NEW YORK — For the past few weeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio has struggled to communicate his alliance with New Yorkers troubled by police misconduct — marooning himself on a lonely island between the NYPD he oversees and a growing movement demanding it be reformed.
Now he appears to be finding some footing.
In the past two days the mayor, recognizing a near mutiny among left-flank Democrats and many of his own former aides, has begun to form a new alliance. He is leaning on support from black activists, politicians and clergy to modify his pro-police message as he rolls out new programs aimed at deescalating tensions.
“Thank you, Mayor, for being a visionary, and being bold, and audacious, and radically reimagining how we can move forward once our people make a cry throughout the nation for something different,” Erica Ford, a prominent anti-violence activist, said during the mayor’s press conference Wednesday.
It was a far cry from the searing indictment two former de Blasio aides issued Tuesday evening.
“Over the last few weeks, we have been sickened by the mayor’s unwavering support of racist police brutality and his denial of black New Yorkers’ lived experiences,” read the statement from Monica Klein and Elana Leopold, who now run a political consulting firm. “Mayor de Blasio: painting Black Lives Matter in every borough will not hide the fact that you value the NYPD more than the lives of Black and brown New Yorkers.”
The divide between Ford, who is black, and two white former staffers who identify with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is one de Blasio has seized upon to discredit criticism of his handling of the NYPD.
“If you talk to these grassroots leaders who are living the life of communities of color in the outer boroughs, they know what's changed and they know what still has to change,” de Blasio said Wednesday morning. “I think a lot of folks who don't live those lives don't understand it, but I'm going to keep doing this work because it has to be done.”
To be sure, many former black and Hispanic aides have protested the mayor’s posture on the recent demonstrations and held a rally denouncing his leadership Monday morning. Women of color who worked for de Blasio wrote an anonymous letter this week saying they had been marginalized for years while he leaned on a mostly white inner circle.
Similar tensions are beginning to play out in the City Council.
The 51-member legislative body is now debating the scale of cuts to the NYPD’s $6 billion budget, in adherence to a rallying cry of protesters who are taking to the streets each night following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
To one side are liberal members who believe deep budget cuts to the police force are the only solution to aggressive policing of predominantly black and Hispanic communities. They are tweeting with the hashtag #DefundNYPD and, in some cases, calling for $1 billion to be cut from the agency's budget.
“I'm sharing here the response I'm sending to those who reached out, with my commitment to fight for a $1 billion cut to the NYPD this year, and to vote no on a budget that does not make significant cuts to the NYPD,” Council Member Brad Lander, one of the most left-leaning politicians in the city, tweeted on Tuesday.
Lander represents Park Slope, an affluent section of Brooklyn with relatively low crime.
He based his funding request on calls from Communities United for Police Reform, an umbrella organization that includes well-established groups such as the NAACP and the Center for Constitutional Rights. The groups have participated in citywide marches and want the police funds to be diverted to social service programs in communities of color.
Yet some members who represent black and Latino neighborhoods are skeptical of the “defund” rallying cry. The Black, Latino and Asian Caucus has pointedly avoided using the term, despite its concerns over aggressive policing.
“I’m one of the rational ones,” Queens Democrat Adrienne Adams, a co-chair of the caucus, said. “I like to operate on facts, not emotions.”
Council Member Donovan Richards also cast doubt on the “defund” message that has been plastered across protest signs throughout the country, though he also supports significant reductions to the NYPD’s budget. (The Minneapolis City Council voted to disband and replace its police department).
“Our communities are the ones who are going to get cut," said Richards, who is running for Queens borough president. "Whenever there are budget cuts, normally communities of color get cut the most."
Tyquana Henderson-Rivers, a Queens-based political consultant, accused some protesters of "co-opting" a movement that has been underway for decades.
“White progressives are calling not just for defunding the police department, but disbanding the police department. Black folks — a good portion across the spectrum — they don’t want to disband the police department,” she said. “Although we are disproportionately impacted by bad policing, we do recognize the value in good police and good public safety policy.”
She added: “You can’t be more outraged on my behalf than I am."
Still, Henderson-Rivers, who worked on de Blasio's 2009 public advocate race, said he has yet to achieve "any major reform, not one."
During a recent budget meeting, Council Member Carlos Menchaca suggested zeroing out the NYPD’s budget altogether. He was immediately challenged by a colleague from the Bronx, Vanessa Gibson, over the practicality of his idea, according to a Council source who witnessed the conversation.
The issue creates a conundrum for Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who is contending with a fiscal crisis and calls for deep NYPD cuts from city Comptroller Scott Stringer, his political adversary. The two are competing for white liberal Democratic support in the upcoming mayoral election.
Johnson has said he favors cutting the NYPD budget and diminishing officers involvement in schools, homelessness and mental health. But he has not committed to a specific monetary target.
The Council must approve the city budget by June 30 each year. But members cannot dictate the financial terms of any agency, leaving Johnson relatively powerless to decide how the NYPD reduces its spending.
For instance, the Council signed off on hiring 1,300 new police officers in 2015 with a commitment that the NYPD would slash its overtime spending. But since then that spending has actually increased, from $716 million in 2015 to $736 million in 2019, according to the Independent Budget Office.
Johnson’s spokesperson said he is “committed to not only limiting the scope of the NYPD and transforming policing, but also to making substantial investments in neighborhoods and communities that have been over-policed for generations.”