Phil Taitt: Good afternoon. It's been another day of intense heat, and that said, those temperatures are dialing up into the triple digits right now. I'm joined with Mayor Mamdani. Mayor, good afternoon. I know that the city has done much work to ensure that New Yorkers are safe. You just toured that COOL [Cooling Outreach On-Location] van. Just tell me more about these 21 vans that will be going out across the boroughs today.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: You know, we found how effective this kind of approach was during the cold front that our city faced. And so, what we're bringing for the first time in city history are a number of vans that are both providing New Yorkers in need with water, with electrolytes, with a cool place to be, as well as with transport to cooling centers. Because as you said, we're facing the hottest temperature the city has seen in more than a decade. And so, what we want is for New York is to be safe and the best place to be safe is to staying inside and staying cool.
Taitt: And this is a multi-agency approach, right? But these vans are going to be working with the Department of Homeless Services to ensure that you guys are hitting those areas where there are known areas for homeless folks. Just tell me how important was it for these vans to have this strategy in place just to ensure that you guys are getting to those folks to make sure that they're getting the sunscreen, the water, A/C, cooling towels and all the necessary things that they might need just to beat the heat.
Mayor Mamdani: I think it's absolutely critical, because, look, as you know, this is very serious. These temperatures are dangerous. We lose 500 New Yorkers a year to heat-related illness, and when we're facing triple digits that feel like even more on the heat index, we can't just tell New Yorker where they should go. We have to get out there and actually meet them where they are. And so, what these vans do is they provide that service, and we also have a number of them that are actually checking in on seniors around the five boroughs. We've checked in on more than 1,000 seniors so far, making sure that everyone is fine, everyone is safe [and] everyone has what they need to survive this kind of weather.
Taitt: Yeah, Mayor Mamdani. It's hot. We feel it. We're all sweating out here. We're doing the best that we can. But to also think, though, you can't quite prepare as to what's to come until we're facing it. ConEd — we know that about 5,200 customers are without power right now. Just talk about even these vans getting to those folks if they need it [and] how crucial it is to make sure that these vans are meeting the moment.
Mayor Mamdani: Absolutely. I think first and foremost, we've been working with ConEd and other utility grids to make sure that people are preparing for this moment because we know with this kind of heat, there's gonna be incredible demand on our electrical system. And so, we are working with ConEd to make should they're doing everything they can to get those units back online. And then for New Yorkers who need them, we have hundreds of cooling centers available and these COOL vans, as you said, [are] able to transport those New Yorkers to those centers. And then beyond those centers, [we are] also setting up misting stations, also ensuring that employers are following through on heat-related guidance for their employees and that people are following the law because we know in this city in this heat, if you're a delivery worker, you need to get some relief, and we have a law in this city that allows every delivery worker to use the bathroom of any restaurant they picking up from.
Taitt: Mayor Mamdani, thank you so much for your time. At the top of the year, we were standing together in the extreme cold weather, and now we're standing together in the extreme heat. But guess what? As New Yorkers, what we always do? We get through it.
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