New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) revealed Monday that he has begged wealthy NYC residents who fled during the coronavirus pandemic to return to the Big Apple.

“I literally talk to people all day long who are now in their Hamptons house who also lived here, or in their Hudson Valley house, or in their Connecticut weekend house, and I say, ‘You got to come back! We’ll go to dinner! I’ll buy you a drink! Come over, I’ll cook!’” Cuomo said during a Monday press conference.

“They’re not coming back right now. And you know what else they’re thinking? ‘If I stay there, I’ll pay a lower income tax,’ because they don’t pay the New York City surcharge,” he added.

Cuomo’s remarks come as New York state’s legislature is crafting a fiscal package while facing a $30 billion deficit without federal aid.

“They have to deliver. We have federal representatives, we have senators and we have congresspeople,” Cuomo said. “We pay them to pass a piece of legislation that’s going to help New York. And it’s simple, if the federal legislature is not going to help New York, you know what I say to them? ‘Don’t pass it! It can’t pass without you! Don’t pass a piece of legislation that doesn’t restore New York’s funds.'”

Cuomo’s plea also coincides with soaring crime in New York City, with a surge in robberies in the wealth Upper East Side.

As Breitbart News reported:

NYPD’s 19th Precinct, has seen a tremendous uptick in criminal activity over the last month. According to the precinct, they have experienced a “significant uptick in robberies” over the course of the last month, representing a 286 percent increase from 2019.

As of August 3, the precinct reported 14 gunpoint robberies to date. Last year, the area only saw four.

The 19th Precinct revealed that three of those robberies — all separate — occurred within a one-hour period, ending with three arrests

With respect to shootings, it was reported on July 22 that New York saw a 220 percent increase compared to the same week last year. To make matters worse, New York City slashed $1 billion from the NYPD budget at the beginning of July.

“I said, we have to keep the city safe, we have to protect the levels of patrol strength throughout our communities,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the time of the move. “And we had to make sure that we were really doing something to refocus resources on young people and on communities hardest hit.”