Commissioner Fred Kreizman, Community Affairs Unit: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Fred Kreizman, commissioner of the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit. It's great to be here in Williamsburg. First of all, I just want to thank Beth Chana for opening up its doors for us today. [Inaudible] Yeshiva, thank you very much. I also want to thank Community Board 1. We want to thank UJO Williamsburg, the JCC, for helping to co-host this event.
Really, thank the Brooklyn North. We are joined today by the 79, 90, PSA 3. A host of agencies here today. Of course, we'll hold all the applause to the end. We have the mayor of the City of New York. We have the deputy mayor for Administration and the chief of staff of City Hall, Camille Joseph Varlack. We have the deputy mayor for Public Safety, Kaz Daughtry. We have the deputy mayor for Operations, Jeff Roth. We have, from the deputy mayor of Intergovernmental Affairs, chief of staff, Kristin Rezek.
We have Menashe Shapiro, the deputy chief of staff of City Hall, as well as senior advisor. To my right, we have Mark Stewart, deputy commissioner for NYPD; Ydanis Rodriguez, commissioner from the Department of Transportation; Marty Maher, the borough commissioner for Parks and Recreation; Michael Saladino from Sanitation; Chief Russ Regan from Fire Department, Division 11 commander. I just want to really thank this community for we're old friends here with diverse issues.
We work throughout the CB1 with all communities here. It's a diverse community. We appreciate the cooperation, coordination with the Community Board all the time. We work with issues ranging, but this focus of this meeting here is public safety. That's why we're joined by these operational agencies. We know the coordination efforts, the time, devotion given, and even recently, at Lag BaOmer, when we had the celebration, the coordination with cleanup to ensure safety.
I remember the days when 23 people would get injured in the fire burnings, and then the coordination with the work of Hatzalah, Shomrim, all the community organizations to ensure working with the Sanitation, Fire Department, Police Department, and ensuring safety, and this is the working relationship with the community. Of course, everyone can have some community concerns. That's why we brought the agencies here, but the working coordination with all the communities here in the greater Williamsburg area. We appreciate you being here today and taking the time. At this time, I just want to give it over to the mayor, and then we'll open up for Q&A.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Good to be here. It's good to see many of you, Rabbi Niederman, Moshe Indig, and so many of you that are out tonight, and this is number what?
Commissioner Kreizman: 40.
Mayor Adams: 40. 40 town halls. This is our 40th town hall, and our goal is to get on the ground and communicate with you directly and hear from you directly. We do it all over the City. I think we did about 25 adult town halls in our older adult centers. I need my jacket. It's cold in here. You guys don't have any heat? Yesterday, we did an older adult town hall, so our goal is to get on the ground and hear from the community directly.
I know this community. Not a new friend. I'm an old friend. And I don't need a GPS to find Williamsburg. Been here many days as the ball president, and even as the state senator. I didn't represent this community, but I was here many days listening to your concerns, and this is a very interesting community for me. You don't ask for much. You want to educate your children in a manner in which you want your children to be educated. You want your streets safe.
You want to be able to walk in your synagogues without being harassed and treated in a disrespectful manner. I don't know a community that's closer to law enforcement than this community. We fought many battles together. Oh, there you are, Abe. How are you doing? As I think about the journey, go back to January 1st, 2022. Crime was high. Unemployment was high. We were dealing with the lack of affordable housing.
Matter of fact, I think, Rabbi, we just finally got the square. Right. That's right. Got it done. Got it done. Got it done. More jobs in this city and the City's history. Something that's attractive to all of you, we have leaned into small businesses. You were being harassed for generations. Every little thing that happens in your businesses, you were getting fined. People started with the citation, book first.
We went in, and we changed that mindset and changed that concept. We want your business to thrive in this city. NYPD removed over 21,000 illegal guns off the streets of the City of New York. Investing into summer youth employment, we want to make sure that you're aware of all the services we have available. Your elderly should know about SCRIE, where you can get your rent froze.
They should know about DRIE if they have disabilities. They should know about WIC, some of the programs that is provided throughout the City. Williamsburg should know about all those services that are available so that you can communicate in a manner in which you communicate. Your community, you have a specific way of how you share resources and opportunities, and we want you to be very much engaged.
That's what our city is about. We have probably the largest administration where men and women came from the ascetic and Orthodox community. I don't think there's anyone in this room that don't know Richie Taylor. Tonight, we just were receiving a large number of inquiries and information around public safety here, and your concerns for public safety, and we want to immediately identify and go after those concerns that you have.
We have our law enforcement personnel here, our chief, and our captains that's here. We have Deputy Mayor Daughtry that's here. We want to hear directly from you. Be candid, and be Williamsburg, and share your thoughts on what we can do as a city to continue to provide a vital service for you. I see [Joe Freeman] is over there also. How are you, Joe? Why don't we start this up? Do we have a list? How are we flowing?
Commissioner Kreizman: This will be people signed up here, and we're going to go in order of the list. Give the head of the non-for-profit an opportunity to speak as well. First, before we go to the list, Rabbi David Niederman and Moshe Indig, if you want to say something, then we'll go down the list.
Mayor Adams: Thank you.
Rabbi David Niederman: Mr. Mayor, you are not a guest over here, but you are welcomed as you have been here the first time. We appreciate that now you came, as you said, to hear from everybody here. May I say something? You took a page of my book. I wanted to talk about what it meant, the City of Yes, to a community that is plagued by the lack of affordable housing. Thank you, thank you.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you.
Rabbi Niederman: Mr. Mayor, you have a nickname, and that's called GSD, Get Stuff Done. Let me thank you for something that happened this week. As a frequent flyer here to Williamsburg, we met at Hatzalah Garage in March, and I asked you, Mr. Mayor, to intervene that thousands of families in the Jewish community and all over in the city should not lose the much-needed vouchers for working families so that both parents can work and put bread on the table. You have responded. Millions of dollars, the state put in millions of dollars, and you matched that, and that was done this week. Thank you for saving our families.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. [Inaudible.]
Rabbi Niederman: One more.
Mayor Adams: Let him finish. He's saying something good. Let him talk as long as he wants.
Rabbi Niederman: The mayor knows what I'm going to say. Mr. Mayor, I know where your heart is, and may I present to you the plea of the families over here when we're dealing of safety, and safety is not only not to be shot with a gun, which you are doing wonders on removing them, but also safety on the streets when our small children have to cross and go onto their buses.
We have just installed, six months ago, installed a bike lane on Bedford Avenue. Just a block away. We have presented, at that time, a study to the DOT, saying how dangerous it might be that thousands of children in these few blocks have to board buses, tens of buses a day, and with a protected bike lane, it creates a problem. We have presented that. Unfortunately, we did not; there was no real give and take, and it was installed.
We urge you, again, please, for the sake of our children, your children, mayor, children of the City of New York, to take another view, and we respectfully present to divert the bike lane to a place where it is safe, both for the bikers and also for the children. We shouldn't see what's happening in the past few weeks. One child knocked down another child, and another child. DeKalb Avenue is a route. I'll present, again, my presentation to the DOT Commissioner, and I respectfully hope that it will be considered. Thank you. Thank you for getting things done.
Mayor Adams: Well, I want to first want to go, because you talked about a couple of things, first, the voucher issue. This was a state program where the state encouraged us to sign up as many children as possible, and after we did so, they did not live up to their commitment. I'm clear, we're not going to leave our children behind. We're going to continue to do what we said we're going to do and make sure that the children who are in need are going to get the support that they deserve. That's very important to this administration. Commissioner, do you want to talk about this bike lane?
Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, Department of Transportation: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As the leadership of the Jewish community know, having been here, Keith, our Brooklyn Borough commissioner, we always respond to your ask, and we are more than happy to be open to your ideas and suggestions. One thing that we should know is that before this bike lane from 2018 to '22, we have 18 percent of injuries of children and biking and pedestrians in this area.
This is the area that had the second largest numbers of pedestrian fatalities and crashes in the City. More than happy again to hear your plan, and if anything that we can do, we are not coming with a mentality to impose. Mayor always say we need to hear from the community, and we need to put the best plan. New York City last year, we had 226 million bike trips compared to 98 million that we have in 2009. Definitely, that community of people who are biking is part of our city. We have to also organize our space for everyone to walk, to bike, to ride, drive their car, being safe. I'm more than happy to follow with your suggestions.
Mayor Adams: Tell me something, I'm curious. Commissioner, when you said there was a new route that you proposed? What was the route that you proposed?
Rabbi Niederman: The way it's now, it goes to Flushing Avenue. Flushing Avenue is, as is, let's not call it a danger, but a very difficult street. The fatalities over the past few years, and we have asked to divert the bike lane on Bedford to DeKalb, where there, they will have safer routes to proceed.
Commissioner Rodriguez: We do, but we are open to-- I think that they have a specific proposal on how to reroute the bike lane. This is something that we can, again, sit down, have this conversation. We are still looking at the data that we have. Again, one of the things that mayors always say is that we have to make everyone accountable. As we are planning our space for people to bike, we know the concern that also you have brought to us when it came to some children that they are crossing the street, that they are coming from the buses, that you feel that they must be safer. What I'm saying is that we are more than happy to follow all the conversation with the leadership [inaudible] and Keefe having a meeting with them, and we are open to hear your suggestions.
Rabbi Niederman: Thank you so much.
Mayor Adams: Okay, so let's give the commissioner the proposal. Because if I see you and Moshe here, something must be concerning. Let's give him the proposal. Let him look at it. We have heard concerns about it before, and we were out in Rockaway a couple of months ago, and there was a bike lane by Rockaway Beach that people were concerned about as well. Give the proposal to the commissioner, and let us look at the conversation, all right? Okay, thank you, thank you.
Commissioner Kreizman: I want to give an opportunity for Moshe Indig.
Mayor Adams: Moshe.
Rabbi Moshe Indig: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First, I want to thank you again. As we know that you're not a stranger, but we're always happy to see you again. Thank you for coming. I would like to echo what Rabbi Niederman just said about first about the school vouchers. It was a major, major deal for the community, for all communities, but for our families. 10, 12, 15 children, and this is very hard to be able to sustain without this help.
Your help is always very much appreciated, and I want to thank you for all the hard work you do, safety, kids, especially for our children. Now to echo, follow up what Rabbi Niederman said about the bike lane, I want to clarify. Our community have nothing against bike lanes. We appreciate bike lanes. A lot of our kids are also bikers. It's not a problem. At the same time, when we want to protect the bikers, we also have to protect the pedestrians, and especially our children.
Since the new protective bike lane was installed last summer over here in Williamsburg, we have Hatzalah, Chaveirim, Shomrim. They have all the statistics and the numbers. I think it's about 11 or 12 major accidents with small, little children. The number we have between DeKalb and Flushing is about 2,500 children being dropped off and picked up daily from the school buses. We had a meeting with Rabbi Niederman and some of the DOT.
It's a great plan for the bikers to be able to get from Point A to Point B. It means coming down Atlantic, Bedford, be able to get to Greenpoint, Williamsburg North. I think there will be a great, great help for the community, for the children, and for the bikers. We ask you, please look into this again, and please help us with the bike lane, as you do with all the other things. Thank you so much.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. The commissioner has his way of balancing out to make sure we could have win-wins on all sides are important. I'm going to look at– The commissioner will show me both proposals, what we have now, and what you guys are proposing, make sure he gets it, and then we'll revisit the conversation. Thank you.
Commissioner Kreizman: Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Next.
Commissioner Kreizman: We're going to go down the sign-in sheet. The next name is Emily Lipstein. If you could raise your hand.
Mayor Adams: Yes. Hold on, grab the mic so we can hear you.
Question: Thank you so much. Hi.
Mayor Adams: How are you?
Question: Good, Mr. Mayor, how are you?
Mayor Adams: Good.
Question: Well, thank you for coming out to this community. I've lived in this neighborhood for six years. I used to live on Bedford Avenue and Myrtle. I now live a little bit further afield in the neighborhood. I wanted to tell you about a crash that I got into in 2021. There was a driver who didn't totally know where they were going. They went the wrong way, almost, down Lafayette, trying to go west versus east.
Once they realized what happened, they pulled into what was then a non-protected bike lane, stopped short, and I didn't have time to react, and I crashed into the back of their car and fell into the middle of the road in Bedford Avenue, and thank goodness I was okay. I care very deeply about making sure that nobody is hurt in my neighborhood, either in the way that I was hurt, being hit by someone on a bike, being hit by someone on a motorcycle, being hit by any other sort of vehicle, or whatnot.
Something that I do notice at the same time is that there have been moves to try and make the bike lane work for everybody, but a lot of those things are not necessarily being observed. There are these areas that are in the middle of these, the blocks are very long from DeKalb up to Flushing on Bedford, and there are these mid-block crossings that the DOT installed that have these really great signs where it's like pedestrians crossing here, no standing zones for the cars.
That helps because you would hope that the buses would then stop and drop the kids off there. That doesn't seem to be happening. The cars are parked there all the time, and I walk to the subway. I walk to a cafe or to the grocery store. I see cars parked there during the no-standing hours all the time, and it just makes sight lines very difficult. I don't know if that's an NYPD enforcement thing, but I just really want to make sure that we're exploring all of the options to keep our communities safe, and understanding that everybody has to give a little, and everybody has to work together in order to keep everybody safe, and one more short little thing, I'm sorry to–
Mayor Adams: No, no, take your time.
Question: I had an experience a couple of weeks ago where there were a bunch of kids who put cinder blocks into the middle of the bike lane in some cardboard boxes in order to stop people from biking through. It was impossible to see that there were cinder blocks in these boxes. Thankfully, I was able to stop and move them to the side of the road. The kids put them back.
It's something where it's like, how are these kids? Kids can be kids, but at the same time, it's like, how are you getting to this point where, as a whole community, we're fighting like this, versus coming together and working on solutions? Nobody wants to get anybody hurt, and how do you really come together? That's kind of why I came here and wanted just to have the opportunity to let you know this personally. Solutions need to be found, and solutions that do keep everybody safe are going to be the most important thing here.
Mayor Adams: First of all, sorry for that accident you had. When you went into the back of the car, you were on a bike?
Question: I was on a bike, yes, sir.
Mayor Adams: Okay, and you're right, kids are going to be kids. We can't encourage them to do something that's reckless like that. That's so important, and finding that balance is crucial, because I'm a biker, so I realize that. You also said something that's very important. That was my observation when I walked in here, and we need to be clear on this. We have many different ideas in communities, folks, but we can't have division within the community. There's no reason the bikers are sitting in that corner, and you guys are sitting here.
We should all be intertwined. We don't have a biker Williamsburg and a Hasidic Williamsburg. We have one Williamsburg, and we should feel comfortable of sitting among each other, even if we disagree on an issue. I bet you this, not one person in this room believe our children should be unsafe. Not one person in this room believes that our family should be victims of crimes.
Not one person in this room believe that we should have the right to go and worship where we want to. Not one person in this room believe that that couple in Washington, DC, that was assassinated should have been treated that way. If we don't start learning to do the basic of sitting together, we'll never do the challenging things of living together, and we got to think about that. We got to think about that.
We're all in this together, and we're going to disagree sometimes. I disagree with myself sometimes. It's all right to disagree, but we can sit down and figure it out. Because if we don't sit down and figure it out, you know what happens? Two innocent people that loved each other were going to try to get married, would be killed, and someone would stand over the woman and continue to shoot. That's what happens when folks don't talk.
Commissioner Kreizman: Next person on the list is Simon Weiser, Community Board 1 First Vice Chair.
Mayor Adams: Are you still on Community Board 1?
Question: Yes, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I think you appointed me years ago. Thank you very much. It's a community safety issue. As the First Vice Chair of the community board, there was a concern about approving the curbside dining and the sidewalk cafes. This has been an issue that's come up the community board. The issue is that the community board have only a 30-day period to comment on these applications.
Community board has sent a letter to the DOT asking that this be extended at least for 60 days so that the neighbors can comment. There's also no mechanism with the new sheds that the DOT has. COVID was very common that increased the business that restaurants had the sheds on the sidewalks. Now, after the program has carried on, but the neighbors have no say about the sheds, and then there's issue with the licensing of liquor, and the neighbors, there's no mechanism that they can say if they approve it or they don't approve it.
What we're asking is that the DOT should consider extending the period of 60 days so that the community residents and the community board raise their concerns. That's the first issue I want to talk today. The second issue is that every community, and a lot of communities in the city, have their issues. The City of New York is accommodating. It's great to see. An example is the Sabbath parking on Friday, the DOT changed certain avenues for the Friday afternoon parking to allow the meters to work till seven o'clock.
They gave more parking for the residents, which is a great thing that New York DOT implemented. What I'm asking today is that the same concern, the sanitation, should realize that the local schools, Orthodox schools, start the schools much later than the general public schools. Therefore, the sanitation pickups of the garbage should be picked up before eight o'clock in the morning.
Because then the buses are going around and picking up the children who are waiting with the moms, and they arrive late to school because the garbage truck is holding up the buses from passing, and also, it's sometimes cold, sometimes hot, the mothers with small children. Only asking that this was promised to the community many times, but the sanitation, they would accommodate this request. I would just ask them again and again to keep to their word, and they should change the route. They should pick up during the night or be finished by eight o'clock in the morning. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Talk to me, talk about DOT.
Commissioner Rodriguez: The Dining Out, it's a larger one that we have in the nation. It's happening here in New York City. Before COVID, there was only 1,250 sidewalk cafe, as a former council member appointee, community board. It went through the community board. Before COVID was, that was the number. During COVID, people built sidewalk in the roadways, sidewalk. Many people built beautiful, but they were building without code. They were building without regulation from the fire department.
From 2020 to '23, we revised the program. We worked with the City Council. The 30-day review is not our decision; that's the New York City Council decision. A lot of things that we have a window in which we can operate, we do believe that the number that we have so far, which overpassed 3,000 sidewalk and roadway Dining Out, it's a program that is going well. It's a program that will see more restaurant owners using the sidewalk than the roadway because the sidewalk is year-round, and the roadway is only from April to November 30.
[Inaudible] is the deputy director. One of our guys here, our liaison on many work that we do, and he oversees not only a lot of issues that we have brought today, but [inaudible] is the deputy director for the sidewalk program. More than happy to follow you. Some people in elected office have criticized the sidewalk or the City Council, but what they don't talk about is that they are the one who passed the bill. We have a limitation. We cannot give the 60-day because the City Council says, "You, DOT, have 30-day that you can provide to the Community Board."
Mayor Adams: That's very important. When the bill was passed, the City Council gave us a lot of restrictions on what we can do. Albany often give us restrictions. If we can go back, get your City Council person to talk about the 60-day, we do what, 30 days now?
Commissioner Rodriguez: It's 30 days, but the leader here says they would like 60 days instead of 30, [inaudible]. The City Council would have to pass it.
Mayor Adams: Okay. The Department of Sanitation, talk to me. Talk to me about this, who's one of you?
Assistant Commissioner Gbubemi Okotieuro, Intergovernmental Affairs, Department of Sanitation: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: Do you understand his question? What he's asking for?
Assistant Commissioner Okotieuro: He just kind of briefed me just now on it. What we're going to do is this, because I know you've been talking to the Chief about the same issue. I know we tried on Skillman particularly to ensure that we can accommodate what you want, but allow us to do this. By the end of this evening, let's talk again, and I'm going to have the Chief and Chief Enforcement there sit with you, and then we're going to go over it, and we can see what it is that we can do to ameliorate the situation, okay?
Mayor Adams: Okay, okay. I don't want to be back here at one of these weddings, and they tell me we haven't resolved this. We've got to come-- This is a simple fix. There's uniqueness. I think we did something in Borough Park years ago. Yes, there was something, because while the buses are on the road, if the trucks are on the road, that's a real problem. We've got to come to a resolution, and we're doing the shift in and pick up already, right? Yes, so we're going to resolve this, to see how we figure it out. Because this traffic is already bad. Flushing is a mess, so let's figure out how we can resolve this.
Commissioner Kreizman: Next question, Rachel Fisher, if you could raise your hand.
Mayor Adams: How are you, Rachel?
Question: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for being here. I need to speak to you about my grandmother, Blanca Felberbaum. She's a frail Holocaust survivor turning 104. Your amazing staff member, Uri Fraenkel, knows her and visits her, and he's very good with her. Despite her age, she's facing a terrifying threat of eviction. Kraus Management of Bedford Gardens drastically increased rent for Section 8 tenants.
Now, they're doubling and tripling the tenant's share for over-housed seniors like my grandmother from $416 to $1,158, in my bubby's case. These seniors are on fixed incomes, and they simply can't afford it. My family already struggles to help pay her current rent. The management deferred the rent increase through August. Come September, the tenants must pay the higher amount, even if the management doesn't offer them a right-sized apartment.
My bubby cannot move. She's a very old, frail lady, and the situation is a very terrible burden on her. We and the UJO believe, and HPD agrees, that the increase doesn't apply to the tenant's out-of-pocket share. Yet, these tenants keep getting these bills, and it's causing my grandmother and all the seniors immense anxiety and fear of being evicted. Mr. Mayor, please protect these vulnerable tenants. Convene a meeting with the HPD, us, and the UJO to end anxieties of my grandmother and elderly residents. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Thank you, thank you.
Commissioner Kreizman: Mr. Mayor, we have Nicole Simmons from HPD.
Mayor Adams: Yes. A senior in fear of losing their home is real, and we can't allow that to happen. I don't know. Was something misinterpreted?
Assistant Commissioner Nicole Simmons, Government Affairs, Housing Preservation and Development: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: How are you doing?
Assistant Commissioner Simmons: Good. Thanks so much for that. We know that there have been notices that have been going out to residents about this, but the very important thing that I think you hit on there is that there haven't been increases. We are in touch with Kraus, and Kraus has made it clear that they're not requiring any over-housed residents to downsize. That hasn't happened, and that's not something they're seeing happening, and they're also providing a rent credit for the Section 8 payment reduction so that over-housed tenants don't have to see any increase. I know you said you recognize that, and I'm happy that you realize that, but we don't want to cause any stress to anyone that is getting these notices anyway.
Question: Right, because it's extremely stressful for her.
Assistant Commissioner Simmons: You're absolutely right. First thing is that we're clear on what's going on, and we know that there isn't a burden that's being put on the residents. That's the most important part. Secondly, we hope that you'll share that, but we'll also work to make sure that the residents are aware of that. We're happy to work with you towards that, and our Mitchell-Lama unit, I can go back with them, and we can work on making sure that the word gets out to them. I'm glad you did know that, and please make sure that other residents know that, because that's not a burden that we want to put on.
Question: That's good.
Assistant Commissioner Simmons: Like the mayor said, that is the last thing that someone in your grandmother's position wants to be in. I'm sorry she's being stressed by that.
Question: Thank you. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Hold on, hold on. Hold on. You understood, I'm sorry, ma'am. You'll be able to tell your grandmother, "Relax"?
Question: I will, because she is very burdened about it, and it's very hard on her.
Mayor Adams: Okay. Our HPD, wearing an FDNY jacket and camouflage.
Assistant Commissioner Simmons: You're to get me one of those.
Mayor Adams: Kaz, why don't you make sure she has some swag that says HPD? Okay, she's going to come and see you, okay?
Question: Okay, thank you, thank you, I appreciate it, mayor. Thank you, thank you.
Mayor Adams: Alright. Thank you. Thank you.
Commissioner Kreizman: We'll also work with the local non-for-profits to help with the messaging.
Mayor Adams: Right, right, right, right, right, let's do that.
Commissioner Kreizman: No problem, Moses Weiser?
Mayor Adams: Moses, how are you?
Question: Fine, we're going back quite a while. Mr. Mayor, there's a concern in this community. A lot of agencies, like Con Edison, [inaudible] Gas, get contracts to do stuff in the community, and we realize sometimes, we try to talk to them before a high holiday, when the shopping spree is very busy. The street is congested. Please work around, it should be easy for the community to go shopping, traffic.
Some agencies, these contractors, work with the community, and some just don't care. A few months ago, I came in on the night, closed down two streets on Bathurst Avenue. Digging, drilling, like one, two o'clock in the morning, families with kids wake up. You talk to them. "It's an emergency." Every job is an emergency. I can tell you one contractor, Howland Constructors, the only company that really work with the community, and only work constantly.
We ask, if anything, the city can work with the community leaders, when they should come, how to be done. The second one, it seems like the curbs on the corner of the street, they're doing the sidewalk curbs. The best time to do this, I think, is the summertime, when there are less people in the community, so people can walk and go on the streets, and last but not least, I want to talk about the local precinct. We have a commander here, and he has two great guys, we call them the two Kennys in the precinct.
Two great guys, always there for the community. As much cops won't be present, they're always there. One is Detective Melendez, everybody knows him here. Then it's Officer DeWine. Officer DeWine's like 10 years in the job, 5 years in community affairs, and everybody loves him. I think as us all community should recognize him and what he does, and I really think it's time he should be bumped up and be promoted, because he's somebody we all like. Everybody is different.
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: Are the detectives here? Are they here?
Question: Kenny Melendez is over here. His partner's on vacation this week.
Mayor Adams: Who's the other one?
Question: Kenny DeWine.
Mayor Adams: Yes, Kenny, those are your guys?
Question: Everybody knows them. Everybody knows them [crosstalk]
Mayor Adams: Yes, and then I think the mistake that we make is that we look at promotions based on how many gun [inaudible] you have, how many robbery [inaudible] you have, but we don't look at "How many have you prevented?" Deputy Commissioner Stewart had a young detective who did the baby showers in the real estate, did some good stuff, and we promoted him, because it's not only about how many people you arrest, but how many people you prevent from doing something to get arrested. I'm sure the commissioner is going to put their name in and see if they could be promoted.
Question: Your mouth and the commissioner's work, I hope it's going to work. Thank you very much.
Mayor Adams: Thank you, thank you.
Question: Always a pleasure seeing you on these, man.
Mayor Adams: Always.
Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart, Community Affairs, Police Department: Moses, we had this talk a couple of times. You've been in my office a couple of times.
Mayor Adams: Yes, the curbs.
Commissioner Rodriguez: With the first question, I think that [inaudible] is the best person to give details. As you know, we've been working with the rest, you and many leaders here, that when those day came, that construction should not be happening. We work with the utility company. We meet with them every three months, and we know that from the milling to the paving, there's those days that they are cutting the street.
We also know that they have to take into consideration those days that they shouldn't be doing any work, but I would like to call up [inaudible] , who is our not only deputy director for the Dining Out, but he's the person that when anything come out on the Jewish community also, he's our person, our connection with you.
Pinny Ringel, Director of Public Engagement, Department of Transportation: The location you mentioned about the night work was Con Ed, if you remember, right? You brought it to my attention, and we did issue summonses. They did not have permits for that. We did issue summonses. Again, for everybody, most of you here have my number. If you see any street closures in the community, please, like Moshe does, Rabbi Indig and Rabbi Sam Stern sometimes sends me, send it to me, the location, and I will follow up and I have enforcement come out, I promise you.
Mayor Adams: Thank you.
Commissioner Kreizman: I'd just add for that, Penny does an amazing job as well as Moshe Davis, Uri Fraenkel, when working with the DDC and ensuring when there's city construction that needs to be delayed through the holidays or something. We work alongside community leaders all the time to ensure if there's any disruptions, that the respect for the community for the holiday is always observed, and we work [inaudible] from Williamsburg to Sheepshead Bay. We ensure that we work with the schedules with DDC to ensure that–
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: That was a good observation on your part, that everyone is trying to use an emergency as a justification. Penny went in, found that it was not an emergency, and they got issued a citation.
Question: I should respond, yes, I reached out to plenty of times to Penny. Always, he's faster than me, gets on top of it, and makes sure [crosstalk] Penny, thank you. Yes, Fred, Moshe Davis, and Fraenkel, they've always been helping out, doing things right. Thank you, Mr. Penny.
Mayor Adams: Listen, the hardest job in government to service is working for me. Trust me, we're nonstop.
Ringel: Thanks, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: Thank you.
Commissioner Kreizman: Next question is Eric Lawton, I think it's spelled.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: My name is Eric Lawton, and I'm a leader on the Better Bedford Coalition. I'm a Bed-Stuy resident, and we partnered with other Black-led cycling organizations in Bed-Stuy, such as Good Co., Knight Ryders, Black Girls Do Bike. We all petitioned and advocated for this bike lane on Bedford Ave after the horrible deaths and crashes. I just have a couple of stats.
Since the pandemic, we've had five people killed on Bedford, and none since the bike lanes went in. We've also seen a 25 percent drop in injuries, and I want to say that I hear that people are worried that their kids are getting hit by the bikes, and I want to lead with empathy and find a solution where we can work together, but we can't throw out the baby with the bathwater.
We need to find a solution where the buses, the school buses specifically, have a dedicated space for their kids to be dropped off that doesn't block the bike lane, that leaves everyone space, and if that means that there's less car parking for safety, then that's what has to happen.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you, Eric.
Commissioner Kreizman: [Asher Tapuchi]? Sorry, this spelling.
Mayor Adams: How are you?
Question: I'm good, thank you. My name is [Asher Tapuchi.] I'm a member of Community Board 3 and I'm also on the Transportation Committee of Community Board 3, where we actually recently passed a resolution calling on the DOT at the committee level to revisit the Bedford Avenue bike lane and see what can be done because of all the accidents and the problems, but today I'm here as a resident.
Firstly, I'd like to say thank you for coming out here and taking the time to listen to our concerns. We really appreciate that. Secondly, in regards to the bike lane, there's been a lot of talk lately about the redesign of the BQE, and there's a lot of talk about permanently keeping the BQE by the Bedford Heights Promenade down to two lanes so that the residents of the neighborhood should have less pollution and less noise.
Basically, we're ready to impact hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who use the BQE every day to get to work, to deliver their stuff. We're ready to impact them so that the residents of the community near the BQE should be more comfortable. The question now is, shouldn't we be doing the same thing with Bedford Avenue? We have a big issue with the residents of Bedford Avenue, not pollution or noise.
We have children's lives at stake here, and the effect that it's going to have on the bikers is not going to be the effect that putting two lanes on the BQE is going to have on New York. The question is, should we not be listening more to the concerns of the Bedford Avenue community? I know Rabbi Niederman said the plan about moving the bike lane to DeKalb Avenue and Classon Avenue, which really would not affect the bikers in any way, not in their safety, not in their route.
The opposite, it would make it easier to get to North Brooklyn, it would make it easier to get to Bushwick and Greenpoint, actually, but even just moving the bike lane on Bedford from Flushing to DeKalb, just turning that bike into a regular bike lane, according to the DOT data, a regular bike lane increases biker safety by 32 percent, and a protected bike lane increases biker safety by 34 percent, so that's 2 percentage points.
Of course, I'm sorry to hear about Emily's accident, but the real data is that there's a 2 percentage point increase in biker safety. It doesn't really pay to put so many kids in danger who we actually had 10, 11 accidents in the last 6 months, who the data might not actually transfer all the way to the DOT because, generally, not all of the people call 911; a lot of people call hot cell instead, and this data may not be reported to the DOT correctly, but there are countless videos showing accidents, near accidents, and it's not just the kids, it's adults as well.
It's dangerous for adults that get hit by a bike, too, and it's dangerous for the bikers as well. There's one more point that a lot of the bike traffic on the bike lane is not bikers. It's mopeds, and electric vehicles, delivery bikes, and if that hits a kid, God forbid. We're going to have a fatality here. Please consider that. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. What about the mopeds, the mopeds on the bike lanes? Tell me about that.
Commissioner Rodriguez: The first thing is that, if there's someone that we have seen in the City that is pushing all of us to think big is our Mayor Eric Adams. You talk about the BQE, the Mayor brought the Secretary of Transportation to the BQE to see the condition of the BQE, and among all the work that we have to be doing with the consortium, doing all the study, planning for the future of the BQE, the two-lane or three-lane is something that still will be defined as we will go into the environment to study in the near future.
I guess, again, bringing, because I know the BQE that go from this area all the way to Staten Island is like a $5, $7-billion project to rebuild it for us and for the future generation. This is one thing that I say, the two or three-lane is a matter to be decided as we will continue focusing on redesigning the BQE. When it came to safety, I think that we already said from the beginning with the question here.
We would like to take your suggestion. The Mayor is clear. He want answers soon. We will hear your plan. We will compare to what we have. We will look at our data, but I can tell you what the Mayor is doing right now is saying everyone has to be safe. We need to provide a space for everyone, for cars to drive, for people to bike, for people to walk, for those kids that came out from buses to be safe, too.
I don't want to jump into what is going to be the final plan because the Mayor already gave direction. Take the plan, compare to what you have, compare your data, and come back to me, and he will make a decision, but what I can tell you is that when people who are using bike these days, the Mayor is also pushing everyone. In the past, we say, "Drivers, look for pedestrians." Now, the Mayor is also saying, "Cyclists look for pedestrians," and he's pushing us too to say work together, work hard to reduce the speed limit that we allow e-bike to ride in our street.
Again, as someone that has seen the increase of more people biking, we also know that we had to use our small 350 square miles that we have in our city to provide space to everyone, but we will take back from your suggestion that you made. Compare your plan, comparing the data, the Mayor make the final decision.
Mayor Adams: Thank you for that. I want to get to-- We have a large list of people that signed up. I want to get to anything other than the bike lane, because we got it. We heard you, we heard on both sides. We heard from Eric. We heard from you.
So is there any other items like was brought up before, any other items that you want to go over outside bike lane items? We want to go to you first, okay? Alright, so I'm going to start over. I'm going to start on– You want to do this? We got you. We're coming. I want to start this side and come across. Go ahead, and then back in a moment.
Question: Good evening, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: How are you?
Question: First of all, thank you for coming back to Williamsburg, and thank you for your Commissioner Fred Kreizman for putting together this town hall. Number one, you mentioned you're not a stranger to Williamsburg. I remember you as a lieutenant in the 88 Precinct, so you were a Williamsburg [crosstalk] close by many, many years ago already. With that said, you mentioned before, there's no better friend to the law enforcement than the Jewish community, but I would say it goes the other way around as well.
Starting out with your Deputy Mayor Kaz Daugherty, who I'm fortunate to know when he was a brand new police officer back in the 72nd Precinct many, many, many years ago, and we're fortunate to have him as our Deputy Mayor of Public Safety. What an asset to the City, and we appreciate it. The same goes with our Chief of Brooklyn North, Chief Henderson, along with the commanders of the precincts around here.
Matter of fact, talking about our Precinct Commander in the 90 Precinct, early this morning, all the community leaders got a text from him directly that we're aware of what happened last night, and there will be extra patrol, and it came from all agencies within law enforcement, and that's why the community of Williamsburg and all others are so appreciated to law enforcement, because it goes both ways.
Thank you for that. At the same time, I would like Chief Richie Taylor, not to be forgotten, as you mentioned before, who is a great leader in law enforcement and to the community as well. In closing, I want to say that, Mayor, you mentioned before about bikers and the community should be sitting together. I will say that much. I'm an Orthodox Williamsburg resident and a biker, so it's here. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: Thank you, I like that. Yes, this gentleman here in the back. The one with the black jacket on, the curls. I'm going to come to you. Yes.
Question: Hi, good evening. Thank you, Mayor, for coming out to listen to the community. My question is, I'm a Bed-Stuy resident. Recently, as you know, there's two blocks which became landmarked. There's one block on Hart Street, and then there's one block on Willoughby. There's around 175 houses, and it's putting on additional restrictions when it comes to permits and when it comes to backyards extensions.
As you know, we have bigger families, and we would like to be able to use up the FAR, and with dealing with additional agencies, it's harder, and for a guy like me, I'm a homeowner, and it's additional cost every month, every month paying for all different type of architects, and it's a lot of additional cost. My question is if it's possible to do a conditional landmark so all parties can be happy, meaning the front should be landmarked, and the back should be removed so everyone can do an extension. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Yes, and you know what? First of all, I think we need to do a greater level of education when you landmark. A lot of the homeowners don't realize, when you landmark your home, the additional cost is only a certain number of contractors you could use. It's a real burden, and I didn't realize they'd landmark Hart Street. Yes, now, we don't have anyone here from landmarking, right?
Okay, so let us look into that proposal. Many long-time residents are having financial challenges when you landmark their blocks, and then they have to deal with repairs. It's great to keep the tradition of an area, but you don't want to keep it at the expense of those long-time residents losing their homes because they can't keep up with the landmark requirements. They're extremely extensive on what you have to do.
Let us look into that and find out, can we have that proposal, as you just indicated? All right. Yes, hold on. Those whose hands were up before is the ones that I'm coming over to over here, because I love the hell out of you guys, but I got to bounce eventually. Yes.
Question: Hi, thank you so much, Mayor Adams.
Mayor Adams: How are you?
Question: Thank you for your team. My name is Lloyd Feng. I am the chair of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee on Community Board 1, and I just want to thank my colleagues, Rabbi Niederman, Rabbi Indig, Simon Weiser, Joel Gross, and others here for their hard work for our community. I'm not here to talk about the bike lane. I want to respect that, don't worry. I'm here to talk about illegal cannabis vendors.
I think that's something that bike lane or no bike lane, everybody on our board is 100 percent against. It is a huge concern. There's a proliferation all over Williamsburg and Greenpoint. I'm pretty sure Bed-Stuy has a problem with this. It's all over the City. We did invite Chief Miranda and his team to present, but we're wondering, "How can we do more? What can you and your team do more?"
We are eager to work with you and your team on this, so we invite you to Community Board 1 anytime, but we really need to get a hold of the illegal cannabis situation. It's also hurting the legal cannabis vendors. We know people who smoke weed legally, and the illegal weed is dangerous and really concerning, right? Definitely, please send somebody from your team over to Community Board 1. We're really happy to work on this ASAP.
Mayor Adams: Big issue, big issue. When they first passed the law in Albany, they passed a law without the restrictions. At one time, NYPD could not go in and do enforcement. We went back to Albany and fixed Andrew Cuomo's law to make sure it was done correctly, so now we have to go in and do our enforcement. We closed down 1,400 shops, and if there are still locations, you let us know. Kaz, why don't you guys do it?
Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry, Public Safety: Hey, Mayor, you forgot. You said that we closed down 1,400 shops. We did. We also did inspections of 5,236 locations. Out of those inspections, 1,400, like you said, were closed. In Brooklyn, 425, actually looking at my text now, they just closed 2 more shops in Brooklyn. Over $96 million in illegal product seized since we started doing these inspections and closing down these shops.
Mayor Adams: Yes, so we're with you. I think the legalization of cannabis, if it's done correctly, is effective for so many reasons. I'm a bit concerned about the consumptions of young people. Young people are smoking a lot on their way to school. That's one of my major concerns. But we have been zeroing in on illegal shops. We're finding guns inside there. We're finding all other lace, as you said, is dangerous. So we're zeroing in on illegal cannabis.
Deputy Mayor Daughtry: Paul, for my team, can we just get his information? I'll be more than happy to go to Community Board 1 and tell them about all the good success this administration has done in regards to shutting down illegal cannabis shops.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Hold on, we're going to do five more, Lamona, five.
Question: I'm number one. You said that you're not new to Williamsburg. Neither am I. Probably every Jewish person in here knows me somehow, some way, but we need you to be mayor again. I've been here 62 years. I did my own police work. I was a contractor.
I took all the drug addicts and all of the alcoholics off the street and put them to work. Now, just as a history for me in the past, my neighbors were saying, "Why you have so many the bad guys in front of the buildings, five o'clock in the morning?" I said, "I'm putting them to work. They're not breaking in your cars. They come early because I give them $3." This is 40, 50 years ago. I give them $3 to get a bag of dope to get straight, and $2 to buy coffee and a piece of bread. That's just to give you an example of who I am.
They kept bothering me. "But we go to shul in the morning, we're scared to come out." I said, "Don't worry, you don't have to be scared. They're here with me. They're not looking to rob you." Anyway, it got to the point that they got upset. I said, "Go to the Jewish press and find out how many cars got broken in last month. How many houses got broken in last month?" "Okay, we're going to check." They did check. The numbers went down because I had them working. That's the first part of Williamsburg.
I came from Bed-Stuy to Williamsburg. It's the only place that I can go, get up at 3:00 in the morning, and go to the store without worrying. I don't wear no jewelry. This is not a real gold, but I can go to the store in the middle of the night. That's because of you. I know that you're doing your job here. It's because the Jewish community takes care of the area they live in, so I'm happy to live here. My little issue that I have, I don't want to take your time now because everybody had their time. How long I got?
Mayor Adams: You're on time.
Question: Okay. I want you to know that my issues with NYCHA.
Mayor Adams: NYCHA?
Question: Yes. We've been there for many years. If you rode your bike when I first moved there, I was nine years old. They give you a $5 fine. You can't ride on the grounds. You can't ride on the sidewalks. Right now, after COVID, they're riding scooters on the sidewalk. They're riding bikes. Speed. They're speeding. The scooters that go 40 miles an hour. The kids are playing in that project area. It's very dangerous. It wasn't happening before COVID. If they were on the sidewalk, the cops are pulling them over and giving them a ticket, or even taking their bikes. Now they got the motor scooters going on the road. They're riding through the project 40 miles an hour. The kids are playing there. It's been an issue. I hope that you can put something together for that piece. I don't want to talk about bikes, but motorbikes are a little different. Then my last issue.
Mayor Adams: See what happens?
Question: Yes. No, but I have to get it out. They never give me a chance. Listen, my last issue is that 60 years at Williamsburg, I've been to the shul, and I'm the fastest [inaudible] in the place here. I want to say that NYCHA, something is going on there. It might be some kind of discrimination, because before, when there were more Jews in the building, we felt even safe. I get up in the morning, I get in the elevator, "Hey, Gut [inaudible]." "Good morning, [inaudible]." Now there's less. I think that something's going on with discrimination from putting Jews in the building, but they're putting a lot of sick people in there. I say sick people need a place to go to. This girl in my building that smokes crack in the elevator with kids in it, she's just stuck on it.
Mayor Adams: Yes, which [inaudible] are you talking about?
Question: Jonathan Williams.
Mayor Adams: Okay, first of all, we can't have any discrimination in housing in this city. We're extremely aggressive on that. We were the first administration that included NYCHA in our housing proposal. We've done everything from free high-speed broadband for NYCHA residents to having NYCHA land trust.
Because we know when you have a $80 billion capital deficit, you have to find ways to improve it. So NYCHA is crucial to us. Our HPD, we're focused on making sure NYCHA is given the respect that it deserves, but there's a real budget problem. Listen, you raised something that's so important that many folks don't remember the Williamsburg of the '70s, of the '80s. It was a challenging place. It was a challenging place.
Question: We should have bought some buildings there, too. That's challenging.
Mayor Adams: This community, you held it down. You created your own safety patrol. You built out your school system. It has grown immensely. You have responded to the call. You've built out your business. It just goes to show you that in this city, this city is one of the most diverse. I was speaking with Commissioner Castro the other day. We speak 700 different languages in this city. It's unbelievable how well we are able to coexist with so much diversity in this city. And you're representative of that, the fact that you grew up in Williamsburg. That says a lot. Continue to watch this community prosper and grow, okay?
Question: Thank you very much, mayor.
Deputy Mayor Daughtry: Regards to the bikes.
Deputy Commissioner Stewart: Yes, just a second to talk about the e-bikes. The commissioner put something in place where we're enforcing harder on these e-bikes who are riding on the streets, who are obeying the traffic laws. In the past, they used to get B summonses. Now they're getting C. C summonses mean they have to go to court and be held accountable for them. The enforcement will be coming out
Commissioner Kreizman: We want to remind people to be short in questions, so this way we can–
Mayor Adams: We removed over 80,000 illegal e-bikes, dirt bikes, three-wheelers, ghost cars. We did not walk past this disruption in our city. Who's going to who? Who's going to who? Hercules? Yes, hold on, we're going to come to you. It's always at the end of the meeting that everybody want to question.
Question: Good evening, Mr. Mayor. It's an honor and a pleasure.
Mayor Adams: I have so much to do. All you are going to go home and get in your pajamas. I got four more events.
Question: I have to say what I have to say [inaudible].
Mayor Adams: I agree, everybody's saying that. Now, if you have just a question. Now, a question is that thing that has the question mark at the end of the sentence. Not an exclamation point. If you have just a question, and I'm going to hold the mic because once you leave the question to do something else, the mic is going away. A question.
Question: I just hit 65 today. I'm going to be fine.
Mayor Adams: Next, who's next? You got a question? You don't start a question, I just hit 65 today.
Question: Okay. Hi, my name is Joseph. Just one quick question. Can we have like a city lot or something for the school buses to park instead of–
Mayor Adams: A city lot?
Question: Yes, for the school buses to park instead of having them all over the streets, taking away parking from the cars. We can't warm the buses in the morning because the–
Mayor Adams: Okay, your question was city lot. Does that make sense at all, commissioner? Is there a city lot for the buses to park?
Question: DCAS.
Mayor Adams: DCAS? Okay, let's see if that makes sense to the DCAS Commissioner. He's not here, but let's see if that makes sense. Question.
Question: Right here, right here, this young man.
Mayor Adams: How are you? Question. Because you're a young man, the rule is still going to apply.
Question: I don't have a question, I just like to thank you.
Mayor Adams: Okay, you can talk longer.
Question: No. I'd like to thank you for the bike lane on Bedford Avenue.
Mayor Adams: That's right, let everybody's voices heard. Everybody's voices heard.
Question: Every week, I go to an extracurricular activity, and the Bedford bike lane that helps me go on the inside of the sidewalk, that stops me from getting hit by cars who are double parked, really helps me, and I'm very thankful.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you for speaking up.
Question: I'm trying to conclude.
Mayor Eric Adams: Question, question. Question. Nope, I'll hold the mic.
Question: I have a friend that works at a big developer company, and he has an issue with HPD, and it takes months and months to resolve the issue. They keep ignoring phone calls and emails.
Mayor Adams: What is it? HPD?
Question: Yes.
Mayor Adams: What's the problem?
Question: I'll give you in private. It's a big issue, and it takes months to get it resolved. They're ignoring emails, ignoring phone calls. Is there any way–
Commissioner Kreizman: So if you stay here, we have Deputy Commissioner Santiago here. If it's a private issue you want to talk to her, you can talk to her on the side.
Mayor Adams: Come and see her before you leave, okay?
Commissioner Kreizman: We're just going to end it. First, I want to just thank the organizers.
Mayor Adams: Hold on, hold on, hold on. Question. Yes. What's up?
Question: Mr. Mayor, about 200 buildings, including a lot of Yeshiva buildings in this area, have been penalized by the DOB, and there's no one to talk to. It's really six months communicating with an email box, and that's basically it.
Mayor Adams: That can't happen. That can't happen, alright?
Commissioner Kreizman: We'll organize a meeting if there's an issue with regards to that. I'm here after the meeting. The mayor's going to have to leave, but I'll be here to follow up and put this down.
Mayor Adams: That can't happen. People got to get back to you. Listen, got to go, got to go.
Commissioner Kreizman: I just want to tell everyone, anyone who didn't have a chance to ask their question, with staff on the side, please, let's give out the cards, the question cards. If your question wasn't asked, we'll get back to you. Again, I want to thank everyone for being here today. I want to thank Moshe Davis, Pierre Gideon, our Brooklyn director, Uri Fraenkel, and the rest of the staff here for helping organize this event.
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