PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Vanessa L. Gibson, Bronx Borough President, on Opioid Settlement Funds and Crisis in the Bronx
1:43:50
ยท
7 min
Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson testified about the urgent need for opioid settlement funds in the Bronx, which continues to see an increase in opioid-related fatalities despite a citywide decline. She called for transparency in fund distribution and emphasized the importance of allocating resources to community-based organizations and service providers.
- Gibson highlighted the visible impact of the opioid crisis in Bronx neighborhoods, including public drug use and discarded syringes.
- She stressed the need for a holistic approach to address root causes and health care injustices in affected communities.
- Gibson requested immediate action and funding, citing ongoing collaboration with local hospitals and business improvement districts to address the crisis.
Vanessa L. Gibson
1:43:50
You so much.
1:43:51
I am Vanessa l Gibson, the Bronx borough president, and I take
Linda Lee
1:43:56
over the I was reading out loud the things.
1:43:58
Sorry about that.
1:43:59
Oh my god.
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Bronx borough president.
Vanessa L. Gibson
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That is okay.
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We love, Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso.
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But thank you so much, everyone.
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Thank you to our chair, Linda Lee and chair Mercedes Narcisse and all the members of the city council's committee on hospitals and mental health disabilities and addiction.
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Thank you for convening such an important hearing this afternoon.
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Sorry I could not join you physically at city hall, but you know I'm always there in spirit.
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Just wanted to speak on behalf of today's topic and the importance that it plays for my borough of the Bronx.
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We are seeing firsthand the effects of the opioid epidemic, and what it's done to our communities.
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Many of our families and individuals that are living with opioid, misuse, and drug addiction.
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And while we are so grateful that there is a decline in overall fatal overdoses in 2023, I remind all of my city council colleagues that the Bronx, unfortunately, continues to see an increase in opioid related fatalities.
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Our overdose death rate in 2023 was nearly twice that of the next highest borough, further highlighting the disparities that we faced that continuously persist in addressing this public health crisis and call to action and attention.
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The situation is untenable, and we know that more must be done at all levels of government to bring relief to the Bronx and the city of New York and many communities that are impacted by the opioid epidemic.
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As our borough and our city continue to confront this unprecedented opioid epidemic, we've received very little in the form of the opioid settlement fund.
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And I wanna thank our attorney general, Leticia James, and her team for her leadership on this critical issue and for fighting to ensure that all of our communities, that have been the most impacted by this crisis can now receive the financial support and the programs that are needed to invest in social services, harm reduction, drug treatment programs, and real comprehensive strategies that work, that are documented cases of success and organizations who are on the ground and have been on the ground for quite some time.
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So in our testimony today, we are calling on the mayor and the Adams administration to provide full transparency on how these funds are dispersed and to really create a plan to equitably distribute the funding to many neighborhoods across the city and certainly in the Bronx that have been impacted the most by the epidemic.
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What we've heard from many service providers on the ground today and community residents in the Bronx, on the conditions that you see today, right now in the Bronx, if you take a trip to the hub, the South Bronx, 149th Street, Third Avenue, the Melrose area, Southern Boulevard, Kingsbridge Road, Fordham Road, main major commercial corridors, you will see syringes and needles.
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You'll see individuals that are actively shooting up and using drugs in our streets, where children, where older adults, where pedestrians, where commuters, and everyone is really traveling, and they see this all the time.
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Our children and families are sometimes forced to see that in plain view, active drug users, potential potentially, dangerous individuals who are using syringes, and other things as they walk around our neighborhoods.
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This is unacceptable to me.
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It's unacceptable to all of us.
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I know you agree, and it really requires a holistic approach to how we address the root causes of these issues.
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When we talk about health care, mental health, the work with that the department of health and mental hygiene is doing, as well as health and hospitals.
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We cannot ignore the years of health care injustice that we have experienced in many of our communities, and we can really address them head on now.
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With the opioid settlement fund and the 1,000,000 of dollars at our disposal, we wanna make sure that the Bronx is protected.
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We are respected.
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We are valued, and we are included in this process.
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Sanitation, NYPD, parks department, they do phenomenal work.
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Picking up needles, syringes, underpasses, overpasses, parks, playgrounds, they do as much as they can, but the volume is so heavy that we simply cannot keep up with what is happening.
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And so the funds from the opioid settlement fund really must be allocated to those service providers and the organizations, I call them credible messengers, who are on the ground and work directly with the population that we're talking about in a culturally sensitive way, language diverse, and, continuity of services.
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They are tailored to meet the needs of the clients that they are serving today.
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And so the Bronx cannot wait.
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We need this money.
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We need the funding right now, and every life we lose is a reminder of the work that must be done.
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We've had far too many overdose deaths in our borough.
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We're working so closely with health and hospitals.
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Lincoln Hospital, specifically specifically.
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We've allocated $2,000,000 along with 4,000,000 from the state to incorporate a new bridge clinic in Lincoln Hospital on the 6th floor to provide referral services from the emergency room and to centralize all the existing services in the South Bronx, which has historically been saturated with many of these social service programs.
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So that is a part of the challenges that we're facing in the hub, and we're working so closely with the Third Avenue bid, the Southern Boulevard bid, all of our business improvement districts because businesses are complaining.
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They want to work and operate their businesses in a place that's safe, that's clean, and not exposed to the needles that they're seeing.
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And so we must use this opportunity and this funding to really look at creative and innovative solutions, and I look forward to working with both of you, madam chairs, and the city council speaker Adams, to make sure that we really, really sound the alarm.
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The Bronx needs this money.
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Whatever process we have to follow working with our health partners, we will do that.
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But most importantly, we do not want to be left behind.
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When it comes to overdose deaths, the Bronx facing the highest, we can do something about it.
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And I don't want these deaths to be in vain.
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I want the loved ones and the family members of those who have lost their battle to this addiction to know that we are here to help them and support them every step of the way on their path to healing and recovery.
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There is a way out, and there's always light at the end of the tunnel.
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And so I thank you so much for the opportunity.
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I hope you know you have a partner and an ally in the Bronx borough president.
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We will work with you when it comes to policy and budget.
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But most importantly, the opioid settlement fund is so critical to this work, and we wanna make sure that the Bronx is protected and that we are included in this process.
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And we need this money, like, now, like ever before.
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So I thank you so much, chairs.
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Thank you, chair Lee.
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Thank you, chair Narcisse, and we look forward to working with you.