Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank and watchdog dedicated to constructive change in the finances, services, and policies of New York City and New York State governments.

CBC recently released “Straight from New Yorkers,” our 2023 Resident Survey, which provides a comprehensive, statistically valid, post-pandemic view into how New Yorkers feel about the quality of life in the city and how they rate government services. The results are comparable to surveys done by CBC in 2018 and the City in 2008. Straight from New Yorkers, along with detailed data, maps, and an interactive are available at https://cbcny.org/2023-resident-survey.

Today we would like to highlight the survey findings on public safety and how they have changed over time, with figures and maps provided at the end. While the City is recovering economically, the severely disruptive effect of the pandemic is still a recent memory and crime levels remain higher than in 2017, which was seven years into a robust recovery.

Key Survey Findings on Public Safety

• New Yorkers are feeling much less safe, with only 37 percent rating public safety in their neighborhood as excellent or good, down from 50 percent in 2017; 
  - Hispanic respondents to the survey give the lowest rating, with 28 percent rating public safety as excellent or good; and 
  - In a borough breakdown, only 28 percent of Bronx residents rate their neighborhood public safety as excellent or good;  
• New Yorkers in 2023 feel about as safe in the park during the day as they felt walking in their neighborhood at night in 2017;  
• 71 percent of New Yorkers report feeling safe in parks and playgrounds during the day, the highest rated safety item on the survey. However, this is still a 16 percent decrease from 2017; and
  - White and Asian New Yorkers rate daytime safety in parks and playgrounds higher, 81 percent and 78 percent, respectively, while 70 percent of Black respondents and 58 percent for Hispanic New Yorkers felt safe or very safe in parks during the daytime;
• Rating of safety on the subway declined sharply from 2017, with a 40 percent decrease in the daytime subway safety positive rating and a 52 percent decrease in nighttime subway safety positive rating.
  - Just 22 percent report feeling safe on the subway at night, while 49 percent report feeling safe on the subway during the day.

Survey Findings Should Inform City’s and NYPD’s Approach to Addressing Public Safety Concerns

Both the City Council and the Administration should incorporate this type of in-depth, statistically valid feedback into management systems and policy development. This data should complement and be viewed alongside City service performance metric and CompStat data to get a sharper picture of service quality and results to help drive the needed progress

Explore the Resident Survey results:

1. Read the CBC Brief: Straight from New Yorkers (download PDF)
2. View Selected Maps: At-a-Glance Ratings, by Location
3. View the Full Data Report, Compiled by Survey's Research Firm
4. View Community Board Breakdowns: Ratings by NYC Neighborhood
5. View Survey's Slide Presentation: Full Breakdowns by Categories and Comparisons to Previous Surveys
6. Explore the Resident Survey Navigator
7. View the original survey

Figures and Maps