Manhattan is 13.4 miles long and 2.3 miles wide. A total of 1.629 million populate the metropolis, crammed in like sardines. It’s more dense than any city in the United States. Because of limited size and appeal, Manhattan has the most expensive real estate in the city and the monopoly on the wealthiest zip codes.
The remaining four boroughs in New York City are significantly larger and home to much smaller populations per square foot. Brooklyn is 69.5 square miles and hosts 2.577 million residents; Queens is 108.1 square miles and holds 2.271 square million residents; Staten Island is 58.69 square miles and has 475,596 residents; and The Bronx is 42.47 square miles with 1.427 million residents.
Let’s put aside why illegal immigrants are allowed to enter the United States or New York City in the first place. Let’s shelve outrage over Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams supplying them with taxpayer-funded luxuries that everyday citizens can’t afford. These include $400 dollar a night luxury hotel rooms in midtown Manhattan, cellphones, clothes, transportation, such an abundance of food that a scandal broke about the waste, not to mention education, legal aid, Medicaid, and NYPD protection.
Let’s get to the heart of the issue that journalists do not ask and Adams will not address. Why, of the five boroughs, is Manhattan ground zero for Mayor Adams to stockpile illegal immigrants?
In yet another example of creating the problem and attempting to provide the solution, Mayor Adams has created a new government agency to manage the now $4.2 billion migrant crisis. As per a New York Post article, "The Office of Asylum Seeker Operations is a new 24-7 processing center for arriving migrants and [will] move those services out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan."
If illegal immigrants have to be held anywhere within New York City, the most logical place would be the Bronx. Why? It’s the most affordable borough in New York City.
Manhattan is much more expensive, with surrounding places charging more for food and clothing. Unless Adams plans on keeping the immigrants in Manhattan permanently and indefinitely subsidizing them, this is financially unsustainable, both for taxpayers and immigrants alike.
An even better solution would be temporarily placing illegal immigrants in non-residential areas that can physically accommodate the influx, as well as the line-up of services Mayor Adams believes necessary.
A new and detailed study conducted by the Municipal Art Society (MAS) of New York shows that the amount of unused land owned by the city is 43,000 acres.
"City-owned means citizen-owned; New Yorkers deserve to know that we collectively carry the cost, but also potential profit, on land holdings as large as Brooklyn," Gina Pollara, the president of MAS, said.
"These findings raise serious questions about whether our city’s available property is being appropriately leveraged for civic benefit. True equity in the city’s planning and land-use decisions can only be achieved through an informed and engaged public."
To understand how Mayor Adams operates, it is important to remember he was an admirer of former Mayor de Blasio’s social justice plan to reimagine sought after zip codes under the guise of diversity. They both champion defying density realities. When de Blasio targeted iconic areas such as Soho and Nolita, longtime locals and housing advocates sparred "over the future of the sought-after, mostly white community."
Mayor Adams' version of equity ignores using unused land and intentionally disrupts Manhattan with immigrants and all the potential chaos they bring. A spokesperson for the mayor issued a statement to The Real Deal, saying that the city is committed to "developing affordable housing, building and modernizing our parks, libraries and schools — and doing so in a manner that ensures community engagement."
Most of the unused city-owned property is located in Brooklyn and Queens, 1,071 and 1,143 acres respectively. Mayor Adams could alleviate the impossible to accommodate the flood of illegals by making use of this unused space. He simply doesn’t want to, positing we are a "City of Yes."
Apparently, the "City of Yes" is meant to be enough to shut people up. Mayor Adams is intent on providing illegal immigrants with "long-term housing and resettlement, including resettlement to pre-vetted cities and municipalities that welcome asylum seekers."
He claims: "There are many cities within the state and across the country that are saying they want to help. We want to create the pathway to do that," but warned reporters not to ask for details. "I don’t need you running to the cities and stopping us from getting asylum seekers there."
This last sentence is important. It’s either an all-out admission that the people, as opposed to the politicians, do not want the illegal immigrants, or that no one has offered to help. Otherwise, why is he fearful the word will get out?
The $4.2 billion illegal immigrant crisis number, begrudgingly proffered to the public, is a lie. There are no numbers provided on the cost of the new government agency created to deal with them. Also, Mayor Adams will not let us know which cities and states are on board (if any) and the amount of immigrants they will agree to take off New York City’s hands.
More importantly, there is no end in sight to the amount of incoming immigrants under the current local and federal administration. Therefore, it is impossible to put a cap on the cost. It would entail Mayor Adams doing a complete turnaround and saying, we no longer accept illegal immigrants, which would jeopardize his Social Democrat credentials.
The people of New York City do not want illegal immigrants. Were they to be placed in any of the unused land areas outlined above, every "social justice" warrior would line up with a litany of reasons why they must be moved immediately. There would be outrage over the harm it would cause to nearby communities. However, hurting the only borough, Manhattan, which happens to be the world’s financial center, must be done so that it can be DEI'ed into a place where those remaining become Manhattan refugees.
