Mayor Eric Adams: Before we get to the presentation, I want to speak about the winter weather. We're expecting New Yorkers to prepare for a significant snow event beginning this afternoon and continuing into Saturday. Our current forecast is telling us we could get a range of six to nine inches of accumulation citywide and could be even more northeast Queens and northern New York City.
The roads will be hazardous, so please stay off. Allow the snow removal and sanitation crews to do their job. They will be plowing the streets. In fact, the Department of Sanitation, New York City Emergency Management, and all our public safety and operation agencies are coordinating the response for any impacts. Our extreme weather emergency coordinator, our chief of staff, Camille Joseph Varlack, is bringing the teams together to make sure we will be prepared.
And as New Yorkers and visitors prepare for a snowy, fun-filled weekend, it's important to follow some safety steps. Use mass transit whenever possible, wear warm clothing to enjoy the outdoors, be careful when walking on sidewalks, as they may be slippery. And again, check on your neighbors and sign up for Notify NYC to receive free alerts on transit or any disruptions due to the weather.
And if you lose heat, call 311 and your landlord. Do not use your oven to heat your apartment. Don't leave candles, space heaters unattended, and turn off holiday decorations when away from your home. Stay safe and enjoy the weekend.
Now, today, we are honoring a New York State Broadcaster Hall of Famer and a 14-time Emmy Award winner. Marvin, I remember my days of being a police officer. Marvin was covering the important incidents of the day. He's just a perfect New Yorker, I would like to say. Sense of humor, dedicated, committed, a man whose voice has echoed across the five boroughs and across the globe for generations. This is a giant of news and journalism, Marvin Scott.
A son of the Bronx, started his love of the news at a young age with just his camera, his wits and determination. He chased stories across the city, selling his first news photo of a raging fire to New York Daily News at the tender age of 14. For six decades, Marvin has shown a light on what is happening in our streets, across our nation, and across the globe. And he has done it with courage, integrity, and a dedication to the truth.
From the front lines of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cambodia to the Civil Rights Movement, where he covered JFK and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. From interviewing six U.S. presidents and global figures like Golda Meir, to reporting on the U.S. space program in a three-mile nuclear disaster. From covering every New York City mayor since John Lindsay. And he would clearly tell you that he covered them all, but I am his favorite.
To spending 60 years on air as a journalist, over 45 years of which have been at PIX11 alone. Marvin has seen and done it all. It is an enormous responsibility to pursue the truth, to hold those in power accountable. To break through the noise and inform New Yorkers every day. Marvin has done it with grace. His fearless reporting ensured that democracy did not die in the darkness.
He has been our lens into history and inspired countless journalists, truth tellers, and writers.
Marvin's contribution to journalism and public service has been recognized with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, induction into the silver and gold circles of the National Academy of Television, Arts, and Science, the Bronx Walk of Fame, Bronx Jewish Hall of Fame, and the Governor's Award. New York City would not be the city it is today without you, Marvin.
We want to thank you so much for your pursuit of the stories that shaped us, and for your reporting of the truth. Now, for his lasting impact on journalism, news, and public service, it's my honor to present the key to New York City, to New York legend, Marvin Scott.
Marvin Scott: Thank you so much, Mayor Adams, and thank you for such kind words. Receiving this key to the city, the city where I was born, grew up, spent my entire career as a broadcast journalist, and told some of the greatest stories of my life. It's an extraordinary honor. Thank you so much.
For more than six decades, I've been telling the greatest stories of New York through the voice of its people. The workers, the families, the dreamers, the fighters, all who make New York the greatest city in the world. As the mayor noted, I started my career at the tender age of 14. It was a fire, really, that ignited my career. I was a photo enthusiast.
A fire, raging in my neighborhood in the Bronx. I heard the engines going, and I grabbed the camera and grabbed some great pictures of flames belching from a dozen windows. New York's picture newspaper, the Daily News, encouraged us, bring them in. I called them and they said, “Bring them in, kid.” So, I raced downtown to 42nd Street, to the Daily News building, got into the newsroom, and here was the frenzy putting out a paper for the morning. It was just so exciting to me.
It was at that moment, I decided what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I want to be a reporter. So, decades later, I wound up in the very same building where I've now been for 45 years at PIX11. That's quite an achievement after all those years. I have to tell you, I'm deeply humbled to receive this key and receive this recognition from you, Mayor Adams. It is really wonderful, without question.
Without question, New York has absolutely been my greatest story. A TV program years ago used to proclaim there are 8 million stories in the Naked City. Remember that one? I have to say, I'm proud to say, I have accomplished at least 18,000 of them over the years. It's from the immigrant cab driver who said he learned English by listening to his passengers. To the 12-year-old girl who needed a heart and touched mine, through my efforts, got her a heart transplant.
There are so many stories and so many rich memories over the years. I have to say, my greatest achievement, I feel, were those five visits I had with New York troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. We brought them, at Christmas time, we brought them a taste of New York. Bagels, hot dogs, cheesecake, they loved it. It took them away.
It brought them back home for that brief period we were there. And put them on live, the days before FaceTime and all that stuff on the internet by a satellite, live from Iraq and Afghanistan, we put the soldiers on to talk to their families back here in New York. What a wonderful feeling that was, to be able to pull that off and accomplish that and bring so much joy to these families through the troops who we visited.
I've amassed the treasure trove of memories. And with this key, I am so grateful, Mr. Mayor, to join the roster of individuals who over the years have received this same key. Thank you so much.
Mayor Adams: Thank you.
Scott: I've known you, going back to your days in the Police Department, when you were up in the State Senate. And I used to sit in the gallery and during a break I'd get on the phone and say, “Eric, where'd you get that tie?”
Mayor Adams: Love it, love it. Congratulations to you.
Scott: Thank you, and you have a great holiday, happy new year, and happy future.
Mayor Adams: Thank you.
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