New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday said his city has had its "safest summer in over 20 years" this year after he took office in January, but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie shortly after slammed those claims, saying that safety in the city has actually gotten worse.
"Crime is down almost five percent compared to last year," the mayor told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "Last year we had the lowest number of murders in 50 years."
He said this year's murder rate is 10 more than last year's, but his policies are combining to bring down crime, as there are now 177,000 more jobs and more affordable housing is being built.
"If you talk to everyday New Yorkers about it, people know it was the safest summer," said de Blasio. "They're experiencing it...the NYPD is doing extraordinary things. I think it will get even safer."
But Christie, coming on the
show after de Blasio, said that not only does nobody believe it's been the safest summer, but "liberal policies' under the mayor are making the problem of crime and homelessness even worse."
Christie, a former federal prosecutor, said that if he were mayor, "stop-and-frisk would be back in about five minutez and we would empower the police, not undercut them."
He also ridiculed de Blasio's comments about the number of murders, saying that if there were more murders this year than last, "I don't know how that's the safest summer."
In Camden, Christie said that the police force was fired three years ago, and now the murder rate is down 61 percent, and "when the mayor can give those statistics, they can come and talk to us."
De Blasio, who was on the show with wife Chirlane, also talked about his administration's work toward mental health issues, homelessness and the city's new pre-K school program
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