• 5 months ago
NYC Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference with top officials in his administration.

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Transcript
00:00:00Good morning everybody. My name is Fabian Levy and I serve as Deputy Mayor for
00:00:03Communications for the City of New York. Thank you for all for joining us today.
00:00:07From protecting public safety to creating a more affordable and livable
00:00:10city, our administration is working every day to break down silos, bring teams
00:00:15together, and get stuff done for working-class New Yorkers. To tell you
00:00:18more about these efforts, the mayor has once again convened senior leadership
00:00:22here at City Hall for our weekly in-person media availability. So joining
00:00:26us today we have Mayor Eric Adams, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Chief
00:00:30Advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph-Varlick, Deputy
00:00:34Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer,
00:00:37Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom, Deputy Mayor
00:00:41for Operations Mary Joshi, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana Almanzar,
00:00:46Chief Counsel Lisa Zoenberg, and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs
00:00:49Tiffany Raspberry. So I'm pleased to turn it over now to Mayor Adams.
00:00:53Thanks so much Fabian and the entire team for being here today. And as we
00:01:03we've been clear since day one, our three important bullets protect public safety,
00:01:10rebuild our economy, and make the city more livable for everyday New Yorkers,
00:01:18specifically working-class New Yorkers. And we're doing just that, you know. I
00:01:23love that picture in the middle. You know it's it's clear that we are moving in
00:01:31the right direction around public safety. It's particularly around lifeguards and
00:01:37DM Maria Joshi and her team there is continuously attempting to evolve to
00:01:46make sure that those who use our beaches can do it in a safe way. New York City
00:01:51Parks is implementing a new emergency response heat wave protocol at our
00:01:56public beaches. And in the event a heat advisory is issued in the city's
00:02:01emergency heat plan is activated, our lifeguards will remain in their lifeguard
00:02:07stations until 8 p.m. to respond to an emergency if needed. To be clear, lifeguard
00:02:15chairs, they would not be in their chairs or out on the sand because the
00:02:21beach is still closed for swimmers at 6 p.m.
00:02:23Beaches close at 6 p.m. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. is the time to use the beaches. But in
00:02:31the event of emergency takes place, we want to make sure the coordination
00:02:35between NYPD, FDNY, and New York City Emergency Management with our lifeguards
00:02:40so we could save lives. Unfortunately we had a series of drownings
00:02:45particularly with young people so we want to do everything we can to
00:02:49alleviate that threat if not eradicate it altogether. This is about enhancing
00:02:54beach safety and we want to continue to do what's possible. I want to really
00:02:58thank DM, I want to thank the Deputy Mayor and the coordination of her team
00:03:03and really specifically want to thank Commissioner Daughtry and what he has
00:03:09done with the drones for not only identifying sharks but also to look
00:03:14after swimmers. Housing production, you know behind me the numbers clear when
00:03:21you look at them. You know, DM, Maria Torres-Springer, you and that
00:03:26team just really should be proud of these numbers. This has been a key part
00:03:31of building our economy and making our city more affordable is making sure New
00:03:36Yorkers have affordable place to live and yesterday we had an incredible
00:03:40milestone in delivering on that mission and across the board particularly with
00:03:46NYCHA that has historically been denied when we talk about housing and something
00:03:50that you know the first Deputy Mayor has been talking about as well for a long
00:03:55time. We have to include NYCHA in the game and our city agency financed nearly
00:03:5929,000 affordable and public housing units in fiscal year 2024 through new
00:04:05construction and preservation initiative. We've also converted more
00:04:10than 3,600 NYCHA apartments into newly renovated residence and we've moved a
00:04:18record number of New Yorkers out of shelters, a record number of New Yorkers
00:04:23out of shelters even when we had to handle 207,000 migrants and asylum
00:04:28seekers. We never took our eyes off of you know the responsibilities
00:04:33that we had to do for everyday New Yorkers and it's just you think about is
00:04:37really commendable. Lastly this is our final reminder I'd like the outdoor
00:04:43dining August 3rd we were out in the street in Washington Heights over the
00:04:48weekend handing out flyers and information and reminders want people to
00:04:53sign up for the outdoor dining. I think it was a great addition to the city
00:04:58hats off to former Mayor de Blasio saving almost a hundred thousand jobs
00:05:03and making sure our economy was able to continue to move forward and when you
00:05:07walk into these restaurants and nightlife establishments you see everyday
00:05:12New Yorkers that are there from the waiters to the cooks the dishwashers the
00:05:17bus boys and girls it's just played such an important role of making sure that
00:05:23people are able to be employed and employed locally so sign up great
00:05:27expansion I think it's a great addition to our city you can go to diningoutnyc.info
00:05:37to apply today and we will continue to encourage people to you know do it the
00:05:44right way and DM Mira Joshi has done an amazing job with her team of removing
00:05:51those unsightly abandoned locations what we have to about 2,700 more than
00:05:58that how many I think over 300 okay yeah you mean the ones that we've taken down
00:06:06yes yeah yeah definitely good stuff and I do just on the dining out just to
00:06:11clarify you can continue to apply for a permit after August 3rd it's just those
00:06:17restaurants that have setups today on the street if they want to keep them for
00:06:23the rest of the summer just put it in your application that secures your
00:06:27ability to keep that shed up and it allows you to be part of the program
00:06:32going forward but anytime after August 3rd if you don't have a shut up you can
00:06:37still apply so the window is still open and we really look forward to both the
00:06:42returning and the new business owners that we're seeing that want to take
00:06:46advantage of this program all yours Fabian great thank you
00:06:51Amherst how are you doing I'm curious if you could tell us sort of how you and
00:07:03Tim Pearson became so close and whether you think given the four lawsuits and
00:07:08the two do I investigations he's being unfairly prosecuted I became close with
00:07:15him the same way I became close everyone like I'm close to you I adore
00:07:18you you know I like people you know and there's no surprise I meet people we
00:07:24connect and Tim has been around for a long time dealing with very important
00:07:33issues is well respected in the law enforcement community he was a head of
00:07:37noble National Organization of Black Law Enforcement and so when you ask about
00:07:41our relationship I have long-term relationships with with many people and
00:07:46Tim walks in the room what I've learned in life is that good friend walks in the
00:07:50room when others walk out and those in law enforcement particularly officers of
00:07:55color would tell you he has walked in the room some difficult times at least
00:07:58so you want to talk about the other aspects of her question we're letting
00:08:04things run their course I we're not going to litigate allegations in the
00:08:08press there's there's an their answers and some of the lawsuits that have
00:08:14already been filed that are public record and I can refer you to those
00:08:20how's it going
00:08:25you can't say that they're gonna write about you say you're hitting on me
00:08:30I've seen our leaders outfitted just like that so mr. mayor over the last 24
00:08:38hours they had a lot of shootings across the New York City for in New York
00:08:46Brooklyn New York is violence and uptick again and secondly the pushback
00:08:53that you're getting from public advocates to money Williams and some
00:08:59others about solitary confinement how do you respond to that first when I say
00:09:08this over and over again this is one of the most difficult challenges we have in
00:09:12a city of this large of 8.3 million people these things that highlight that
00:09:19are highlighted give the impression of the city out of control the end which in
00:09:25fact is not true and I you know I comment on your industry all the time if
00:09:30it if it bleeds it leads and those leads sort of shaped the opinion of New York
00:09:36is far too often New York is the safest big city in America not based on my
00:09:42opinion based on the stats the stats show that this is the safest big city in
00:09:46America these police officers when I came in morale was low they were not
00:09:51being paid the salary that they deserve I came in with a very clear message on
00:09:55public safety public safety and justice the prerequisite to prosperity and I
00:09:59lived up to that and because of that we've removed 17,000 over 17,000
00:10:04illegal guns off our streets since this administration have been placed murders
00:10:08are down 11.2% when you look at shootings shootings are down we're down
00:10:15and many of our major crime categories and so when you have those series of
00:10:21shootings I saw one we should have played that tape I wish I would have
00:10:24placed the tape I saw a shooting yesterday that we had a young man rolled
00:10:28up on a bike a shot three people of all thank God all of them are going to
00:10:35survive of one of them was 16 years old you know what they were they were located
00:10:40they were outside a cannabis shop illegal cannabis shop and so when you
00:10:45see our holistic approach of closing down cannabis shops going after guns off
00:10:50our streets and talking about those repeated offenders and I bet you when we
00:10:54catch the person who did their shooting I bet she's a repeated offender these
00:10:59highlighted cases are not a reflection on a city that has recovered more jobs
00:11:05in the city history bond rate has increased our bonds small businesses
00:11:09have opened our children are outpacing the state in reading and math tourism
00:11:14are back in the city city 62 million last year you see the housing numbers
00:11:18behind us the city is not coming back the city's back I don't control the
00:11:23headlines I don't control looking through the entire day and say let me
00:11:27find the worst thing that happens in a city of 8.3 million people and let me
00:11:30highlight it every day that's reality that's why we do our town halls that's
00:11:35why we go on the streets that's why we speak to our residents the number one
00:11:39thing I hear every time when people start looking at our success I did not
00:11:43know that of course you don't know that it's not being reported you know it was
00:11:49it was the front page was these numbers behind us people have a different
00:11:53feeling about our city and so we do not have a city where crime is going in the
00:11:58right direction we have a city where crime is going in the right that we've
00:12:02been on the city where crime is going in the wrong direction of a city where
00:12:05crime is going in the right direction the subway is the safest in 14 years if
00:12:09you take the two years out of Kobe this is the lowest level of robberies and
00:12:14recorded history on our subway system I mean all the indicators are saying the
00:12:19same thing and so those who are not catching on to the narrative that our
00:12:24Police Department is responding the coordination of our agencies is allowing
00:12:29this city to be the safe city in America we had our the AMA African American
00:12:35Mayors Association came to the city over the weekend they were blown away on how
00:12:41well this city is operated is that is that is that my favorite chart see that
00:12:47little see that little see that little orange there that little thing you can
00:12:52barely see it if you if you don't have 20-20 vision you can't even see it so
00:12:56all of this narrative I bet you don't want to live in some of those other
00:13:00cities with a safest big city in America now that's no consolation to a person
00:13:07who's a victim of a crime I'm not dismissive of people who are victims of
00:13:10a crime we're going to continue to zero in on bad people that are doing bad
00:13:16things to good people in this city but the results with these police officers
00:13:21are doing closing cases catching people committing crime going after of those
00:13:25illegal actions is something that should be commended and I you know I want to
00:13:31say thank you to New Yorkers and I want to say thank you to the men and women
00:13:34who are doing this six straight months of crime down on our streets and crime
00:13:41down overall year to date six straight months so why is my narrative of six
00:13:46straight month of decreasing crime it's turning to a narrative of hey cities
00:13:50out of control that's just like what are we based in that on the city is the
00:13:56safest big city in America next week can we have a sign over my head
00:14:03yeah I think Lisa has really laid out the importance of that Lisa why don't
00:14:21you why don't you go through that but but but again we keep using this term
00:14:28and I don't know how many time I have to correct it we don't have solitary
00:14:32confinement in New York City that was a bait-and-switch where people took an
00:14:38emotional terminology and they put it out there and all of us started buying
00:14:43on everybody stopped buying on to it you know I was sitting down having a meeting
00:14:46with some of my national leaders and they were saying yeah cuz solitary
00:14:51confinement and when I explained it to them they said wow they duped everybody
00:14:56we don't have solitary confinement they knew everybody's gonna hold on to that
00:15:00terminology and make it seem like you know my god how could you do solitary
00:15:04confinement the city does not have solitary confinement in our jails and I
00:15:08don't know how long it's gonna take for folks to foot resonate we don't have
00:15:13solitary confinement the week after can you put that sign up assuming you're
00:15:18asking about local law 42 yeah so I'm happy to provide some clarity to you and
00:15:27to all New Yorkers first let's be clear New York City jails have not practiced
00:15:33any form of solitary confinement since 2019 that's five years ago and to be
00:15:39clear solitary confinement is defined by the United Nations to mean having
00:15:47someone in in their cell 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human
00:15:53contact and that's what we think of as common sense when we think of solitary
00:15:58confinement it's someone who's held in a jail allowed out maybe for an hour
00:16:02maybe for two hours and that's what the UN the United Nations says it is in fact
00:16:09New York City jails have one of the most liberal policies of any large jail system
00:16:15in the United States for out-of-cell time people in general population in the
00:16:21New York City jails are allowed out of cell 14 for 1 for 14 hours a day let's
00:16:30compare that to other major jail systems in Chicago in general population you're
00:16:38allowed out of cell six hours a day less than half in Philadelphia general
00:16:45population allowed out five hours a day in Washington DC you're allowed out of
00:16:51cell five hours a day so what then is local law 42 even talking about when it
00:16:59keeps using the term solitary confinement let's clear it up the local
00:17:05law that was passed in sharp contrast to the United Nations own definition
00:17:11arbitrarily adopted a definition of its own saying that anything less than being
00:17:17out of cell 14 hours a day is solitary confinement that's what the local law
00:17:23says so if you're allowed out of your cell 13 hours a day local law 42 labels
00:17:31that as solitary confinement that is not remotely solitary confinement and you
00:17:38don't have to be a correctional expert to understand that so the media really
00:17:43does have to stop calling this a law about banning solitary confinement it's
00:17:48false branding it's confusing the issue for the public I want to make two more
00:17:54points the second point so if local law if there is no solitary confinement in
00:18:00New York City then what is local law 42 actually seek to do if implemented and
00:18:06why is it so dangerous and I'll just break it down the law as written would
00:18:12prohibit the Department of Corrections from operating a restrictive housing
00:18:17program a separation housing unit and de-escalation housing three forms of
00:18:23housing that are essential to safely run the jails and separate individuals who
00:18:29are violent let's go through it restrictive housing that's a unit
00:18:34specifically for individuals who have already been found guilty of slashing or
00:18:40stabbing a correctional officer or another person in in custody currently
00:18:46if you are in put in the restrictive housing unit because you've been found
00:18:50guilty of a violent act in New York City jails you are still allowed out of cell
00:18:56for at least seven hours a day for seven hours a day so that is still even in
00:19:04restrictive housing that is more out of cell time than Chicago Philadelphia or DC
00:19:10allow for their general population out of cell time think about that for a
00:19:14minute okay separation housing local law 42 would prevent the Department of
00:19:20Corrections from operating a separation housing program what is separation
00:19:25housing it's used in the in the rare instance when a body scan reveals that a
00:19:30person in custody has secreted a weapon on or inside their person and they're
00:19:36refusing to relinquish it so they are removed from the general population
00:19:41until they become cooperative or until the weapon is surrendered there were 58
00:19:47instances so far this year of that happening and the average length of stay
00:19:51in separation housing is about three days but local law 42 would prohibit and
00:19:58prevent DOC from having separation housing so what are you gonna have a
00:20:02person with a weapon on them left in jail population is that what families
00:20:07who have sons or daughters being held at Rikers want for that person to remain in
00:20:14general population where they could get the weapon and slash someone with it and
00:20:18then de-escalation housing and I allow me to clear it up as well since you asked
00:20:24de-escalation confinement is for calming individuals people who have just been
00:20:30involved in violent instances whether they're the violent actor whether they're
00:20:34the victim it's used to decontaminate individuals if they've been exposed to a
00:20:39chemical agent so it's a temporary thing currently currently in the jails the
00:20:45time for de-escalation confinement cannot exceed four hours without senior
00:20:50staff approving any extension but sometimes it needs to be more than four
00:20:56hours what if it's a victim and you need to find a new housing unit for that
00:21:00victim so that the person can be safe you can get supervisory approval while
00:21:05you set them up in a new unit but local law 42 would strip the Department of
00:21:10Corrections of all flexibility judgment and discretion and require that no
00:21:16matter what even if terribly unsafe after four hours you have to put the
00:21:20person back in the same in general population and finally what would this
00:21:24law do restraints this one is quite shocking if local law 42 were
00:21:30implemented it would restrain persons in custody from being it would it would
00:21:35prevent restraining persons in custody when they're being transported do you
00:21:40know that Department of Corrections transports about 500 people a day to
00:21:44court or to hospitals average of 25 buses a day and this law if implemented
00:21:50would place such burdens on the Department of Corrections to restrain
00:21:55anyone that essentially they could not do safe transport that's extremely
00:22:00dangerous the NYPD would never allow such a thing public safety agencies
00:22:06throughout the New York City New York City do not do not transport people
00:22:11unrestrained why treat Department of Corrections differently who will drive
00:22:17those buses who wants their son riding in a bus in the back with a group of
00:22:23individuals totally unrestrained who could harm them while a bus is in
00:22:27transit so the bottom line of my second point is that local law 42 would be
00:22:32dangerous if implemented to the people who are in DOC custody and who work at
00:22:38the jails third point and my last point because it's important for New Yorkers
00:22:43to understand this DOC is under a federal consent decree and federal
00:22:48monitorship and what that and that's aimed at reducing violence in the jails
00:22:52which everyone supports the monitors approval is required before the city can
00:22:58implement any new policies in the jail it's required has the federal monitor
00:23:02approved the implementation of local law 42 no and if we could just put up a
00:23:10slide let's look at what the federal monitor has had to say recently go back
00:23:18one slide that's not the first one okay I'll read the I'll read that's the
00:23:24second one I don't know if there's a if the there's a prior one no okay okay I'm
00:23:32just gonna read it the first one the first I'll read this one local law 42
00:23:38includes unprecedented provisions regarding the management of
00:23:43incarcerated individuals following serious acts of violence and eliminates
00:23:47necessary discretion by correctional management in a manner that could
00:23:52actually result in increased risk of harm the slide that comes before this is
00:23:57the is the monitor saying attempting to implement local law 42 at this time
00:24:02would be dangerous and would subject incarcerated individuals and staff to
00:24:07further risk of harm next slide the monitor has written that the requirements
00:24:13of local law 42 impose absolute prohibitions on correctional management
00:24:18that remove all discretion where some degree of latitude and discretion is
00:24:23necessary to manage immediate threats to security next slide the Department of
00:24:30Corrections and you can see the slide is not presently equipped to safely
00:24:35implement the law and the truncated timeline for implementation is
00:24:39unreasonable and heightens risk of harm and safety to those in the department's
00:24:44custody and who work in the department's facilities next slide local law 42 would
00:24:50drastically alter and impact the department's core strategy for
00:24:54addressing violent misconduct it's restrictive housing program and finally
00:25:00implementing the law would require changes that conflict with standard
00:25:05sound correctional practices and would therefore be dangerous so given the
00:25:10dangers and I'm wrapping up given the dangers just so you know where this is
00:25:14at the federal monitor has said he must undertake a detailed work plan to
00:25:20determine which parts of the law can be safely implemented and which cannot to
00:25:24determine which of the parts of the law conflict with federal orders DOC already
00:25:30has to follow and which do not and the chief judge of the US District Court for
00:25:35the Southern District of New York who presides over the Nunez case agreed with
00:25:40the monitors plan and has directed the monitor to do that work between now and
00:25:45October 24th and for the parties to then report back to the court that to answer
00:25:51your question is why a temporary and narrowly tailored executive emergency
00:25:57order was issued this past Saturday to protect public safety by temporarily
00:26:03suspending or monitor or modifying the most dangerous parts of local law 42
00:26:09while the federal monitor does his necessary work and we hope that the City
00:26:15Council will come to the table to collaborate in doing that work with the
00:26:20with the monitor and the Department of Corrections we repeatedly asked the City
00:26:24Council to agree to a temporary stay of local law 42 while that work is being
00:26:31done so far they have not agreed and in the meantime maintaining public safety
00:26:37is our top priority
00:26:41yes
00:26:46and he had an interview with New York one this morning and he said the reason
00:26:50one of the reasons he's running is because you're getting stuff done that
00:26:52matter to New Yorkers like affordability and safety I wanted to get
00:26:56your response okay okay I knew he was doing an announcement I thought his
00:27:05announcement was to go to assist the first of a woman of color to be the
00:27:09president of the United States not take the second man of color from being the
00:27:13mayor of the city of New York I think we need to be focused on one mission the
00:27:17mission is electing VP Harris and that's what I'm focused on I'm sure he's
00:27:23going to join me in that once he sees the importance of that
00:27:29nominate a Corporation Council do you plan to nominate Randy Mastro and do you
00:27:34have any concerns that you have a contentious relationship with the City
00:27:37Council right now and they could reject your nomination oh I don't have a
00:27:41contentious relationship with the City Council we were able to land three
00:27:46planes with budgets we were able to revitalize our economy we were able to
00:27:50have more small businesses open in the history of the city we're able to have
00:27:54more jobs in the history of the city we had bond rates that increase our bond
00:27:58crime is decreasing in the city tourism is back when you disagree with someone
00:28:04on two three four five items do an analysis on how many things we disagreed
00:28:08on and then do an analysis on how many things we agree on we don't have a
00:28:13contentious relationship this is how government operates there are there's a
00:28:17legislative branch and there's an executive branch if we agreed on
00:28:21everything then this is not what the forefathers of our Constitution wanted
00:28:25a good healthy dialogue is great for the city of New York and it's great for the
00:28:30state it's great for the people we're working for so I don't have any concerns
00:28:36about us continue to see the success in the city I think Adrian should be really
00:28:42proud these two Baysiders are running the most complicated city with the most
00:28:46difficult journalist core in the history of the city and we're still moving in
00:28:51the right direction the city's based better you can ride on
00:28:55subways now you and your children can enjoy the city because of the job that
00:28:59we're doing as the mayor and the speaker all of y'all should be happy you're able
00:29:02to stop here and ask me these crazy questions because everything is going so
00:29:05good for you so you're not got to be creative let me find something that's
00:29:08wrong all of you are benefiting from the job that Adrian I have done so
00:29:13there's no contentious relationship when we you know how we always do it when we
00:29:19when we make announcements we make those announcements we don't do it
00:29:24prematurely unless we decide one of you we're going to give you a scoop and
00:29:27Fabian does that
00:29:31first one is someone Hawkins is replacing Kara Ahmed as head of the
00:29:37DOB's early childhood division um you agreed to a working group that would
00:29:41come up with recommendations to reform the early childhood system as part of
00:29:45the budget agreement are you looking to employ a new approach to early childhood
00:29:50and what about empty preschool seats and insufficient preschool seats for students
00:29:53what about empty preschool seats and insufficient preschool seats for
00:29:59students with disabilities you want to get into that you are honor you want the
00:30:05one of you did it's so excited about the work they do they both want to do it
00:30:11yes we're excited about start working with DC Hawkins who started yesterday we
00:30:18are you mentioned what was announced during the budget negotiation our work
00:30:22with our partners from across the hall as the major mentioned with the council
00:30:26and we're starting a series of meetings with them that's going to be by monthly
00:30:31twice a month whatever that phrase is in reorganizing our strategy on early
00:30:37childhood from all the work that has been done thus far and the major
00:30:41mentioned a few weeks ago how during his administration the affordability of
00:30:45child care has been taken on by this administration from $55 a month to now
00:30:49being less than five we continue that mission in that vision with DC Hawkins
00:30:55looking forward to building the team of all the internal folks that want to be
00:31:01part of our work with the council as well as the council members that can't
00:31:06the speaker of the council had assigned to work with us we continue to work on
00:31:13reducing the seats that are available right in making sure that they go to the
00:31:18families and need them across the city by looking throughout and have done that
00:31:24about for six months now looking at every single seat coat that has seats
00:31:28available what kind of seats they are examining the kind of seats they are and
00:31:32then looking at the family and what they need to make sure that we can make the
00:31:36changes to address the needs of those families
00:31:44to the man that you fire the officers who killed him you plan to listen to the
00:31:48family and how would you characterize your record on police accountability is
00:31:54there I think a double-plus you know I think that this administration under
00:32:00former Commissioner Kishan soon and the current Commissioner Caban the entire
00:32:06team we're very clear in my weekly calls with the NYPD we must stay focused on
00:32:12producing a product that public safety and justice goes together the current
00:32:18review that's taking place we're gonna let it run its course you know and my
00:32:21heart goes out to the family no one wants to lose a loved one to any level
00:32:24of violence if it's come from a police officer if it comes from a civilian you
00:32:30know I know how painful this is for family members when you lose a loved
00:32:33one to violence and you know our hearts goes out to the family members and just
00:32:36before we go on just go back to the what DM Ana was saying so just you're asking
00:32:40about number of seats it was over 2,400 when we started this process we're on
00:32:44down to under a thousand left without an offer so far so we went from 94% who
00:32:50are initially offered a seat to now over 98% so we're gonna get to the hundred
00:32:55percent before the school year starts
00:33:08DOT told me yesterday the number of applicants is at 1,300 total that
00:33:12sidewalk and roadway it's about a 90% drop-off from the peak of pandemic when
00:33:17it was like 12,500 wanted to get your reaction to that drop-off if you're
00:33:21satisfied and then secondly I've been trying to figure out like what the
00:33:24breakdown is of roadway versus sidewalk 1,300 DOT's press officers refused to
00:33:29tell me so I was wondering if you could tell me and if not why not okay the DM
00:33:34Amir Joshi will give you those breakdown what I found when I was out there to
00:33:40some of the restaurant establishments the outdoor dining was a lifeline they
00:33:47needed it because of COVID people were not comfortable and going inside and
00:33:51after things normalized they were able to adjust the money that they were making
00:33:57you know and but some said hey this is amazing it has attracted people and they
00:34:03want to expand so I don't think to drop off is no more than that is now
00:34:08significant to people some people sees it'll need the outside the outdoor
00:34:12dining they were doing well as a restaurant and they still doing their
00:34:15normal manner and some are seeing the benefit of it so it's good to have
00:34:19options Jim Joshi sure I do want to start out with the program that you see
00:34:27on the street now was an outgrowth of COVID it was done very very quickly in
00:34:32response to the fact that we couldn't eat and be together indoors it also had
00:34:37another characteristic that I don't want to lose sight of it was free so
00:34:43basically we were giving restaurants and and the Times really made made it the
00:34:49right move we were giving restaurants an extra room to their establishment but
00:34:54they weren't having to pay any kind of rental fee that they would pay if they
00:34:58extended their establishment the roadway dining and sidewalk dining that we worked
00:35:03on with City Council really takes the best of that aspect of extend the
00:35:08ability to extend restaurants and gets rid of some of the historic challenges
00:35:15that people had when they wanted to do sidewalk cafes the cost and the
00:35:20administrative burden were really really high so pre COVID there were not that
00:35:24many sidewalk cafes if you can recall I don't know if we can still go back that
00:35:28far but and what it added was the ability to use the roadway so we have
00:35:33about 1,300 applications on August 3rd is the deadline for people who have
00:35:39existing sheds up so we'll probably see a little bit more of a rush as we get to
00:35:44August 3rd I really encourage everybody who has a shed up that wants to continue
00:35:49with the open dining program to apply at nyc.gov backslash dining out just put
00:35:58in your application save your spot it also protects the shed that you have up
00:36:02but the bigger message is that's not the end of the application period that
00:36:07application period remains open it's a seasonal program in November all the old
00:36:12sheds will come down and next year all of the sheds will have the the new
00:36:18requirements and you'll see a lot more uniformity and really much better
00:36:23conditions for all of the sheds so it's a it's an amazing program it will be the
00:36:29nation's biggest roadway dining program sidewalk cafe program we're really
00:36:33opening up New York streets in a way that we didn't think possible but one of
00:36:38the silver linings of COVID is that we got to see our city in a different way
00:36:43so we can't give it away for free anymore we do have to have some rules
00:36:47and I'm certain that like with everything the popularity of it will
00:36:52bring more and more people into the fold and we'll see lots and lots of
00:36:56businesses take advantage of it we can follow up some people have done sidewalk
00:37:03only some people have asked for roadway only and then a group asked for sidewalk
00:37:07and roadway I assume that there is a big breakdown let us get that for you
00:37:13that should not be a complicated question and if we are not DM breaking
00:37:19them down with readily available sidewalks versus roadway based on the
00:37:24application let's make sure we do that
00:37:28good afternoon Mr. Mayor. Not too much. Going back to Tim Pearson, can you describe what his role is within the administration whether that's changed as a result of these lawsuits
00:37:39most recent one described him as having vast powers over NYPD promotions is that
00:37:46the case? You know everybody throw around that term vast powers vast
00:37:53powers you know no one has vast powers everyone has checks and balances he's a
00:37:59senior advisor for public safety and what he has done around so many areas
00:38:05and we need you know we need to be able to be flexible to deal with the moving
00:38:09targets that are in front of us and I've just learned from those like Deputy
00:38:14Mayor Banks and others that have come from the flexibility in law enforcement
00:38:19the ever-changing environment of law enforcement those skills are just so
00:38:22important and he's going to continue to do that everything from planning how we
00:38:28dealt with the COVID I remember those beginning days how Camille that's how I
00:38:34discovered Camille brilliance Camille and Tim came together to make sure our
00:38:40schools were open to coordinate the the PPEs that was distributed was
00:38:46unbelievable we should have documented all of that stuff it was unbelievable
00:38:50how the two of them came in and took over a system that was not operating
00:38:55correctly and then now you see all those decreases in what is costing us and
00:39:01migrants and asylum seekers bringing down the course living up to the pegs
00:39:06making sure we're doing a security at the various locations you know yes we
00:39:11have you'll hear about some of those high profile cases that Randall's Island
00:39:15but the day-to-day operation of thousands of people sitting around doing
00:39:19nothing and coming up with safety mechanisms and advising not only this
00:39:24administration but advising the PC bringing down the cost of this all that's
00:39:30Tim Pearson you know he has he would continue to do so and you know people
00:39:37have a tendency to when accusations are made to say you know what the pressure
00:39:44is hot you know you need to just get rid of a person I just don't operate
00:39:47that way you know I believe in the system city of due process and let the
00:39:51process take its course
00:39:53changed at all has not has not yes we always see you in the community you're
00:40:17always working with people who are doing great things and you recognize that I'm
00:40:21out there with you I see you and thank you for that thank you for continuing to
00:40:26do that can you talk more about the rise of New York City program I'm gonna turn
00:40:33that over to dr. I mean to dr. Martin to talk about that series you know that was
00:40:39something that she felt was so important people get free entertainment and you
00:40:45know it's interesting at all of these events you don't see any discourse you
00:40:48don't see any problems people are able to come out and enjoy themselves muscle
00:40:52aren't you going to that well they actually started under your leadership
00:40:54back in the Senate actually we did um an event in Brooklyn that was very well
00:41:02attended and it made us think about matriculating to become the ball
00:41:07president as you always wanted to be anyway and then we just took over that
00:41:10concert series um in Wingate and when we came to the city we decided we wanted to
00:41:15do it on a broader scale to give everyday New Yorkers who didn't have an
00:41:19opportunity to have a staycation we have a lot of people in New York City who
00:41:23cannot afford to go to a top-level concert series and they want to have a
00:41:28little bit of fun so we were able to figure out how to do it with partners
00:41:31you know we have a great on partnership with make music NYC a non-for-profit we
00:41:36have a great on team Globe Star music and entertainment as well as WBLS and
00:41:43Hot 97 and others who partnered with the city to ensure that New York City
00:41:49residents who cannot go to a free quality concert engage in such this year
00:41:57I can make that announcement I guess we have Patti LaBelle and we're excited
00:42:01about that yes miss LaBelle miss LaBelle miss LaBelle herself and miss Nona
00:42:09Hendricks will join her we're instituting something that's new we're
00:42:15excited to do a entertainment key to the city for people who are in entertainment
00:42:21and who have distinguished themselves as being really great artists so she will
00:42:26be one of the first recipients and miss Nona Hendricks so you know we look
00:42:29forward to doing that that will be in Brooklyn so they're in all boroughs we're
00:42:33doing in Queens we're doing in Staten Island Diane so Staten Island you're
00:42:37always saying you've forgotten we love you we'll be there Bronx all genres you
00:42:42know American music West Indian music Latino music soul music rock music all
00:42:48types of music and it's we've partnered also with summer stage so we've been
00:42:54doing a series of concerts with summer stage from June I believe until August
00:42:58so our rise up proper starts in August and we're gonna go into November because
00:43:04we're bringing back one of our old favorites celebration of praise you
00:43:09know Thanksgiving and praise so you know it'll be a good series we look forward
00:43:13to all New York is coming and joining us and it's on our website you can go on
00:43:16our NYC gov website and you can get the listing and it's still in formation
00:43:21because we're still adding acts so we look forward to you coming and it's
00:43:24throughout the week yeah but one part that you're missing that I love that you
00:43:28added we use we have the karate kid mindset when you know I'm seen in a
00:43:32movie a person thought he was washing a car but he was learning karate we're
00:43:36showing people what resources are available so when you come to our
00:43:40concerts we're telling them about employment how to get employment we tell
00:43:43them how to sign up for different city services how to get access to the
00:43:47resources we're meeting people where they are so while you're sitting down in
00:43:51between acts we have information that we're giving people to allow them to
00:43:56know all of these benefits we we leave too much money on the table too much
00:43:59money goes back to DC goes back to the state because people don't know how to
00:44:03navigate how to get these benefits and the concert is saying while you're here
00:44:08enjoying the show here's how to improve the quality of your life in the city and
00:44:14I thought that was a brilliant attitude that you said that because we also this
00:44:18year the Department of Elections they asked us to partner with them and we'll
00:44:21allow people to sign up to register to vote and that's important this year
00:44:25everybody should register and vote just so the concert starts there's three on
00:44:29August 1st 2nd 3rd this week up in the Bronx and one in Harlem and the next
00:44:33week I think there's four also so if you go up on rise up and wise rise up NYC
00:44:38concerts calm you can see the fullest thank you thank you
00:44:42dr. Bob Lee you do a key to dr. Bob Lee
00:45:00interest when was he hired and who made the decision to hire him I know my
00:45:04colleague Rex mythic reported about the outgoing counsel Sylvia hydratics had
00:45:08some concerns about that and my second question is about the life course I
00:45:11don't know if the DM wants to talk about it will it be all the lifeguards will
00:45:17all the lifeguards deployed to the beach remain until 8 p.m. and if you're gonna
00:45:21have them at Shaq's understanding that Shaq's are dispersed across the beach
00:45:24they might not be able to get there well there won't be any walking posts and if
00:45:28you're going to have lifeguards on duty which I know when I've asked previously
00:45:31about extending swimming hours that's when they concern if you're gonna have
00:45:35all the lifeguards why not just extend swimming because people still swim and
00:45:38people can drown very quickly if there are rough waters
00:45:45when you ask question everybody's like chomping at the big hold up let me first
00:45:51first let me let me say that first let me say this in Lisa you could you could
00:45:54pick up after judge Raddix did not say that and a mere fact that you reported
00:46:04doesn't mean is accurate she did not say that and I think yeah well she she did
00:46:11not say that and and Lisa take the rest but I just want to be accurate you know
00:46:16because we put these things out in the universe and all of a sudden they become
00:46:19facts she did not say that the prior reporting was false and if if you need
00:46:26to you can absolutely call the Law Department for correction the Law
00:46:30Department is the part of New York City that has a process for figuring out
00:46:34counsel issues including when individuals are named in a suit if they
00:46:40are entitled to have counsel provided by the City of New York and also is this
00:46:46the Law Department's responsible for determining whether the Law Department
00:46:49itself has a conflict in handling the representation and defense of a matter
00:46:55so this was the Law Department did both of those evaluations and assessments
00:46:59here it was the Law Department that determined that it it the Law Department
00:47:05needed to bring an outside counsel to handle representation for all defendants
00:47:09as to whom the Law Department determined representation could and should and must
00:47:14be provided and the Law Department hired the firm of Wilson Elser for of which
00:47:19John Flannery is a partner I don't have that information on lifeguards I do want
00:47:32to start out with these are union negotiations that we do with the
00:47:37lifeguard Union this administration has made incredible strides that really
00:47:43prior prior administrations weren't able to accomplish in order to make sure
00:47:49that management of recruitment and training of lifeguards rests with Parks
00:47:55Department and not one particular person within the Parks Department and we're
00:48:00already seeing that the benefits of that negotiation we have more lifeguards than
00:48:04we had last year even when we're at Astoria pool many of the lifeguards you
00:48:09know commented personally that this level of agency interaction is extremely
00:48:17helpful for them in terms of training and supervision and getting quick
00:48:21answers on how to handle situations but ultimately these are about work rules
00:48:27and being a lifeguard is a difficult job you're out in the hot Sun you've got to
00:48:31stay in shape you've got to pass that test you've got to be vigilant at all
00:48:34times and you've got to have nerves of steel and quick reactions so all of that
00:48:39means that whenever we adjust schedules we've got to consider hours staffing and
00:48:45the schedules so what we put together is a skeleton crew so it's not all the
00:48:51lifeguards it'll be about 66 lifeguards that will stay on call at the particular
00:48:58shacks and there are more than dozens of them across our city city beaches they'll
00:49:04stay there not on the chairs because they don't want to give the false
00:49:07impression that the beaches are open and that it's safe to swim but they'll be
00:49:12there so that as FDNY our PEP officers and NYPD and the parks maintenance and
00:49:21operation officers especially at Coney Island because they're 24-7 are on the
00:49:26beach and see things they can immediately help get the help of a
00:49:31lifeguard that is nearby so the point is to have a skeleton on the on-call
00:49:37first responder group and that has been again another historic change in the way
00:49:45lifeguard staffing works in the city and I think it's a really important step
00:49:50that both the Union and the Parks Department made in response to what
00:49:54we're seeing with drownings in the real need for people to understand that and
00:50:00I'll leave on this like don't swim if there's no lifeguard in the chair I'm
00:50:12happy to connect you with parks and they'll provide you that detail yeah
00:50:15major adjustments off during the offseason we have surpassed the number
00:50:19of lifeguards from you last year I think we're up to about 920 last year we had
00:50:24850 and so we saw the problem and we modified it made the right adjustments
00:50:29and it was just a smart decision on the role of Sue Donahue from parks and DM
00:50:34Mira Joshi
00:50:48two questions on city of yes for housing opportunity councilwoman Hanks started
00:50:55launch a task force yesterday to review the plan and to recommend changes ahead
00:51:00of the City Council vote want to get a sense of what opportunity for
00:51:05compromise do you see in the plan currently and what would you like to
00:51:07hear from a task force like that and just secondly on battery energy storage
00:51:12sites the larger sites being set up around the city we've heard some
00:51:18concerns from Staten Islanders in residential areas about you know fire
00:51:22safety at those sites so what would you like locals to know about those sites
00:51:26and what the city has planned and I'm gonna turn over to dear mirror mirror
00:51:31to spring India Josie but let's be clear on this the starting point for anyone
00:51:38that is engaging in the conversation either we want shelters or housing we
00:51:45have to build more and we before we open any meeting we should acknowledge that
00:51:52we have a 1.4 percent vacancy rate and even lower for affordable housing we
00:51:56need to start there that we are in a housing crisis and if we don't start
00:52:02that conversation from that place then people tend to talk this about this
00:52:08housing piece from a place that we have enough housing and I think those of us
00:52:14who have homes should think about those who don't have homes and sometimes that
00:52:20is not brought into the conversation and it is imperative that what Dan
00:52:26Geronik is doing and with DM Maria Maria Torres Springer is doing is saying that
00:52:34far too many New Yorkers can't afford to live in the city and we don't have their
00:52:39housing stock that we need in the city and we have to build more housing and
00:52:44we're open to a conversation around city of yes but we need to get city of yes
00:52:48done and I think some of the stats that the DM raised yesterday of that if we
00:52:52able to get city of yes done the number amount of housing that we're going to be
00:52:58able to do in you know in contrast to those who came before us it's just
00:53:02really remarkable so dear won't you go and I think I can I'll start there we
00:53:08mentioned yesterday when we shared the historic affordable housing production
00:53:14numbers from the last fiscal year that our work with city the city of yes for
00:53:18housing opportunity and the five neighborhood plans really puts us in a
00:53:22position to dramatically increase housing capacity in the city and
00:53:27specifically if you count the capacity that we're building a hundred thousand
00:53:33potentially new homes through city of yes for housing opportunity and you add
00:53:38the new residential capacity the five neighborhood plans that we are working
00:53:42with the City Council on the five rezoning across the boroughs that's
00:53:46about a hundred and fifty thousand new units you know what that is more of so
00:53:52that is more than double that is more than double the residential unit
00:53:58capacity that was created in the entire 12-year term of Michael Bloomberg and it
00:54:04is more than four times the capacity built in the entire eight-year term of
00:54:10de Blasio now of course both those administrations I was part of them did
00:54:14some great work on housing but the 1.4 percent vacancy rate that we face is one
00:54:20that requires not small plans not incremental plans but the type of
00:54:24dramatic change that is progress that is needed but I also want to talk
00:54:30specifically about Staten Island because you know the Department of City Planning
00:54:34had that 15-hour record hearing and we heard voices from across the city now it
00:54:43might be surprising to folks in this room that most of the voices were voices
00:54:47in support and if you look at the community board votes it more than
00:54:53double the number of community boards voted in favor compared to when we were
00:54:58trying to advance the mandatory inclusionary housing policy during the
00:55:03de Blasio administration but I want to remind all New Yorkers and Staten
00:55:07Islanders in particular about what is happening on Staten Island so in the
00:55:13most recent census 53.9 percent of units of households on Staten Island are rent
00:55:22burden that means they pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent and 30
00:55:27percent are severely rent burden meaning they pay more than 50 percent of their
00:55:32income in rent last year Staten Island produced 83 83 new income restricted
00:55:40affordable homes that's out of a citywide total of close to 12,000 so
00:55:46there's a lot of need on Staten Island and not enough production and you can
00:55:51see that story across the five boroughs which is why we're pounding the pavement
00:55:56but you don't have to take it from me we're you know we are so focused on this
00:56:01I think we should actually listen to the words of leaders on Staten Island so
00:56:07Reverend Terry Troy of Project Hospitality been doing this work for
00:56:11three decades you know what she said during the hearing and I'm just gonna
00:56:15read it because I think it's so compelling from a Staten Island leader
00:56:18talking about housing affordability she said we have an affordable housing
00:56:23crisis of profound proportion in our borough we need affordable housing for
00:56:28very poor low-wage working families for disabled people for our senior citizens
00:56:34for our parents for our grandparents and for our children this is not about
00:56:39outer borough versus Manhattan Staten Island is an outer borough but we are
00:56:44living a tale of two cities and so she talked about because she sees you know
00:56:50she's on the front lines of this work and what it means if we if we're not
00:56:55able to really tackle this crisis head-on and so that work continues we
00:57:00are we're looking forward to continue to engage New Yorkers across the five
00:57:05boroughs to working with the City Council so this gets over the finish
00:57:09line by the end of the year and I yeah on the batteries so energy storage
00:57:15systems in New York City are highly regulated they're regulated the company
00:57:20level at the federal level at the state level and at the local level in New York
00:57:25City they have to go through scrutiny from FDNY and DOB and in fact the
00:57:32governor's task force on energy storage is looking to adopt the requirements
00:57:38that we set in New York City for energy storage statewide and I do want to
00:57:45highlight why we're even talking about energy storage again because if we don't
00:57:50find ways to reduce pollutants in our city we will continue what is a really
00:57:57not an impressive stat that the Bronx has the highest asthma rate in the
00:58:02nation and that temperatures are getting hotter and hotter every summer so we
00:58:08really need to ensure that our renewable energy is available and is stored safely
00:58:13and can be used throughout the city
00:58:22this one unlike the previous one contains allegations of sexual
00:58:28misconduct of predates to Pearson's time in your administration including
00:58:33allegations that there was a criminal complaint filed against him alleging
00:58:38that he sexually abused Queen's pastor when did you first find out about sexual
00:58:44misconduct allegations against him did you know about them before you hired him
00:58:48and in terms of his duties you're saying you're not going to modify them anyway
00:58:53in response to these lawsuits how do you justify that given that there's others
00:58:57in your administration like Rana Amisola who was suspended over arguably much
00:59:02less serious the process will take his course Chris next question bless you
00:59:11process will take his course Chris process will take his course Chris to
00:59:28give me some water I'm get thirsty
00:59:34senator Liz Krueger was quoted in the New York Times saying that she would
00:59:39support any other candidates but you but saying that some days I'm not even sure
00:59:44he's a Democrat so just hoping you can respond to that do you feel like your
00:59:47record reflects a Republican more than Democrat and then I have a second
00:59:52question on migrants there was a lawsuit yesterday they ruled that the
00:59:59banning of the Texas bus company is transporting migrants that that was
01:00:05overturned and then I think there's been like less or fewer people going into
01:00:10shelters the I think my record speak for itself
01:00:18senator Krueger and I we have a long relationship from my days in the Senate
01:00:22I'll just leave it like that you want to talk about the sure on the on the
01:00:29lawsuit so as you may recall back in January early January 2024 the city
01:00:36filed a lawsuit against I believe it was 17 bus companies that were participating
01:00:43in a very cynical bad-faith plan by the state of Texas to intentionally try to
01:00:50overwhelm New York City's social services system by busing individuals we
01:00:57at the time that we brought that lawsuit towards the end of December the city was
01:01:01in a place where we were receiving 12 or more buses a day coming from the state
01:01:06of Texas at all hours of the night dropping off people not appropriately
01:01:10clothed posing all kinds of danger to the dignity of the people being
01:01:13transported and around the same time we sued the bus companies we also put out
01:01:18an emergency executive order with rules and procedures for any buses that would
01:01:22arrive yesterday or I believe the the state court we that lawsuit that we
01:01:29brought which I'm very proud of was really about using every tool in New
01:01:35York City's toolbox to protect New York City's social service system and New
01:01:39Yorkers that's what that lawsuit was and we recognized when we brought it
01:01:44that the law was it hadn't been ruled on whether that law was constitutional or
01:01:48not it was an open question and our argument to the court was that if ever
01:01:52there were a case where the law should be upheld as constitutional it was this
01:01:58one the court yesterday found that the law in its entirety is unconstitutional
01:02:04and that was the ruling we respect the court's ruling notwithstanding the
01:02:09court's ruling the fact that we brought the lawsuit for a period of January
01:02:13until now had the effect of at least half of those bus companies stop
01:02:20transporting individuals at Texas's direction to New York City and and and
01:02:25was helpful to our management of the situation overall I will say I will say
01:02:38this the that there was never a bar on bus companies coming that was that there
01:02:45was never a bar on that and any bus that is intending to transport migrants
01:02:52knowingly to New York City still have to abide by the terms of the emergency
01:02:58executive order that that puts in place requirements time and manner restrictions
01:03:04on coming to New York City it's a it's a notice provision and in a certain
01:03:14place for drop-off I said his regular listeners to be had Pacifica no you
01:03:23rose to prominence talking about police accountability before you were like
01:03:27today yes we've had Sonia Massey a black 36 year old mother of two she was
01:03:32unarmed but was fatally shot in the face by a segment County Deputy Sheriff
01:03:36in her home in Springfield Illinois July 6 similar protest there's protests
01:03:41around the country we now know that the terminated officer has been Sean P
01:03:46Grayson he's been charged with murder and he had been working in another
01:03:51jurisdiction where he was relieved for issues and then he was had a discharge
01:03:55issue in the military we saw a national outcry international outcry after the
01:04:00death of George Floyd and tremendous momentum in Congress to pass the George
01:04:06Floyd Justice Act which would have made some kind of interstate accountability
01:04:10for officers it's time for us to pass that and I concur with you and I'm glad
01:04:16you gave the history WBA I longtime listeners will give you the analysis of
01:04:21my days 100 blacks in law enforcement who care of being being one of the
01:04:25leading voices in this city about police reform when we were having a million
01:04:29almost a million black and brown young people being stopped in the city of they
01:04:35would tell you about my sponsoring the Rockefeller drug lords reversing the
01:04:41Rockefeller drug lords with those draconian actions they'll tell you what
01:04:44I've done about visiting inmates all over this state as the rank on crime and
01:04:51correction and stopping women from being handcuffed to hospital gurneys you know
01:04:56there's a real history here a lot of people who are new to this don't realize
01:05:00I'm true to this I've been doing this for a long time testifying federal court
01:05:03and the Floyd versus the New York City Police Department the judge acknowledged
01:05:08my testimony as one of the reasons for ruling against the police department and
01:05:13that was one of the most despicable shootings that I've witnessed as a law
01:05:17enforcement officer I was extremely troubled but what I saw and it really
01:05:23desecrated the badge and the shield and the role of protecting people that
01:05:30officer should be held accountable for his action I was really troubled when I
01:05:34saw it and my heart goes out to the entire family I see that attorney for
01:05:41the attorneys that are on board that is going to be looking to this case they
01:05:44are very known for dealing with the issues of over aggressive or police
01:05:48abuse of you know I think that what you saw here in this city the response
01:05:53people raise their voices but there are many people who are in this space they
01:06:00say we know Eric you know we know what Eric stands for we know what Eric has
01:06:04been about throughout these years you you can read you can write the future
01:06:09but you can't rewrite a history I have a solid history on standing up against
01:06:16aggressive police behavior not only professionally but personally and I you
01:06:21could you could almost benchmark my life by police encounters Clifford Glover as
01:06:26a child Randolph Evans Arthur Miller Emma do Diallo I can go on and on and on
01:06:33these are not people who are strangers to me I know their families and I'm
01:06:36committed to this work and that officer should be held responsible for section
01:06:42should get done it should get it should get done and hopefully with a new
01:06:48Congress and Senate we can get it done how are you
01:06:56conditions in and around the shelters at Randall's Island yes
01:07:02your administration's added security protocols like metal detectors you had
01:07:06some cops in the area are there any plans to bolster those plans it's
01:07:10preventing further violence in that area and you know your admin has said
01:07:14we asked about metal detectors for months now that you'll weekly review of
01:07:18the security in and around the shelters so what why does it take an incident
01:07:24like this to then get those installed because it came just days after some
01:07:28some deadly violence there and also just following up on your point of the
01:07:33Corporation Council so this is a deadline today so why wait until the
01:07:37last moment to appoint I guess whoever if you're appointing and or do you have
01:07:43any plans if so the council says they have to vote to shoot it down are there
01:07:46any plans for a backup here Lisa can go through the timetable but I cannot say
01:07:53it enough and it's probably gonna be on my tombstone respect the process it's a
01:07:57process and you try to rush the process you try to ignore all the elements of
01:08:02the process there's a lot of things that go on behind the scene Tiffany and
01:08:06Ingrid have been engaged in negotiations and conversation on Lisa
01:08:11has been part of that there's just a process government's is is not
01:08:16frictionless and you know we respect the process our success has come because we
01:08:22have respected the process and we've been able to move it forward and that's
01:08:26how we get the W's that we are getting and so let's respect the process you
01:08:30know we will make an announcement of who we are appointed and Lisa you could go
01:08:35through the timetable but what happens just quite simply the deadline for
01:08:39nomination is tomorrow not today
01:08:44anyone mommy used to say if you don't have a plan a B C D E F G H I J K L M N
01:08:51O P Q R S T U V then you just are in trouble so W X Y Z I normally don't get
01:09:01that far now I know my ABC tell me what you think of me you know listen we this
01:09:09administration and I think that is our the key to our success we've always been
01:09:16able to pivot and shift continuously we had to pivot and shift when two hundred
01:09:22seven thousand people showed up at our doorstep we had to pivot and shift when
01:09:27we were dealing with scooters that were running rampant on our streets and we
01:09:31moved 40,000 or we had to pivot and shift when businesses were fleeing and
01:09:35now they want to come here we've been a constant state of analyzing a problem
01:09:39coming up with solutions like with DM mirror Joe she did with the lifeguard
01:09:43situation so we pivot and shift we're not stagnant and and we're not afraid of
01:09:49these challenges in fact we love these challenge we're adrenaline junkies we
01:09:53love these challenges that are in front of us and so that goes back to your
01:09:58question about the some of the in some of the locations that you're seeing the
01:10:05some crimes in those locations I don't know if people understand that when you
01:10:11put thousands of people I think Randall's Island we have 3,000 3,000
01:10:17people in a location that they can't do anything but sit around all day that's
01:10:23just a terrible scenario and many of them are young my goal is to continue to
01:10:30find ways to allow them work we want to get some of our faith-based leaders to
01:10:36play roles like that we have a heavy Muslim population heavy Christian
01:10:40population that's there we want them to come in whole services and do other
01:10:44things we have to find ways until we can get everyone employed and all get them
01:10:50taking the next step in the journey to do everything that's possible to deal
01:10:55with some of the aggression now we do have in a small number of people who are
01:11:00part of a gang that's why I sent the Commissioner first Deputy Commissioner
01:11:07and Chief of Intel down to Colombia because we want to get a hold of who
01:11:12they are and some of them are violent and they pray on not only migrants they
01:11:16play on civilians and we are focusing on on them but I take my hat off to
01:11:21those who come here and just want to pursue the American dream and right now
01:11:26there's a poison for many of them and we're going to try to everything's
01:11:29possible to get them to work
01:11:35we didn't wait we didn't wait you know everything is a process and remember
01:11:47we have to make sure everything is cost-effective and Camille has been in
01:11:51our team has been looking at how to do it right
01:11:54what are the dollars that's associated with it of you know we're in increased
01:11:58demand to bring down the cost of the migrants and asylum seekers and you know
01:12:01Camille and her team they have been analyzing how do we go about doing it
01:12:06how do we find the right price how do we negotiate it and then when you look at
01:12:10our shelters you're seeing that it they have been relatively safe with the
01:12:15volume of people that we have and then we've been handling over 207,000 people
01:12:21mm-hmm good how you doing
01:12:27I got a question about the rise in migrant shelter is there any updated
01:12:37information about what exactly happened there I'm hearing turf war I'm hearing
01:12:41drugs I can't really get a straight answer still still still analyzing
01:12:46exactly what happened I spoke with the commissioner and the chief of patrol to
01:12:53wrap our hands around and the chief of detectives to wrap our heads around
01:12:59they're still breaking it down to find out exactly what happened it seemed like
01:13:03it was a dispute that spilled on over to retaliatory action but we're still we're
01:13:08still looking at exactly what happened there we don't have 100% we have made
01:13:14some arrest in the Hall Street shooting about it by the park and others these
01:13:21detectives do an amazing job of bringing people to justice but we're still
01:13:24analyzing a shooting that happened at Randall's Island yes that's a good
01:13:39question I think it's a combination of not only shootings but robberies and
01:13:46other illegal behavior we'll find out and it's a small number as you indicated
01:13:51but they're bad people they're bad people and we'll have we'll have Chief
01:13:59Lepetri if he could give it an analysis of it because we don't keep stats based
01:14:04on if you're migrant or immigrant we keep stats based on on the gang so we'll
01:14:10have Chief Lepetri give you a report on that all right I wanted to ask about the
01:14:19first weekend of having gun detectors in the subway can you give us any
01:14:22conclusions after the first days and plans already for next stations we was a
01:14:31month Friday these days move so we in August almost in already we we did the
01:14:39first rollout and you know they give me report in a few it's a 30-day pilot so
01:14:48we'll do an analysis on exactly how well they're doing and we're going to
01:14:55give you an update but we just started Friday you know today's Tuesday and
01:15:00we'll give an update yes you know we're open we want to I think that this is
01:15:07good this is going to really increase the the ability to make this technology
01:15:17fast-track when you look at this technology those of you who were there
01:15:20to be able to see exactly the location of a gun on a person's person a person's
01:15:27body to me that's a game-changer and I'm from now we're hearing about other
01:15:32companies that can use this technologies in different ways these are I think
01:15:37these are really exciting times because we can start being more proactive in
01:15:41finding guns on the street we had a long presentation by Lisa so let's try to get
01:15:45those last two three hands that were up since we had that long presentation by
01:15:49Lisa very informative very educational and I'm looking forward to the news
01:15:54stories tomorrow as you break down what we're doing that we're not trying to
01:15:59reverse any law we are being very precision on those part that many of you
01:16:04have told us for a long time listen to the monitor listen to the monitor listen
01:16:08to the monitor so the headlines tomorrow should be that the mayor listened to the
01:16:12monitor how are you
01:16:31Venezuelan election you know I remember being in Venezuela and seeing a lot of
01:16:37the conditions that they've gone through and you know we would never you
01:16:43know impact the what happens to in another country but it seems like you
01:16:49know there's a voice here that supports that regime and there's voices here that
01:16:55that don't I don't think it's going to impact our election here and we're going
01:17:00to keep doing the business that we're doing here and as much we get updates on
01:17:05that shooting we'll make sure we let everyone knows I know the police
01:17:08department did a briefing we will make sure as we get updates we will find a
01:17:13person responsible for mayor I just wanted to mention that last week you did
01:17:16that roundtable with the Venezuelan community and how they were saying that
01:17:20that was the first time that they've actually gotten invited to be at City
01:17:24Hall and to meet with you and so was a we talked about everything from housing
01:17:28to mental health to all kinds of different things and we really
01:17:32appreciate it and working closely with the community as they go through this
01:17:34difficult time yeah I thank you for that because that was the first time
01:17:39they were ever invited into Grace City Hall and they acknowledged that as in
01:17:45yesterday when we did our Peruvian event it was the first time they were ever
01:17:49invited into Gracie mansion to hold that event being mayor is not only
01:17:54substantive the symbolism and that is something that I think is important but
01:17:58what was interesting about that Venezuelan roundtable and was that we
01:18:03asked them how are you feeling think about it you know they're hearing their
01:18:07country name been mentioned often their children are hearing these stories and
01:18:11you know they're there you know they have feelings they have emotions they
01:18:16were extremely thankful for what we've done as a city to our New Yorkers in
01:18:20this administration but they're going through something right now and we want
01:18:25to align ourselves with the community and help them over this very difficult
01:18:30period yes how are you I know you've talked about how you're frustrated that
01:18:37your message isn't landing and I wanted to ask if you would perhaps maybe part
01:18:44of the reason might be your communication strategy I know you really
01:18:49like these soft topics I know you really like surrounding yourself with your
01:18:53administration so we can ask questions but the more traditional way where you
01:18:58take off topic questions at every event you follow you around you talk to us
01:19:03every day why not go back to that and try that thank you and you should you
01:19:09should be part of the journalists for Eric Adams you know she organized a team
01:19:16of journalists who are having a better quality of life in the city because of
01:19:20the great work this administration is doing so two things I'm not a traditional
01:19:24man and I think that's the biggest problem that people are attempting to do
01:19:29they want me to fit in the box I don't fit the description of a traditional man
01:19:33I don't think there's ever been a man that has been bald-headed I don't think
01:19:36we've ever had a man in history of this city that war area you know I could go
01:19:41through a whole list you know my my entire team by the time they finish with
01:19:46me all of them are gonna go to therapy for working with me you know you know
01:19:53I'm not a traditional mayor because you know what this is not a traditional city
01:19:56and you know people are not authentic when they sometimes get in an office
01:20:04they try to pretend who they are not and I'm not going to do that and let's not
01:20:08act like once Fabian and the team decide to do off-topic that all of a sudden to
01:20:13shift and coverage change come on you know our good stuff has not been
01:20:19reported from day one we cycle us out of kovat we brought down crime you know
01:20:25so it is what it is you have a job to do I have a job to do these off topics and
01:20:31giving you an opportunity to answer them give me an opportunity to do my work
01:20:35during a week I don't want to spend a whole week having folks chase me down
01:20:39ask questions when I need to be focusing on running this city right now I'm the
01:20:45pilot and all your passengers you better pray this plane lands stop
01:20:50praying that it crashes because there's no parachutes on this plane we're all in
01:20:55this together and we need to figure out how we get through this together and
01:21:00this is the best way this works for me because I missed a lot of you during a
01:21:05week I get an opportunity to see your faces and enjoy time with you it's just
01:21:10give me a warm feeling when I'm around Chris you know so you know so this is
01:21:19the type of we all together singing kumbaya I would also point out in the
01:21:23first six months of this year we've done a hundred events with Q&A over a hundred
01:21:27events so if you if you want to go on our website you can just look up the
01:21:30transcripts a hundred plus so that's the point cover the Liz was just talking
01:21:38about covering all the good wins that we do so I'm gonna ask a hundred events
01:21:42about the all the events that we're doing hundreds hundreds of times got it
01:21:54so it's about you got it local law 42 that's the other words sure so you know
01:22:08public advocate Jumaane Williams has made the argument that there was a six
01:22:12month implementation period and you know your you know just came over this past
01:22:16weekend right before the law was supposed to go into effect so I guess
01:22:20curious why you didn't make moves to put that in place earlier and then also
01:22:26separately last week when the speaker was rallying against your Charter
01:22:32Revision Commission before its final meeting she said we don't want a king or
01:22:36do you want a king or something along those lines you know kind of referring
01:22:41to the amount of power that might be shifting towards the executive with a
01:22:45couple of proposals that the Commission put forward so I want your response to
01:22:49that as well well first you know I was very interested to your your response
01:22:54when famous a local law 42 you say sure you you dismissed it and I think it's
01:22:59unfair and it's unfortunate that we continue to use the terminology that's
01:23:04incorrect and part of journalism journalism should be accuracy and it
01:23:09should be about informing the public and I think that Lisa's presentation showed
01:23:13you that this is misinformation now either we can make a decision in the
01:23:18free press to continue to perpetuate misinformation or we could take the
01:23:23accuracy of the information that was shared by a very knowledgeable attorney
01:23:28that spent the time so you can understand it now we could dismiss it if
01:23:31that's the goal the goal is we're just gonna act like we didn't even hear it
01:23:35then that's fine but it's local law 42 and we are trying to deal with aspects
01:23:41of it that is extremely dangerous according to the monitor and I'm hoping
01:23:46that you quote that with the monitor as stated to do and we I am NOT going to
01:23:52surrender public safety for inmates 80% of those who are attacked by inmates are
01:23:59other inmates so I'm not quite sure who we were looking to protect it I'm not
01:24:04going to allow inmates to be harmed civilians on Rikers Island to be harmed
01:24:09or correction officers to be harmed and I want you to step out of your
01:24:14journalism role for a moment and just imagine if one of your loved ones were
01:24:18on Rikers or imagine if one of your loved ones was a correction officer and
01:24:22they're told that you can't restrain someone when they turn when they're
01:24:25going to court or to hospital prisoners inmates plot during those moments to go
01:24:36after retaliatory actions I have to keep these inmates safe and that's what
01:24:41that's what we're going to do and and if if people want to use terminologies
01:24:46like that I'm not going to involve in that name-calling I'm not going to
01:24:51involve in that we have a great system listen my veto I vetoed what bill was
01:24:56that that I vetoed I vetoed the how many stops at it was overturned it's a system
01:25:03that's it that's the beauty of the power they have tools in their war chest to
01:25:09say we disagree with Eric we're going to override them his that's the tools
01:25:14these are the tools that we have and so the emergency executive order is a tool
01:25:20just like their feet they override a veto is a tool and that's what's great
01:25:25about our process we all have tools that we can use so we can balance the power
01:25:30so that no one has overwhelming power everyone would like as much power as
01:25:35they want but that's just not the system and I respect the system I respect the
01:25:38process I respect the system and I respect what the City Council is doing
01:25:42and we have been successful you know we're not going to agree on everything
01:25:46so there's some stuff we're going to disagree on Lisa yeah just for
01:25:49procedural completeness and so you know where to find all the information for
01:25:53accurate reporting the monitor has two letters they're both in the in the
01:25:59public record in the Nunez case one was a letter issued in January telling
01:26:06stating back in January that this law raised very grave concerns about
01:26:11dangerousness and safety for the people at Rikers who both live and work there
01:26:16the second is a I think July 17th that's in the public record in the public
01:26:22record is a 17 page declaration by the DOC Commissioner laying out in specific
01:26:28some of the things that I summarized for public education today also it's
01:26:34inaccurate to say that this just waited till the last minute since the bill was
01:26:38first introduced there have been efforts to engage with the City Council the
01:26:43monitors been on record encouraging the City Council to pause for public safety
01:26:47reasons for the last two months at the courts direction there have been
01:26:51multiple meet and confer sessions between the city acting through the law
01:26:56department and the City Council basically beseeching that they just
01:27:01acknowledge press a pause button so that all of these safety issues could be
01:27:06worked out ahead of the July 28th implementation date so it's it's not an
01:27:13accurate it's it's not an accurate portrayal there's there's a procedural
01:27:16history the EEO itself lays out the entire procedural history it's available
01:27:22it's on it's it's available online and I would I would encourage you to to read
01:27:27it and the statements today that were up on the slides from the monitors own
01:27:32letters those are also that those were excerpts from the emergency executive
01:27:37order so we've tried to do everything possible to lay it out as clearly for
01:27:41the public and why it's a public safety issue where everyone should just be
01:27:45united as part of good government into how to have safety in our jail system
01:27:51and many of you have covered this story because I looked at your reporting I
01:27:55haven't really have have not seen the quotes from the monitor this is not our
01:28:01administration we're not saying it's dangerous the person who has been placed
01:28:06over right is to bring down violence is stating this is dangerous and so part of
01:28:13taking the quotes of those who are hurling these comments can we take the
01:28:18call from the monitor I mean this is what anytime the monitor says something
01:28:22that was against this administration you put it front and center so can we
01:28:26take her quote or his quote I mean isn't that that's what you call fair
01:28:31journalism the last side check

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