There's good news and bad news in Mayor Bloomberg's latest status update on the city's performance. According to the mandated "Mayor's Management Report" for Fiscal Year 2009, major felony crime decreased 3% during the first four months of the fiscal year (July to October), while homicides rose 10.6% and grand larceny auto also increased, compared to the same time period in 2007. The annual report is an early indicator of how the city will fare this year; here are some other findings:
• Traffic fatalities decreased, from 112 to 102.
• The 311 customer service center received 12% more calls, from 4.78 million to 5.37 million.
• The number of trees planted nearly tripled, to 1,028, due to projects associated with the Million Trees Program. (Only about 999,000 more to meet the goal!)
• Less cacophony? The city received 15,275 noise complaints compared to 19,998 last year.
• The Department of Homeless Services saw an across-the-board increase in single adults and families entering the shelter services system, including an increase of 38% for families with children.
• The number of persons receiving food stamps increased by 18.1%. Among these recipients, the number of non-cash assistance persons receiving food stamps increased 25.8%, reaching an all-time high.
• The number of syphilis cases rose by 30%, reflecting national trends.

In addition to the performance report, the Mayor's office launched NYCStat, a website intended to be a "one-stop-shop" for all essential data, reports, and statistics related to city services. Here you can view cleanliness ratings for streets and sidewalks, peruse data from the 311 customer service center, and review additional performance measures at the websites of 12 key city agencies, and much, much more! more ›