Mayor Eric Adams Speaks Directly To New Yorkers, Addresses Their Concerns In The Bronx

2 months ago

On Wednesday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams spoke to New Yorkers in the Bronx.

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Transcript

00:00:00good being up here and I'm sure that uh we're gonna come to your question so you don't have

00:00:08to put up the sign. We're gonna do something that we're gonna do something that human beings don't

00:00:12do anymore. We're gonna communicate. We're not gonna yell at each other. We're not gonna argue

00:00:18with each other. We're not going to call each other names. We're not going to try to be hurtful

00:00:23and harmful to each other. We're just going to do something good old-fashioned prior to Instagram,

00:00:28Facebook, and Twitter. We're just going to talk to each other and we don't have to agree on

00:00:35everything but we don't have to be disagreeable because we're living in a society that I think

00:00:41that everyone just wants to be painful to each other and it's playing out across the globe and

00:00:47I'm just not going to do that. I'm committed to the city. I put on a bulletproof vest for 22 years

00:00:54and I sit on these street corners and protected the children and families of this city.

00:00:58I'm not mayor because I don't have a good pension. I'm mayor because I've watched dysfunctional

00:01:04behavior of a city that abandoned people from all ends and like it or not I inherited a mess.

00:01:12A mess. Everything from the health care that many people are angry about to a city where we were

00:01:20dealing with COVID. When I became mayor January 1st, 2022 we had a 40% increase in crime.

00:01:27No one was coming to the city to open businesses. Foster care children were being denied

00:01:33the support that they deserve. Our young people who had learning disabilities were not able to

00:01:38get the services that they needed. NYCHA residents did not have high speed broadband. Small businesses

00:01:44were not opening. We had black unemployment was four times the rates of whites. We witnessed

00:01:51mopeds everywhere. Ghost cars everywhere. We saw a city that was just moving in the wrong direction

00:01:59and my number one enemy was running around. Rats. Rats. Look at where we're now. Look at where we're

00:02:07now. When we hit the two-year mark we had more jobs in the city of New York in the history of

00:02:15the city. 17,000 illegal guns off our street. More small businesses have operated and opened in the

00:02:23city in the history of the city. In one year we in the second year in a row we've built and financed

00:02:30we financed more affordable housing in the history of the city. Moved more people out of homelessness

00:02:36into permanent housing in one year in the history of the city. More people got FEPS vouchers and was

00:02:41able to get housing in the history of the city. 4.1 million people are back on our subway system

00:02:47and you know what? We have five felonies a day on our subway system with 4.1 million. We have the

00:02:54lowest robbery number on the subway system in the history of recording robberies in our subway

00:03:00system. Crime has dropped. Police officers are working. We gave union contracts because many of

00:03:07you are union former union members. We settled 95 percent of our union contracts and stopped

00:03:14hemorrhaging our police officers because we finally gave them the salary that they deserve

00:03:19and our DC 37, FDNY, you look at these unions they get the 96, 97 percent ratification rate

00:03:27because I treated them the way I wanted to be treated when I needed my salary and I need to

00:03:33make sure my pension was was shot. So I'm you. I'm you. 61 million, 62 million tourists back in the city

00:03:42spending money containerizing our garbage to get rid of these pesky rodents that are that are running

00:03:47around. And you know what we did with our foster care children? 6 to 700 were aging out every year.

00:03:52We knew at the beginning of the year that they were less likely to be employed, more likely to

00:03:59be homeless, more likely to be victim of a crime, more likely to deal with mental health issues. So

00:04:04what we did, we're paying their college tuition, giving them a stipend, and giving them a life

00:04:09coach until they're 21 instead of having to leave at 18 and they're getting back in college getting

00:04:14the support that they're doing. Dyslexia screening. I'm dyslexic. 30 to 40 percent of the inmates

00:04:21at Rikers Island are dyslexic. So what we're doing, we are testing for dyslexia at the lower

00:04:28grades so our young people don't have to go on the pathway of crime. They can go on the pathway of

00:04:33one day also seeing because you're dyslexic does not mean you cannot become the mayor of the city

00:04:38of New York. We're investing in people, folks. Double digit decrease in shooters, decrease in

00:04:43homicide. Five of the seven major crime categories are down. 40,000 illegal mopeds and dirt bikes

00:04:50removed off our streets and we destroyed them so they won't come back on our street. Then we

00:04:56zeroed in on cannabis. These illegal cannabis shops that have opened, millions of dollars. We

00:05:01closed 750 illegal cannabis shops in our city that become magnets of crime and despair in the city.

00:05:09Cycled out of COVID. Remember COVID? Cycled out of COVID. And then out of nowhere, we were on a

00:05:17trajectory that was unbelievable. This was one of the greatest recoveries in this history of

00:05:23this city. And out of nowhere, we had 207,000 migrants and asylum seekers that entered our city.

00:05:30Now, people stop me on the street all the time. Eric, what are you doing to us? I can't stop the

00:05:34buses from coming in. It's against federal law. I'm required by city law to give three meals a day

00:05:40and make sure of their house and wash clothing, educate 40,000 children, and I have no authorization

00:05:48to allow them to work. I went to a group and said, listen, I need you to help me remove graffiti off

00:05:53the street, help clean the streets, help do the slow things and we give you a stipend. The federal

00:05:57government said, uh-uh, you can't do that. That's against federal law. 207,000 people enter our city

00:06:04that I'm required to take care of cost me $5.6 billion out of our budget that I had to come up

00:06:11with and close the budget gap. Mayor Bloomberg left us billions of dollars in surplus. He said,

00:06:17this is enough money. Nobody can spend this billions of dollars in a short period of time.

00:06:22Yeah? It was gone. We had a $7.1 billion budget gap. And we had programs that were funded with

00:06:32temporary dollars that was sunsetting that we had to fill those gaps, pre-K, 3K, some of those

00:06:39educational programs, our libraries, our cultural institution, and we were able to do it because I

00:06:45did what you do in your household. I went to every agency in the city and said, we have to manage

00:06:52the people's money like it's our money and not wasting the money of the people. And we found

00:06:57deficiencies early in my administration, and thank God we did, because we were going to need

00:07:02that money with the migrants and asylum seekers that we're facing. And so those of you who are

00:07:08really in pain about this health care crisis, or in pain about your health plan, your plan is my

00:07:17plan. I'm going to be a, I'm a retired civil servant worker. There's no special health care

00:07:26system for former mayors. You know, your plan is my plan. As a retired cop, that is my, your plan.

00:07:33And we looked at this mess that they destroyed this, this, this health care plan that I inherited

00:07:39when I first came in. I sat down with, with Renee Campion, who's in charge of labor, and said, how

00:07:45do we do this? Do you remember what, what that plan was? That plan was healthy. Money was in it.

00:07:52We were able to finance. They used the plan to close union contracts under the previous

00:07:59administration and said, let the next mayor worry about it. Well, guess who's the next mayor?

00:08:04So everybody's protesting me. Everyone is yelling at me. You know, how did they make this happen?

00:08:10I'm as angry as you are about what they're doing with this, this plan. I'm as angry as you are.

00:08:17And our options are limited. Our options are challenging. And I'm constantly meeting with the

00:08:23MLC, meeting with labor. Say, how do we fix this to take away the stress that people are feeling?

00:08:30Because no one should worry about their health care after you retired and after you put in all

00:08:34your money to make sure. Now, remember, we were in a few, if only entities where we've never

00:08:41charged for a health care plan. Never. And I'm fighting that that never happens.

00:08:48But this is a battle. It's a battle. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a month

00:08:56to prop this up. And the people who are responsible for creating this mess are all acting like, well,

00:09:02it's not my problem. No, it's all of our problem. It's all of our problem. And I know folks don't

00:09:08know their assemblymen. They don't know their senators. They may not know their congressmen.

00:09:13Everybody knows the mayor. If things go wrong, that darn mayor. Guy stopped me the other day.

00:09:21I'm getting divorced, man. It's your damn problem. Everybody knows the mayor. But I want it.

00:09:29Because winners want the ball when the game is on the line. This is our city. And as I watch people

00:09:35march through the streets saying, destroy America and destroy people who have Jewish faith,

00:09:39I want to be the mayor at that time. As I watch people knock off the turbans of the Sikh community,

00:09:45I want to be the mayor right now. As I watch people attack me because they're part of the

00:09:49LGBTQ plus community, I want to be the mayor right now. I want to be in charge of our schools,

00:09:55our hospitals, our police department, our fire department. I want to be in charge right now

00:10:01while we deal with these difficult things. I'm going to navigate us out of this, folks.

00:10:07This is going to be a better city after my administration and after I finish being the

00:10:12mayor of this city. And so we will open up to some questions from you. We love doing these

00:10:19town halls. Just give you an opportunity to hear directly from me and not what you read in the

00:10:24headlines. You could take the worst things that happened in a city of 8.3 million people and put

00:10:29it on Broadway every day and you begin to define yourself by that. In fact, no, this city is not

00:10:35moving in the wrong direction. When you leave here today, I want you to go Google those other cities.

00:10:40You don't see people encampments on our streets. You don't see people sleeping on the side of

00:10:44highways in our subway station that we cleaned up. You don't see this total disorder in this city.

00:10:50This is the safest big city in America. Are we perfect? No. Do we have more to do? Yes, we do.

00:10:58But it may be challenging to understand. I've been mayor for two years and seven months.

00:11:05Two years and seven months. The problems that you're angry about were here long before Dorothy

00:11:12May Adams' son became the mayor. This place was a mess. No real order. You have a person that

00:11:21has brought order to this mess and you're going to start seeing the results of a person

00:11:27that brings order to chaos. Let's answer a few questions. I want to thank my team for being here.

00:11:34Do you have some of your swag for the Rat Pack? I have some stickers. Yes.

00:11:44Thank you, Mayor Adams. Just this week we launched New York City Rat Pack and that is a call out to

00:11:51New Yorkers to get educated, get empowered, and take action against rats. When you complete those

00:11:58three items that require, you get a t-shirt or a hat to get the swag to prove it. There's some

00:12:04stickers on the table outside to get your palettes wet for joining New York City Rat Pack.

00:12:10Thank you. Thank you. Where's the first table for questions?

00:12:14It's a beautiful building, by the way.

00:12:21How are you going to ensure that all seniors know about the Department of Aging and all the services

00:12:27that's available to us? Because a lot of seniors do not know, especially like a program like SCREEN.

00:12:33You know what? That's a great question. That was the number one thing that we found on, and you're

00:12:38going to get some of that answer, but that was the number one thing that I found when I was running

00:12:43for office, when Mommy was still alive. I would ask her about basic services when I was a state

00:12:49senator, and it's unbelievable how much we send back to Washington and how much we send back to

00:12:55Albany about services that you are entitled to. SCREEN, DRE, the food stamps, so many things that

00:13:07you are eligible for. So here's what we're in the process of doing, and I'm going to let the

00:13:12Department of Aging, my amazing commissioners not here right now, but here's where I am.

00:13:19Why do you have to figure out what you're eligible for? If we have your information,

00:13:25if I have your income, I have your social security information, I know the programs

00:13:33that are available for you, why aren't we signing you up automatically? All you should be doing is

00:13:38sitting down getting that check brought to you. So what my chief technology officer is in the

00:13:44process of doing is creating something called My City. When we get your information, you register

00:13:51one time under your agreement, and you put in all your basic information, then we scour the entire

00:13:59resources of the city and connect you with them. There's no reason with all this technology

00:14:04available you have to stumble on or somebody tells you, well, did you know you were supposed to get

00:14:09this? Well, then why the hell are you to tell me? Why am I sitting here trying to figure out what

00:14:12I'm supposed to get? We're a couple of, probably by the end of this year, we're going to have that

00:14:18up and operating. We're doing it with parents who are signing up for child care right now,

00:14:23which we cut from $55 a week to less than $5 a week, but we want to do it for every services.

00:14:28There's so many things that seniors are eligible for, but you're right. You have to find them, you

00:14:35have to be lucky to stumble on them. We want to change that. We want to sign you up automatically

00:14:39for those things that you are eligible based on the information that we have. You want to add on

00:14:43that? Absolutely. So as the mayor said, we are actively working with the city's chief technology

00:14:49officer right now to ensure that we are incorporated in there so that when anyone's searching for any

00:14:54kinds of benefits or programs, we are also popping up. But we're not stopping there. So we're in a

00:15:00community center, as the mayor said, that is amazing, right? And there are about 300 citywide,

00:15:06and whenever I go out, and we do this weekly to check out our senior centers, I hear a couple

00:15:11different narratives. One of which is a new member say, I did not know this existed, or I wasn't aware

00:15:19that these programs were as fabulous as they are. And I'm seeing some nodding here. Y'all have a

00:15:24good painting class here, right? A number of you go to it. I heard from you before that, and I saw

00:15:30the art across the hall. There are so many good programs people can have access to. So we're, the

00:15:36mayor invested his time, and we're investing ours in making sure that we're hitting the ground.

00:15:42Using technology is one piece, but not everybody's online, right? And not everybody's aware of that.

00:15:47We've got our cabinet for older New Yorkers, as you heard about in the video earlier. That was

00:15:52the mayor's commitment with our commissioner, Lorraine Cortez-Vazquez, and deputy mayor, to

00:15:57making sure that all of government, the people you see here, and about 15 more agencies, are on the

00:16:04ground thinking about those access points. Our health and hospital system, if people are going

00:16:08in there for care, when they're being discharged, or working with their social worker, that they're

00:16:13able to, when they leave, know about these kinds of programs. It has to be at every point of government

00:16:20that we are getting the word out. That is our commitment, and that's why we're moving all of

00:16:24our government colleagues to make sure you're aware of these programs. So technology and in

00:16:30community is our commitment, and we're not leaving any of the dollars unspent. I see a lot of signs

00:16:35around that the point is that we are putting these dollars to work, making sure that the programs

00:16:41stay robust, and making sure that people are aware of them and using them. And that's all, your

00:16:46question is just, that's a big problem. Before we expand, we need to make sure we are using what we

00:16:53have, and we're not. There's so much we're sending back, not only for seniors, but also for just

00:17:00everyday New Yorkers who are in need. There's a lot of resources out there. We're not connecting

00:17:06the resources with the people. We must become more user friendly, and then we have to stop

00:17:10believing you can stay in a sterilized environment of your office space. You got to get out in the

00:17:14streets. We need to, as was just mentioned, we need to come out and meet people where they are.

00:17:19That's how we cut unemployment in half by 30 percent, is that we start doing hiring halls

00:17:26right in local communities and telling people what they are. We got to meet people where they are,

00:17:30not where we are. We got to meet people where they are and take them with where they ought to be,

00:17:35and that's the goal of this administration. You know, so many people want to deify their position,

00:17:40they are this and that, and they don't want to get in on the ground. You got to get on the ground,

00:17:46because people don't know about these services. And coming into a governmental building is

00:17:50intimidating. You know, it's not easy. We may feel comfortable to do it if some of us are

00:17:55retired civil servants, but you go to the average person in the street, coming into a governmental

00:18:00building is, that's bad news I'm going down to. You know, no one goes down to the governmental

00:18:05building to say, you know, happy birthday. They go there because something happened bad at a

00:18:10birthday party. So I want a user-friendly administration. Thank you for that question.

00:18:18Yes, ma'am. Good afternoon, Mayor. How are you? You sort of touched base on what's going on in

00:18:25the city and what you acquired. Here's my question, and I think it lends to a lot of

00:18:31misunderstanding with the people. Yes. What are the services that the migrants are receiving

00:18:37from the city right now? Love it. That's probably one of the top questions we receive at every town

00:18:44town hall. And I hear all the time, they are getting more than what long-term New Yorkers

00:18:52are getting. First of all, I wanted to lay out the foundation that I have no control on what they

00:18:57what they are getting and not. I have to follow the law. Second, people say, okay, well, they

00:19:03stand in five-star hotels. No, they stand in tents. Thousands of restrooms are outdoors.

00:19:12Their showers are outdoors. We pay on average $11 a day for three meals for them,

00:19:20for three meals. They get the basic services. They're not eligible for what everyday New Yorkers

00:19:28are eligible for. They're not eligible for our WIC. They're not eligible for our vouchers program.

00:19:34They're not eligible for all those items. And so you saw the newspaper story that says, okay,

00:19:38Eric is giving them credit cards to buy food. No, here's what we were doing.

00:19:43We found a company called Mocify. Mocify said to us, when I was on a campaign trail, I learned about

00:19:49them. And Mocify said to us, people are not eating the food that they're wasting the food,

00:19:55that we're spending money on buying. They said, we can give people a food card only that they can

00:20:04go in, instead of you spending millions and billions of dollars from an out-of-town entity

00:20:10to bring food into your city, you could get this card, $11.50 per day, per person, and they can go

00:20:19into the local stores and restaurants and buy the money locally, so the money would stay in your

00:20:25community. This is going to save you $600,000 a month, over $7 million a year, and you're going

00:20:34to cut down on food waste, so we're not wasting money. People yelled in the beginning, but now the

00:20:39editorial board of the Daily News saying right on to what y'all doing. We're saving money. We are

00:20:46putting that money, instead of our money going to some place out of our state and city and

00:20:50communities, people are now walking into the local bodegas, the local restaurants, and they're buying

00:20:56right there on the ground, where you could hire locally, and that is how we have to deal with this

00:21:00crisis. We have to find smart ways. And then we said to the migrants and asylum seekers, you got

00:21:0630 days. You come in, you're a single adult, you got to find your way, like every other person that

00:21:12came to this country. In 30 days, we're going to give you intense care. We're going to give you

00:21:16information. We're going to be like the settlement houses of yesteryears, and we're going to show you

00:21:21how to move through the system, but you can't stay here forever. We got a lot of pushback. People took

00:21:26us to court. People called me names. They said I'm inhumane. 30 days. 30 days. When we did that,

00:21:3465% of the people were able to go find their own way. And you saw a decrease in that 207,000 that

00:21:42came here. We're now down to 65,000 that are here. And we're still getting folks, we were getting

00:21:484,000 people a week, 8,000 every two weeks, 16,000 a month. We're still getting 1,000 a week

00:21:57that are coming here, but we're able to navigate and tell them when they come here, you can only

00:22:02stay in our system for 30 days. After that, you have to find your way. And all of this changes

00:22:08if we let them work. I need lifeguards, food service workers, nurses. I need bilingual

00:22:16educators. I need translators. If we allow people to work, we would not be dealing with this problem

00:22:22we're facing right now. That is the key. Employment. That's the dignity that people deserve.

00:22:28And all of you, we're all Americans now, but go back into your lineage. Imagine if your family

00:22:36members that came to this country was told you cannot work. You cannot provide for your family.

00:22:42There's nothing more undignified than someone telling you you can't provide for your family.

00:22:48And when I go to those camps, those encampments, they all say the same thing when I walk in.

00:22:53We don't want your free food. We don't want you taking care of our children. We don't want you

00:22:58washing our clothing. We just want to work. That's all we want. And that's what we need to do.

00:23:04But they're getting nothing over what everyday New Yorkers are getting. But we're going to treat them

00:23:10with dignity and respect. I'm not going to be undignified in how I treat them. And that's what

00:23:15we have been doing, bringing down that course, navigating this very challenging problem that

00:23:20we're facing.

00:23:30She said that you already brought the rat situation up. That was the question.

00:23:34You're like me. I hate Mickey.

00:23:38Yes, we have a lot of problems with the rats and the subways. And I know you have put down bird

00:23:44control for them. And it was much safer than the poison that the birds would eat the poison.

00:23:49And there was a lot of birds around, especially our lovely owl that died from there, the Central

00:23:56Park owl. So this is a good thing to do, to put their bird control down for them, I think.

00:24:03Yes, I like that. Where did you get that Brooklyn accent from?

00:24:12And I want to turn it over to our rat czar, who I just adore.

00:24:16Tell us, let's answer that question.

00:24:19Thank you, Mayor Adams. Thank you for the question. So we employ a number of different

00:24:24techniques, all part of integrated pest management to tackle our rat issue in New York City. So the

00:24:30mayor mentioned some going after their food source. So every time we are taking a black

00:24:35bag off the street, and in this November, Department of Sanitation rules are going to

00:24:39have 70% of our waste now in containers curbside. We're taking a meal away from a rat and decreasing

00:24:46their ability to breed in our city. We also do a range of extermination techniques. Some

00:24:53use rodenticide, as you mentioned. Some are non-rodenticide treatments. And actually,

00:24:57our parks department, you mentioned our birds of prey. Our parks department is spearheading,

00:25:03and a leader, really, in this field of using non-rodenticide treatment in parks anytime

00:25:08there is a nesting bird. So if there is a nesting bird in a park, our parks department tracks that.

00:25:14And if they need to do any extermination, they're using non-poison methods to make sure we're

00:25:18tackling rats, but keeping our other wildlife safe. The most surprising thing I learned about this,

00:25:27that someone could be so smart on rats. You have a PhD on rats or something?

00:25:32She can tell you everything about a rat. Yes, ma'am.

00:25:38Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Pleasure having you here. The question that I have is, how do we get,

00:25:50as well as keep, the funding that we get in order to provide for the senior members

00:25:58as background? We pretty much, with the funding, we provide trips to the museums,

00:26:06maybe have an outing here and there. We haven't had as many of those as I recall in the past.

00:26:13And I know that for some of the older people, it's a way for them to get out, see the countryside,

00:26:20see something totally different. It's beneficial for them. I think beneficial for all the other

00:26:26people as well. How can you, what words can you share on that? Thank you. Thank you. And

00:26:34I want you to get it, but you're onto something more than you probably even realize.

00:26:41I lost mommy in April when I was running in 2021. And I started to really look into

00:26:49the whole concept of loneliness. And loneliness is one of the leading causes of the social

00:26:54determinants of health. And in fact, in some European countries, they have loneliness czars.

00:27:00Because what loneliness does, if you are not doing those things, going out, being among your

00:27:06friends and loved ones, it actually aggravates some of the major health issues that you have.

00:27:13One study showed loneliness is the equivalent of smoking five packs of cigarettes a day.

00:27:19And so we have to, we have to do those things that you're saying, because your mind is still sharp.

00:27:26You still want to enjoy. I was trying to get my mother to, when she, my mommy was in her 80s,

00:27:32I was trying to get her to come move in and stay with me. She said, I don't want you to see my

00:27:35boyfriend. I'm not moving in with you. So that continuing interaction. So coming here, interacting

00:27:45with people who care for you, who want to still appreciate what you bring is crucial. It is part

00:27:52of our health. We've ignored it and never looked at it, but loneliness is a major issue. And we

00:28:00have to find creative ways. Now I know we spared some of the cuts. So why don't you go into that?

00:28:05Absolutely, Mr. Mayor. Again, Sharon, Sharon, your program director over there knows full well

00:28:12that what we invest in is quality enriched programs. And we want to make sure that it

00:28:18isn't just one type of activity, but a diverse set of activities that keep you interested. And

00:28:24thank you for earlier sharing your story with me. I really appreciated that. We know a couple other

00:28:30things are happening. The mayor said, we've got to use the dollars that we have. We want to make

00:28:34sure that the program, when we invest in them, you've got a kitchen here where you've got good

00:28:40food, right? So it's about the food. It's delicious. You want activities that are enriching, whether

00:28:46it's the painting classes you have here or it's trips. We also know that it's a bit more expensive,

00:28:52all of those things. So what the commissioner and we are all doing with the dollars we have right

00:28:57now is looking at what your participation looks like on any given day, right? How many folks are

00:29:04showing up and making sure that the centers who are using those dollars continue to have access

00:29:08to those monies and where we need to take the resources that we have within the network and

00:29:14enrich programs, we're also going to be taking those steps, right? The third thing that is

00:29:19important to know is the mayor last year came and danced with us at an event. How many of you

00:29:25were part of Talent is Timeless last year? Not a lot. All right. Well, guess what? We're doing it

00:29:32again this year. And we have a competition citywide that over a thousand older adults participated in,

00:29:40whether it was dancing or it was singing or other kinds of activities, we want to make sure

00:29:47that everybody knows how vibrant and excited and continue to contribute to community. You do this

00:29:54work in community every day, and we're going to make sure that those kinds of activities that we

00:29:59fundraise for to amplify the work you're doing, that's part of how we're going to get additional

00:30:04dollars to enrich what you do. So using the dollars fully, our program officers are here,

00:30:09they work closely with Sharon to make sure that we know how monies are being spent and if there

00:30:13are other things we could be doing, and we're also investing additional dollars in citywide things

00:30:18that are exciting and keep the activity levels high. And we spared our programs from cuts.

00:30:27We spared them from cuts. So to find more money, we need to. We want to make sure that these are

00:30:32vibrant, lively places, you know, so we're with you 100%.

00:31:02Great question. It's an important question, and we're going to continue to find and hear from you.

00:31:14What are some of the programming that we can do? You know, that's what we need to give feedback.

00:31:20What are some of the programming that we can do to make sure it's more thorough? That may be a

00:31:25question that we should put out on what type of program. Yeah, and Mr. Mayor, we have a live survey

00:31:30right now that I hope you should have had access to. If not, we're going to make sure that we send

00:31:36it around yet again. Our team has heard this over and over again, especially from older adults who

00:31:41are not currently coming to centers. And as I said earlier, I often get from new members, right, folks

00:31:48who show up for the first time and I meet you and you say, this is my first week or my first month

00:31:54or I just started coming here and I didn't know how exciting it could be, but I don't need this

00:31:59program. I want this other thing. So we have a live survey right now. It's open. We're going to run it

00:32:03through September. There are over 6,000 individuals citywide that have responded, but that's not enough.

00:32:10We want to make sure that it's a diverse response, that folks in communities we usually don't hear

00:32:14from are reaching out and getting back to us. So we're going to send this around to you and maybe

00:32:19in the live version of this, also drop it in the YouTube so that everybody who's watching today

00:32:25is able to take that survey. It takes about 10 minutes. We also work with the program team

00:32:29for paper versions so that you give us feedback. So that's happening right now. Very, very important.

00:32:35That's good stuff. And we also have, who's my, from police department, who's my senior person that's here?

00:32:42Yeah, no, that's a CO. Every precinct has a. Yeah, your liaison. Yeah, who's my senior liaison?

00:32:49Are you? Don't, come on up. Come on so they can know who you are. Would commissioner,

00:32:54what commissioner Stewart did, he put in place a, how you doing? Good. He put in place

00:33:06a senior representative in every precinct so that you can go there for whatever reason

00:33:15to get information to help you navigate the system. So you should know who the person is.

00:33:20This is officer Perez. You're the senior person. Won't you introduce yourself?

00:33:29Good afternoon, everyone. My name is officer Perez. I am crime prevention officer from the

00:33:3450 precinct. I've been with the 50 precinct for about eight and a half years. I just took over

00:33:41over the position about two months ago. I used to be a NCO. So I'm new now and I have a business

00:33:48card if you would like some. Okay. Okay. You can tell officer Perez don't like talking on the mic.

00:33:58But thank you. So get a card. I thought it was a brilliant, brilliant idea by commission,

00:34:04commissioner Stewart. We all, no matter if you don't remember any number in the city, we all

00:34:10know 9-1-1 and many of us know where our precinct is located. So now you have the comfort of walking

00:34:16in the precinct asking for officer Perez. If she can't get the answer for you, she'll assist you

00:34:22on what agency can get that answer for you. That is very important. Okay. Next, next table. How are

00:34:29you, ma'am? Hi, good afternoon. Thank you so much for coming up to Riverdale. I really appreciate

00:34:34this meeting. I had a personal question and it was about coyotes. We have a serious problem up in

00:34:43Riverdale. I walk my dog on Palisades Avenue every night and you can hear them and it's a herd of

00:34:53coyotes. I would like to know if your department protects us, should I reach out to you? Is there

00:35:01something that could be done? That's my personal question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was worried about

00:35:05rats. You know, I don't know. Do we have pest control? Do we have?

00:35:16It's so serious that I just, if I may continue. Yes, yes. It's so serious that one day

00:35:22I take the same route every day and I mentioned it to our group. I was passing and I noticed

00:35:29feces that looked very strange and it could have not come from a dog. I took a picture of it.

00:35:36I talked about it in our groups, wondering what animal is this? So I can share this with you later.

00:35:44Great. Thank you. And coyotes are not my area of expertise, but we can get connected with the

00:35:51Parks Department and the Department of Health and see where we can liaise there. We also have

00:35:56Alex Silver here, who is the Director of Animal Welfare and has worked a lot with groups around

00:36:04other wildlife in New York City. So we'll make sure we get all contact information exchanged,

00:36:09come up with, you know, what's in the city's rights and regulations when it comes to coyotes

00:36:13and making sure they stay safe and our humans stay safe as well. So what do we do normally?

00:36:18You know, I know dogs and cats and other stuff. Like, what do we do? This is the first time I

00:36:23heard about coyotes, you know.

00:36:25New York City has a lot of animals, a lot of them. Thank you so much.

00:36:29One, two.

00:36:31Hi, thank you. Yes, I'm Director Alex Silver, Director of the Mayor's Office of Animal Welfare.

00:36:36I've heard about coyotes. New York City has a lot of wildlife that we don't always think about as

00:36:41being part of New York. Here in the Bronx, of course, you certainly do. Coyotes generally, you know,

00:36:47we leave them alone, they'll leave us alone. So the Parks Department has a wonderful initiative

00:36:52called Wildlife NYC. So there's a very detailed website anyone can go to. If you google Wildlife

00:36:59NYC, there's a whole page on coyotes with a lot of information. And we can, as Kathy said, you know,

00:37:04connect with the Parks Department. I know they've done workshops all about coyotes. They'll do

00:37:09webinars. I think we did some with community boards. But generally speaking, we leave them

00:37:14alone, they leave us alone. That works with a lot of animals. We don't want to obviously feed them.

00:37:19That ties in with a lot of the work that we're doing around containerization, right? So if you

00:37:23you don't want to leave food out, that would attract them to their areas. And then I think,

00:37:26did you say you have a dog? I do. Yeah, so very important that you keep your dog on your leash

00:37:31and make sure that you keep your dog safe because, you know, coyotes could go after a dog.

00:37:37Probably if you're there, they're not going to. But again, very important, keep your dogs leashed

00:37:41because you don't want them to actually scurry away and then become prey. And so why don't we

00:37:45do it? Because I heard you said you have a group. You have a group. Okay, so why don't we do this?

00:37:51Why don't we coordinate a sort of everything you need to know about coyotes sort of thing

00:37:57and do a Zoom where you can invite everyone on in an area. You can invite folks from your block

00:38:04and we'll do a presentation, some information and just have you more informed about it. Okay,

00:38:09so let's coordinate, get the contact information and we'll set that up. Okay. Yes, you can. Yes,

00:38:15you can. Thank you. Thank you so much. My question, I realized in the video that it's

00:38:23that each precinct has that older adult service unit. Yes. My concern and I think a lot of seniors

00:38:29concern is when we're ill and we can't reach out to our provider, our healthcare provider,

00:38:36do you see somewhere within your budget that we could have a community health program or health

00:38:44urgent care just for seniors? Terry Moore, explain more for me. Explain more? Yeah. I'm ill. I'm, um,

00:38:51I want to go see my doctor. My doctor's on vacation. He, you know, and I don't want to go to

00:38:56the emergency room, but I'm able to go just like a city MD, but it's for elder care. And here at

00:39:03elder care, they have our information. They're able to pull up our, our prescriptions from any

00:39:09pharmacy. They're able to take their time, listen to us because it could be heat. It could be just

00:39:15loneliness. It could be a number of things. But I think bringing seniors into an emergency care

00:39:22setting where they're going to be overwhelmed one by the traffic of people that are there for many

00:39:27things. And they would usually say, no, I don't want to go. They can go to this senior center

00:39:34for healthcare and be able to be serviced, be able to get a meal they may have not eaten and

00:39:40be able to get the follow-up needed throughout the senior centers throughout the city. Great

00:39:45question. Before you respond, that's a great question. My, my, my, my mind is rolling because

00:39:51there's a lot into what you just said. And one of them is, is this right here. This is our emergency

00:39:58contact card. It's magnetic. It fits on your refrig or anywhere in the house. What often

00:40:04happens when an emergency responder comes to your house, if you're going through a medical crisis,

00:40:09that basic information you can't remember, or you, you know, just dealing with the crisis. So this

00:40:15card we created that you put right on your refrig, where if an emergency person comes,

00:40:20it's your name, your emergency contact number, your primary care doctor, your chronic condition,

00:40:26if you have one, any allergies, any allergies, if you're allergic to medication or any medication

00:40:32you're taking. This is just basic information. So we're giving these out. Feel free to use them.

00:40:39And the second thing that came to my mind is that we have something now called teen space.

00:40:46We were seeing a great deal of, of, of, it was, it's being used for depression with young people.

00:40:52They, they're using telemedicine right now. All these young people, they have the contact number,

00:40:5824 hours, they get in contact with a healthcare professional, medical, a, a psychiatrist or

00:41:03counselor, and they're able to talk to them using their phones. We have been blown away at how much

00:41:09these young people have been using it, number one, and number two, giving it two thumbs, thumbs up.

00:41:15I think there's a way we can sort of find what you're talking about and what you would like to,

00:41:20like to do. Give me, what are your, what's your thoughts?

00:41:22Yeah, I, I think you're, you're in the right direction. We learned so much during COVID

00:41:27about telehealth and, and wellness that we need to continue investing in that. Each of the, you,

00:41:32you also mentioned in the senior centers, making sure there's a partnership there.

00:41:36We currently, there's case assistance, and for, for those of you who might avail yourselves of

00:41:41that already, in every older adult center that we fund, there's a component where the older adult

00:41:48center has a case manager who is there for a number of different needs that you have to connect you to

00:41:53different, to other healthcare providers, right? So that's already embedded. Many of the programs

00:41:59also, also have what we call, and for, it's still mental health programs. It's still called

00:42:03geriatric mental health. What we did under this mayor's leadership and our commissioner was we

00:42:09expanded from about 20 something programs to 88 citywide. So one of, one of the things is making

00:42:15sure that you have mental health support, a clinician who is visiting this center.

00:42:20And then the, the final thing is, if you're, you're not necessarily saying you're homebound,

00:42:25you can't leave home ever, but you may be temporarily homebound, we also have case

00:42:30management programs available citywide in each borough and district. And there you have folks

00:42:37where they can connect with mental health or medical practitioners, or it might be, you said,

00:42:43one other thing, which is it might just be heat. You're not feeling well, you need a wellness check,

00:42:47people to call you and check up on you. So some of those services already exist,

00:42:52but I absolutely think that you're getting on something where we got to go back to some of the

00:42:56basics where people show up. And I don't know if our health department wants to share a little bit

00:43:00more about the community programs that they have. Well, I definitely want to point out about these

00:43:05cards and the importance of these cards, because as a clinician, when I'm in the hospital and

00:43:10someone rolls up to me and says, whatever the situation, and they're not conscious,

00:43:15I won't know what medications they are to help them immediately. So what happens is a lot of

00:43:20seniors rely on either their caregiver or their family, and a lot of times they won't know these

00:43:25medications either. And by the time I go to a computer, pull up your medications to see what

00:43:31your contraindications are, that's minutes. Well, if you have this card, you have no idea how

00:43:37important that is. When I look at it, I have a sense of relief to administer what I need to do

00:43:41to save your life. So please, this is a really important card. So just to follow up, so are you

00:43:47saying that if there's an emergency, EMS shows up, they're aware to see if we have these cards

00:43:54on our fridge? I mean, is that going to be part of their process? Yes, we're feeding that into

00:43:59the protocol. We're feeding that into the protocol. We are of the mindset that every agency

00:44:06should be working in collaboration with each other. So if the police department is putting something

00:44:10in place, such as these card notification, EMS need to know, okay, let me take that quick look

00:44:16at the refrigerator to do just that. But I just really think you're onto something,

00:44:22and I just need to process it more. We can circle back. I'm looking at a combination of the

00:44:29Teenspace app. Telemedicine is unbelievable right now. They're able to diagnose different things.

00:44:37They would check different quick checks. You shouldn't have to go to the doctor anymore for

00:44:43basic routine check-ins. We're finding people are more likely to do this by using telemedicine.

00:44:50We're getting so many more use of it. We need to look at it in this space also. Thank you so much.

00:44:54Thank you. I'm right here. But before, this is our advisory board president,

00:45:00and she's just celebrating her 80th birthday over there, Ms. Camacho. Happy birthday.

00:45:05Don't 80 look good?

00:45:16Love it.

00:45:21Love it. Happy birthday.

00:45:23Look at that.

00:45:38Good to see you. Happy birthday.

00:45:41Good afternoon, Mayor Adams. It's so wonderful meeting you in person.

00:45:46We see you on television. Okay. There seems to be an increase in hate crimes. I think you alluded

00:45:54to it with the different groups that you mentioned before at the beginning of this discussion.

00:45:59However, there's a lack of consequences for a lot of these people's actions.

00:46:06For example, most recently, the burning of the flags on college campuses.

00:46:11Hate is not acceptable. So what can be done? What is the city being done about this?

00:46:19No, great question. It's not your imagination. We have an 84% increase in anti-Semitism.

00:46:27We have doubled the number of Islamophobia that's seen in the city. We're seeing,

00:46:36we're seeing just about every group, Asian community, just about every group, we're seeing

00:46:43some level of increase in hate. I think we have to go back to the basics on what we need to do.

00:46:52We do something in our administration called Breaking Bread, Building Bonds. We did it last

00:46:56year and we want to continue to push on it this year. A thousand dinners across the city.

00:47:03Each person at a dinner table, 10 people, all of them come from a different ethnic cultural

00:47:11background and they're doing something revolutionary. They're talking to each other.

00:47:15They're learning from each other. Why you wear a yarmulke, a hijab? What is Kwanzaa? What is Diwali?

00:47:21We are fostering communication because hate has no place in our city, in our country,

00:47:29and we've normalized hate. People are comfortable in being hateful.

00:47:35The Councilman Borrelli said something that really resonated with me. He said,

00:47:39it's all right to be angry, but it's not all right to hate. Anger motivates us for change.

00:47:45Hate wants us to destroy each other. I think that we want to do this cross-collaboration.

00:47:52We should bring a senior center from Sunset Park up here and sit down and engage in those

00:47:58conversations. We should bring a center from South Jamaica, Queens to Bensonhurst to communicate.

00:48:05It's unbelievable how diverse we are as a city, but we still do not cross-collaborate as much as

00:48:10we need to. And then we have to get into our schools. I was very, very alarmed and concerned

00:48:16with some of the things I saw on our college campuses, that anti-Americanism that we saw

00:48:23calling out for the destructions of groups. It's just not who we are. And you see this erosion of

00:48:29just loving our country. There's a poll survey out. Only 18% of 18 to 34-year-olds really love

00:48:39America. That's frightening. We have to fall in love with our country again. This is the greatest

00:48:47country on the globe. No one is lining borders leaving America. They're lining borders to come

00:48:52into America. And we no longer love this product that we have. And so I just think it's important

00:49:00that we go down to the basics. And I look at the diversity I see in this room. It says a lot.

00:49:09It says a lot. And we need to continue to expound and expand on that. Because what you are feeling,

00:49:18the numbers are right. And then finally, we should have a no-plea bargaining rule for anyone that

00:49:24carries out a hate crime. You should not be able to go in, get arrested, then all of a sudden you

00:49:30out the next day laughing about it. No. I think our DAs should say there's a no-plea bargaining rule.

00:49:36You commit a hate crime, you're going to be held accountable for it. And we have an amazing

00:49:40initiative from Human Rights. That's that one, that button that you see. I see our councilman

00:49:47joined us also. Good to see you, councilman. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good afternoon, everyone.

00:49:52So as Mr. Mayor said, hate has no place in New York City. And sometimes acts of hate are not

00:49:59taking place externally. They are taking place in areas of housing, in employment, in public

00:50:06accommodations, where it starts as a bias incident, where it starts as a discrimination

00:50:13incident. We all need to know that discrimination is prohibited in New York City. And if any of you

00:50:21feel you've been discriminated because of your race, religion, national origin, or any of the 27

00:50:28plus protected identities, you have a recourse to the City Commission on Human Rights. You can call

00:50:34us. I have my business cards. I'm going to send it out after. Please reach out to us, because hate

00:50:40has no place in New York City. We currently have a campaign, and I'm wearing a button. I have some

00:50:47additional buttons. Please take them as well, where our focus is to ensure that New York City

00:50:54is a place where everyone can live, work, and thrive free of bias, hate, and discrimination.

00:51:02Well said. And the loudest, they are not the majority. There's more of us

00:51:10than there are those, than them, than those who are trying to divide us. And we just have to

00:51:15now add our voices and be really creative on bringing people together. I think we're at a

00:51:22critical stage. Hate has been normalized at a pace I've never thought I would see again

00:51:29in our country. So thank you for that question. Over here, Ms. Mayer.

00:51:36Yes, ma'am. Hi. How are you? I'm coming. I'm going to contextualize the question

00:51:43that I wanted to ask. You've pointed several times to the importance of combating loneliness,

00:51:50and I want to talk about what measures are in place to protect,

00:51:56preserve existing housing for seniors, and create new independent living facilities

00:52:04for older adults. And who can I contact about that? Thank you. Who I have from HPD? Okay.

00:52:17I want you to respond to the question, but what we, the number one thing we must do, ma'am,

00:52:22have to build more housing. We have a 1.4% vacancy rate in the city. So all those,

00:52:33with the number of people that are looking for housing, we don't have enough units. That's one

00:52:38of the most important things we need to do. Yes. More specifically, the situation that prompted

00:52:45the question involved existing housing that is being sold off from the not-for-profit sector

00:52:56to the profit sector. Tell me more about that.

00:53:02The New Jewish Home owns a property right across from the VA hospital on Kingsbridge and Webb.

00:53:15And wasn't interested any longer in managing it. Has moved its focus to Manhattan and more

00:53:29into healthcare. Could not find another buyer, supposedly, within the not-for-profit sector.

00:53:38Has already sold several of its properties to Citadel and is now in the process of selling

00:53:46its independent living facility to Citadel with horrible consequence.

00:53:53Yeah. So first and most importantly, we can't control privately owned property. We can't go

00:53:59to them and say, no, you cannot sell it to someone. We can't control that. But what we can

00:54:05control is using governmental subsidies to build senior housing, affordable housing,

00:54:11supportive housing. And as I said in the beginning, we've built more of that in one

00:54:17year and two years actually back to back in the history of the city. We've built more of that.

00:54:23But what we need is more land and more ways to build. We have zoning laws that have not been

00:54:30changed since the 60s and they have prevented housing. And so what we're doing with the City

00:54:37of Yes is we're saying let's build a little bit more housing in every community. Instead of there's

00:54:4459 community boards in the city, 10 community boards have built more affordable housing than

00:54:50the other 49 combined. That's just unfair. Access to good schools, access to good medical facilities,

00:54:58access to good transportation, access to good housing. It should be shared throughout the

00:55:05entire city, not only for our seniors, our vets, those type of supportive housing. We need to build

00:55:12more housing. We got a 1.4% vacancy rate. That is the lowest it has been in decades. So we have to

00:55:21build more housing. You want to talk about? Sure. I'm Ted Weinstein. I'm Director of Bronx Planning

00:55:27for HPD, Department of Housing Preservation and Development. We do a variety of things and you

00:55:31touched upon several different things. In terms of just new construction very quickly, we have

00:55:36various programs that provide financing to build in a perfect world. We would just leave it to the

00:55:42industry to build whatever's needed. That's not going to happen. We're not going to get affordable

00:55:46housing that way. And so what we do is we provide financing to developers to build affordable

00:55:52housing. Some is for very low income people, for low income, for moderate income and for seniors.

00:55:58In this administration, I know we've produced over 2200 units of new senior housing and we're

00:56:05constantly getting, we have a long waiting list for developers who want to do that. One of the

00:56:10issues is land. You know, there was a time and I know many of you are familiar with the fact that

00:56:14there was things that done back in the 1980s, 1990s that the city became an owner of property.

00:56:21Most of that property is already taken care of. It's already developed. So most of our financing

00:56:26goes to privately owned land, privately owned developers. And we will provide financing.

00:56:32We're constantly, I encourage everybody, take a look at our website,

00:56:36and you'll see all of our different programs, including even just basic tips on how do you find,

00:56:45you know, if you're looking for an apartment, how do you find it? Thank you. Thank you. But

00:56:48housing, housing, we need, we need housing, you know, so we're right with you. You need a bed.

00:56:54I want to just pause for one moment. I just saw that we have the councilman that has joined us.

00:56:58You must want to say hello to your constituents. I know you hold it down. We were hanging out this

00:57:02morning around the illegal weed. That was a good press conference. They closed, the mayor working

00:57:09with the state closed over 750 of the illegal smoke shops that I know many of you call my office

00:57:14about. So that, yeah, yeah. But it's so good to see so many familiar faces, so many friends here.

00:57:23I don't know if they introduced the why to the mayor, though. Did you all talk about how

00:57:28Specialist Place is? It doesn't sound like, so I'm going to tell you how Specialist Place is to me.

00:57:36I think starting in fourth grade, so six years ago, I started going, the youngest council member,

00:57:44you can tell. I started going to summer camp here. And then when I was a teenager, I did the

00:57:49musicals here. I did the shows. Wow. A little bit into college. I wasn't that good, but man,

00:57:54I had a great time. And then when I had kids of my own, and I know a lot of you know this because

00:57:59you would hear them screaming, they were in the early childhood center here. My dad comes here

00:58:03every morning to work out. He was here earlier. He says hello. They're hosting, I'm having a

00:58:08budget forum. They're a community partner. They're hosting the budget forum that I'm having in two

00:58:12weeks on August 14th. And speaking of, you're breaking bread and building bonds, they had the

00:58:18first inaugural class of the We Are the Bronx Fellowship Against Hate, bringing together people

00:58:24from all over the Bronx, from different backgrounds, to do a fellowship, to talk to one

00:58:30other, to learn about one each other, to hear each other's experiences. All those, my story is not

00:58:35unique. That's the story of so many people here in the Bronx who've grown up here, who are sending

00:58:40their kids here, who go to the older adult center here, who have made, as their slogan goes, made

00:58:46their lives here. This building, the people here are very special. And so I want to thank you for

00:58:50coming to Riverdale. I want to thank the Riverdale Y for doing what you do best and bringing community

00:58:56together. It's really fun being your counselor and hearing some of the questions. I want to

00:59:01talk very briefly, this ain't my show, but I do want to talk briefly about a few things. First,

00:59:05Mr. Murray, you got to thank Alex, because I don't know if she remembers,

00:59:10but November 17, 2022, she hosted a Zoom about coyotes. You're all laughing as if we didn't

00:59:19get tons of calls in my office about coyotes, which is not an effective rat mitigation technique,

00:59:23let me tell you. No, we don't want them. But she, but so that's on YouTube, and I appreciate the

00:59:29offer to do another one. But I do want to publicly thank you, Alex, for coming out when our community

00:59:34needed it and for your office helping to set that up. And yes, hate crimes, the rise in hate.

00:59:40One of the things I always say about the mayor is I am, I feel really fortunate to be in a city

00:59:46where someone has spoken so clearly out against hate. Every single time, no matter the community,

00:59:53no matter where it is, states very clearly that it's not tolerated. And I think we all,

00:59:59there are a few things I want to address with this. One is so many of us know so much of the

01:00:03hate isn't the burning of the flag. It's not necessarily the swastika on the door. It's the

01:00:10everyday interactions we have with people, the feeling of not feeling welcomed. And I especially

01:00:17felt this myself as a teacher and saw it in the schools. So any efforts to help mitigate that,

01:00:25right, the burning of the flag, the swastikas, the N-word, those are the endpoints,

01:00:29or towards the endpoints of hate. They start building much earlier than that. So when the

01:00:34mayor talks about education, I'm in full support of that. And we've actually done a number of

01:00:38initiatives, investments to make sure our students are educated. And I do want to say one other thing

01:00:45about hate. I'm lobbying right now. He doesn't know it. I'm lobbying the mayor right now, okay,

01:00:51because I have a bill. One of the reasons so many of us feel hate and we feel unsafe

01:00:58is because when there is an act of bias, act of hate, someone's arrested,

01:01:03that information is public, but then we don't know what happens to that person. Are they,

01:01:09you know, is there bail? Are they tried? Are they convicted? Is there some sort of

01:01:14program for them? We don't know. But I have a bill I would love to partner with you on

01:01:20that says on the NYPD's hate crimes dashboard, they will publish what happened to that person

01:01:27so we know in our communities, you know, what happened. In Riverdale a couple years ago,

01:01:31we had the person who was vandalizing the Shules, throwing the bricks at the Shules night after

01:01:36night. And, you know, except for calling the DA's office myself, we weren't able to get any

01:01:42information. So informing the community would be something that I think would make people feel a

01:01:47lot safer knowing whether or not the person's on the street, whether, you know, any of that

01:01:50information. So I would look forward to that. And I again want to thank the mayor for being here. And

01:01:56any of the issues that are brought up today, I look forward to working with you on to making

01:02:00sure that we solve them for all of you, because that's what we are here to do. We are here to

01:02:04respond to you, to be responsive to you, to ensure that you're safe, but also to improve, maintain,

01:02:10and improve your quality of life. So I look forward to being able to continue to do that

01:02:14in partnership with the mayor and his team. Thank you. Great bill. Great bill also.

01:02:26He said, he said, what happened?

01:02:30They got, they got you. I didn't know I was going to talk. I get a little nervous,

01:02:36so forgive me and I can't stand. That's okay. I stand for you.

01:02:41Uh, it's about the, uh, New York city retirees health fund. Yes. And, uh, let's see if I can

01:02:48remember all my notes without looking at them. We've had already about seven court cases. I lost

01:02:54count and the courts ruled in our favor. The teacher's union reversed their backing. They're

01:03:02backing the retirees current health plan. Uh, the municipal council, uh, wrote you a couple of

01:03:11weeks ago, uh, asking to get together to try to resolve, uh, the health question. I got more,

01:03:20but you get the picture. You, you read my sign, you know, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. And, and I don't

01:03:27know if you, if you are, who here knows the history of how we got here? Does anyone know

01:03:33how? Yes. Yeah. Give him a mic. Give him

01:03:44right. And I know many stories about, um, advantage, Medicare,

01:03:50where people are denied services. My husband had a liver transplant last summer and if he

01:03:57had been under Medicare advantage, how do I know what they would be coveted? And you're trying to

01:04:02move us into managed care to lose our good benefits. We worked for the city at lower

01:04:09wages than working in business. And we did it because when we retired, we were told we would

01:04:16agree. Agree. And that, and your, your, your, your shirt, your shirt is the road I think about.

01:04:25Nope. You know, who knows the history of how we got here? That was my question. Does anyone know

01:04:31the history of how we got here? Yeah. Good. You do, you know,

01:04:36there you go. There you go. Give a, please give her the microphone because people need to know

01:04:47the history of how we got here. Yeah. But that doesn't mean that we need to suffer because

01:04:55they borrowed money. Right. But you didn't tell them why they didn't hear that part.

01:04:59It was for the teacher's salary. They took money from sort of a support health trust fund

01:05:05that the city put, puts money into every year. It's there to support the health

01:05:14program. Yes. If it's more expensive than a certain top price, you, that, that program would

01:05:23put money into it. And it was healthy folks. There was enough money was running well. It was healthy.

01:05:30We had a good insurance process. And so I don't know if, if you heard what the gentleman stated,

01:05:36the gentleman stated that the UFT now backs you. So you created the problem.

01:05:47And now you are running from the problem and say, I back you. The money was used as you just stated.

01:05:55They, right, right. They took, hold on. Now, now, you know, I heard you. So you got to give me a

01:06:02chance to respond. You know, no, no, no. I didn't change my mind. I didn't change my mind. I took

01:06:11all that information I needed to understand what was going on. They wouldn't give me access to that

01:06:16information. Once I got in office, I brought everyone into the room and I said, what is

01:06:22going on? I brought the, my labor. I brought in OMB. I brought in a whole team and I met with the

01:06:31MLC. I went, I went to the MLC. We sat around the table and said, how do we fix this problem?

01:06:40This is, this is costing us $50 million a month. This is what's costing us by this

01:06:47temporary status that we're in. These are taxpayers' dollars. These are taxpayers' dollars

01:06:54that this temporary status. So you've been back and forth to court and you should continue to fight.

01:07:00You should continue to fight. You should continue. You should continue to push.

01:07:04You should continue to fight because we have to find a resolution to it. That's not going to

01:07:10bankrupt your plan and that's not going to bankrupt the city. That's what I inherited.

01:07:15I inherited a plan that everyone is running away from that created,

01:07:24that's, that's my goal. That's my, and no,

01:07:29it's called, it's called, it's called a corporation council. They're responsible,

01:07:35the corporation council, the lawyers for the city are responsible for protecting the city

01:07:42interest. While they're going to court, I'm in the room with the MLC. I'm in the room with the

01:07:49unions. I'm in the room and say, listen, what are the ways we can do this and try to figure this

01:07:54out? That's how this process goes. And so last week I sat down and many of you may know him.

01:08:01I sat down with former Sergeant Gantley. He's part of the coalition that's putting this together.

01:08:08He came in and flew in from Florida. We sat down and talk. He gave me some ideas and I'm

01:08:13sitting down with labor. I want to fix this. I want to fix this, but don't let it, don't let

01:08:18anyone. Yes. But remember what I said at the beginning, your health plan is my health plan.

01:08:30Your health plan is my health plan. We in this together. And the best shot to fix this

01:08:36is somebody that needs the health plan that they're going to live off of. You go look at

01:08:42these all mayors that came before me. None of them were union members. None of them had to

01:08:47worry about their pensions. None of them had to worry about, can I afford my health plan? I'm in

01:08:52this with you. We're in the same boat. I'm the best person to be at the helm right now as we

01:08:56come to a resolution with this. Yes, sir. I just want to ask you, if you can give us a heads up,

01:09:02what was accomplished at the meeting with the municipal council?

01:09:08You know, the worst thing you could do is while you're in negotiation, leak what the negotiation

01:09:13is. We're in the negotiation, but listen, I hear, I cannot say enough. I hear you loud and clear.

01:09:22This is a problem we must fix and I'm not going to kick the can down the road. The next mayor,

01:09:29whenever he comes in or she comes in, is not going to be dealing with this issue.

01:09:35You're quite welcome. Yes, ma'am. More union questions. All good.

01:09:45I am a retired teacher and I'm not yet eligible for social security.

01:09:52I live in amalgamated housing, which is financially in bad shape. They're about to

01:09:58raise the price that we pay for it like $100 a room, but I'm not getting another cola. I'm not

01:10:07getting social security. How am I supposed to pay for it? I'm not sure if I can meet those expenses

01:10:17along with how much groceries cost. Is there provision for it in a new contract or receiving

01:10:26colas more often than we have been? I'm not quite understanding the question.

01:10:37Like I'm retired, so I get my retirement payment, but I don't get social security yet. Right, right.

01:10:44So how can people in that position keep up with the rises in expenses for where they live,

01:10:53for the food that they eat? We don't get colas all that often.

01:11:01I think this falls into one of those categories where everybody knows the mayor.

01:11:08I do not negotiate the social security. I do not negotiate those things after,

01:11:15once you're in retirement, outside of some of the healthcare benefits, etc. That's a combination

01:11:21of entities that have to do those costs of living adjustments. That does not fall

01:11:25in my purview of control. Whose control is it? Well, it's a combination. Social security,

01:11:30you know, is a federal issue. And when you're saying your adjustments in the amount of subsidies

01:11:36that are being paid, it depends on what subsidies they are. And that is what we need to look into.

01:11:41As a retired teacher, will you get colas, a cost of living? I get variable supplement as a retired

01:11:47police officer. I think I've gotten one. I've been retired for six years now. I put in 31 years

01:11:54into teaching. That's a good run. Yes. And so in our, in my retirement plan, I get what's called

01:12:01variable supplement. I get an additional amount each year as a former police officer. My pension

01:12:08is not cola. I don't get a cost of living adjustment on my pension. It doesn't add on

01:12:14as cost of living. Now, should we? That's something that state lawmakers would have to

01:12:20look at to make the determination. Should we give cost of living adjustment on pension payments?

01:12:26And that will come out of our pension funds. That may not be a bad idea. You could,

01:12:31I think you got to talk to your state lawmakers to make that happen. Okay. Thank you.

01:12:36Yes, you can. Only if you want to.

01:12:44Thank you. Well, this is a little different question. Yes. I like to know that everybody's

01:12:52aware of that. Everybody takes buses one way or the other. Yes. Okay. I lost my husband,

01:13:02so we used to have a car. We could drive everywhere. I have a license, but nobody

01:13:07let me drive. They didn't want to get killed. So I'm now an avid driver, rider with buses.

01:13:17And what I'm seeing is that there is no common sense anymore. I see on 234th Street and Broadway,

01:13:2640 people going in the back door. And I want to know, and we are all squeezed like sardines

01:13:33talking about COVID. That's the best way to get it. So the point is, what's going on? And the

01:13:40MTA is crying for money. And I'm saying to myself, are they out of their minds? I mean,

01:13:46you're going on a bus, you want to relax, you want to enjoy the day. Actually, this is my enjoyment.

01:13:53So they change another thing. They have those signs, the signs that says senior citizens.

01:13:59They are thinking that senior citizens are so silly and blind and deaf and dumb. So they put

01:14:06the signs way on the bottom. So the senior citizens sitting by the window can't even look

01:14:12it out and enjoy the ride for half an hour, whatever. Okay. My question is why-

01:14:19I thought that was your question.

01:14:22That's part of it. But I want to know just MTA is crying for money. They say they have no money.

01:14:31In the meantime, do you know what they're showing on the way you put your money in?

01:14:37Three people came in. That's how it shows. Oh, he closes up. I says, why are you closing this up?

01:14:44No, we don't need it today. And another driver says, don't go through the front, go through the

01:14:49back. You must be kidding. The city is falling and everybody see it. Nobody talks about it.

01:14:56Let me answer that because there's a level of clarity and a level of honesty, what you're

01:15:05saying. When we came into office, no one was, people were not paying their fare. Everyday

01:15:10taxpayers was picking up the cost of that. Although we did reduce fare of Metro cards for

01:15:16extremely low income New Yorkers, people just became comfortable because many of the district

01:15:21attorneys back then were saying, we're not going to prosecute in any way those who are not paying

01:15:26their fares. And then people who were eligible to pay their fare was just walking through the gate.

01:15:30So one night I went to 125th street and Lexington Avenue and I stood there and it was unbelievable

01:15:38how, I don't even know why we had gates there because nobody was paying their fare. We went

01:15:43and started cracking down on it and sending the right tone and the right message that if you don't

01:15:49have the money to pay your fare, there are methods to get a free ride. But if you do, you have to pay

01:15:54your fare. We stopped doing that. We stopped prosecuting those cases. Now we're back in the

01:16:00business of making sure that people are paying their fare because you're right. We're hemorrhaging

01:16:03money. We lose millions of dollars because people are not paying their fare and many are able to pay

01:16:09it, just refuse to do it. We're the same way with you. Everyone should pay their fare that's suitable

01:16:14for paying their fare. Now you're not going to get your microphone again because we're going to switch

01:16:17over to the next table. We heard you. Thank you. How are you ma'am? Good afternoon mayor. Good to

01:16:25see you. I must say that you're a handsome man and I love your biceps also. Yeah but nobody wants to

01:16:33marry me. But listen, I have four eligible daughters. You know, mothers tell you bring

01:16:48home a doctor or lawyer. No one said bring home a mayor. I'm going to say bring home a mayor

01:16:55and you'll be the perfect son-in-law for me.

01:16:58Now I had something else to ask you. Yes. The gentleman said he would refer it to somebody

01:17:06else. Okay. It seems as if the threat of loneliness has captured this room, you know, and I think it's

01:17:12going to be the new disease. That's right. Not only for young, not only for old, but also young, you know.

01:17:20I don't know. Is it because of lack of friends or family? I don't think so. I don't know what it is

01:17:25but it just permeates each and every one of us. I'm an empty nester, you know, and I'm accustomed

01:17:32cooking and raising my children. The laughter, the merriment, and it's a void. And I think one thing

01:17:39that can resolve it, and maybe you could do something about it, it's the adoption system with

01:17:46the pets. Because I know that a lot of us love pets but the red tape that one has to go through,

01:17:54you know, the application forms, the fees, etc. If something could be done to eradicate that,

01:18:01it would be wonderful. And I have a lovely home waiting for a little furry pet.

01:18:08And when my son-in-law, the mayor, comes...

01:18:24Oh man. So let's talk about that, the challenges of adoption.

01:18:32Yeah, I didn't know there was a lot of...

01:18:40Is that on? Yeah. I love all the animal questions today. Wow, this is a good crowd.

01:18:46I love that you brought up pet adoption and I would love to chat to you after about your

01:18:51experiences, if there's anything specific that you've come across. The city has, unfortunately,

01:18:57hundreds of homeless animals in animal shelters that are looking for homes. Cats, dogs, rabbits,

01:19:03guinea pigs. So I'm sure we can find you a furry friend to take home and you would be doing an

01:19:09amazing thing because the shelters are really struggling right now. So yeah, I'd love to hear

01:19:14about your experiences. Animal Care Centers of New York City is contracted by the city

01:19:19to serve all five boroughs as the animal shelter. They just opened a new shelter in Queens. One is

01:19:25coming to the Bronx. We're building it. But it should be very easy at ACC to adopt. They'll

01:19:30have a conversation. They try to lower barriers because nationwide we're recognizing that people

01:19:36want to offer good homes to animals and that it does have so many benefits, like you said,

01:19:40for humans, for companionship, for loneliness. So it shouldn't be that hard. I'd love to hear

01:19:46your experiences and talk further. Great, great. Because we want to make it easier. So let's look

01:19:50at that. And maybe we want to even do a campaign of how to adopt. The ABCs of adoption.

01:19:59I love it. I love it. And also fostering. If anyone isn't ready to commit to adopting a pet,

01:20:03maybe you can do it for two weeks. You can foster an animal and you will be doing an amazing thing

01:20:08and have a very rewarding experience. Yeah, I want to get a dog so bad for Gracie Mansion.

01:20:13Just taking care of them, being out on the run. And I think you're right.

01:20:19Having a pet is unbelievable on how much it could just really be a good,

01:20:26friendly atmosphere to have. I love dogs. Yes, sir. Yeah.

01:20:34Well, I want to tell you it's been a pleasure listening to you, seeing you for the first time

01:20:40in person, a whole lot better than the emails that you flood me with.

01:20:45Yeah. Okay. I wanted to tell you how grateful I am for the funding that was provided for all

01:20:53our city students, that they can have computers for free in their home.

01:21:00A tremendous, tremendous difference in our education. And I was just wondering,

01:21:07could the city provide funding to buy computers for seniors who may live on limited budgets?

01:21:16Yeah. No, I like that a lot. We did... What year was that? We did the...

01:21:20I think it was two years ago. You did a number of iPads, especially as we were getting back

01:21:27from the... A lot of... We did giveaways of these devices and they were wired so that

01:21:33folks can keep up with whether it's the grandkids or family members. Because as everyone's talked

01:21:39about social isolation, I know everyone says, look up from your phone and let's look at each

01:21:44other and talk. That is true, but we also need to stay connected. So happy to talk to you a little

01:21:51bit more about what other ideas, but we keep hearing this as one of the things that we should

01:21:56be looking at. And we're going to take that back, Mr. Mayor. So know what we're going to do also,

01:22:00because that's a great idea. We're going to the Partnership for New York City. That's our

01:22:05business entity. Kathy Weil is in charge of that. And a lot of people don't realize that each year

01:22:13corporations get rid of a large amount of computers that are just a few years old,

01:22:19still workable. I think we could create a real partnership, computers for older adults,

01:22:25COD, computer for older adults, COD. I like that. And so let's talk about that. Let's get

01:22:32these corporations in the room. Google's here. We have some of the largest tech companies that

01:22:37are here and I think it's a win for them. So I think that's a brilliant idea. Next week,

01:22:43I'm going to ask Kathy to hop on a Zoom with a lot of our tech and see what is their lifespan? When

01:22:50do they get rid of their computers? And let's partner folks with them. I think that's a great

01:22:53idea because Zoom has been introduced into our lives after COVID. That's a great way to

01:22:59communicate. It's not the ideal way, but being able to hop on and communicate is crucial.

01:23:07Telemedicine is unbelievable how it can really have you connect with many people for different

01:23:13reasons. So let's look at that. I think you're onto something. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

01:23:21I just wanted to say that having the computers is one thing, but places like the Riverdale Y has

01:23:28classes that teach the older adults how to use the computer and different computer skills. So I

01:23:37think the two go hand in hand because technology doesn't come easy to some people. So I'm thankful

01:23:44to the Riverdale Y for all their programs, and one of which is computer skills and technology.

01:23:51Absolutely. Great, great institution. And what I've found is that what motivates. When mommy

01:24:00was alive, I showed her how to email. A big mistake because she emailed me all the time to

01:24:05do everything. But doing things that motivate you, not just taking a computer course, learning

01:24:12ins and outs, but doing something. We all have a passion. If it's looking up your favorite author,

01:24:19if it's learning your recipes, that is a good training method to do. But I want to thank the

01:24:24Y for what they do, and really want to thank all of you for coming today, hearing from you,

01:24:31and just knowing that this is a city that we love. All of us love this city. Hearing about a teacher

01:24:39for over 30 something years in our school system, educating the minds of our children.

01:24:44We are committed and dedicated, and I want to thank all my team members who are here

01:24:48for coming out. If you don't know your captain, he's here. But again, thank you so much. Enjoy the

01:24:56rest of your day.

Mayor Eric Adams Speaks Directly To New Yorkers, Addresses Their Concerns In The Bronx

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