Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on the Brian Lehrer Show

January 10, 2020

Ilya Marritz: Good Friday morning everyone. It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I am Ilya Marritz, a reporter from the WNYC newsroom and the cohost of the Trump Inc. podcast, filling in today for Brian. Later in the show I'll be talking with my colleague Andrea Bernstein about her new book, American Oligarchs. It is all about the Kushners and the Trumps. But first it's the Brian Lehrer Show’s weekly Ask the Mayor segment, my questions and yours for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Call us now at 2-1-2-4-3-3-WNYC. That is 2-1-2-4-3-3-9-6-9-2. Or you can tweet your question. Just use the hashtag. #AskTheMayor that's hashtag all one word, #AskTheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning Ilya. How are you doing?

Marritz: Good. Good. Thanks for joining us. Mr. Mayor, hosting this show is as you know, not my everyday job. Most of the time I am the cohost of a podcast about the business of Trump called Trump Inc. And I have a question for you that arises from a story we reported back in October. My colleague, Heather Vogel studied property tax records for a number of Trump buildings in New York and she learned that Trump's company appeared to be failing to report income from antennas on the roof of one of those buildings, the Trump International Hotel and Tower near Columbus Circle. But it goes further than that. She found this pattern of the Trump Organization shrinking property tax values to presumably reduce its – its property values, excuse me, to presumably reduce its taxes and then boosting reported income when Trump was talking to his lenders. And the specialists we talked with said this is really not run of the mill stuff. The numbers are far enough apart that it could be fraud.

So here's my question for you. When we ran our story, a spokeswoman in your office responded that the City would look into this specifically, whether there was under-reporting of income on these properties. I know it hasn't been that long since we reached out, but has the City conducted that inquiry? Is that something you're looking at? Is there an update?

Mayor: Absolutely. I mean, look, let's just give this a quick backdrop. We're in a country where the wealthy consistently don't pay their fair share of taxes and use every conceivable legal loophole. But Trump has historically, you know, made that a fine art. I mean he's taken that far beyond even what normal wealthy people do to get away from paying their fair share and consistently has believed he was above the law even before he was president. So this is a real problem and I think there could be some real exposure here. In fact, it was looked at and one of the specific issues within your story or the ProPublica story I guess originally, was referred to the District Attorney because there is a possibility of a criminal act having been committed.

Marritz: And could you, can you tell me anything more about what the investigation at least from your side of things looks like?

Mayor: I cannot. My team will happily get you what we can get you, but as I said, you know, it's – at least one piece of what was found was serious enough to be referred to the DA.

Marritz: All right, let's take our first call. Jason is on the line in Brooklyn. Jason, you're on WNYC with Ask The Mayor.

Question: Thank you for taking my call. Mr. Mayor, thank you for taking my question. I'd like to ask you today about an intersection I frequent that's right on the border between Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn that has a lot of pedestrian traffic between the two neighborhoods. It was identified by NYC DOT as actually dangerous to pedestrians nearly a decade ago. It has kind of an on street triangle of parking where multiple cars all take the same spot. It's right in front of the New York City Department of Health building. But none of the planned improvements that the DOT identified a decade ago have actually been done because apparently it all hinges on private developments at Long Island University – kind of doing it for DOT instead of DOT actually doing it. And there are ten, 15 requests on the 3-1-1 portal map asking for simple things such as a crosswalk or a stop sign and DOT keeps declining it saying it doesn't need to be done, don't worry about it. It'll be done in the major redevelopment plan that's being done by the private developer. But none of that's actually been done. And crossing the street is kind of terrifying to me. And it just seems like DOT doesn't want to or can't do anything about this. And I'm hoping you might be able to look into this and get something as simple as a crosswalk installed because it really doesn't feel like the kind of thing I should be having to call the Mayor to ask for, just to cross the street in my own neighborhood.

Mayor: I think you've got a point there, Jason. Jason, which specific intersection is it?

Question: This is Fleet Street at Willoughby Street. It's right by the DeKalb Avenue BQR and in front of the Department of Health kind of ironically.

Mayor: Yeah. Well I'm very glad you called about this. I agree with you. It should not have to take calling me, but I'm glad you did. And I want you to give your information to WNYC so we can follow up specifically. I don't want to speak for DOT because I haven't heard all the facts, but the specific notion that interim measures wouldn't be taken while waiting on development. Some doesn't make sense to me in that. If there's a safety issue, you know, the whole idea of Vision Zero is to keep changing things to protect people. And if there is supposed to be development in the future, okay fine. But right now, what are we doing to protect people? So I'm going to personally follow up on this and see if we can get something done quickly and I'm glad you raised it.

Marritz: And Jason, if you want to stay on the line, our producers can maybe take down your details and make that connection. Thanks for your call. While we're talking Brooklyn traffic, Mr. Mayor, Politico reported yesterday that the panel of experts convened by you to try to figure out how to fix the crumbling section of the BQE under the Brooklyn Heights Promenade released a draft report that recommended basically convening another panel. I know that this is a difficult decision what to do with this crumbling highway, but isn't this what panels are supposed to do? Sort of make a difficult recommendation so that people in a position like yours can act on it?

Mayor: Yeah. Ilya, look, the first of all, as I understand it, that was some portions of the report came out before the whole report came out. So the first thing for everyone to know is, let's see the whole thing and judge when we all get to look at it. There were original difficult recommendations made and I spoke very openly about them and folks were really concerned in the community. And I don't think that's unfair. I mean, what I've tried to be blunt about is this needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. It's a real big part of how people move around in the city. But the specific ideas that were originally ventured, you know, a lot of folks sort of said, let's see if we can find a better alternative, which is never an unfair question. So I think the panel's done some good work. I think they've found some interesting options, but we have to see the full report. And then in the end, this is going to be this real clear thing we have to decide. How much time do we have? And you know, what's the best way to do it that's most respectful to the surrounding community but does not wait too long before something really bad happens with that very old, can't leave it there in the BQE? So that's, that's going to be a tough balance to strike. But let's see the report and then we'll act from there.

Marritz: Is everyone going to get to see the report? Is that going to circulate in government first? How's it going to work?

Mayor: I actually do not know the mechanics, but I'm certain at some point for sure.

Marritz: Let's take another call. Ben is on the line in Woodhaven. Ben, you're on with Ask The Mayor. Ben, are you there? What's your question? Ben?

Mayor: Can you hear me?

Question: Hi, this is a Loy actually, from Woodhaven.

Marritz: Okay. What's your question? I believe you had a question about small local businesses?

Question: Yes, yes, I'm calling because I wanted to ask the Mayor what can we do about our local historic businesses that are 100 and in my case, 190 years old, that are faced with so much problems by all these regulations and are closing every day. Like for mine, Sunday is going to be our last day after 190 years old. And we were denied landmark status and we were – it was just, it was just so sad. But it isn't – I know it's a private business, but isn't there some cultural like significance, we can recognize it in terms of like citywide, that we can kind of help protect this? And I now I’m fighting this greedy landlord because he wants like, you know, two and a half times more rent and we just can't do it. What powers can you use to help us?

Marritz: And Mr. Mayor, before you answer, I just want to clarify. Ben, you're calling from Neir’s Tavern?

Mayor: It’s Loy.

Marritz: Loy, excuse me, Loy you are right. You're calling from Neir’s Tavern, the very old pub in Queens, is that correct?

Question: Yes. It’s one of the oldest in the country.

Marritz: Okay.

Mayor: Yeah. So Loy, I read the article this morning and immediately asked myself the same question. What can we do? Because you own a really important part of history. I think the landmarking, I'm certainly happy to talk to the Landmarks Commission again to see if there's more that can be done there. But I don't think that's the first challenge. I think the first challenge is you have a landlord who raised the rent. And I’m not clear why landlords do this – where you have a historic business that's beloved in the community and the landlord is still making a decent return and why they have to jack up the rent all the time. This drives me crazy. I think it's really disrespectful of local communities and local culture. So bluntly, the original sin so often is a greedy landlord. But that doesn't mean there aren't other things we can do. Because Loy, you mentioned other things that might be a challenge for you. And I want to see how the City can help you. I’m going to have our Small Business Services Commissioner Gregg Bishop speak to you directly. I want you to give your information to WNYC. If there's ways we can – I know we have a variety of tools. We can help landlords with legal services. We can help them with loans. If there's been issues with fines, there's a lot of ways we can get those fines reduced or canceled. There's all sorts of things. There are some grants also in some cases for longstanding neighborhood small businesses. So I would think there's a lot we could do and I would ask you, just hang in there, let the Commissioner work with you to see if we can put together a package of things that would help you.

Again, I don't, I hope the landlord realizes and he's getting some attention today. This is just absolutely inappropriate. This is a 190-year-old business. This is inappropriate. If you want to make a buck, this is not the way to do it. And the landlord could do something good for New York City by backing off and allowing you to continue at a rent level that is actually achievable. But we will work with you to see if we can save this business.

Question: I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for that open, you know, talk about that. Thank you.

Marritz: Loy, thanks for your call. And, if you're still there, how long is Neir’s Tavern going to remain open if somebody wants to go buy a drink at the oldest continuously operating pub in New York City before it perhaps closes, when do they need to get there by?

Question: Yeah, Sunday. Because I ran out of money, so after Sunday I'm not going to pay my staff fees and I don't want to do that to them. So Sunday is going to be the last day.

Marritz: Sunday. Alright, good luck to you, Loy. Thank you for your call. Juliet is on the line in Inwood. Juliet, you are on with Ask the Mayor.

Question: Hi. Hello, Mayor de Blasio. I reached out to you. I live in Upper Manhattan, in Inwood on Riverside Drive. I reached out – attempted to reach out through the Vision Zero website to express my concern about living in the U-turn capital of the world and the Wild West of traffic up here. And there was – I didn't find it to be an interactive website, so I wrote to you the old fashioned way. Eventually my letter was forwarded to a sergeant in the 3-4 who signed off on my recent hit-and-run accident report because I was flipped over the hood of a car two blocks from my home on exactly the stretch that I've been trying to draw attention to. My dog was dragged from one end of the intersection to the other, had two fractures, a broken tooth, staples in my head. And I have yet, in my years on this block, to ever see the NYPD execute a traffic moving violation. And I – somehow through ten blocks, this person sped off, not a single traffic camera was available to a capture license plate. And I'm left with broken bones and chaos in my neighborhood.

Mayor: Well, first of all, Juliet, I'm very, very sorry that you experienced that. And second that, you know, if you've been trying to warn people and those warnings went unheeded, that's not acceptable obviously. I want to see what we can do about cameras, particularly if there's a school anywhere nearby. Under the legislation we achieved last year, we can actually put in a lot more cameras, which is very good. But also I want the precinct commander, I don't know the sergeant, what he said, what he did, but I want the actual precinct commander to speak to you directly. We will make sure that happens if you give your information to WNYC. But, look, there’s supposed to be enforcement and I do believe the NYPD has moved a lot of resources into Vision Zero, but we've always said, I believe there's got to be more, especially on things like speeding, U-turns, illegal U-turns, things like that. We absolutely need more enforcement.

So let's see what we can do both in terms of cameras and in terms of enforcement in your area. Please give your information to WNYC and I'll make sure someone follows up with you today.

Marritz: Juliet, thanks for your call. If you could hang on and we'll take down your information and make that connection. And, Juliet is one of quite a number of callers who have questions really relating to the way traffic flows on our streets and Vision Zero and safety for pedestrians. I did want to get in a question about recycling in New York City. And you probably know, Mr. Mayor that Politico has been doing a series that they call Wasted Potential that looks at the ways in which recycling and composting in New York City are falling short of our goals, short of our expectations. And one of the reasons they – one thing they found is that residential recycling rate is now 18 percent. Your goal that you've stated is to get to zero waste by 2030. So we have a decade to do that. How is the City going to meet that goal?

Mayor: Yeah, we've got a lot to do. There's no two ways about it. There have been meaningful improvements. You know, a lot more people have organics recycling available than a few years ago. There has been some improvement in our recycling rate. We have much more vigorous recycling in schools and in public housing. There's a lot happening, but we definitely have a long way to go. So I'm not going to say everything's fine. There's more to do for sure. I do believe a decade is a long time. We have a decade ahead to meet that goal, but I'll have more to say on it in the coming weeks as we figure out the next steps of what we have to do. I think it's absolutely valid to say we've got to figure out how to get more people recycling even to be – especially to begin with, like, what we have right now are historic recycling programs, it’s still is not where it needs to be.

So we've got to figure out what will help move that forward. In the meantime, on the bigger front, we are moving the New York City Green New Deal, a whole host of – you know, we're divesting from fossil fuel companies, we have the most, literally, the most vigorous in the world law requiring building retrofits to stop emissions. We're putting up electric vehicle charging stations all over the city. There's a whole host of things that are moving. We just did commercial waste zone legislation that I think is also going to help improve recycling in that– on the commercial side. But we've got a lot more to do and I will be speaking to it more in the coming weeks.

Marritz: Alright, let's take another call. Sarah, you are on the line. Sarah in Manhattan. You're on the line with Mayor de Blasio for Ask the Mayor.

Question: Hi. Mr. Mayor, I appreciate all that you have done for working families in the city and I want to suggest to you an opportunity for you to do even more and that regards summer camp. So we need more spots in the Parks Department summer camp and we need the age requirements for the summer camp to align with the DOE age requirements. So the Parks Department summer camp is the only major affordable summer camp in the summer in the city. The private camp costs easily $400 a week, which is 26 hours of pretax minimum wage. This is a failure for working families because there are not enough spots in the Parks Department summer camp, so they have to be given out via lottery. Secondly, the Parks Department requires that children be age six at the start of summer in order to participate. That does not align with the DOE age requirements for kindergarten. So half of children who are leaving kindergarten are ineligible for the public summer camp.

Mayor: Alright well, Sarah, I'm glad you raised this. That second part about the age alignment, that's a new one for me. I had not heard that previously. I'm glad you raised it. So let see immediately what we can do about that. And if you'll give your information to WNYC, I'm going to have folks follow up with you. On the number of available spots for kids, it's unquestionably a good thing and I agree with you, it's really important for working families. We're going to make, as usual, a bunch of choices in the next few months in our budget. And the first question I just came back from Albany on Wednesday – the first question is going to be, are we going to come out of the State Legislative session, you know, with real holes in our own budget or not? We're worried – I'm worried for sure based on some of the things that the Governor's talking about.

So we have to first fight that fight to protect New York City and protect our ability to serve our people and then see what we're able to do in our own budget. So I'm glad you put it on the table. I'm going to have folks look at that, you know, what we should be doing with the summer programs in terms of funding, but immediately we're also going to work on the age issue because you raised it. And again, I don't remember anyone previously raising it, so thank you for raising it.

Marritz: Sarah, thanks for your call. If you'll hang on, we'd like to take down your details. Mr. Mayor, I want to ask you a little bit more about the budget because Governor Cuomo did do his State of the State address this week. We know that there is a budget gap that is large on the State level, I think $6 billion, and the Governor didn't say that much about how he's going to close that gap which leads one to – I think the pretty safe conclusion that part of the burden is going to fall on local government like New York City. What should we expect and what were your discussions like up in Albany?

Mayor: Well, yeah, the good news is the Legislature, the Senate and the Assembly, really have looked out for the interest of localities all over the state and they certainly looked out for the interest in New York City. They fought back a lot of efforts before. It's not the first time we've heard proposals from Albany to cut our Medicaid dollars and spending on health care. And a lot of times legislators fought them back. So I'm going to remain hopeful on that front. The Governor didn't give a lot of detail and that worries me, of course. But I'll tell you something. I believe that the problem is if the State has a Medicaid problem, then let's all get to the table and figure out how to save money rather than cut health care services for people.

I think any program as big as Medicaid, there's always ways to find, you know, how to be more efficient and how to make the dollar stretch. But not to do the things that would actually take away health care. There’s still so many people in New York who don't have the health care they need. So, you know, always ready to work with the State and work with the Governor to find a way to balance budgets, but want to make sure everyone understands it should never be on the back of working people. It should never be at the cost of health care for everyday working people. That's what we'll fight, you know, every step of the way.

Marritz: We have time for one real quick phone call. So let's go to Eric in Bed-Stuy. Eric, you're on WNYC with Mayor de Blasio. Just briefly, what is your question?

Question: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. You and I and all New Yorkers who have a cell phone share one thing in common. We're being tracked constantly by technology companies. And, we can see looking at articles like the New York Times article in December on [inaudible] want you to set your privacy that even the idea of [inaudible] did not maintain anonymity among the citizens of New York. So I wonder what are you doing to protect New York citizens from the tracking of technology companies?

Mayor: Well, Eric, that’s a really good question. I'm very, very jaded about the tech companies on this front. I think there's been a real disrespect for people's privacy and I'm not saying that's every company, obviously, but some have been notable for really ignoring what is a central value of this nation, which is the respect for individual privacy. So we are trying to figure out what legal actions and, you know, local actions we can take on that front. I don't have a perfect answer for you now, but I can definitely tell you, you know, we're going to have more to say on it and that work is going on now.

Marritz: Eric, thanks for your call and we're all out of time for Ask the Mayor. So, Mayor de Blasio, thanks for making the time to talk with us.