Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Hello, everyone. Such a pleasure to be here.
Brigid Bergin: Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. Happy 4/20. We appreciate that you're spending it here with us. As we talk about the first 100 days, we're also going to listen to some archival sound and see some black and white images of Mayor La Guardia. That's thanks to the New York City Municipal Archives. And I want to say a special thanks to the Leon Levy Foundation, who have given critical support to our archives. La Guardia's voice and speaking style and the crackle of those archival recordings, it really brings a smile to my face. So, I hope you will all lean in and listen, starting with this.
Recording of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia: “This great city, unique in its kind, nothing like it in the whole world. This great city of huge spaces that are too small, of millions of little people who are really big, of people coming from every climbing country of —”
Bergin: —La Guardia many times. When did you first learn about Mayor La Guardia?
Mayor Mamdani: Given the fact that I have my High School social studies teacher, Marc Kagan, here in the crowd, I think I might have to say it was at Bronx Science. But I would say that my first legacy, there is such a sense of the city of places and names that we know and we consider of the city, but we don't know of what it really speaks of. I mean, we all grow up in the city knowing of La Guardia first and foremost as an airport, then as a mayor. And then, as you grow older in this city to get the chance to learn of a man whose vision was one that matched the scale of the crisis that New Yorkers were living through, whose ambition was undimmed no matter the obstacles that he faced. It's truly inspiring. And it continues to be each and every day. I think about some of his words. He has said, “If fighting existing evils is radical, I am content with the name.” And so much of what he faced is a part of politics even today. And when you look back, you find not only the willingness to believe, but frankly to deliver.
Bergin: Well, I want to talk about some of the parallels between what you are trying to do and what he did. I think in that first clip that we were listening to, really what Mayor La Guardia is talking about is the ability for people to live here in the city with dignity, for families to live here. On day eight of your administration, you stood with Governor Kathy Hochul to announce a plan to expand child care. You've called that day the best of your 100 days — although, I don't know, I mean, Saturday was pretty good as well. I think a lot of parents would agree, though, that that was a really important day. But then this past Saturday, you were in the Bronx with President Obama at a child care center. What did you talk about with the President?
Mayor Mamdani: Much of what we spoke about was in fact the reading of a book to New York's cutest, as our Chancellor Kamar Samuels calls children across our system. And this was a book sharing the fact that together we are stronger, together we are so much more creative and together we find that inspiration. Before the president and I went out to read that book, we spoke about the vision for this city. We spoke about the challenges that we face and the importance of universal child care amidst all of it. I think part and parcel of that is in our politics, there's often a condescension towards people, a sense of more people should settle down and raise kids in the city without reckoning with why they're not doing so. Here in New York City, it costs upwards of $20,000 a year to have child care for a single child. And we know that in delivering universal child care for the first time in New York City history for two-year-olds, it can quite literally be the factor in a family deciding whether or not they want to have a child or another one. I had a New Yorker by the name of Mallorie tell me that she dreamed of another child and she always told herself she couldn't afford it, and now she's allowing herself to dream once again.
Bergin: When I think about this past week, when you celebrated your 100 days with an address at the Knockdown Center, you were with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and then this past weekend you were with President Obama. Some would say that they are on different ends maybe of the Democratic spectrum, but they saw in you something that was common. What does that say to you about where the party's headed?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that there's a hope in our city for what politics could actually deliver to people. And so often we've discussed politics as if it is an intellectual debate and for working people there is very little time for that kind of a debate. Working people want to know what will you deliver? How will you make it easier to afford rent on the first of the month? How will you make it easier to go to the grocery store? How will you make it easier to live in the city? La Guardia would say: “We need imagination at City Hall, imagination for the other fellow.” And he expounded on that, that in this matter, [saying he had] been called an idealist. “I propose to go right on with my idealism.” And I look back at those words, I look back at that legacy and I see so much of a reflection of a similar scale of crisis that we are living through and the need for a similar scale of ambition and vision in how we get out of it.
Bergin: Before we move on from child care, I just want to talk for a moment about the other side of the equation. So many child care workers are extremely low-paid women of color. What are you doing to grow this workforce?
Mayor Mamdani: So, this is part and parcel of our vision of universal child care. In order to deliver child care to the working families who have been priced out of it, we also need to do more than just recognize the immense work that so many working-class women have been putting into this very system. And we know that child care is not a one size fits all approach. You have child care that is offered at schools, child care that's offered at centers. I was quite taken aback to find that I was the first mayor to visit a home-based child care provider, which for many New Yorkers is how they prefer to find child care. And so, as we build this out, it's not just to build out a new system, it's also to address the inadequacies of the old system.
I'll give you one example. We've had 3K here in New York City and it's been immensely impactful. And we've also heard from many parents that the worth of 3K is diminished when a family in Astoria is told that they have a seat, but when they ask where, they're told it's in Bed-Stuy. And so, one of our first focuses was not just on delivering universal 2K, but also on adding 1,000 seats to 3K in the very ZIP codes where demand has outstripped the city's capacity. And so, to me, I see all of this as part of the same plan that we have, and at the core of it also is ensuring that this is a job that so many can continue to do, and it's a part of exactly the compass of where we're headed.
Bergin: So, as part of your plan, you also want to address the pay inequities?
Mayor Mamdani: Yes.
Bergin: Let's talk for a moment about another major element of your first 100 days, something we all endured, frankly. It was the winter that just did not want to quit. And you're not the only mayor who's had to endure winters. Here's what Mayor La Guardia said about winter.
Recording of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia: “All right, now that brings us up to snow. I dread snow. I don't know. I just dread snow and I pray every night to please keep snow away. We haven't got the equipment and we can't get the personnel.”
Bergin: Mr. Mayor, do you dread the snow as well?
Mayor Mamdani: I've never dreaded it as much as I do now.
Bergin: The winter was awful, right? You know, it was cold for so long. We lost 20 New Yorkers. But I'm wondering, what lessons did you learn managing those storms that you might apply to the upcoming heat? We are likely to see many heat emergencies this coming summer.
Mayor Mamdani: I think first and foremost that it is not a sufficient answer to say “This is how the city has done something.” New Yorkers do not care and nor should they. They want to know how will the city address this. I'll give you an example. When we faced the first storm — because we had a blizzard that came after that — in that first storm it became very clear to us very quickly that while the city had PlowNYC, a website that New Yorkers could go to see the frequency of New York City plowing and where it was last at what street, we did not have a system of geotagging bus stops, crosswalks, sidewalks. We know that a lot of these are actually the responsibility of private property owners. And also, issuing a violation does not clean that street immediately. New Yorkers still have to navigate that. And so, one of the lessons we took from that first storm was the need to immediately develop a geotagging system for much of these very parts of New York City's streetscape.
Similarly, we found an emergency snow shoveler program, a program which had existed for a number of years, but in terms of eligible New Yorkers who were ready to sign up, it had dwindled down to a number that we hadn't seen in quite some time. We also made it our mission, especially as we went into the second blizzard, for how we could grow the number of New Yorkers that could actually be a part of this. And what we saw is that work was critical in supplementing the incredible work of the men and women of DSNY, because those emergency snow shovelers were able to focus on the very kinds of places, bus stops, sidewalks, crosswalks, that had previously been very hard for City government to be able to address.
Bergin: So, is there something to apply to cooling centers from that, the idea of the geotagging, or is there something that New Yorkers might say, “Okay, this is something that they're going to build on in this upcoming season?”
Mayor Mamdani: I think one of the things is needing to ensure that the city is prepared for every eventuality. What we saw, as you described it, is it was not just cold after that first storm. It was among the coldest stretch that New York City had ever seen in its history. The other part of this is, in heading into the summer, we have something we didn't have in heading into that first storm, which is time. And what that allows us to do is the work of ensuring that so many more of our buildings across the city are up to code. One of the many reasons that the work of HPD inspectors is so critical is that they go into New Yorkers' homes and they can actually spot each and every violation, that in that moment may not be a danger to that New Yorker, but if allowed to fester, would become one.
I was recently with a number of those HPD inspectors, and we were testing for lead in a New Yorker's home. And as we were doing so, the inspector also pointed out that these are the kinds of things — pointing across this bedroom where there was a young mother, her daughter, and her father all there together — that if left unaddressed, these could become significant issues. We left that building, he had issued, I think, about six violations. Ensuring that we actually enforce our housing laws are also critical to ensuring that New Yorkers can survive through the kind of heat that is now a normal part of the climate crisis.
Bergin: I want to talk some about building, but one of the keys to how Mayor La Guardia was able to leave a legacy on the city's built environment was, of course, his partnership with President Roosevelt. As you mentioned, we think of La Guardia Airport, we think of the FDR Drive, which you can see in that photo up there with some of the classic cars. We think of public housing, which was sprawling, albeit segregated, at the time. It would not have been possible without President Roosevelt, who was a partner and in fact a benefactor for New York City. La Guardia was a progressive Republican; FDR was a Democrat. I'm going to bring up a couple of photos — you probably know where I'm going with this. Here is La Guardia and FDR. Look at those smiles, look at that, and this is how La Guardia described FDR.
Recording of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia: “He's a great president. Even those who are politically opposed to him concede his greatness and admire his qualities.”
Bergin: Now I'm going to bring up another photo. Mr. Mayor, that is you in the Oval Office in February. Slightly different expression, you know. I'm just wondering, how can you build in the city like a La Guardia? Can you do that with President Trump? Can he be your FDR?
Mayor Mamdani: The first time that I met with President Trump, it was November of last year, and he showed me a portrait of FDR. I told the president that my favorite mayor in the history of New York City was Fiorella La Guardia, and that so much of what he was able to achieve — as you said — was because of his partnership with FDR, because of how the New Deal infused this city with a real sense of possibility. In the second meeting, as you have in the photo here, my proposal to the president was to build the greatest amount of housing we'd seen in a single housing development since the early 1970s. Sunnyside Yard would yield 12,000 homes, 30,000 jobs, and is impossible to complete without the work and the assistance and the approval of the federal administration.
And so, I shared with the president directly what my hopes would be. I think the president and I have many more disagreements than Mayor La Guardia had with FDR. However, what we do have in common is the fact that, like La Guardia and FDR, we are also both from New York City, and this city holds an outsized sense of not just importance, but also love for all of us. After that first meeting, the president shared with the press that the better New York City does, the happier he is, and that is one thing that I do have in common with the president. I think that's one thing that La Guardia and FDR also felt.
Bergin: Is that project, the Sunnyside Yard's development — is that real?
Mayor Mamdani: What do you mean?
Bergin: Is that something that New Yorkers will see happen during your administration? I mean, it's something that has been talked about for a long time, but there are a lot of questions. What's happened since that meeting? Have you spoken to the administration again?
Mayor Mamdani: I am in conversation with the president around this proposal, as well as around anything that frankly will help New Yorkers. The same meeting where I spoke to him about this potential to build, as you said, a project that has long been thought of, has long been imagined, but has yet to be constructed. I also went into that meeting to share with the president that just that morning ICE agents had detained a Columbia student, and I shared with the president a list of five [individuals] who had been detained in or around Columbia University. And about 30 minutes after the meeting, he called me and said, “I've made the decision to release her.” And so, it is by no means an exclusive focus, however it is one of importance. And I won't ever tell New Yorkers that anything of this scale will be easy or will be quick, but we cannot stand to win it if we don't stand to try. And so, that is exactly at the heart of this proposal to the president, and I'll be sure to keep New Yorkers up to date as there are any developments on it.
Bergin: And so, at this point, are you open to — I mean, the president has a reputation for being somewhat transactional. Would you name it after him, if that would persuade him to send some money our way?
Mayor Mamdani: The president has not asked me that. I will tell you —
Bergin: Maybe we planted a seed.
Mayor Mamdani: I will tell you the most important thing for me is that we build housing and that we deliver it to working-class New Yorkers, because for far too many, New York has become a memory. They live elsewhere. Even for those who work here, they commute. You know, I am in the midst of getting two allergy shots a week to get two cats, and I was in the elevator maybe about a month or so ago, and the nurse across from me let out this deep sigh. And I asked her, “Have you had a long day?” She said: “Yes, but I'm about to have an even longer one,” And I asked her why, and she said because she was going to commute another two hours, because she lives out of the state.
And there's so many New Yorkers who are keeping this city running, and they can't even afford to live here. They live in Jersey City, they live in Connecticut, they live in Pennsylvania, they live upstate, they live on Long Island, and that is not the city that we want. You know, La Guardia's first words that you played, it has a reverence for this city and the people of this city, and I don't want this city to become a museum of those people. I want it to be a living, breathing testament to those people. And I want us to keep writing and making history here as opposed to just looking around and pointing at buildings that were built more than a century ago and saying that's what we have to offer.
Bergin: Speaking of buildings that are, some people think, a little bit older, the Trump administration will select a new design for Penn Station next month. We've reported that one of the options involves moving Madison Square Garden. What do you think about moving Madison Square Garden across the street?
Mayor Mamdani: The first thing that comes to mind with Madison Square Garden is just hoping that this is the year [that] the Knicks pull it off. You know, I think, to me, I'm interested in pursuing big things when it comes to the vision for our streetscape, the built environment, and I think that there are a lot of proposals that should be considered. I don't have a firm take on any one of them.
Bergin: Even though, I know you talked to the president about Midtown zoning, which is — is this something that comes up? Penn Station?
Mayor Mamdani: It was more a conversation around ULURP and community boards.
Bergin: Before we move on from the president and FDR and Trump, we had listeners who submitted questions ahead of this. And so, this is a question from Barbara in Queens. She writes: “I'm an emergency housing voucher Section 8 holder. Trump abruptly ended that program. What will you do to help the more than 5,000 formerly homeless and domestic violence survivors who will be pushed into the streets?”
Mayor Mamdani: Well, first, I want to just say thank you to Barbara for her question. And this goes back to what I was sharing earlier about the many disagreements that I have with the president. One of them is due to the brutality of these cuts that we have seen not just across our city but across the country. Cuts which quite literally will take away so much of what New Yorkers rely on to make ends meet. I think the city, obviously, we have a role in both advocating for New Yorkers, continuing to share that with the president and the federal administration, and then also looking to see all of the city services that we can utilize to deliver for New Yorkers like Barbara. Part of this is not just an issue of services and the funding of those services, though that is critically important. Another part of this is also the speed of delivery of those services.
And La Guardia would often talk about if we want working people to believe in government, we have to prove that it's worthy of their trust. And there are — a lot of the things that we're looking at in our City Hall is how can we increase the efficiency and the excellence of city services? Because for many New Yorkers, they've come to look at City Hall as if all it could be is a disappointment in their lives. Even when we talk about potholes, for example. The hardworking men and women of DOT [the Department of Transportation] filled 102,000 potholes in the first 100 days. They did it at every hour of the day. I personally got to witness them doing it in the afternoon and then seeing them repave a road at midnight. This was more potholes than they'd filled in that time period than they had in over a decade. And what we want is to bring our city back to the moment where everything felt possible when City government tasked itself with it. And for a long time, it hasn't felt that way.
Bergin: One of the things, Mr. Mayor, that we have seen is that crime has remained relatively low, and when Mayor La Guardia came to office, one of his challenges as he was trying to clean up corruption was to clean up the NYPD. Commissioner Tisch had to face some of that under your previous, the prior mayor. But you two continue to work together, and yet there have been some troubling incidents that have happened just in the past week that I want to give you a chance to talk about. Last week, there was a shooting death of a 15-year-old boy, Jaden Pierre, at Roy Wilkins Park in Southeast Queens. There were reports that bystanders were watching and filming as he was beaten and then shot. And then former Mayor Eric Adams shared a video of it and criticized you for not being there. What’s your response to that?
Mayor Mamdani: First and foremost, when you see that video, as many New Yorkers have, you feel a sense of heartbreak at the fact that this has happened to a young person in our city. This is something that is unacceptable, and it is something that his family, his entire community now, [have] to bear the loss of. And we extend not only our condolences to the family, but frankly a necessity of recommitting ourselves to ending the scourge of gun violence in this city. Because as you said, we are proud of the work that we are doing to deliver public safety in this city, and we also know we can never rest on our laurels, because no matter how many statistics I can rattle off to you about what this first quarter has looked like, we still see acts of violence of this nature. And they are acts of violence that demand that we do everything that we can. And that is exactly what is at the heart of our administration's commitment to New Yorkers.
Bergin: Do you have any response to Mayor Adams?
Mayor Mamdani: No.
Bergin: Similar to what you're describing there, there is this challenge of needing to address some of these sparks of violence that we see, but then on the flip side of that, you take something like what many of us also saw, this incident at a liquor store near the Gowanus Houses in Brooklyn. There was a man who police were attempting to arrest. It was a violent incident both you and the commissioner have condemned, which you've seen. Disciplinary proceedings, investigations will continue. But we've gone out from our newsroom and talked to the residents there who say that this is not a one-off. So, what do you feel like needs to be done to repair the relationship between those residents and the police?
Mayor Mamdani: First and foremost, we have to understand that New Yorkers expect us to deliver safety and justice hand-in-hand. And for a long time, they've been told as if they have to choose between the two. And what we saw, as you said, in that video, was not only incredibly disturbing but also unacceptable. And there are the immediate actions that we took to reassign these officers, to investigate this. And yet, as you've also said, this is what we've heard from a number of constituents, part of something that is larger, something that troubles them. And that also means that we, as City government, have to look deeper than just this as one case, one incident. And as we reflect on that, we will share with New Yorkers the kinds of steps that we're going to take to ensure that not only does this not happen again to this New Yorker, but that it does not happen again, period.
Bergin: How do you see doing that? I mean, you have a new deputy mayor of Community Safety. Do you send her to talk to residents there? Is there anything in the short term that residents there could expect?
Mayor Mamdani: I think the first [thing] is to be clear-eyed about this, and to have an entire investigation that spans, frankly, across many different parts of City government as to what happened, how it happened, and whether it has happened before. That is also how we ensure that it does not happen again. To your point, public safety is something that many different parts of City government are critical to the delivery of. And we have created New York City's first-ever Office of Community Safety. We have our first-ever deputy mayor for Community Safety, and she is someone who comes with an incredible track record of not just delivering for New Yorkers, but frankly, working with New Yorkers on the question of what does safety look and feel like in the community. And so, when we talk about horrific incidents of gun violence, and we talk about these examples where New Yorkers are deeply concerned about their city, we have to also ensure we're coming with every single tool that we can, because we know that it is going to take everything. It's going to take the NYPD, it's going to take the crisis management system, it's going to take gun violence interrupters, it's going to take the tapestry of approaches that New York City has taken, but oftentimes disparately, and actually bringing them together.
Bergin: I want to get to questions in the room soon, but I think that this is an important part of understanding, sort of, what you have done in this city through your campaign, and what you're trying to do as you continue working. Similarly, when Mayor La Guardia was elected, his 1933 election triggered a spike in voter turnout and voter registration. He brought new voters to the polls, and he had a message to New Yorkers about what he felt was their own responsibility to city government.
Recording of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia: “The privileges of democracy bring with it responsibility. Part of that responsibility is to understand our form of government, to do our duty as citizens, and it requires duty as well as the enjoyment of liberties. That means that we must have understanding for the problem of our neighbor.”
Bergin: Mr. Mayor, you also engaged new voters and really changed what New Yorkers are expecting from their City government. What do you expect from New Yorkers?
Mayor Mamdani: First, I just want to say thank you for these recordings. They are really beautiful, and they are such a glimpse into a different time, and even as we were listening to the former mayor's words, I'm asking myself — do you know, is that City Hall?
Bergin: Yeah, he [broadcasted] on WNYC.
Mayor Mamdani: From City Hall?
Bergin: From City Hall.
Mayor Mamdani: So, I ask that question because it looks very much like my office, which was his office, and one of the — I can't think of a more eloquent way to say this — one of the incredibly cool things about this job is that I get to use Fiorello La Guardia's desk. It has remained there. I think it was Mayor de Blasio who brought it back into the mayor's office, and to see him and hear his words and his hand on that desk, it just reminds, not just myself, but I think our team as a whole, that we are seeking to do something that is part of a longer legacy than just an individual task or responsibility or dream.
What do I expect of New Yorkers? That they keep telling the truth. One of the many things I love about New Yorkers is New Yorkers will tell you how they feel, and even when they're telling you something good, it sometimes sounds as if it's something bad. So, you know, I was walking on the street one day, and this woman just yelled out, “You're my favorite mayor. Don't ever forget that.” And I was like, “I will not forget that.” And it's such a New York expression of support, where you're both overcome with a real sense of gratitude and a little bit of fear.
Bergin: Just enough.
Mayor Mamdani: And it's just like, this is what I love about our city. And you know, I think that at the heart of it is more than from New Yorkers, I expect from City Hall to deliver something that is worthy of New Yorkers. You know, there has been a vision of government almost that seems embarrassed of government and its role in people's lives and what it should do. A vision almost of how to narrow government to be as limited as possible. And I am unabashed in my belief that government is a force for good. It can be. It must be. And that it is the most effective tool at delivering for working-class people. And so, before I ask anything of New Yorkers, I want to show that we are worthy of their time. Because in this city, time is money, people are busy. And there is a reason that they don't have as much time for politics, because politics hasn't seemed to have had that much time for them. And we're looking to show them that in fact, things can be different.
And what's exciting is sometimes when it's so overwhelming, the obstacles we face, I think of La Guardia, I think of others who came before, I think even now, while he's, I would say generally universally acclaimed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest mayor that our city has ever seen. I sometimes read what the New York Times would write about La Guardia when he was in office. And there was this one, this one article that really stayed with me, where they described him as forever toying with haphazard proposals that were benevolent in intention, but impossible or dangerous in practice, that he was always fond of socialistic playthings. And it's helpful to read those words, and then to look around the city and see what he left us.
Bergin: Do you think there's a way to take a campaign like yours and translate it to a national stage? And do you think Americans are ready for a democratic socialist in the White House?
Mayor Mamdani: I think Americans are ready for a politics that delivers for them. You know, we were looking at photos of FDR. You think about FDR's four freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want [and] freedom from fear. These are things that today some might say could never reach the White House. And yet we know that to be a democratic socialist is to believe that democracy must extend beyond the ballot box to the rest of our lives. It's to make the choice that you fight for working people, that you don't debate whether someone deserves dignity, you figure out how to deliver it for them.
I think that as much as I am someone who fervently believes that New York City is the greatest city in the world, I also will never kid myself that the struggles of New Yorkers are purely unique to this city. I know that there are people elsewhere in the country who are facing that same struggle to afford their rent, to afford their groceries, to afford public transit or gas. And they too have been fed a politics that has had very little for them. And so, I think that yes, there is definitely room across this country for a politics that puts working people right at the heart of its focus. And I'm very excited to be here in New York City focusing not on the question of that politics but rather on the question of how to deliver for these people.
Bergin: Mr. Mayor, I have a very quick lightning round, and then I go to all of you and those of you who are tuning in on the live stream for your questions. Just four. Okay. Easy.
Mayor Mamdani: All right. Famous last words.
Bergin: All right. So, you can answer in a word or two. I have heard you mention many times that you have recently seen Zootopia 2 — very good film — which my seven-year-old absolutely delights in knowing. But she has an important question, which is, who was your favorite character?
Mayor Mamdani: My favorite character in Zootopia 2, it might be, I can't remember his name, but he carries them across the water. He goes, “Hey, bub, hey, bub, hey, bub.”
Bergin: I didn't see it.
Mayor Mamdani: You don't remember that? Someone here, was I supposed to deflect that question?
Bergin: I wanted to see where you went with it. We have mentioned that the Knicks are playing a very important game tonight. Who will be the team's MVP?
Mayor Mamdani: I mean, it's hard to look past Jalen Brunson. Come on. We love him.
Bergin: Should the Artemis crew have a ticker tape parade in New York?
Mayor Mamdani: I have learned to not make commitments on a stage before speaking to the people who are in charge of logistics. So, I'm going to take that back to the team. But I will say that it's been quite incredible to watch their journey and also the way that they carried themselves along that journey. And I think it was a real invitation for people across the world to remember that we are part of something larger. And to have this all happen also, as many New Yorkers have been watching Project Hail Mary and having a real sense of our place in the world, our place in the universe. I think it's a lovely time for thinking beyond oneself.
Bergin: Okay. This one is easy. You don't need clearance from anyone, except maybe your wife if you're going together. But what is the next Broadway show you will see?
Mayor Mamdani: Oh, wow. I have to be honest. I don't know the next Broadway show. I do think we have tickets to a play at BAM. Is it Hamlet? I'm not sure. Yes? It's Hamlet? Okay. Sounds good. It's Hamlet.
Bergin: Okay. No more quiz. We're done. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for your active listening. Now is the part where you get to ask some questions yourselves. I want to just remind everyone, please wait until someone brings a mic over to you. I want to start with one of our panelists who will be coming up, who's over here, Sean. She's in the front row. This is historian Kim Phillips-Fein.
Mayor Mamdani: It's such a pleasure.
Question: Yeah. It's great to be here. Really an honor. I work with your dad also. I wanted to ask if you could speak a little bit about La Guardia and his international vision. One of the things — I don't know if you know this part of La Guardia's politics, but La Guardia really emerges into an international stage in the late ‘30s when he's very openly critical of Hitler. And then the German government really comes after him and attacks him. The U.S. government, actually, at that point, was less — they didn't exactly apologize on his behalf, but they were not really combative, but La Guardia did not have it and just continued to throw things at Hitler. So, I'm just curious if you can speak at all about the kind of international — I think one of the things about La Guardia is he was very aware of the relationship between the city and the world. And in his own politics, he represented in a lot of ways many new immigrants. How would you think about New York and the role of the mayor in thinking about world events?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think it is one of the many things I admire about La Guardia, because the pressure that he faced from his own federal government at an international level, it was one that would have pushed him to be silent, that it would be easier to be silent. And yet part of what makes him remarkable is that oftentimes he was working backwards from the question of what is right as opposed to, politically, what should he do. I think we are also a city of the world. We have a population of about eight and a half million people. More than three million New Yorkers are immigrants. I'm one of them. And New Yorkers have concerns not just about themselves, but also about the world around them, regardless of their own personal connection.
And we also know that what happens elsewhere, it comes to New York City. I've shared my deep opposition to the Iran war, and an opposition that is not only political or economic, but also, frankly, moral. And one of the things in this war, and frankly in any war, is the dehumanization that takes place. And I had seen a — I called a young woman who had been attacked in a hate crime to extend my sympathies, and she's a young Muslim woman. And she told me that the first thing that the man said to her before he threw her to the ground on the subway platform was, “I wonder how many Iranians we killed today." And she was heartbroken in sharing that to me, and as was I, as I think any of us should be. And the conversation continued, and eventually she said, you know, “I had never thought that I would speak to you in this context. I had always hoped it would be something else. Now that I have you, let me tell you about what I really care about.” And I said, “Absolutely.” And she told me about the importance of CUNY in her life, and how deeply she believed in CUNY, and how she was — she aspired to become a CUNY professor.
And it showed me the beauty of this city, the importance of our public institutions, and the heartbreak that a young woman whose dream was about the crown jewel of the city's public education system was instead someone I was speaking to because she had been identified by a man as being Muslim and then thrown to the ground as a result of it. And so, I say this to say that it's important as leaders in this city that we tell the truth about the world around us. It's also important to understand that no matter how hard we try, the city is not insulated from the world that is around us. And New Yorkers are looking for someone who can be honest about what they believe in, and I've found that there are many New Yorkers who may disagree with me on one thing or the other, but at the very least, they know what I actually believe in when it comes to those things.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: My name is Christina. I'm a BCC student. And I just wanted to first start — if what I read was correct, when La Guardia was mayor and CUNY was just a baby, CUNY was free. Maybe we could revisit that. But seriously, I wanted to talk about ICE on our campuses. I'm not sure if it's a CUNY-wide, you know, standard of how we should be attacking this situation. But at least on BCC, this is the protocol. If ICE comes to campus, the CUNY guards will make sure that they have all the proper documentation. And if they don't strong-arm their way onto campus, they will be taken to an office in which CUNY officers will then retrieve the student and deliver them to the ICE agents.
This is a problem. And it will just erode the trust between institution and student, so we need your help. We did mention this to the Senate meeting that we have, and we were told, is this the right setting for you to mention this? And I believe any time to mention such a thing is the right setting. So please, can we just get across the board , no ICE on CUNY? And what can we do as an institution to support each other, that we keep each other safe on our campuses, and make sure that we're not giving the keys away to the city, to these ICE agents? Thank you.
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you so much for your question, and I do share your opinion that it's always the right time to ask that, no matter what setting you're in. First and foremost, I'm going to follow up with my team around what [the] CUNY policies are and what they need to be. I think we've seen a number of times where we are proud of the sanctuary city policies we have in New York City, and we also want to be clear that — and I'll say this as the mayor — I do not want a future of this city where we learn how to deal with ICE. I believe that ICE should be abolished. And I've said this both publicly and privately, and I've even told the president directly that I believe that ICE raids are cruel and inhumane, and I think that they don't do anything to serve in the stated public interest of public safety.
And so, on the specific policies, I'm going to look into that, and I really appreciate you raising it. And on the broader level, I think we need to ensure that as we know what it is that we're fighting against in a political sense, we also have to know what it is that we're fighting for. And I believe that when it comes to immigration at a national level, we have to be fighting for a vision that has much more humanity at the heart of it than what it has become, because as you have said, the trust that is diminishing between New Yorkers and their institutions — we can see it across every sector of our city, because people are terrified. I remember hearing of a student that took down all of the numbers on the apartments on the floor that they lived on so that ICE would not know where they lived. This is the extent to which people have been driven.
Question: Mayor Mamdani — it's a pleasure to say that. So, I have a question for you as a socialist mayor, right, a socialist mayor. You talk about empowering workers, and I wanted to ask you about empowering the 400,000 city workers that you supervise. As the employer, can the city move from top-down pattern bargaining, just about money, to continual discussion between agencies and workers and their union reps about how to improve both the provision of public services and fix workplace problems — a sort of continual collaborative bargaining — and just get away from the top-down pattern bargaining?
Mayor Mamdani: I think this is a fascinating question. It is also incredible to be asked by you, Mr. Kagan. I think this is something [that] is worthy of consideration. I'm going to take it back, because I think, to your point, there is a lot more than just what is typically negotiated that is of importance. Typically, you are negotiating salaries, health care benefits — things of that nature. Workers face far more struggles than just that, and it also should be a little bit more regularized than just waiting for those kinds of negotiations. And the team that I'm going to take it back to are the ones who are tasked with those negotiations before I make a pronouncement that then changes their lives as well. But I appreciate you for the question, and also, frankly, for your having taught me and so many others. I would not be seated here with a deep sense of the possible were it not for you and so many other teachers who imbued that within me when I was a New York City public school student. Thank you.
Bergin: I'm going to take a question from the live stream that was submitted and my producers sent me: “Mayor Mamdani, if you could travel back in time 100 days, what advice would you give to your earlier self”?
Mayor Mamdani: Hmm. Dread the snow.
Question: For those of us in the audience who would like to change the world, roughly two years ago almost none of us in this room knew who you were, and you could walk down a street without having your name called out to you, and you could enjoy the snowstorms. I imagine that it's been pretty destructive for your social life, but you have the chance to make your ideas and our ideas real. Can I just ask you: Is it worth it?
Mayor Mamdani: I think so. I think it's an incredibly difficult job. It's also unbelievably fulfilling. It is truly the greatest job I could ever think of, and I think because at the end of it, when you win something, it means you can change someone's life. It's not an intellectual victory. It's not some sense of self-satisfaction. It's that someone else in the city is living a better tomorrow because you fought for them today. I think about the first day in office. After the inauguration, I went to an apartment building where tenants had been living with an innumerable number of violations, and I was welcomed into an apartment by one of those tenants, and she pointed me to this rust in her bathroom, and it was so obvious to see that this clearly was not habitable.
I asked her how long she'd been living with it, and she pointed to her son in the other room, and I asked how old he was, and she said more than 20 years. People have come to accept these things as if they are normal, and just in this, I don't know, 109, 108 days that we've been in office, we've now secured more than $30 million in settlements from bad landlords, including that one, and we've fixed more than 6,070 apartments. That's what makes the difficulty worth it because it's not hypothetical. It's not intellectual. It's real. It's material. Thank you for your question.
Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. My name is Sophia. I'm from La Guardia Community College. I'm here with a couple students, and my boss, Stephen Petrus. We're big fans of you. And given your interest in New York City history and housing policy, I wanted to ask you if you would be open to visiting the La Guardia and Wagner Archives located at La Guardia Community College.
Mayor Mamdani: Oh, I would love to, and I also have to say that one of my dear friends who also studied under the tutelage of Mr. Kagan at Bronx Science [is] someone who has been working with plasma as a means to purify water, and he worked out of La Guardia Community College for many, many years. I think it was on the seventh floor, and so I would visit him in his lab and see these incredible experiments, and in the midst of — as I would walk to him from the elevator, I would see these incredible posters on the wall, these glimpses of La Guardia, of history. I would love to come to the archives, so we will absolutely follow up and do that.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: I wanted to ask you, what do you feel like you've been most successful at within your first 100 days, and what has challenged you to grow and think differently as a leader?
Mayor Mamdani: Most successful. I think it would come back to how we began this conversation. On day eight, when we secured $1.2 billion in partnership with the governor to deliver a path to universal child care. I think that's the most successful, because that is something that has already added 1,000 seats to 3K. It will add 2,000 seats of free child care for two-year-olds across much of this city, and then 12,000 seats next year, and then a seat for every single two-year-old by the end of four years. That is going to be transformative for so many families across this city. Your second question; can you repeat that one more time?
Question: What has challenged you? What has challenged me the most?
Mayor Mamdani: I think what has challenged me the most is what we have inherited and looking to chart out a path that doesn't feel sorry for [itself], but says, “This is our task. This is what we have to address.” We inherited the largest fiscal crisis the city has seen in many years: a $12 billion deficit that dwarfed even that of what we saw in the Great Recession. What is so difficult to explain to New Yorkers is, unlike the Great Recession, no one else is feeling this across the country. This was created purely by City Hall. That means that we have to ensure that the pathway to resolving it is also one that isn't borne by working- and middle-class New Yorkers. They had nothing to do with creating this. Every day, the largest challenge, really, throughout the course of this 108, 109 days, has been, how do we balance this budget and do so in a way that is fair? We've brought that $12 billion down to $5.4 billion. We have a few weeks less for the state budget process, and we're hopeful, and we also know there's a lot of work still to be done. Thank you for your question.
Question: I live in the South Bronx, and I love my community, but we can't ignore issues like homelessness and substance abuse. I shouldn't be seeing used needles in parks where children play, so I'm going to butcher this name. With the proposed pied-à-terre—
Mayor Mamdani: Yes, pied-à-terre tax.
Question: Are those funds, besides child care, potentially being directed towards improving conditions for struggling communities like mine?
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you for your question. The $500 million that the pied-à-terre tax would raise — and just to first say so that we're all on the same page, the pied-à-terre tax is something that the governor has put forward that we're incredibly excited by, which would tax secondary homes worth more than $5 million that are owned by non-resident New Yorkers. So, for example, you know, a Saudi prince bought an apartment for more than $90 million — [this] would be subject to the pied-à-terre tax. There was actually a moment where the state Senator Liz Krueger — who represents much of the homes that would be subject to this kind of a tax — she had a conversation with a local developer as he was telling her that they were going to build more of this luxury housing that would be bought by buyers of this nature. And he said: “Don't worry, there's not going to be any impact on city services because nobody actually lives here.”
So, this is what we're talking about with that tax. That funding, that half a billion dollars a year, would go towards not just free child care, but also cleaner streets, also safer neighborhoods. It would go towards the essential functioning of city government. And I will also say, just as we're having that conversation, one other thing to mention is the incredible work of institutions like OnPoint that [take on] overdose prevention in this city. And I had the privilege of going and actually visiting myself and seeing what it can look like to take health and safety seriously and keep New Yorkers not just safe, but alive. Thank you for your question. Thank you for your advocacy for your community as well.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. Crain's estimates that 30 percent of New York City car owners register their cars somewhere else in violation of New York State law and cheating New York City and New York State out of about $150 million a year. If we had resident-only parking just at alternate side spots — just like many, many, many other American cities do — we could curb a majority of that violation because people couldn't just park on the street easily if they had Vermont plates or you just name the state. So, I'm wondering if you would consider doing this. It's a claim by some that we need state-enabling legislation, but that's a debatable question.
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you for your question. I have been asked about resident parking before, although not at this level of depth as you've given it, and I think it's an interesting idea. It's been put forward to me both not really as a revenue stream but rather as something that would ease the quality of life for New Yorkers who drive cars and can never seem to find a parking space and yet find many a vehicle with plates that are out of state. So, this is going to go back in the things I'm going to talk to the team about. Absolutely.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: And regarding the 2K program, Mr. Mayor, I request that when you hire educators, can you ensure that they are qualified in infant and toddler care?
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you very much. Thank you for your time.
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