state of the city

Mayor Bloomberg gave his the Sate of the City address this afternoon at Brooklyn College. Understandably, the focus of his speech was on efforts to ameliorate the effects of the suffering economy on the city, and he announced a plan to create 400,000 jobs by 2015.

The Mayor also discussed public safety, certainly a component of public health, at some length. He outlined a three part plan to improve the safety of gun sales in the city (requiring a background check on employees of gun dealers, adding a mental health component to the background check of customers, and using "micro-stamp technology" on all guns sold in New York). He also proposed some measures designed to beef up the city's security: computer technology that could detect suspicious movements from camera footage, integrating the Police and Fire dispatch centers, and training more officers to respond to "simultaneous, multiple attacks."

The only explicit mention of health-related social services was the Mayor's expressed desire to crack down more on Medicaid fraud. However, he also did mentioned a plan to support growth in the medical sector in an effort to diversify the city's economy. Finally, the Mayor proposed opening a Family Justice Center in the Bronx, and develop a database that enables the NYPD to increase its home interventions.

Family Justice Centers are run by the Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence; the offer integrative services (attorney consults, financial advice/aid) for the victims of domestic violence.