Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, Glendale. It is a pleasure to be joined by friends and partners here in Queens to make a very special announcement. I want to acknowledge [that] we have leaders from both inside and outside of City government here with us today. We have our Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson. We have Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura. We have Kathy Park Price from New Yorkers for Parks. We have Maxime, who is one of New York's foremost advocates for better playgrounds for all. We have Jane, Maxime's mom and Georgie, Maxime's dad. We also have the Forest Park Trust. We have our Queens Community Board 5 district manager, Gary Giordano, [and] Queens Community Board 5 Chairperson Walter Sanchez. And can we have a round of applause for the incredible parks workers that we have joining us here today? Truly love and appreciate the work that you all do.
So here at Dry Harbor Playground, days are filled with the sound of sneakers on the basketball court, the crack of a bat on the baseball field and kids perched on top of the ship structure shouting, "All hands-on deck," which makes sense for a park called Dry Harbor. But even if that ship may have never set sail, it still has a captain, and every captain needs a crew.
Today, that crew is here: say hello to New York City's first-ever, “Renew Crew.” This is a team dedicated to transforming playgrounds, sports courts and rec centers at parks across the five boroughs. The basketball hoop that is hanging on for dear life. The water fountain that has not worked since spring, or the fence that looks like it's about to give up entirely. If it is broken, this crew will fix it. The overgrown tennis court, the rusted swing set [and] the bench that needs a new coat of paint. If it is run down, this crew will renew it.
No longer will New Yorkers have to wait months for City government to fix their parks and their playgrounds. The Renew Crew will show up, get the job done and move on to the next location that needs them. This kind of efficiency is long overdue.
Over the past 12 months alone, 311 has logged more than 5,000 complaints for the exact kind of work that this crew will tackle: broken equipment, surfaces cracking underfoot and fields overtaken by weeds. Our parks are the beating heart of the city, where families can relax together, where children can play and where people can find peace amidst chaos, and we will not allow them to be neglected any longer.
That is why we have invested $2.3 million to support the work of this team. With the Renew Crew and the fixes they will deliver, we will build on the work we have already done to bring public excellence to public spaces across our city.
Since January, we have filled more than 191,000 potholes, cut the number of sidewalk sheds darkening our sidewalks by nearly 10 percent and announced our plan to expand trash containerization to new districts in every borough, bringing more than 6,500 Empire Bins from Woodside to Weeksville. That same urgency belongs in our playgrounds, too. A bent backboard should not have to wait years for a fix.
Starting this month, this very crew will be hard at work in parks across the five boroughs: Fort Four Playground in the Bronx, American Playground in Brooklyn, Annunciation Playground in Manhattan, Old Town Playground in Staten Island and right here at Dry Harbor [Playground] in Queens.
That means a new safety surface, resurfaced basketball courts, a refurbished bocce court and a fresh coat of paint on that very ship that the Renew Crew let me help with and that they may or may not be correcting as I speak. And that work will not only continue, [but] it will expand to the workers of New York City Parks who are here with us today. Thank you for all that you have already done to better our city and all that you will do in the months and years to come.
To the rest of New York, if you see something broken in your own park, do not hesitate to call 311. The days of those kinds of complaints collecting dust for months are no longer. And to every kid who's ever called themselves captain of that ship or gotten a whole playground reopened like Maxime did for McKinley Park, now you have a crew of your own. Thank you. And now I would like to invite up Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura to say a few more words about this work.
Tricia Shimamura, Commissioner, Department of Parks & Recreation: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At New York City Parks, we know that the small things can make a big difference in how New Yorkers experience their neighborhoods and, in their parks and their playgrounds.
A fresh coat of paint, a repaired fence, a restored bench — these are the details that make a park feel cared for, feel safe and welcoming. Renew Crew allows us to respond to those everyday needs faster and to make improvements that New Yorkers can feel and see. Our 24 skilled Renew Crew tradespeople will be out in our parks across all five boroughs from April through October, tackling projects and delivering results in three weeks or less.
I'm so proud of the dedicated park staff who care for these spaces every day, and I'm excited for New Yorkers to see the work of Renew Crew in action. Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this initiative possible, and most importantly, thank you to the New Yorkers who use and love our parks. This is about doing the work, doing it well and making sure that New Yorkers can feel and see the difference. Thank you so much. Next, I'm thrilled to introduce our partners from New Yorkers for Parks, Kathy Park Price.
Kathy Park Price, Director, New Yorkers for Parks: Good morning. I'm Kathy Park Price with New Yorkers for Parks, and I'm also a parent. So, I know the particular disappointment when you take your child to the playground and the chain on the tire swing is broken or the drinking fountain has been broken for months on a hot summer day. Those things can sound small on paper, but when it's your neighborhood park and you go every day, it's not a small thing.
At New Yorkers for Parks, we fight for high-quality parks and open space for every New Yorker in every neighborhood. And that's why Renew Crew is so exciting. It focuses on the things that people actually experience every day: playground equipment that needs fixing, fountains that need repairing, courts that need some love and the basic infrastructure that tells you a park is cared for.
In our advocacy, we highlighted the importance of getting these basics right, and we're excited to see that focus is reflected in Renew Crew. And it's part of real creativity and joy that Commissioner Shimamura has brought to our park system, from Parents Night Out and expanded sports hours to investments in playground associates and now Renew Crew. They're finding practical ways to make our parks work better for all New Yorkers.
We applaud Mayor Mamdani and Commissioner Shimamura and the parks team for this initiative. And as the administration continues to build toward 1 percent for parks, we're excited about what greater investment will bring to our park system and make possible: better maintenance and even more improvements in our parks across every neighborhood. Thank you.
Commissioner Shimamura: I'm thrilled to introduce our next speaker, who is arguably one of the most important people here, because we know that our park system is here to serve him and others like him. Just behind you, there are many children who are playing on the play equipment, and so we're so happy to always welcome kids into these spaces. Max, we'd love to have you join in and say a few words.
Maxime: Hello, everyone. My name is Maxime, and I'm really happy to be here today. Thank you, Mayor Mamdani, for inviting me. I really appreciate it. Well, do you guys want to know how I ended up here? About two months ago, I recorded a video asking Mayor Mamdani to help open the playground in McKinley Park. It had been closed for almost two years.
But guess what? A few weeks later, the park was finally open. So, thank you, Mayor Mamdani and NYC Parks, for hearing me out. I really appreciate it. I'm really passionate about parks being opened because kids need a safe and fun environment to play in. My parents always told me that my voice matters, and I want to thank them for believing in me and encouraging me to speak up.
And I want other kids to know that your voice matters, too. If you see something that needs to be changed, never be afraid to speak up. Thank you to the Renew Crew and every team member working hard to make New York City a better place to live. And thank you, Mayor Mamdani. Let's keep the New York City Parks open for kids.
Mayor Mamdani: Before we go to the questions, can we have one more round of applause for Maxime. Okay, hello, everyone — missed you.
Question: It wasn't like I reported it out. You guys, thankfully, let me have an early look at it. I have two questions. The first is about — I know you were away for it, and I know it's a persistent issue, but with the deputy mayor of operations here, the really bad flooding we saw not too far from here, it was in Bushwick and other parts of the city and here in Queens. I know what we're up against with the sewers not being able to handle this much rain, but is there really nothing more that the city can do to help stop some of this flooding?
I know we're supposed to clean up catch basins, but at a certain point, what more can the city do on that? And then I have a second question about the U.S. Open — I don't know if you want to hear it now or wait.
Mayor Mamdani: Fighting off my curiosity, I'm going to go for the first question and then we'll come back to your second one. This is one of the foremost priorities for our administration because, as you said, yes, we know the facts of the context, which is that we have a sewage system that was built for the rainfall of a century ago and that the climate crisis has intensified and increased that rainfall.
And also, it is not going to be the case that we are simply going to sit on our hands until the day in which the sewage system is entirely overhauled. So, we are exploring every single avenue that we have, whether it is from the installation of cloudburst technology to the use of permeable pavement to the question of floodable parks, parks that are actually built to absorb that kind of excess rainfall. I'll pass it over to our deputy mayor for operations to add some additional details.
Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson, Operations: Thanks. And I think we think about this thing in a few layers, right? We have the, you know, real-time event management, where we have our agencies out there responding, doing things like clearing catch basins and checking our highways and doing additional passes with street sweepers.
And then we have, as the mayor mentioned, a number of sort of like midterm programs, investing $100 million in modernizing catch basins, all the cloudburst programs that we've done, the rain garden projects that we have to do much more of, and then we have the bigger, longer-term investments, like the $3 billion program that we're putting into place to build more stormwater and sewers in southeast Queens. So, we put all of that together to try and create a comprehensive strategy to manage the future of climate change.
Question: For, you know, a place like, I think, Knickerbocker Avenue flooded in Bushwick, is there a current project nearby there? Because that place floods a lot.
Deputy Mayor Kerson: Yeah, and as we see these places that have more common flooding, we have our agencies take a look at the specific situation. Sometimes it's a larger catch basin there, and sometimes it's a bigger project, and sometimes it's a repaving that changes the grading. So, we have to look at each neighborhood and figure out exactly what it is that is creating that flooding condition and then attack that problem.
Question: And quickly, my second question is about the U.S. Open. I know, Mayor Mamdani, you've made affordability one of your core issues. When it came to the World Cup, you gave away tickets. The U.S. Open, which happens on city-owned parkland that gets taken over for the U.S. Open for a few weeks out of the year — and generally, the public can't access a lot of the borough's largest park. It's more expensive than ever. They've reduced the number of Fan Fest tickets. I think they even reduced the number of cheaper tickets to favor more expensive tickets and then tickets given by sponsors.
Is there anything you would want to do to make the U.S. Open more accessible to regular New Yorkers? And would you ever want to revisit the current deal that USTA has with New York City so New York City and particularly Queens actually makes more money if it's going to be more expensive and more unable for the average New Yorker to attend? Would you want to find a way to make New York City be able to actually better financially benefit from it? And particularly Queens.
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think we never want to accept the premise that something has to be unaffordable when it comes to a sporting event that is part of what so many love about our city. Some of my favorite memories as a kid growing up in New York City are going to the qualifiers for free before the [U.S.] Open began. I remember when I bought a grounds pass — I think it was $50 bucks for day one — and I know that that number has skyrocketed over recent years.
So, we are always going to look to ways to make these kinds of events more accessible to everyday New Yorkers. That is not something that will be limited to the World Cup. And the reason for that is that it is a moment that can really open so many kids' eyes to the wonder of a sport that they may not know before. And as you've said, it is happening in one of the jewels of our city. So that's going to be something that we continue to work on, and it is something that continues to be a part of our affordability agenda.
Question: I mean, you're their landlord, so can you get some free tickets for people who want to go? I don't care about tennis, so I'm not asking for myself, but for other people, like —
[Crosstalk.]
Question: It's happening right now, and there's been lots of coverage of how much more unaffordable it is this year, so is there anything you can do for this session of it to—
Mayor Mamdani: That's something we'll get back to you on.
Question: First of all, Mr. Mayor, I thought I'd apply to be the chef at Gracie Mansion.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: So, two questions. The first one is this. A group of about 15 minority groups that represent bodega owners are filing suit to stop your city-run groceries. They say that your city-run groceries, and I quote, are "a direct assault on minority businesses by a mayor who claims to be a champion of the disenfranchised poor and working-class New Yorkers." How do you feel about that? They feel that they're being disenfranchised? And what's your response to their suit and their attempt to stop your city-run grocery stores?
Mayor Mamdani: I continue to be fully confident in both the legality and the importance of our initiative to deliver five city-run grocery stores, one in each borough, to the people of our city. We are talking about a reflection of a cost-of-living crisis that has seen grocery prices increase by about 30 percent over the last few years. And we're also talking about delivering five city-run grocery stores in a city of 8.5 million people that has more than 1,000 grocery stores.
And we've seen, in fact, with Essex Street Market in Manhattan as well as Moore Street Market in Brooklyn, a model where the city has subsidized groceries and it has not had a negative effect on bodegas around them or on grocery stores around them. And I'm confident both in the legality of this, that will stand up in court and the importance of delivering it —
Question: Is there anything that you can do to help these bodega owners who feel that they're going to be losing money?
Mayor Mamdani: Absolutely. What we can do is continue with our approach citywide of looking for ways to cut costs and cut the regulations that so many bodegueros, as well as grocery store owners, have to jump through in order to do their work.
And what we found through our OPEN Task Force is already the identification of more than 50 potential changes that target things from the current necessity of having two different licenses to sell hot food and cold, dairy, frozen dessert, as well as the kinds of things that make it harder for bodegas to both sell items outside of the store and inside of the store.
Question: My second question has to do with your decision to take on the reconstruction of the BQE and the amount of money it's going to cost. Are you hoping to get federal funds, or do you think that you'll be able to pay for it out of the capital funds that New York City already has?
Mayor Mamdani: What we have announced today is something that will be done through city funds, and that is something that we have put forward because the cost of inaction is, frankly, too high. Every year that the city does not act on the BQE costs the city at least $160 million. And there have been many administrations that have understood the importance of this. We want to be one that also delivers on the fix to this central part of the BQE. I'll pass it over to our deputy mayor of operations to add some additional details.
Deputy Mayor Kerson: As the mayor mentioned, this program, we aren't anticipating having any federal funds, and that enables us to advance this project on our timeline with our design, our scope and having complete control over our community benefits. So, it's a benefit to the program to be issuing those federal funds.
Question: Disruption you're going to cause by the construction, you know, the fact that you're going to have to build that overpass or whatever you call it, and will there cause it — will there be a disruption to local communities?
Deputy Mayor Kerson: Yeah. So, the plan does require a bypass, a four-lane bypass at the level just below the promenade. Previous proposals had put that bypass on the promenade, which would have been quite disruptive. We feel this proposal does lessen the community impacts of prior proposals.
Question: How was your trip? Can you tell us where you were?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I can tell you, I went to an incredible Georgian — sorry, an incredible Uzbek restaurant called Alons — I know, sorry. I saw the T-shirt; it says, "Cool Georgian Dude," and it just threw me. I don't know where he is now. He has the dog with him. But it was a lovely time upstate. Bounced around, missed the city, missed you guys, happy to be home.
Question: I'm sure you did. I wanted to ask you: one of the leaders of the New York City DSA is facing questions about his background, his work history and where he lives. I wanted to know, you know, for you, somebody who comes from the DSA, do you still stand by him? And do you think that what has come out about him undermines the credibility of the movement that the DSA is about affordability and trying to keep people here, especially because his home is in Bed-Stuy, where a lot of Black New Yorkers are having to leave because homes are being bought up and are just unaffordable?
And then the second question is, while you were away, the hearing on the pied-à-terre rollout happened. Before you left, you seemed to hint that your officials would be at the hearing, saying that you were confident in their ability to answer the questions despite the lawsuit that was ongoing about it, but then the day before, they didn't show up.
So, I'm just wondering, you know, do you think that New Yorkers deserve to get answers from your administration when it comes to this rollout? And did you know at the time, the Thursday or Friday before — I can't remember — that your administration officials weren't going to show up at that hearing?
Mayor Mamdani: So, the reason to not attend that hearing was on the basis of the legal consequences of doing so, because we are in the midst of a legal case on this very question. And so, we know that the hearing last week was explicitly focused on the very issues that are at the heart of that case.
And we didn't believe that it would be in the legal interest of the city to send a senior representative. However, we did send a written statement from Commissioner Lee, and we also did inform the Council that the commissioner would be available to take any kinds of questions after Aug. 31 because by that point, there would not still be that same question of the legal concerns.
And to your first question, look, I think anyone who is focused on delivering a more affordable life for the people of New York City, a fairer life for people of New York City and, frankly, of those of the world, should be welcomed into this work. And that's what I see so many doing, and that's the kind of initiatives and efforts that we continue to encourage.
Question: Two questions. One, my colleagues reported last week that a 911 call center in the Bronx went down overnight. Can you speak to what specifically caused that and what's going to be done to prevent those kinds of outages in the future?
Second question, can you share any tidbits about how you spent your time upstate? You were spotted in Leeds and at, I think, a grocery store, Tops, buying roast chicken, I was told. Can you share anything about what you did, what you read? Is it still "Gods of New York"? Any tidbits.
Mayor Mamdani: Yes, I bought two roast chickens at the Tops supermarket at Coxsackie. I also went to Casa Susanna in Leeds. I had a lovely time, and it was — it was very restorative, and I also stayed in touch with the team on a regular basis to make sure that all was always going well.
And on one of those issues, you know, when it comes to the 911 calls, the issue has since been resolved, and the system is running normally. And again, what normally means is that every 911 call is being connected and responded to by a call taker. That's been the case since the issue was resolved.
In terms of your question of how this happened, what we've identified at this time was an early morning software update by Motorola that created this issue. And that issue was then resolved by the morning of the same day, and we are now taking steps to ensure that that never happens again.
Question: I have two questions. Regarding the last-minute changes to the Brooklyn Democratic Party proposed by Assemblymember Bichotte Hermelyn, what are your thoughts on that, and have you talked to Julio Peña?
My second question is regarding the paraprofessionals lawsuit. Your team has said they're currently in talks with UFT President Mulgrew regarding an agreement on the para pay. How have those talks been going, and how has the relationship with Council Speaker Menin been affected following the lawsuit?
Mayor Mamdani: The relationship continues as it's been, and the talks have been productive. And they've been productive because we have a shared understanding of the critical role that paraprofessionals play in our public school system and in our city. And we are looking at ways to permanently address this inequity. And that's the subject of those conversations.
And then to your first question, I very much oppose these proposed changes by the current Brooklyn Democratic Party chair. I oppose them because they are an attempt to circumvent the will of voters, and what we should see is a Brooklyn Democratic Party that is a reflection of what New Yorkers want to see in their home, as opposed to a representation of so much of what has led New Yorkers — and Americans — to become disengaged and disaffected with politics at large.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: Okay. You mentioned here for the Parks announcement, you mentioned peace amidst the chaos. So, I wonder how much peace amid the chaos does a mayor actually get on vacation? Can you give us a sense of how many calls you had to take? What was the — did you get any middle-of-the-night phone calls or when the 911 system went down, for instance? And then I have another question.
Mayor Mamdani: You are checking in with your team on a regular basis, not just only in the event of a crisis. And then obviously, if there is anything that comes up that demands your attention, you have to be there. You have to have some kind of cell service.
But the peace of mind is also just a time to reflect and a time to rest. And I think it's also part of what we want for every New Yorker, that they also get time to actually step away from the day-to-day. And I'm incredibly appreciative of my team, who ensured that the work to deliver for the city continues unabated.
Question: Okay, and on Legionnaires', Mr. Mayor, on Friday, I reported that the Health Department is now saying that they don't expect to have the results of the source testing that they're doing, the genome sequencing to try to determine the source. Originally, the Health Department had said August, then they said late August. Now they're saying mid-September, which means it'll come after the Sept. 2 hearing that's scheduled with the City Council.
Do you still anticipate your team testifying before that hearing, and do you expect a more difficult hearing on the Legionnaires' outbreak because those results will not have been in, or is it going to be an easier hearing for you because we won't know the source?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think the Council has a role to play, and it is in conducting those kinds of hearings, and our job is to ensure that we're answering and delivering for New Yorkers when it comes to Legionnaires'. I'll get back to you specifically on the genome sequencing question. What I will say is that the cluster has been closed. It's been about five weeks since the identification of a new case.
However, we know that Legionnaires' has been something that has afflicted our city on an almost annual basis, and we are looking at ways to ensure this is something that we deliver on for the weeks and months and years to come, but I do appreciate the question.
Question: So, three cyclists were killed by hit-and-run drivers last week, and one pedestrian was killed by a hit-and-run driver this weekend. Do you still support Vision Zero? And if so, what will you do to end these preventable crashes?
Mayor Mamdani: Yes, I still support Vision Zero. I still support any initiative that we have to reduce the number of crashes across the city and to ensure that there is no longer a hierarchy of safety based on what mode of transit you're using. Whether you're a pedestrian, a cyclist, a driver, a public transit rider, you should be entitled to the same level of safety.
And so, one of the things that I've spoken to with my deputy mayor for Operations, with our DOT commissioner, is how do we implement the changes to the streetscape that also understand the ways in which we are either incentivizing or disincentivizing safe choices made by New Yorkers.
And so, a lot of this is actually delivering on the protected bike lanes that we have seen forgotten over many years in our city, as well as delivering more bus lanes and busways and bringing the first bus rapid transit corridor to Flatbush by 2030.
These are all different steps that we're taking to address this. However, as you said, it is something that is immensely concerning, because we're talking about fatal consequences and families whose lives are irrevocably changed.
Question: So, two questions. I first wanted to just get your reaction to TIME's reporting on Hakeem Jeffries meeting with Jared Kushner. What do you think of Jeffries potentially being Speaker in light of this?
And then my second question is, it's now two weeks until the first day of school, and there's still no AI policy, and principals aren't supposed to buy new tech until there is one. So, can you just give any update on that? Will it be coming in the next few days? I know this is a stressful issue for schools.
Mayor Mamdani: It is an issue of immense importance to us in the administration, and it is an issue that we will be speaking to soon. And to your first question, I continue to support Congressman Jeffries and his bid to become the leader.
Question: Last week when the 911 system went down, nobody knew about it for — the outage went out for seven hours. No one found out until The New York Times released an article that night.
I guess City Council members are now trying to call for an oversight hearing, not just looking into what exactly happened, but why your administration didn't say anything, not only to the press, New Yorkers. But during those seven crucial hours, nobody told New Yorkers who were desperately trying to call 911 that their calls might not be answered because of this outage.
I just want to know exactly why your administration decided to not tell New Yorkers when this was happening.
Mayor Mamdani: So, our first order of business when being alerted as to the issue with the call system was to resolve the call system, and that was the focus. And after what we found is that a significant number of the calls that were coming in over the course of that period of time were being rerouted to another part of the 911 system. And there were about — there were fewer than 400 calls, unique calls that were not connected.
And so, over the course of the time since that was resolved and as it was going through the day, the work was being done to do everything we could to reach out to New Yorkers directly to ensure that we could provide them with whatever service was necessary.
Because again, this is one of the most critical parts of our city's infrastructure. And we have identified that this was from a Motorola software update. And now we are looking to take all of the steps we can to ensure this does not happen ever again.