While New York City might finally have made its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rampant crime is going to continue to hold the once-thriving and proud city back, according to business leaders.

"Health is no longer the primary concern that New Yorkers are facing; it is public safety," Partnership for NYC President Kathy Wylde told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y. "It's not just gun violence. We're talking about the general deterioration and the feeling we are safe walking the streets, riding the subways … safe from harassment, from assault and worse.

"People are absolutely outraged that we’ve allowed our city to deteriorate to the point that we have."

Wylde noted New York City Mayor Eric Adams was "elected to restore a sense of law and order," but he has fallen short.

"We want people to behave themselves, and if they don't, we want the appropriate remedies," Wylde told host John Catsimatidis. "For some reason, we haven't yet got that right.

"We seem to have made some mistakes both in legislation and implementation is some of these policies."

Bail reform needs to be reformed again, Wylde added.

"There is a lot that has to be fixed," she said.

Crime will take center stage as COVID-19 exits, Wylde concluded.

"We think this time it's real; we had a couple of false starts," she said. "First, we thought people were coming back after Labor Day in 2020. Then it was the end of the year. Then it was this year. Finally, it looks like by the end of March we will have at least 50% of the office workers back in the office every day. And we will continue to build from there.

"By Labor Day 2022 we should be [completely] back."

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