Charlene Banks, Robert Fulton Tenants Association: Good morning, everyone. My name is Charlene Banks with the Robert Fulton Tenants Association. I'm happy to welcome you here, Mr. Mayor, today for this exciting announcement. It is not every day that we get the mayor of New York City visiting our building and our community. I will cut to the chase: our buildings need serious repairs. We need new management. I have to stress: we need and want new management. But this mayor has shown that he is on the side of the tenants like us, who are fighting against bad landlords and neglect. So today, we finally have some reasons to have hope in our fight for repairs and a more stable home. To share what the city of New York plans to do with our building, I am thrilled to welcome to the stage Mr. Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Thank you, can we have a round of applause for Charlene Banks? It is an honor to be in Morrisania alongside the advocates, city workers and tenants who worked so hard for this moment. And I want to acknowledge not only our tenant leader, Charlene Banks, but also Linda Kemp. And I want to thank our leaders from our city administration. We have our HPD commissioner, Dina Levy. We have our director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants, Cea Weaver. And we also have our borough president here, Vanessa Gibson. I think that we will shortly be joined by Council Member Althea Stevens, as well as Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Before I begin remarks, I do also want to give a real shout-out to Legal Aid and to Our Bronx for the work that all of you have been doing. Because it is a pleasure to stand alongside all of you. And I want you to know that what we speak about today is not possible unless the work that you have done has actually continued to be done.
Now, we know that when Robert Fulton Terrace opened in 1967, the apartments were advertised to middle-income families as “luxury you can afford.” At the time, that was true. Sister buildings were part of the Mitchell-Lama housing initiatives that provided stability and security for thousands of families. Robert Fulton Terrace, where we are right now, included a playground, communal spaces like this one, 25 percent of units reserved for the elderly, all for a reasonable $29.30 monthly rental fee per room. For working families, these apartments offered a path to a life of dignity. This is what the American dream had felt like. But as the years wore on, the dream of luxury you can afford descended into a nightmare. The two buildings were sold to a series of speculators and soon fell into a pattern of disrepair and foreclosure. While irresponsible landlords lined their pockets, tenants in the buildings, nearly 500 units, paid the price.
In a lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society in 2024, tenants described going without hot water for days on end, forcing them to boil water just to bathe. Tenants described rat infestations [and] broken elevators that trapped them in 17-story towers. People went to sleep hungry because a trip to the grocery store to buy a carton of eggs or a gallon of milk required walking up and down hundreds of stairs. These conditions, to put it very simply, were inhumane. So, the New Yorkers who live here did what New Yorkers do when they are confronted by an injustice: they organized. They called for change. They fought for their right to a dignified life. And I'm very proud that two senior leaders from my administration that are here with us today, HPD Commissioner Levy and Director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants Weaver, organized alongside them. And that organizing made a difference, and one that we are here together today to mark.
For today, we are announcing unprecedented action against the current landlords of Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers, Karan Singh and Rajmattie Persaud. After two years of litigation, HPD has secured $31 million in penalties, the largest civil penalty won in HPD history, all on behalf of the residents of these buildings. This is a long time coming. For years, Singh and Persaud let more than 1,000 violations accumulate while they collected rent month after month. They have over-leveraged this building and Fordham Towers multiple times. They are on Public Advocate Jumaane Williams' list of worst landlords, and for good reason. That is why this court penalty includes the appointment of a chief restructuring officer, who is in charge and has already hired a property manager to ensure that repairs are actually made. We have negotiated that at least $900,000, for the chief restructuring officer, be put towards repairs immediately. These funds come directly from the landlords’ accounts, money that should have otherwise been allocated towards this work long ago.
And we will not only make the urgent repairs that are needed today but also the long-term improvements that tenants deserve. We are calling on Fannie Mae to work with the city to secure a preservation buyer for these homes, one who will actually deliver on the investments and the improvements that tenants deserve. Because this is more than just a conversation around patchwork solutions to ensure that you can live from today to tomorrow. It's about shattering a cycle of abuse and neglect that has long defined not just these towers, but frankly affordable housing across our city. And as we look to tomorrow, we will ensure the end of this impunity is measured not merely in accountability for those landlords who have violated our city's housing laws but also in better living conditions for those who are forced to live under their negligence.
This win must mean something comprehensive and lasting to tenants. Our administration will use every tool we have to not only create new affordable housing but to preserve existing affordable housing. Because the promise of luxury you can afford should not feel like a relic of a bygone era, it should be the promise of a future that we build together. And it will be. Because City Hall is going to continue to use every lever at our disposal to make real the promise of affordable, stable housing across the five boroughs. Thank you very much. And with that, I would like to introduce our Commissioner of HPD, Dina Levy.
Dina Levy, Commissioner, Department of Housing Preservation and Development: Morning, everybody. So today marks the beginning of a new chapter in a long and frankly ugly history endured by the tenants of Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers. The story, as the mayor said, is personal to me, because I was a tenant organizer in these buildings nearly 20 years ago when real estate speculators first took them out of the Mitchell-Lama program. Since that time, nearly 500 families have seen their homes flip from one bad actor to another, landing with the current owners, as the mayor said, Singh and Persaud, who, in addition to racking up 1,600 code violations, have also been featured on the city's Worst Landlord [Watchlist] year after year. The buildings are also now in foreclosure. But over these many years, the tenants have stayed organized and diligent in your fight to preserve your homes.
Responding to that call, we are proud to announce today that HPD's Anti-Harassment Unit has secured a record-setting $31 million judgment, and as the mayor said, it is the largest judgment in HPD's history. This means that both the tenants and the city will now have significant leverage in what happens to the future of these buildings. We have already made our demands clear to Fannie Mae, who holds the mortgage on these buildings. First, we have insisted that they direct the receiver to immediately start making urgent repairs across the buildings. Second, we have called on Fannie Mae to sell these buildings to a responsible preservation buyer with the endorsement of both the tenants and the city. And finally, we will expect Fannie Mae to recognize the cost to fully renovate Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers as part of any future sale.
These properties were built decades ago as decent, safe and affordable communities. I want to express my admiration to the tenants, who for nearly 20 years have fought so hard to hold on to that promise. Today, we commit to ensuring that your vision will finally be realized. I want to thank the team at HPD's Anti-Harassment Unit, led by Marti Weithman, Paul Gdanski, Kevin Alexis and Eric Mora; the attorneys at Bronx Legal Aid and at Our Bronx, who stood with the tenants during this litigation; and of course, Mayor Mamdani, who continues to make the fight for housing justice a top priority across his administration. Thank you.
Director Cea Weaver, Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants: Thanks, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm now going to pass it over to tenant leader Ahshaki Long from Fordham Towers.
Ahshaki Long, President, Fordham Towers Tenants Association: Thank you. Thank you to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the team at Legal Aid Society, Our Bronx especially and especially to my fellow tenants at 480 East 188th Street. I am Ahshaki Long, the president of the Fordham Towers Tenant Association. I have lived [at] 480 East 188th Street for 25 years, with hopes of raising my family in a safe, clean and healthy environment. I am writing from a very deep, personal place. I have lived through those violations [and] what they really meant, not as a list on a report but as an everyday challenge that affected my sense of safety, comfort, and dignity. We are struggling with broken elevators that make it difficult just to get home; rats and roaches that turn living spaces into sources of stress; old and failing appliances that are never replaced; persistent leaks that damage our homes; and mold that threatens our health.
We are dealing with financial mismanagement that creates instability, a lack of proper leases that leaves many of us feeling unprotected, and most of all, a lack of humanity in how we are treated. On top of that, many of us have endured constant manipulation, harassment and intimidation from Karan Singh and his management team. These experiences have made an already difficult living situation even more overwhelming. At a certain point, it becomes clear Mr. Singh does not deserve these properties.
And now, after years of fighting, the city is finally fighting to get more responsible owners. I have felt the frustration, the uncertainty [and] the moments where it seemed like nothing would change, but I have also witnessed something powerful rise out of that hardship: friendship, unity, resilience and courage. To my fellow tenants, I want to say thank you. I see strength in each of you. I see people refusing to stay silent, refusing to be overlooked [and] refusing to accept conditions that no one should live in. Standing together has made all the difference.
We have become more than neighbors. We have become a community that fights for one another. Thank you to the Legal Aid Society. I'm truly grateful you helped guide us when things felt overwhelming. Because of you, we feel seen. I also want to thank Mayor Zohran Mandani and his team. Your attention to what has been happening here has shown me our voices matter. That even in a large city, our situation is not invisible. It gives us hope that change is possible when leadership listens. Thank you.
Director Weaver: All right, everybody. I'm pleased to pass it over to our public advocate, Jumaane Williams.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams: Peace and blessings and love and light to everybody. Congratulations to the tenants. This is an awesome day. And I got to say, I started out organizing tenants many years ago. When I ran Tenants & Neighbors, I was running with Dina Levy when she was at UHAB. So, this is amazing to see people who have been working on this in [a] position to make change. And once again, what a difference an election makes. So, thank you, Mayor Mandani, for empowering people who care more about the tenants than they do [about] getting a contribution. And this is the impact that I think we're seeing here.
One of the things that I'm proud New Yorkers know about my office is how we call out and take on the worst landlords in our city with the annual watch list. I'm glad to now have an administration deeply committed to that effort as well. The building that we are at was the number one worst building in the Bronx on our 2023 list. We have number one for the city, but we break it down now into boroughs and this is the number one in the Bronx. And Karan Singh, an officer representing the company owning this building, is on our list this year. Each hazardous violation on the worst landlord watch list, each building in disrepair [and] each landlord putting profit over people represents New Yorkers suffering in their homes. With an administration committed to housing justice, tenant support and using all of the tools available to deliver, I'm invigorated by the change that we can create. With the resources of the city and the energy of tenants fed up with dangerous conditions and rising rents, we can overhaul not only buildings, but [also] the entire system that has created this housing crisis.
And appointing someone to ensure repairs actually happen is a major part of that. We can't just move on, so thank you to [the] mayor for seeing how important that is. A few years ago, my office put in a bill that was passed [into] the law thanks to the City Council that outlawed self-certification of repairs for the worst of the worst. This new appointment furthers that effort. To close, I just have to say that I'm glad to be able to speak about accountability for bad landlords when just the other day we saw the consequence of unchecked negligence.
While we still have more to learn about the causes of the devastating fire in Inwood, what's clear is that Jack Bick, the landlord there, earned his place on our Worst Landlord Watchlist through widespread and repeated violations in his portfolio. We are seeing time and time again people are dying by people who are on the Worst Landlord Watchlist. There is a direct correlation between safety and health, life and death and how people are taking care or not taking care [of] of these buildings. These are not things that we can just push aside. People are actually dying. Violations like a failure to maintain self-closing doors are immediately hazardous and in this tragic instance, may have led to more destruction and death.
Landlords are obligated to keep their tenants safe at a bare minimum, and the worst landlords repeatedly fail to meet that standard. Our community is in mourning, and we can't wait for the next tragedy to demand accountability and preventative action. I've always said that until this is no longer the cost of doing business, until people are losing their buildings [and] until bad landlords, worse and worse, are spending time in the jail system, this is not going to change.
I have now seen this starting to happen. There are landlords who have spent some time behind bars. There are people who are losing their buildings, and we are finally seeing it no longer being the cost of business. So, I'm thankful to be in a time and space where tenants' voices are finally being heard and addressed. So, congratulations again to everyone involved. I hope this is not the last, but I hope more that landlords see we have an administration that is not going to ignore what's happening. So, the best thing to do is to just do the right thing. Please, that is the best thing for everybody to keep everyone safe and make sure that we have the holiday stock that we need. Thank you so much.
Director Weaver: Thanks very much for the public advocate, and let's give a warm welcome to our borough president, Vanessa Gibson.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson: Good morning, everyone. When tenants are united, they will never be defeated. I am grateful to be here for this moment, and I take this opportunity to first thank Ms. Kemp, Ms. Banks, Ms. Long, the residents and families — long-time tenants of Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers. You have fought the fight. You have stayed the course. You never gave up to make sure that your voices were heard. You have turned your pain into purpose and your storm into strength, and I am so grateful that you can be a part of this moment because this is for you, for each and every tenant that has been denied necessities here at [Robert] Fulton Terrace and at Fordham Towers.
I also have history here in this building being the Council member of this district, and I remember, Dina Levy, UHAB, Our Bronx, Legal Aid, and everyone — the Tenants Association that stood up and said, “We cannot accept this: malfunctioning elevators, insufficient heat and hot water, vermin, mice [and] rats.” It's been years of neglect, folks. This did not happen yesterday, but it is a horrible pattern by a negligent landlord that does not prioritize tenants, hardworking families that pay their rent every single month and deserve more.
And so, this is a full circle moment, and I am grateful that we are here with an administration led by Mayor Zohran Mamdani that not only cares but [is also] stepping up to deliver real results for the people of this borough. [A] $31 million civil action, the largest in HPD history, folks. What does that mean? That is decades of neglect of unanswered calls. But finally, folks, you are getting what you rightfully deserve. And so, I want to say thank you to our mayor, to HPD Commissioner Dina Levy, to our director, Cea Weaver, and everyone at HPD and at City Hall that stepped up in a real way. Our New York City public advocate, Jumaane D. Williams, who every year releases the Worst Landlord List. And every time that list comes out, I say, “Jumaane, tell me how many Bronx landlords,” because I already know. We've been here before.
Our Council member, Althea Stevens, and all the elected officials. We've been here at [Robert] Fulton Terrace so many times; so many opportunities that this landlord had to do better, to step up and say, ‘You know what? I need help. Help me as a landlord.” And it didn't happen. And so, when you think about this civil action, we are also making sure that we support Fannie Mae, because we need them to help us in this work. And the new chief officer that is now trusted to make sure that all the repairs are done, short-term and long-term goals. Because all of you have invested your time, your energy, you have raised your families here at [Robert] Fulton Terrace, you deserve better. I'm just sorry that it took so long, but I realize that through all things, things will happen, right?
And so, I know I see your faces and I see the tears, but let it be tears of joy, because the heartache is gone. You are now going to get all the services, the repairs, this community room, the elevator, the laundry room, the outdoor area, the parking lot, the apartment [and] the roof. I can go on and on. Full renovations for Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers. So, I again want to say thank you to [the] Legal Aid Society and Our Bronx. We are on a mission, folks, across the borough and across the City of New York. Let this be an example to negligent landlords that refuse to prioritize tenants. And let this also be an example for tenants and organizations: you don't have to live in the shadows of darkness, but you can live in the light. We need you to step up, to call, to organize, just like [Robert] Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers have done. So, thank you, mayor. Thank you, each and every one of you, for all of your great work, and most importantly, for never giving up.
Director Weaver: All right, everybody. We're now going to hear from the Council member for this district, Ms. Althea Stevens.
Council Member Althea Stevens: Good morning, family. Good morning. How y'all feeling? I see a lot of tears of joy in here. And today’s announcement is so personal to me. And to even be here, my mom, Miss Linda Kemp, who has been one of my biggest supporters has been advocating for this. So, I am ecstatic to be here. Today, because we are here as our neighbors, we deserve to feel safe in our own homes. Not to worry about whether the heat will work. Not wondering if repairs will be done. Not living with the fear that we are just being ignored. Homes should be a place where our families can rest, where our children can grow and where our elders can live in peace and dignity.
But for too long, residents right here and across the Bronx and this city haven’t had that as a reality. This $31 million in penalties [is] so much more about enforcement. It's about sending a clear message to our community that we are not disposable and that housing is a human right for every single person. And most importantly, [for] landlords who choose to profit over being held accountable, that stops today.
As Council member, I've worked to push forward legislation that protects tenants and strengthens accountability for expanding how we define harassment, including sources of income discrimination, to increase transparency and to send bad actors and keep them out of the shadows. When one building suffers, the whole community feels it. When one family is living in an unsafe condition, it impacts the health, disability and the future of our neighborhoods. We are talking about real people. Parents trying to provide for their children. Seniors who have lived in these homes for decades. Young people who deserve to feel the stability of being and having a bright future. They deserve this.
Thank you to our mayor and HPD for understanding that the system needed to be fixed and working with everyone to get it done. Because justice is not just about calling something out, it's about making it right. With today's announcement, we're going to continue to do everything possible to make sure every family has dignity and no matter what their background and their income [are], true stability is what matters. To my residents here today, I see you, I hear you and I stand with you. And thank you.
Question: You see the reaction from tenants here on this announcement. So, how soon can people see changes? I don't know if there [are] changes in individual apartments or here in [the] common areas. So, what is the timeline for when things will get fixed?
Mayor Mamdani: I think first I want to just highlight your question, Katie. When we heard from our tenant leader, so often in the coverage of these kinds of announcements, it is boiled down to statistics. And we heard what this actually means for tenants at the individual level. The fact that our HPD commissioner was here organizing 20 years ago and is now here two decades later. That back then, at the time of her organizing, there was another man who was organizing; now, he's a public advocate. It has taken so long to get to this moment.
So, I want to go a little bit through the timeline, and I'm going to pass it over to our HPD commissioner to add some additional specifics. I was speaking about the chief restructuring officer. They have already hired a property manager. Part of what is going to imbue that hiring decision with meaning is the fact that the landlord's accounts have been frozen and $900,000 that should have otherwise been spent on repairs years ago [is] immediately going to be put towards repairs there. Commissioner, do you want to add?
Commissioner Levy: Yeah, I think so very much. Right now, we're thinking about emergency repairs which the tenants have been waiting for. The $900,000 will be part of that. We've also been already in direct communication with Fannie Mae. As the lender, we also know that they can release additional funds to make emergency repairs starting now. So, I would expect the building to start seeing that immediately. Longer term, we are now in conversations with Fannie Mae about the transition of ownership for these buildings, which they are very much in control of. We've been very clear that we are going to be working with them to identify a responsible owner for the first time in a very long time for these buildings and one that can work very collaboratively with the tenants and with HPD.
Question: Will it be [a] water heater first, boilers [or] elevators? I don't know if the tenants have thoughts on what they want to prioritize?
Commissioner Levy: All of it. They want it all. All of it. We're going to ask the receiver to address the most dangerous repairs or hazardous repairs first but then to continue going. This isn't going to just be patching. The idea is to really start to get — if it’s infestation, right — so we do want to work closely with the tenants and prioritizing. We also know as HPD what the most hazardous violations that are outstanding [are]. But then long-term, we’re talking about a complete renovation of the buildings.
Question: [Inaudible] Work can start today; permits were pulled. What is the timeline, you know—
Commissioner Levy: I don’t know that we need permits. These are basically corrections of code violations for now. Over time, when we get to the part where we're renovating the entire portfolio, that's when we're talking about permits. But start now.
Tenant: Are we going to be reimbursed for not having a heater for the last three years and no heaters, no stove [and] no refrigerator working, [inaudible] into the tenant’s pockets for all the stuff that we invested? And now y'all just coming to the table [inaudible] we need to be done but we've been living this way for a long time.
Commissioner Levy: I understand.
Tenant: Heaters, blankets [and] many things [inaudible]. I'm saying, out of $31 million, are they going to give us some money? What's coming directly to the tenant pockets? [Inaudible].
[Crosstalk.]
Tenant: When are we going to be reimbursed for our suffering?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I think the first thing I want to say is — I think everyone here can hear that frustration, and I understand it because what you're also speaking of, sir, is [that] the landlord's negligence has forced tenants to not just pay their rent but, like you're saying, to pay more than that. To pay for the heaters —
[Crosstalk].
So, the first thing that I want to just address on this is that there have been lawsuits before. There have been settlements before. The conditions, however, have not changed. And so, our first focus is to ensure that the conditions change immediately. That is the first focus we have—
[Crosstalk.]
I understand it. And I think there's never any judgment to it because we're talking about decades. Decades of frustration. And people want to know that life is going to be different moving forward.
Question: [Inaudible] seeing some of the frustration here. Some of the people that they see, some [inaudible] decades and some [inaudible] just popped up on the scene. I think for them they're wondering with this constant turnover of officials how they can trust that what they're saying today is actually going to get done.
Mayor Mamdani: Look, I think you've heard it in the man's question from earlier, which is the fact that there have been a number of false dawns in this city when it comes to actually listening to tenants. I do not begrudge any tenant their frustration. If I had to pay out of my pocket for the services that my rent were supposed to be paying for, I too would have to see until I actually believed it. And the point, as you've heard from other elected officials here as well as myself, is that this is a new administration. This is an administration that makes very clear that there is no tolerance for impunity. It does not matter how many portfolios you own, how many buildings you have, [or] how many times you have violated the law without any kind of consequence; we are going to hold those landlords accountable. And what I ask tenants here for is the continued voice that they have brought to the table because part of the reason that we are standing before you is because tenants organized for this moment. And I know that it will — for some tenants today is a beautiful day.
For other tenants I know it will be the day when the elevator works. For other tenants it will be the day when they don't see a rat. For other tenants it will be the day when they don't have to pay out of their pocket for a space heater. And all of that is understandable to me, and what I am proud of standing here alongside other elected officials is that we're not just announcing a dollar amount.
We're talking about a chief restructuring officer, an immediate hiring of a property manager, the freezing of the landlord's accounts [and] the money that would have otherwise been taken away from tenants now being reinvested back into tenants' lives so that tenants can actually start to ask questions about their own lives and not about the lives that landlords should have been providing for a long time ago.
Question: If the landlords are so bad why is it always so hard to bring them up on criminal charges?
Mayor Mamdani: I think what we are seeing time and again — and I think the public advocate spoke about this — there are a lot of people who are saying there are a number of different options that the city has. We are utilizing every single option in front of us and the most important thing for us is a change of the conditions that tenants are actually living through, because that's what I know for most tenants is the difference for them. It's not as much about what happens to the landlord it's the question of: “What happens to me? What happens to my apartment? What happens to my building?” We want to use every method we have to ensure that we're actually making those repairs.
Commissioner Levy: As the public advocate said, we are now starting to see more criminal actions brought against landlords. You saw that the D.A. in Manhattan has started a case. So, we are exploring more aggressive legal action in partnership with agencies that have criminal prosecutorial powers.
Question: So, Ken Griffin yesterday was speaking about, calling your video again, he called it “creepy and weird.” And he said that, again, that you targeting him has just been very unfair, and he said that he's going to be doubling down his investments in Florida rather than New York City. And so, I just wanted to get your take. What sort of conversations have you had with him since that video? Have you spoken with him? And what sort of concerns are you having when it comes to potential job losses? Are you looking at ways to, I guess, build up? And your economic development commissioner, have you thought about who you're going to appoint yet? Thank you.
Mayor Mamdani: So, I'll first just start by saying that I want all New Yorkers to succeed. That includes business owners and entrepreneurs who create good paying jobs, who make the city the economic engine, not just of our state, but frankly, of our country. And that also includes Ken Griffin, who is a major employer in our city. That does not negate the fact, however, that our tax system is fundamentally broken. It rewards extreme wealth while working people are pushed to the brink. It is a status quo that is unsustainable, that is unjust. And if we want the city to be one that working people can actually afford to live in, then we need meaningful tax reform that includes the wealthiest New Yorkers paying their fair share.
Question: So, I have two questions. First of all, there's a report by the Anti-Defamation League that antisemitism in New York is the largest number of cases in the entire country, and that the number of assaults on Jews in New York has risen to a highest level ever. Your reaction to that and what you're going to do about it? But secondly, I need to ask you about a Brooklyn captain who was transferred after criticizing you and being caught on video saying terrible things about you. So, if you could talk about both those things, I'd appreciate it.
Mayor Mamdani: I think first and foremost, I want to say that there is no tolerance for antisemitism in our city. It is something that we must root out of every single borough of our city, and we have to ensure that Jewish New Yorkers are safe in this city, and frankly, that the threshold is not just that of safety, but that they are celebrated and cherished just as any other New Yorker is. And when we were looking at our quarterly crime statistics, we saw that hate crimes out of all of the major categories, we were seeing that hate crimes were still rising in the city. And that Jewish New Yorkers, while comprising a minority of the city's population, still comprise more than half of all of hate crimes in this same city. And while we haven't seen an incredible increase in that number, it is still troubling wherever it is. And that is something that we are committed to rooting out of the city.
Question: So, what do you do about it, though? I mean, there seems to be so much hate. I mean, look at the demonstration last night at the Park East Synagogue. How can you, as mayor, try to convince people not to hate each other, and especially not to target Jews?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think first and foremost, to make it clear that my vision of this city is one that has Jewish New Yorkers not just safe in this city but celebrated as an incredible part of this city. And I'm proud of our Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism, which is headed by Phylisa Wisdom, who is in the midst of setting up a listening tour across the city to create the first municipal approach to combating antisemitism that we have seen across the country. These are the kinds of things we need, because it cannot simply be responses to acts of antisemitism to making it clear that they are unacceptable. That is obvious. We also have to do the work to ensure that we're preventing antisemitism. Now, to your question that you asked about the officer, you know, first, I was alerted to this video by Liz Kim of Gothamist. So, I saw the video. I did not, however, have any involvement in that decision, nor did my City Hall. That was, my understanding, is a decision that was made in accordance with NYPD's administrative guidelines.
Question: But if I could just ask you one thing, you said in terms of antisemitism, you wanted to create the first municipal approach to antisemitism. What does that look like to you? What do you see as what you'll be doing to do this? [Crosstalk.]
But could you just explain what you think it's going to be?
Mayor Mamdani: The idea here is that we actually have an office that is listening to Jewish leaders across the city, and through that, better understanding the ways in which the city can approach the work of combating antisemitism.
Question: The Economic Development Corporation recently removed a page promoting Israeli businesses in New York City. I'm wondering why did that occur, and I'm wondering does that have to do with your sort of expressed views about Israel, the rights of Palestinians, and furthermore, does this suggest any sort of shift in the city's treatment of Israeli businesses or Israeli companies?
Mayor Mamdani: I can get back to you on the specifics of that.
Question: Can you just assess for us how you think things went last night at the Park East Synagogue protest? Do you think the police effectively enforced a buffer zone? Is that what essentially happened? And was the right to protest sufficiently protected in your view? And then I have one more question.
Mayor Mamdani: Yes, I think that I've made it clear time and time again that we in this city believe in the sacrosanct nature of the right to protest and also are committed to ensuring that any New Yorker can safely enter or exit from a house of worship and that access never be in question while we also protect the First Amendment, and I do believe that the police ensured that yesterday.
Question: And as you talk about ways to prevent antisemitism, I noticed yesterday that when you put out a statement about the protest, in advance of the protest, you noted that you agreed with the protesters. You've weighed in on the subject of Israel in a couple of other ways in recent days, and I just wonder whether, you know, are you considering whether you personally putting your views about Israel out there is in any way fueling antisemitism in the city? Do you ever think maybe you should just not weigh in or just not bring it up?
Mayor Mamdani: No, I think that critique of the policies of a government is very much separate from bigotry toward the people of a specific religious faith. And there is no tolerance for antisemitism. There is no tolerance for hatred of Jewish New Yorkers, which we have seen time and time again, whether it be in the graffitiing of swastikas on a number of homes across Queens recently. And I've also been clear to New Yorkers, my honest opinions about the fact that when we have a real estate expo that is promoting the sale of land, which includes the sale of land in occupied West Bank in settlements that are a violation of international law, that is something that I firmly disagree with and that I also believe that many New Yorkers firmly disagree with, because it has been at the heart of an ongoing effort to displace Palestinians from their homes.
Question: Hi, I wanted to ask you, you know, the state budget efforts right now, you know, it looks like it might be continuing. It doesn't look like necessarily we'll get a deal today. What are your conversations with the governor, especially about the PTET? So related to that question yesterday, the city comptroller put out an analysis about the savings plan related to the Council, and it looks like your prelim budget, good news for you, is your prelim budget had all those savings included. How does that make you feel?
Mayor Mamdani: I'll start with the comptroller's report, and then I'll move into the state budget. I appreciated the comptroller's thoughtful assessment of our city's budget and our workforce vacancies. I also thought it was a very good pun to open the report of the “Phantom of the Opera-ting Budget.” I do appreciate a good pun. I think that the report underscores the fact that we have appropriately and responsibly budgeted and found relevant savings as it relates to our vacancies, and that we've incorporated those assessments, as you said, into our preliminary budget, and I think to your question about the state budget, we know that those conversations and negotiations are ongoing.
I'm heartened by the fact that in the governor, in the Assembly speaker, in the majority leader of the state Senate, we have partners who understand how important it is for the city to be back on firm financial footing. We've seen that partnership time and time again over the course of the budget process, and we know that there are still many a conversation to be had before the finalization of this budget, but we're thankful that we know we have partners who are the ones having those conversations. Thank you all so much.
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