Mayor Adams is trying to do it again Something About the city's out-of-control mentally ill residents — but not enough will change until and unless progressives in the Legislature budge from involuntary commitment.
And on Thursday, in the wake of another high-profile series of brutal attacks on random prowlers, Adams unveiled a $650 million five-year plan to combat homelessness and improve the city's mental health system. It will include a 100-bed transitional facility for mentally ill patients to continue supervised treatment after leaving a psychiatric facility.
It's a decent plan with a big hole: you have to get people inside Primarily psychiatric facilities, but the seriously mentally ill rarely independently realize when they need help and have enough money to seek it out and commit to it.
The truth is that many of these are tortured souls needs To force them into treatment, at least in the beginning.
Adams knows this too, which is why he pays, once againfor the Legislature to pass the Supportive Interventions Act, which would give more clarity on when a person can involuntarily commit a crime.
However, SIA still cannot get a single sponsor in the state Senate.
Gov. Hochul won't fight for that either: She's just trying to expand and strengthen Kendra's Law, which doesn't go far enough — but still may go too far for the programs that make the decisions in the Legislature.
Indeed, it tried the same thing in 2022, but the Left Assembly did not touch it.
Now both Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins are emphasizing that their support for the desired Hochul changes will be limited to the details, which means “we're going to scrutinize the bill until it dies a slow death.” “.
Heastie, as one of the city's top cops, should know better: Just this month, a crazy man with 54 prior arrests and a history of mental health issues stabbed two people on the subway.
Instead of being freed, he should have been sent to prison or a mental institution long ago. a period.
Stewart-Cousins made clear how concerned she was with protecting New Yorkers in her (for the Empire Report) list of near-future priorities — which made no mention of crime, mental illness, or the recent horrific subway attacks.
The Legislature, led by progressives who insist that “mercy” means allowing mentally ill people to rot in the streets until they assault and kill innocent people, has shot down every attempt to allow significant involuntary commitment.
In fact, just renewing Kendra's Law is often a struggle; The software won't even allow it to be made permanent.
The Legislature will not bow until someone — Adams, Hochul and their successors — makes enough lawmakers worry about keeping their jobs if the filibuster continues.
Naming and shaming the worst offenders, like Queens Senator Mike Gianaris, all The time when one of these disturbed souls maims or kills another innocent would be a good start.
