A determined group of advocates held sit-ins by the mayor’s office and just outside City Hall on Thursday over the issue of supervised injection sites — forcing the mayor to use a side entrance to the building when he arrived.
Members of Housing Works and Vocal-NY blasted the city for dragging its heels on releasing a Health Department study on the sites — which was launched 18 months ago — despite their arguments such sites are urgently needed to save the lives of opioid addicts.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has largely refused to weigh in on the issue, saying last month he would do so only after the report is released sometime in April.
“There is still a lot of internal discussion and looking at data before we give a clearer picture of how we move forward,” the mayor said on the topic in February.
A half-dozen advocates had to be lifted or dragged away from the hallway gate leading to the mayor’s office inside City Hall, as they chanted, “Release the report! Release the report!”
But they plopped down again just outside the main doors of City Hall — joined by dozens of others — chanting and forcing the mayor to reroute by blocking the entrance.
“We are engaging in direct action today to call Mayor de Blasio out on what appears to be political cowardice,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works. “He says he will do whatever it takes to end overdose deaths, but his inaction on the Safer Injecting Facilities study makes his words a lie.”
NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill has said he’s keeping an open mind about the proposal, but that he has concerns about safety and quality-of-life issues that have accompanied such sites elsewhere, including Vancouver.
A number of US cities are considering opening supervised facilities, but have yet to do so.
The City Council commissioned the Health Department study in late 2016 with an allocation of $100,000.
