With new polls showing that most New Yorkers don’t feel safe in their neighborhoods, New York City officials frustrated with the ongoing crime wave are stepping up pressure on Albany for funding to combat gun violence. 

Behind closed doors, lawmakers are negotiating to include a series of crime-related policies — including possible changes to the state’s bail reform law — as part of the annual budget legislation.

“Whose child is next?” Mayor Adams said at a press conference Monday, referring to 12-year-old Kade Lewin, who was fatally shot in Flatlands last Friday while eating in a car.  

A 20-year-old woman who was also in the car was shot six times and is in the hospital, according to Mr. Adams.

Speaking about gun violence, the mayor said “the overwhelming number of victims are black and brown, overwhelming.” He added: “Too many guns on our streets, too many people who are willing to use those guns to harm innocent people. So, all the talk’s about those who are shooting, what about the innocent people?”

Among possible provisions to prevent gun trafficking, Mr. Adams has advocated in Albany for reforms to New York’s bail laws, the success of which will become clearer when the state budget is released.

Mr. Adams was joined by the New York City public advocate, Jumaane Williams, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

“Black folks are dying by guns every single day. I’m going to make sure I was here because I know the media sometimes plays up differences,” Mr Williams said.

“But I want to make sure New York City sees their leaders standing together on message on the urgency of dealing with gun violence in our community.” 

The state budget was due on April 1, and is expected within the next couple of days. Further measures could be contained in the city budget, due July 1.

Public safety and criminal justice have been a matter of contention in budget negotiations this year. Governor Hochul addressed the issue in a press release last week.

“We are getting closer to agreement, ” she said. “From improving public safety to supporting small businesses, these are important and complex issues, and we need to get them right.”

Public safety is also a top concern for New York City voters, according to a poll conducted between March 17 and March 22 by the Manhattan Institute and Echelon Insights.

Ninety-two percent of New York City residents consider crime a “big problem,” and a majority of respondents don’t feel safe walking in their neighborhoods or taking city buses, the poll found.

“Those budgets should be flush with more money than we can ask for to address this violence in a very very real way — in a concrete way, because if it’s not we’re all just talking rhetoric,” Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Adams has been attempting to walk the line between compassionate policing and a tough on crime stance.

“This is my history of fighting against heavy-handed and abusive policing. You can have the justice that we deserve with the safety we need,” Mr. Adams said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning. 

Mr. Adams says he talked with President Biden Saturday, reportedly asking for an increase in illegal gun tracking from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

As the self-described “new face of the Democratic Party,” Mr. Adams has visited other cities including Washington and Chicago to meet with Mayors Muriel Bowser and Lori Lightfoot to discuss gun violence.

Some oppose Mr. Adams’s approach to public safety and criminal justice.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for one, has publicly come out against Mr. Adams’s policies, citing economic and social issues as the root of crime in New York.

“But as long as people think we can police our way out of problems that our housing, education and healthcare policies created we are going to continue having crime and violence,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez wrote on an Instagram story Sunday.

“Cutting virtually every city agency’s budget while raising NYPD’s, bringing back the plainclothes unit notorious for misconduct and responsible for an enormous percent of all NYC police killings,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez wrote, “It’s a no for me.”

Regardless of whether Mr. Adams’s policies prove effective, for now most people do not feel safe in the city.

The Manhattan Institute poll found that 76 percent of respondents think crime in New York is getting worse, and that view is understandable with NYPD stats showing a 44 percent increase year to date.

“Overall, New Yorkers seem eager for a return to policies that prioritize reducing crime and reinstating real consequences for lawbreakers,” two Manhattan Institute analysts, Michael Hendrix and Hannah Meyers, wrote of the results.  “Policymakers should take heed: it’s time to listen to crime-weary citizens.”