Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at the Groundbreaking for the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council and Hotel Association of NYC Queens Health Center

January 15, 2020

Mayor Bill de Blasio: This is a very good day. This is a very positive day. But I got to just note, there’s a little, there’s a little conflict here because Peter, you grew up in Brooklyn. I raised my family in Brooklyn, live in Brooklyn, very proud of Brooklyn. It’s a very rare day when I can be happy about the fact that Queens is surpassing Brooklyn. But today is that day because that Brooklyn Center – who’s been to the Brooklyn Health Center, raise your hand. It is unbelievable. It makes you feel such hope. It makes you believe that with all the problems in our city and our country, that there really are solutions. You see it there in Brooklyn. Now Peter is telling us that the Queens Center is going to be even better. That’s amazing.

[Applause]

Peter, I have watched for many, many years. And you will notice he rightfully gives credit to the members of the union. He always talks about the working man and woman first. That’s who he is and I honor him for that. He always gives credit to the great professionals that he surrounds himself with. He even gives credit to elected officials. We appreciate that. But these things happen because there is a visionary leading the Hotel Trades Council. That’s the truth, there’s a visionary names Peter Ward.

[Applause]

And I want you to dwell on that for a quick second. What is a visionary? A visionary is someone who believes something can change, even when other people can’t see it. A visionary is someone who imagines a different reality and in history we know there are a lot of visionaries who just had the vision but they didn’t actually know how to do it. Peter is someone who has the vision and then relentlessly brings it to life because of his strategic mind, because of his relentless energy. Because he knows how to build a coalition to get something done. That’s a very rare leader. And so many good working people have benefited, gotten the health care they needed. Gotten the wages and benefits they deserve. So many people are better off because Peter Ward has led the Hotel Trades Council. But I want to make one other point about Peter. He does not stop his work at the borders of the membership of his own union. I can tell you from personal experience, when we created a plan to give pre-k to every child in this city, we needed to fight in Albany. The head of the fight, leading the charge in Albany was Peter Ward and the Hotel Trades Council. That’s one of the reasons we got pre-k for all our children.

[Applause]

When we decided to pass the toughest law in the country, to guarantee developers would build affordable housing, Peter Ward – he didn’t come up and say oh, only what matters to my members, he cared about all working people. And that law passed and there’s a lot more affordable housing in New York City because Peter Ward stood up. Thank you Peter, time and again you have been there.

[Applause]

To everyone to Dr. Jacobson, thank you for leadership. Vijay Dandapani, thank you for your leadership. Bob Greenspan – amazing, amazing. You have, every step of the way, seen how to take this vision and make it real. God bless you for that. We are here today also because of your great work.

[Applause]

And then Peter said something important to note. The elected officials here today, we do believe health care is a human right. And everyone up here does something about it. So thank you to Speaker Corey Johnson, thank you to Comptroller Scott Stringer, and Queens D.A. Melinda Katz, and Acting Borough President Sharon Lee, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, Council Member Ben Kallos, everyone united in believing that this is the kind of thing we need more of in the future.

Well, everyone, let’s just reflect for a moment what this means. You already have a sense of what it means for everyday people – working people [inaudible] one place and get great health care. When I saw it the first time I almost couldn’t believe it. You get your doctor appointment at the same place you get your dental care, the same place you get you prescription filled. I literally thought I was dreaming. It couldn’t be this easy, it couldn’t be this good, but it is. Juxtapose that to what’s happening right now in our country. There are a lot of people in Washington D.C. that actually want to take away the health care that people have right now. That’s a sad fact. There’s literally, every day people working to reduce the amount of health care available to working people.

There are, on the other side of the discussion, great ideas. About making sure that health care becomes universal and I’m encouraged to see the discussion grow more all the time. But there’s only one place that’s actually taking the dream and making it real. In terms, the House of Labor, it’s the Hotel Trades Council. It’s what you see in Brooklyn, what you’re going to see here in Queens. All those healthy debates about the future of health care, I would say to all of them, just come see what Peter and all of you have already done, if you want a vision of where we all could go, and should go. I am proud to say, working with all my colleagues in government, here in New York City we announced, last year, a guarantee of health care for all New Yorkers – anyone who doesn’t have insurance, we’re either going to get them insurance or we’re going to give them health care directly through NYC Care in our public hospitals and clinics. So in this city, no one will go without health care. No one.

[Applause]

But I’ve got to tell you. And this is, Peter, I want to give credit where credit is due, the day you showed me that health center, the day you showed me it was possible, inspired me as it has inspired so many others, to say we’ve got to go farther. Peter Ward has shown us the way, we now have to walk through the door and go farther. So this city is going farther. And I hope that what we are announcing and celebrating today will one day be seen as the beginning of a pathway to that day where everybody in this country had that human right. It can happen, my friends, but it’s only going to happen because some visionaries led the way, and proved to everyone it could be done. We’re celebrating something very, very important today, congratulations to all, congratulations Peter.