New Yorkers, including ex-Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, are launching a new bipartisan reform group called “Save Our City” to help confront the issues facing the Big Apple ahead of the 2025 mayoral and City Council elections.
The “common sense,” center-right committee’s co-founders and organizers also include ex-Lt. Gov Betsy McCaughey, Junior’s Restaurant owner Alan Rosen and former US Attorney Mike Mukasey, among other bigwigs.
“New York City is in trouble,” Kelly, the city’s longest serving NYPD commissioner, said. “‘Save Our City’ can help get it back on track with some of the best minds I know.”
McCaughey, who served as then-Republican Gov. George Pataki’s first lieutenant governor in the 1990s, said: “New Yorkers don’t want ideology. They want a safe ride home on the subway, good schools and order instead of chaos.”
The 501c3 tax-exempt education advocacy group says it will engage New Yorkers on the following issues:
- Stopping the exodus of businesses, tenants, and taxpayers from the city.
- Deterring crime, restoring bail requirements and improving safety on the streets and in the subways.
- Restoring civil order.
- Protecting city services without raising taxes.
- Permitting local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
- Protecting New York’s Jewish community from antisemitism.
A major goal is to boost voter turnout, she said.
Only 12.8% registered voters showed up for last year’s Council elections, while just 23% turned out for the 2021 general election for mayor and other citywide offices.
“We have to mobilize New Yorkers to save our city. It’s a vehicle for New Yorkers to take back their city,” McCaughey said.
“We can’t just let the city collapse.”
McCaughey said the group wants to hear ideas from New Yorkers about their concerns via its website, saveourcityny.org.
“This is not a progressive coalition, it is a common sense coalition,” McCaughey told The Post when asked about the membership.
The creation of the group comes just weeks after Mayor Eric Adams was slapped with a federal criminal indictment for bribery, campaign finance and conspiracy offenses involving foreign interests.
Adams has denied wrongdoing and insists he will run for re-election.
A non-partisan special election would be held to fill the vacancy if Adams were to resign to fill the vacancy.
The Save Our City website says, “City leadership tries to paint an optimistic picture. But New Yorkers are smart. We know we are in trouble.
“We see it every day in the streets, on the subways. We see empty stores, crime in the street and the subway. Schools that are failing our kids. Taxpayers leaving the state. We hear of budget deficits and $ billions of unexpected costs to support and house `newcomers. We connect the dots ……We know there are tough choices ahead. We want to be part of the solution.”
