Fear of ‘violent crime’ in the city almost caused the mother of a freshman Democratic city council member to jump at her son’s inauguration ceremony in Manhattan.
Erik Bottcher (D-Manhattan) said his mother, who lives in his upstate hometown of Wilmington, was worried about traveling to the Big Apple for her official swearing-in ceremony on Saturday, according to The Village Sun.
“She said, ‘Erik, am I going to get hit?'” the politician described at a Greenwich Village Chamber of Commerce town hall in Chelsea last week.
“It just makes me want to cry,” lamented Bottcher, whose district covers Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen.
Her neighborhood also contains Times Square, where gangster Michelle Go was killed.
The 40-year-old woman was pushed onto the subway tracks by a mental patient, who is also homeless, on January 15.
“You don’t have to look far down our streets to see people with untreated mental illness,” said Bottcher, who sits on the council’s mental health committee.
Despite her worries, Bottcher told The Post on Friday that her mother bravely made the trip to town. Both parents arrived safe and sound in the afternoon.
“We bought tickets for a Broadway show,” he said, “but it’s true that a lot of people don’t feel safe, and that’s a huge problem.”
“As I have long said, we have failed miserably on the issue of mental health and its effect on public safety, and we are now seeing the consequences of that failure. Hopefully with this new administration we can break the status quo and make things better.
Bottcher’s mother is not alone in her apprehension – a poll released in February found that 74% of New York voters think crime is a serious problem.
Last month, the city saw a 20% increase in major crimes — including murder, robbery and felony assault — compared to the same time last year, according to new NYPD data.
Staten Island GOP Councilman Joe Borelli said The Post Bottcher’s mother was always welcome to stay with him.
“Eric Bottcher’s mother is welcome to stay with me in my home, in the safest neighborhood in town in the 123 compound where we have miles of nearby woods,” he said.
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