THREAD: The Governor's comments yesterday are appalling, but not surprising. We've always known @NYGovCuomo's politics drive misery and pain for Black and Brown New Yorkers who are struggling. /1 https://gothamist.com/news/cuomo-calls-arrests-public-drug-users-alarming-harm-reduction-avocates

No elected official is more responsible for New York City's ongoing homelessness and overdose crisis than @NYGovCuomo. For years the Governor has blocked the funding and creation of supportive housing for homeless New Yorkers with mental health needs & substance use disorder. /2

. @NYGovCuomo has continued to block the implementation of Overdose Prevention Sites -- safe spaces that would be used by the very people he stated "deserve to be arrested" for openly injecting drugs on the streets. /3

During the pandemic, homeless NYers have had to fight for access to sanitation services, to stop their removal from the subways at night (ordered by the Gov), & for hotel rooms to be protected from #COVID19, while @NYGovCuomo has done NOTHING except propose harmful policies. /4

People on the frontlines of the overdose crisis are fighting to stop the spikes in preventable deaths, hepatitis C, & HIV amid a syringe shortage and funding cuts @NYGovCuomo has callously implemented. /5

While people are fighting to stay alive, @NYGovCuomo is refusing to tax the ultra-rich to ensure harm reduction programs can keep their doors open to serve the people who are homeless and injecting drugs that "deserve to be arrested." /6

@NYGovCuomo's politics of misery and pain must end. NY can and must lead with compassion & care. We will keep fighting for a major financial and political shift to address the intractable issues of poverty, homelessness, public health, and incarceration. /End