer traffic fatalities in the first half of Calendar 1998 than during the same period of 1997; traffic-related deaths dropped to a record low of 144 in Fiscal 1998, from 267 in 1993 and a peak of 323 in 1990.
Violent incidents in the City's correctional institutions are down 79 percent since Fiscal 1995, when comparable measurement began.
Parks were rated 96% acceptably clean, while their overall conditions ratings improved from 64% acceptable in Fiscal 1997 to 80% acceptable in Fiscal 1998, the highest level since the current ratings system was instituted in Spring 1992. Particular success was achieved in meeting rigorous standards for the safety of playground equipment. Ratings of playground equipment safety rose from 68% in Fiscal 1997 to 85% in Fiscal 1998.
The Health and Hospitals Corporation has continued to reform its delivery of medical care to reflect the managed care environment, increasing primary care visits by 40% and reducing emergency room visits by 10% over a five-year period.
Infant mortality rates are the lowest since record keeping began in 1898.
The number of public assistance recipients has fallen by 35.7%, from 1,161,000 at the start of the City's welfare reform initiative in March 1995 to 745,800 at the end of August 1998. Current levels of public assistance recipients are the lowest since February 1968.
A record 89.1% of children eligible for adoption were adopted in Fiscal 1998. New York City's foster-care caseload has declined 15% between Fiscal 1993 and Fiscal 1998.
Child-support collections in Fiscal 1998 totaled a record $287 million, 52% more than in Fiscal 1994.
Bed capacity for victims of domestic violence will have grown 99% from Fiscal 1992 to Fiscal 1999.
The City's summer youth employment initiatives placed over 56,000 youth in summer jobs this summer, the highest total to date.
From 1994 to 1998,a total of 95,947 new school seats were added as 76,910 new students enrolled in the system, compared to the previous administration's addition of only 19,444 new seats to accommodate 78,083 new enrollees.
Notable initiatives are contributing to the enhanced learning of children within City schools. During the 1997-98 school year 49.6% of students were reading at or above grade level, the highest performance in 11 years; with 63.1% of students performing at or above grade level in mathematics, math performance during the 1997-98 school year was at the highest level ever since the citywide comprehensive test was introduced in the 1980-81 school year.
The Administration has committed $125 million in Fiscal 1999 for Project Read, designed to ensure that all elementary school students read and write by grade level by the end of third grade. During the 1997-98 school year Project Read reached over 104,000 students, which represented approximately 40% of all students enrolled in grades 1 through 3.
In Fiscal 1999 the Administration allocated $50 million to Project Arts, a joint public/private initiative that will restore arts education throughout the City's schools; 438 schools received Project ARTS funding during the school year.
In Fiscal 1999 $150 million has been allocated to Project Smart Schools, a public- private coalition that will provide access to technology in all middle school classrooms. A total of 13,788 computers have now been installed in over 3,400 classrooms.
As part of the Mayor's Anti-Drug Initiative, the number of Beacon schools will be increased from the current level of 41 to 79 programs in Fiscal 1999.
From July 1993 to July 1998, the City added 270,900 private-sector jobs, regaining 84.6% of the jobs lost by previous administrations during the period June 1989 to June 1993. The growth rate in private-sector employment is on pace for the first seven months of Calendar 1998 to be the greatest annual employment gain since the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics began compiling employment data in 1950.
Targeted tax reductions over the past four years have encouraged these gains by stimulating key areas of our economy. City and State reductions in the hotel occupancy tax, coupled with rising tourism - expected to reach 34 million visitors in Calendar 1998 - have resulted in a 60 percent increase in the City's hotel tax receipts from Fiscal 1993 to Fiscal 1998.
The Commercial Rent Tax has been eliminated in four boroughs and in Manhattan north of 96th Street, and the tax rate has been reduced for taxpayers. The City worked with New York State to boost the retail clothing business through sales tax exemption weeks, and Mayor Giuliani has called for total elimination of sales tax on clothing items and shoes.
In Fiscal 1998, the City helped obtain a major electric rate reduction, which will save typical City customers ten percent of their annual electric bill as of April 2001.
The Mayor's Management Report is available through NYC.gov, the official New York City web site, at www.ci.nyc.ny.us/mmr.