Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here in Bushwick alongside friends, nonprofit leaders and partners in government. I want to acknowledge we have leaders both inside and outside of City government here with us today. We have Speaker Julie Menin. We have Council Member Lincoln Restler, City Council Member Linda Lee and the in-district representative of this Council district, City Council Member Sandy Nurse.
We also have leaders from within the administration, our deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, Dr. Helen Arteaga; our Mayor's Office of Nonprofit Services executive director, Annie Minguez; our Mayor's Office of Contract Services director, Kim Yu; and I also just want to give a special shoutout to the Bushwick Starr. If we can have a round of applause for the Bushwick Starr. Truly. And for Noel Allain, co-founder and artistic director, and all of the nonprofit organizations who are gathered here today, what you do, helps to make this city so special for all those who call it home, and we can't thank you enough, truly.
Now, our city has long been fascinated by those who go fast. In October of 1904, New Yorkers took the very first ride on a subway, sitting in awe as they shot underground across our city. In 1969, we watched in wonder as our country won the race to the moon, only slightly resentful that Buzz Aldrin had grown up across the river in New Jersey. And half a century later, we leapt to our feet on Randall's Island as Usain Bolt broke the world record for the 100-meter dash at Icahn Stadium.
Today, we add one more groundbreaking chapter to that story of speed as we celebrate a new feat of civic agility: expedited discretionary grant funding.
I'm proud to announce that together with the City Council, City Hall is expanding a pilot program from last year that will make it easier and faster for nonprofit organizations to access the money that they are awarded.
And while this has not yet been described as one giant leap for mankind, it is certainly one not-so-small step toward cutting unnecessary red tape, making City government more efficient and supporting the nonprofits that enrich our communities every day.
Here's how this will work. Every year, thousands of nonprofit organizations receive discretionary funds from the City Council. Many of the awards they receive can be as small as $5,000, the little bit they need to keep vital programs running.
But no matter how small the grant may be, for years nonprofits have been treated as if they are entering into a large contract with the City, like those needed to construct a new municipal building or provide an extensive service across the five boroughs.
As a result, they have been forced to fill out mountains of documents and endure months of delays. This one-size-fits-all system creates a huge backlog for our city and often forces nonprofits to wait for more than a year to access funds that they've already been promised, all while they are already struggling to make ends meet on razor-thin budgets.
The discretionary grant pilot seeks to solve that. By cutting out nine steps from the traditional contracting process, it will treat nonprofit discretionary funding of less than $25,000 as what it actually is: a grant, not a contract. And it will allow City government to dispense funds in a fraction of the time.
When the first iteration of this pilot was launched last fall, more than 100 organizations participated and received their awards in fewer than 90 days. That is nine months faster than the traditional wait time for discretionary funds.
Now, with the expansion of this pilot, up to 800 nonprofits will stand to benefit. That means they can spend less time tracking deadlines and filing paperwork and more time providing essential services to our communities.
The Parodneck Foundation can skip the tax affirmation documents and focus on helping low-income New Yorkers access the housing resources they need. Bronx Giants can stop filling out lobbying certification forms and keep teaching football, cheerleading and the skills needed to succeed on and off the field. And Bushwick Starr can spend less time on agency self-registration and more acting and writing with the men and women of Palmetto Garden Senior Club.
In the coming weeks, City Hall will notify the 800 qualifying nonprofits that they are eligible for this pilot. After a much simpler clearance process, one that City government hopes will help these organizations navigate, they can expect to start receiving their payments come winter.
This expansion reflects the call of nonprofit leaders who spoke up during our Commission on Government Efficiency hearings. It represents one critical step in the work of getting nonprofits the funding they need when they need it. And it is a step that we will continue to build upon in the years to come.
It will be felt across our city. It will be felt in every neighborhood, in every difference that nonprofit organizations and their workers make every single day. In food pantries that feed the hungry. In after-school programs that enrich our children's lives. In the arts and culture that is the beating heart of our city. Today we are standing together to support our nonprofit partners in the work of building a better, more livable, more beautiful New York. And making sure that when it comes to streamlining City government and delivering services to New Yorkers, no one has to wait.
And Usain Bolt, in case you are tuning in for this press conference on discretionary grant timelines, we would love to have you as our spokesperson. Please let me know. Thank you. Now I will be serving dual duty as also the emcee for today. So, with that, I would like to introduce the speaker of the City Council, Julie Menin.
Council Speaker Julie Menin: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, for this announcement, and I want to first of all thank my City Council colleagues, our finance chair, Council Member Linda Lee; Council Member Sandy Nurse, whose district we're in; Council Member Lincoln Restler, who is our Contracts Chair.
So, as the mayor said, our city's not-for-profits are literally lifelines for our communities. And today we are here to talk about the smallest ones. The nonprofits where residents can walk into the office, and a staff member knows their name and can tell how they're feeling. The not-for-profit where the employees have seen children go from toddlers to teenagers and help them reach their full potential along the way, where just one visit can make a huge difference, whether that's because it helps New Yorkers access medical treatment or legal assistance, or it means they can locate affordable housing that they can actually afford to live in.
Each year in the budget, we allocate hundreds of millions of dollars in discretionary funding to organizations like these. Our Council members know their communities inside and out. They know where the funding would make the most impact, and then they allocate it to those organizations. And they help all 51 of our districts thrive, ensuring that our residents can access the key services right in their neighborhoods.
But too many not-for-profit organizations have not been receiving their funding on a reasonable timeline. This is not funding that they hoped for blindly, nor is it funding that they can do without. This is funding they need to literally keep the lights on and get their employees paid. And it's funding they were promised. And let's be clear: Promised by us, the City of New York.
Last year, the city had a solution. Together with the past mayoral administration, the City Council announced a pilot program for around 100 not-for-profits to receive one-year grants instead of slogging through the arduous reimbursement process. These not-for-profits qualified if they were awarded less than $25,000 from certain city agencies. And the pilot replaced the traditional contract process, allowing these organizations to receive their Council-allocated funds up front and in nearly a quarter of the time.
Now, we are proud to announce we are expanding this pilot by eight times, meaning up to 800 not-for-profits will receive 100 percent of their funding up front. And that's funding they'll receive within just 30 days of signing the grant agreement with the relevant City agency.
This streamlined process eliminates over half a dozen steps of the bureaucratic odyssey that previously burdened providers, and it saves also City agencies from processing mountains and mountains of official documents in comparison. Contracting paperwork makes grant paperwork, quite frankly, look tiny.
We all know that the focus of not-for-profits and our City agencies alike should not be on paperwork but rather on the people that they serve. And that is what we are making possible today.
Now, not-for-profits won't have to take out loans just to pay the rent. They won't have to wait years for funding that they're owed. Instead, not-for-profits can direct their energy on the mission that drives their operations rather than whether they can operate at all.
City agencies can be more efficient in their efforts to improve the lives of New Yorkers. And New Yorkers can access the services that they need right [at] home in their communities. So, we're thrilled about today's announcement, and I want to thank everyone from our team in the City Council and from the administration who helped to make this possible. Thank you.
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you, Speaker Menin. We will now hear from the Finance Chair of the City Council, Council Member Linda Lee.
Council Member Linda Lee: Thank you so much, mayor, speaker, Council Member Restler for spearheading this, as well as Council Member Nurse for hosting us, and the amazing team on the mayor's side for today's announcement. And I hope the Certificate of No Change is also on that list of forms that we don't have to keep doing every six months.
But I have to say, when I first ran for office and got elected, one of the questions I would get was, what's harder, being a Council member or being a CEO of a nonprofit? And without a doubt, my answer was CEO of a nonprofit organization because I cannot tell you how many times, I was in fear of not meeting payroll, not paying rent, and oftentimes we have to start the work as of July 1, but our contracts don't get registered until May or even the following fiscal year sometimes.
And these are nonprofits that are literally doing miracle work in the city, especially now, day in and day out, with immigration services, legal services, mental health services, senior services. And we need to make sure that they're getting paid on time and that they get the money that they are owed so that they don't have to take out really high-interest bridge loans, right? And lines of credit. And this is a very real reality that so many nonprofit executives face every single day.
And so, I'm very, very proud to stand here for this amazing announcement. I would actually say that it is a leap of mankind to get this done because we've been talking about this for so long and was part of the Nonprofit Resiliency Committee for those that remember that, and there's been so many steps along the way, and it takes a village. And I cannot be more proud that we can get these smaller contracts through faster. And it is a huge step in the right direction. So, thank you so much.
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you so much to the Finance chair. And now we will pass it over to Council Member Lincoln Restler.
Council Member Lincoln Restler: It's great to be with you all. I'll firstly just say, Mr. Mayor, this is the third press conference I've attended with you in the last week, which is exactly three more — I'll take that one. But that's exactly three than I was invited to over the last four years. So, it's good to be here.
[Crosstalk.]
But I really do want to just firstly acknowledge Linda, Sandy, in particular, led nonprofit organizations. I ran a nonprofit organization. Many of us in the Council have been on the other side of this and know how painful this process is. And so, today is a really special announcement.
I think it might not exactly shock all of you to know that the mayor and the speaker don't agree on everything. But one thing that they do really agree on is making government work better. And you know, you may be asking yourselves, we have a $46 billion budget for contracts every year; $15 billion goes to nonprofits. And we're doing an announcement about a series of $12,000 grants with the two most powerful people in City government. How does that quite add up? Well, let me explain.
When I talk to city agency leaders, when I talk to nonprofit leaders who go through the City Council discretionary process, they tell me on both sides that it takes the same amount of time and effort to complete a $5,000 grant or a $5,000 contract as it does to complete a $500,000 contract. That doesn't make any sense.
So, by streamlining this process and making it easier for small nonprofits to access the funds that they need, we're actually freeing up capacity at our human services agencies to be able to process bigger contracts for homeless services shelters, with cultural organizations, et cetera, much more quickly.
And we all know how much we depend on the nonprofit sector. From senior services to youth services, from the homeless to the homebound, to amazing cultural organizations like The Bushwick Starr, these organizations depend on city funding to get by, to keep the lights on, to pay the staff. And we don't do a very good job paying them.
By freeing up capacity at our agencies to process those contracts more quickly, we'll be able to help them get the funds they need to operate far more efficiently; to have confidence that they're going to be able to meet payroll, keep the light on and deliver for their constituents.
I just want to say that many people ask, “How do you do this? How do you shift to a contract? How do you shift a contract to a grant? Why didn't anyone think of this?” And I really want to give credit to the teams at MOCS and MONS who came up with this innovation.
They truly — Kim and Annie are here, who lead those agencies, and a number of their staff are here. They figured out that the Department of Cultural Affairs has actually been giving out grants for decades. And why the heck can't the City Council do the same thing?
And so, that's exactly what we're doing. The administration approached the Council. The Council finance division was receptive, creative, flexible. And we went from a successful 100-grant pilot last year to 800 grants this year, and I'm really hopeful that next year we'll be talking about a much larger number of organizations that will be able to get paid quickly to be able to continue to do a great job serving New Yorkers. So, thank you so much.
Mayor Mamdani: Please join me in welcoming the representative of this district, City Council Member Sandy Nurse.
Council Member Sandy Nurse: Good morning, everyone, and yes, I too have been to multiple press conferences, so look at us. Welcome to Bushwick. Welcome to the 37th. I know many of you have probably spent many nights partying at House of Yes, but I hope you come over here and see a fantastic show at The Bushwick Starr in the future.
First of all, just thank you to the speaker. Thank you to the mayor for doing this and all the city agencies. In 2013, I actually started a youth jobs program here in the neighborhood, and it was exclusively staffed by teenagers, 15- to 18-year-olds. And a couple years into it, then-Council Member Reynoso and Espinal said, “Hey, we like what you're doing, you should apply for funding. Maybe we could give you like $25,000 between the two of us.” And I said, "Wow, like, what do I gotta do?”
Little did I know I would spend hours and hours of my life in a portal, filling out paperwork, contracts, chasing down my case manager when I just wanted to be hanging out with these kids, showing them some love and attention and just doing the thing we really wanted to do. It was a nightmare.
I remember even one point I said to my board, “Hey, maybe guys, maybe we just don't do this, this year. We can find other donors. Let's find other things to do.” I was overruled, thankfully. The organization still exists today. They're doing wonderful. They're — they've really escalated the amount of money they've been able to get.
But the thing is, these nonprofits shouldn't have to feel like they're coming out of battle to get support from the city, right? They should really feel supported, and allow these folks, these experts, people who really love what they're doing, just to get back to the business of supporting our community.
And so, while I wasn't able to benefit from that, and our organization wasn't, I'm so grateful that an organization like [The] Bushwick Starr gets to, because they are a phenomenal organization. Every year we give them discretionary funding to support our seniors, like our wonderful seniors at Palmetto Center. They run phenomenal youth programming, and they are now an institution in this neighborhood. And that's because they've managed to tough it out through this process.
But I'm so glad that we are changing that and that more small grassroots organizations really get the support they need quicker and faster. So, thank you.
Mayor Mamdani: And now last, but most definitely not least, The Bushwick Starr co-founder and artistic director, Noel Allain.
Noel Allain, Co-Founder and Artistic Director, The Bushwick Starr: Thanks everyone. Oh God, everything everyone's been saying — yeah, thanks for that too. Everyone, all animals in the room are supportive.
Everything [that] everyone's been saying resonates so much with our experience. So, first off, I just want to thank Mayor Mamdani for this valuable funding opportunity, and also to Council Member Nurse for bringing us into this opportunity here at the Bushwick Starr. We're very grateful for the support and for this new opportunity to be able to access funds in a much easier way.
The Bushwick Starr's mission is twofold. We develop and produce new work from New York City artists, performing artists, and we also are a neighborhood arts center that help make the arts more accessible to the communities of Bushwick and Ridgewood.
The discretionary grant pilot does make it so much easier for organizations like ours to access funds from the city. So, we can bring programs like Senior Storytelling to the community. The program streamlines the process; it gives us confirmation in a timely fashion; it pays us the full amount before we have to start paying our teaching artists; and it streamlines and simplifies the reporting process.
I cannot emphasize enough how knowing about and receiving funding early helps a small nonprofit like ours plan ahead to secure our teaching artists, communicate with our partners and plan enriching curriculum. Time not spent on onerous paperwork is time that we can spend applying to the program itself. That stuff adds up, and it does make an enormous difference.
A little bit about what we do. The seniors who participate in the Senior Storytelling class practice daily theatrical exercises that helps them move their bodies, engage their imagination, form stronger bonds with each other, and share their thoughts and fears and hopes for the world and the future and for their own lives.
Participants have reported the work has brought them joy, peace, encouraged them to try new things, get out of their comfort zone and has generally improved their quality of life. Now it seems so simple, but just giving people a framework to share with one another dramatically improves how they feel about themselves and the world they live in.
And on top of the class, all our participants are routinely invited to free artist workshops with our season artists here at the Starr and given free tickets to see the programming to further integrate them into the goings-on at the theater.
And in the same way that we serve our seniors, we try to reach every community group in our area. We have multiple programs that serve various age groups throughout the year. And our community director, Karla Prieto, is expanding our ability to communicate with all pockets of our community, which is why we recently opened the Bushwick Starr Teatro y Cultura, a WhatsApp channel, like El Chisme [Oficial de] NYC, sharing free events and classes with Hispanic families in Bushwick and Ridgewood.
So, we keep expanding how we serve our community. Initiatives like the Discretionary Grant Pilot are a vital way to help us implement those efforts with ease. So, once again, thank you.
Question: I know that this announcement, which there was at a certain point previous announcements, but I wanted to get an update on the larger systemic issues with larger contracts. Which, I mean, I said I feel like this is déjà vu — almost five years ago, I attended a similar press conference with former Mayor Adams and Brad Lander, where they joined and talked about how they were going to get nonprofits paid faster.
But it's still an issue. You still have large nonprofits who are doing the lion's share of social — particularly social services work in the city. That can go years. They have contracts from fiscal years 2024 and 2025 still owed. So, what's the latest on that? And what work has your administration done to actually try to fix this problem?
Mayor Mamdani: Absolutely. So, I'll just also invite MONS and MOCS and our deputy mayor as well to come up to add some additional details here. But what I will first say just broadly is that to affirm the central premise of your question, which is that nonprofits are a critical partner in delivering services across the city. I also say that as someone who used to work at a nonprofit in Jackson Heights and Richmond Hill, and so often I knew that if I wasn't working with my client, then there might not be anyone that they would be able to work with because of the language fluency that came in that organization.
And so, today's announcement, it is in large part thanks to the advocacy of nonprofits, because it's scaling up an approach that has worked. But there's also larger systemic issues at hand. And right now, what we've been focusing on is how do we process as many contracts as possible on a much faster timeline.
So, when it comes to the timeliness initiative within our administration, agencies submitted about 96 percent of all fiscal year 2027 human services contracts for comptroller registration by Sept. 1. That then allowed nonprofits to start to receive advances.
When it comes to this work, it has to continue. It has to scale up. I think what we've also shown is that it worked for 100 nonprofits, we're expanding it to 800. We're going to keep taking that approach across the board. Anything that works to expedite these payments, we will do. I don't know if there's anything you want to add.
Deputy Mayor Helen Arteaga, Health and Human Services: I think it's really important to know that the work that we're trying to do for nonprofits, we want to make sure that not only are they getting paid on time, but that we’re also figuring out the backlog. And figuring out what that end looks like, going back and saying, “Well, what's the root cause? Like, in my world, what's a patient zero?” And then once we figure out what patient zero is, finding the solution or the medicine for that. And then, once you have that, not only are we fixing the problems for nonprofits now, but also for the future.
And that's something that we want to make sure that we're creating a sustainable change for all nonprofits to continue growing and serving New York City.
Question: Have [you] diagnosed what the illness is yet [inaudibe]?
Deputy Mayor Arteaga: We’re working on it.
Mayor Mamdani: I can actually offer one early diagnosis, is that nearly 70 percent of our city's human service contract backlog consists of discretionary contracts. That then leads to payment delays for providers.
And I actually think that Council Member Restler was quite apt in his description that a program like this is not only meaningful for 800 nonprofits that are receiving grants of less than $25,000. It's also meaningful for MONS and for MOCS to be able to process the larger-scale contracts that are typically being responded to in kind with this scale of a $5,000 or $10,000, what would be a grant.
Question: You were booed last night. You were heckled. Clearly, you have some supporters and some people on that side of the issue who view you as a traitor. Your statement issued yesterday morning seemed to anger many in the Jewish community. What do you make of that conflict that seems to be going on? How do you feel about being called a traitor? And do you feel misunderstood?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I was proud to attend last night's vigil, as I did last year, to listen to testimonies from family members of those who were killed on Oct. 7 and those who have been killed in the three years since. And all of whom united in a vision for peace and an end to the genocide in Gaza.
And when we're speaking of that genocide, we're speaking of one that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians in the last three years. As for those protesting me, I am the mayor of New York City, and this is what I signed up for.
Question: So, you know, obviously the Israel-Gaza conflict continues to fuel really intense passions on both sides here. So, I have two questions. Do you think that your own ardent, you know, clearly heartfelt advocacy for the Palestinian cause has played any role in stoking those tensions as some Jewish leaders contend? And do you think you're capable of uniting a city this fractious?
Mayor Mamdani: We've seen our city come together many a time, and we know that we will also continue to do so, all while understanding the fact that this is a city of eight and a half million people, and if we didn't have eight and a half million opinions, then we wouldn't be in New York City.
And when it comes to my responsibility, I've said is not only to deliver for New Yorkers but also to be honest with New Yorkers about what I think. And I've been very clear, both as a candidate as well as the mayor of our city, of my firm belief that we have to extend human rights to all people and that that has to include Palestinians. And that as Americans we have a special responsibility given our federal government's complicity in funding so much of the weaponry that has been used over these last three years.
And we also know that when we are commemorating the anniversary, three years of horrific war crimes, three years since Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted hundreds more. Three years of an anniversary that has brought unthinkable devastation to so many. That also the Israeli government used and continues to use that day, those war crimes, as a justification for an ongoing genocide against Palestinians.
And that this is something that has shattered the lives of so many New Yorkers. Whether in those who I was standing alongside at the vigil, recounting their own family members who were killed; or reading the testimonies of Palestinians whose family members had been killed; or the Palestinian New Yorkers that I met soon after that vigil, who shared with me, for example, a Palestinian Christian nurse here in New York City sharing with me that she lost 17 of her family members when the Israeli military bombed a church. It has devastated people's lives across our city.
Question: Mr. Mayor, I'm curious — you know, there's been a request by some lawmakers, including Julie Menin, to have a memorial to people who died on Oct. 7. And I'm wondering what your position is on it, if you think that there should be a memorial erected in Brooklyn that's been proposed to memorialize the people who lost their lives that day. Given the fact that there's that proposal, [do] you think there should also be something erected to deal with those who lost their lives in Palestine, in Gaza?
Mayor Mamdani: Yesterday was a day of profound grief for so many New Yorkers. When it comes to that proposal, our administration is reviewing it, and I'll let you know once we actually get through that.
Question: Do you have to approve it for it to go forward? But also, my question was, given the fact that you are the mayor of the entire city, is it something that if you erected a memorial for one people who lost lives, if you also have to erect a memorial to those other people who lost their lives, Israelis and Palestinians?
Mayor Mamdani: To your first question, I think that there has to be engagement from the Parks Department when it comes to the creation of a monument like this. That's my understanding at this time. That is why the review is critical. Once that review takes place, then I'll have better thoughts to answer the second question.
Question: I have a question about NYPD enforcement. We asked them recently why their moving violations against car drivers have plummeted by 41 percent since 2021, and they told us that they are shifting strategy to "address the lethal challenge of new e-mobility devices." But I'm sure, as you know, e-mobility devices cause far fewer deaths by a factor of like 150 than cars and trucks. And you yourself have encouraged e-micro-mobility.
So, I'm curious, you know, why the NYPD is carrying out policies that do not similarly encourage micromobility while also renewing focus on the most deadly vehicles on the roads. And then I have a second question.
Mayor Mamdani: Do you mind asking the second one as well?
Question: Yeah, and the second one is, you know, you've restarted a lot of Adams-era bike lane projects that the last mayor canceled or, you know, ripped out. The only one remaining is the Bedford Avenue protected bike lane. You've told me discussions are ongoing. What's left to discuss there? Are you still going to reinstate the protected bike lane there?
Mayor Mamdani: So those discussions are ongoing. What I would also say is just a slight addendum in that in some of the bike lane projects that we have restarted that the prior administration had indefinitely paused, in some cases, we've also expanded the scope of those projects.
I used to have the privilege of representing Astoria and Long Island City. The bike lane that was proposed in Astoria that was then paused in litigation is one that we've actually been able to expand. And that, I think, is incredibly important because safety should be something that every New Yorker is afforded no matter what street they're on, no matter whatever mode of transit they're using.
And personally, as someone who used to avoid biking down 31st Street purely out of safety concerns, going out of my way to try and stay safe as a cyclist, I think it's incredibly important that that project is also moving forward.
To your first question, the importance for us when we're talking about an approach to Vision Zero Reimagined is to be data-driven. And when it comes to that kind of data it means focusing on whatever kinds of incidents are putting New Yorkers in danger, not privileging any one mode or the other on anything except for the statistics of what the actual impacts are.
And that is, to us, you know, we've seen progress in the time that we've been in office. We're looking at, even just since the beginning of Vision Zero, progress since the de Blasio administration of about 28 percent decline, and yet we also know the point is in the name. It has to be zero. So long as there are traffic deaths in the city, there's more work to be done.
But thank you for fighting.
Question: Do you agree on the shift toward micromobility enforcement over, like, cars and trucks that the NYPD seems to be doing?
Mayor Mamdani: I don't think we have to pick what kind of enforcement needs to be done. I think we have to address anything that puts New Yorkers in danger, and that's part of our belief that there shouldn't be a hierarchy of safety based on what mode of transit you use.
Question: Back to the events of yesterday — just kind of trying to zoom out a little bit — you tried to move with a lot of intention from a very detailed statement to declining certain invitations to picking very carefully the vigil you tried to attend, yet you got it from both sides yesterday.
I'm curious as you reflect on the decisions you made, the words you spoke, the statements you put out, do you believe you made any missteps that inflamed tensions in this very difficult moment for a lot of New Yorkers?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I believe that there must be room to mourn every single life. There must be room to mourn the lives of the more than 1,100 Israelis that Hamas killed three years ago. There must be room to mourn the 74,000 Palestinians that the Israeli government has killed since. There must be room to reckon with the ways in which so many New Yorkers' lives have been shattered.
And that, to me, is a part of what it means to believe in a sense of humanity, that we need not choose between which death we will mourn and which we will ignore. That we can reckon with the fact that all of it is to be opposed.
And what I so appreciated about being at the vigil yesterday evening, as I had been the year before, is that it was a vigil that brought together and brings together New Yorkers to read testimonies of their own family members, testimonies of others who have been killed either on the day or in the genocide since, and ends with a shared vision for peace and for an end to the genocide. And that, to me, is the future that we have to fight for.
Question: I have a couple of questions on this subject. You said that all of it is to be opposed; all of the deaths are to be opposed. I think many people would agree with you there. Yet, as mayor, we've seen you talk about, you know, we have seen you post videos about Nakba Day, about the Palestinian cause, which you know we know is very important and care deeply about. We don't see you doing quite as much when it comes to Oct. 7. We didn't see a video similar to that just honoring the losses of that day. So, my first question is, why not? But also, if you could do anything differently, if you can redo yesterday, is there a line that you would add to your statement? Is there one you would take out? Would you change anything about it?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that Oct. 7 is a day that is immensely painful for our city and is a day of mourning. And so, whether in the statement, whether in the attendance of the vigil, as I had done the year before, or whether in meeting with Palestinian New Yorkers after that, all of it is part of reckoning with what that day has meant for this city and the fact that we know that it brings up the most horrific memories for so many in the city.
And also for others, it is a day that is continuing in the Israeli government's use of it as a justification for a genocide. And so, to me, it is critically important to be able to mourn for all of those who were killed and have been killed since, especially given that we know this is ongoing, as opposed to something simply that was three years ago.
Question: Would you add or take anything out?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that the statement, the attendance, the meeting, it all speaks to a reckoning with horror. And a horror that devastated the lives of New Yorkers three years ago, and it also continues to devastate New Yorkers today.
Question: One of the specific frustrations that's actually within your power as mayor that was cited yesterday by protesters was about disbanding the SRG, and we've asked you about this quite a few times. Do you have an update now, and do you have a timeline that you're committed to at this point that you can share?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I've said this over the course of the campaign and also as mayor, is that I am just as committed as I was at the very beginning in the importance of disbanding the SRG, the importance of decoupling response to protests from counterterrorism, which, as we know, [is] what SRG was founded for a little more than a decade ago.
And what we have been working on over the time that I've been in office is how to ensure that that decoupling is one that doesn't come at the expense of New Yorkers’ safety or at the expense of the protection of their constitutional rights. And it is something that is a priority, has been a priority, and we will have more to share soon.
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