Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks on NYC Ferry Expansion, Gives Winter Storm Update

January 18, 2019

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I want to thank Anna Rita Pergolizzi-Wentworth – I love this, Anna Rita Pergolizzi-Wentworth. Anna Rita, you had a great phrase in there, what was it? The magnet? What was that? 

Anna Rita Pergolizzi-Wentworth: It’s an unexplainable magnet. 

Mayor: Unexplainable magnet – this is poetry happening here today, everyone. That’s a beautiful, beautiful phrase and that's what we all feel about home – the unexplainable magnet. And Anna Rita, thank you for that, I think, beautiful remarks that really capture the meaning of what we're doing today and the love that people have for the home borough, and the fact that they love it deeply, but they have every right to say we need better ways to get around and we need to be more connected to everything around us. I also want to thank you for the great work you do as an educator. Let's give Anna Rita a round of applause.

[Applause]

So Staten Island, I’m here to say, you have one great ferry, how about two? Let's add another.

[Applause]

So, Staten Island Ferry is the single largest ferry system in the United States of America, does an amazing job, people on this island depend on it, and the Staten Island ferry delivers. It's time to bring another great new idea here, NYC Ferry. And NYC Ferry, I’ve got to tell you, has been a success beyond our wildest dreams. When we started NYC Ferry, it was an idea that had not been tried in about a century, to have ferry service all over New York City. But boy, if you ever wanted to see an example of the phrase, if you build it, they will come. We put in these ferry stops and people have been flocking to them, and it's only just beginning. So, it was time to go farther. I'm going to be introducing some of my colleagues in a moment. I want to – as I do that, I'm going to give full credit to the strong voices, starting with the Borough President, who made clear how important this would be to the people of Staten Island.

But I have to say, this new route from Staten Island to the West Side of Manhattan, is going to be a game-changer for a lot of people in this borough. It's going to open up a world of possibilities. And that's true for folks in Coney Island who now are going to have a new ferry service, for folks up in the Bronx at Ferry Point. Every time we put in more ferry service, we see the impact it makes, and we want to do this for more and more people. 

I want to thank everyone who's here. There's a lot of people back here who have been fighting a long time for better options for Staten Islanders, a lot of people who demand more ferry service. Give yourselves a round of applause, because you did hard work on this.

[Applause]

I want to thank the folks who work at Staten Island Ferry – NYC Ferry, the folks who work at NYC Ferry do an amazing job. You’ve got to see these folks run a tight ship. So let's thank them all for the great work they do.

[Applause]

You're going to hear from some of the elected officials, but also want to acknowledge one of the newest, who I had the honor of being at his swearing-in. And he came out of our team at City Hall. We are so proud of him – Assembly member Charles Fall.

[Applause]

And everything we do, we work, of course, with our Department of Transportation to give people more and better options. I want to thank the Borough Commissioner Tom Cocola for his great work.

[Applause]

So, I talked about this last week. If you had to define my job as Mayor, there’s a couple different things you could say. First and foremost, keep people safe, but also to make sure that life of the city is fair, to make sure that life in the city is easier. We love this place. We love it so deeply. It's not always easiest place to live, and I keep saying people are working longer and longer hours. I appreciate the advantages of modern technology, but the downside has been we're working longer and longer hours and people a lot of times not working just one job, but two jobs. People are struggling. They need back time in their lives. When we can do the kind of thing that Anna Rita talked about and give you back some time in your day for yourself, for your family – that's the kind of thing that your city should be doing for you.

So that's why this announcement is so important. It's about time in people's lives, it’s about opening up opportunity, it’s about making sure people can really get all from this city they deserve. We've gotten already about 8 million people that have taken NYC Ferry – about 8 million rides already on something that was never projected to grow that quickly. Potential is amazing. And I will say at the outset, we announced a series of additions in the State of the City, but we'll continue to watch how this evolves and we're going to look for opportunities again in the future. And something we're also going to work for is the day when we can get cross registration with the MTA, so that you can go from the ferry, to the subway, to the bus.

[Applause]

Staten Island Borough President James Oddo: You’re speaking my language. 

Mayor: I’m speaking your language. I'm trying to reach the high level of Borough President Oddo. So, this route as you heard, St. George, to Battery Park City, and onto Midtown – that will run this route. It’s going to run every 25 minutes at peak hours. So, there'll be a lot of capacity to help people. Direct to the West Side – and this is something I heard from a lot of Staten Islanders, this was one of the great missing links, the ability to get to the West Side of Manhattan. For many people – and we believe this is going to be a typical situation – it’s going to cut travel time, roundtrip, by 40 minutes or more in a day – in a single day. So, imagine giving people back 40 minutes, some people even an hour back each day, what that's going to do for their lives. 

These additions are going to mean a lot for people and it's worth the price we're paying. We're putting in $100 million more so we can put in the physical capacity to make this system work. But this is going to be money well spent.

It's one part of helping people to move around. We're going to make it easier for our buses to get around, as well. We're going to create more select bus routes, quicker. We're going to clear out the bus lanes so they'll move. We're also gonna fight in Albany for the thing that has been evading our State for a long time, but the time is now – a funding plan that can actually support the MTA, and particularly our subways for the long-term. We're going to work on all of those things. 

As I close, I want to say this – I’ve heard over the last five years a number of areas of concern from people in this borough, and I listen every single time. We've had City Hall in your Borough, which has been an amazing experience last couple of years, listening to people. There were town hall meetings I've held with the Council members – a lot of smart suggestions, a lot of heartfelt concerns, the ever present phone calls and emails from the Borough President. I get lots of different examples of the concerns that Staten Islanders have, and I've never for a moment misunderstood why people have felt for generations that Staten Island was the forgotten borough. To me and to my colleagues in City Hall, it has never been forgotten. When the Borough President calls, we're always trying to get to a solution. We want to work with the other elected officials, and have for years now, to find solutions for the needs of the people in Staten Island. 

This is an example, this new ferry service. But the things we've done with the Staten Island Ferry that already exists – restoring 24 hour service, something I heard from so many people was a key, key need.

[Applause]

And then there's that little matter of our streets. There was a wise poet – I think he was one of the Romans – who said, pave baby, pave. 

[Laughter]

I want to give you the update, Mr. Borough President. Since our repaving campaign began for the streets of Staten Island, we have repaved 909 lane miles. If you want to know what that would be –

Borough President Oddo: I want to know what that would be. 

[Laughter]

Mayor: I’m glad. That would be the equivalent of driving from here to Atlanta, Georgia. That's how much we've repaid. 

[Applause]

Borough President Oddo: Did you say, Atlanta?

Mayor: Atlanta, Georgia, you say? So, the idea is to make life better and fairer for the people of Staten Island, and we're gonna keep doing it, and a new ferries going gonna be a big part of it. 

A few words in Spanish. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

Fairest big city in America – that is our goal. And someone who has been doing this work with us over the last half-decade now and has made an amazing and lasting impact to make this a better city, our Deputy Mayor, Alicia Glen.

Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, Housing and Economic Development: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Half-a-decade, that sounds like a long time, but great time well spent. So, thank you, Mayor, and thank you very much, Anna Rita. Just a little note, I am a graduate of Montessori, so I feel that this is a great thing for people to do, and they can grow up and hopefully do wonderful things for the City. So thank you for everything you have done. 

I just want to put a few more details on some of the things that the Mayor said, first on the St. George route itself, and then, second, what the system really means to New Yorkers. First, on Staten Island – I mean, what will another route do for this island? On a human level, I think we heard how it will bring what we project to be 2 million people over the next five years closer to their work, their families, and be able to have a quality of life that all New Yorkers deserve.
And I think in a big picture level, what the St. George ferry line will do – will create another really important vital connection between Staten Island and the rest of the city. And that creates more economic opportunities for businesses here in the borough. I mean, I think for too long, Staten Island and it's amazing restaurants, its museums, it’s small businesses, and its parks have felt a little bit away from a lot of the rest of New York and for New Yorkers. Or to put another way, Jimmy, I say the gig is up, the secret is out because no longer are you the only guys are going to know about the great pizza, the Great Sri Lankan food here, the unbelievable farmer’s market at Snug Harbor, the shows that go on at St. George. The gig is up. People like – West Siders like me are going to start coming to Staten Island. I hope you'll let us come, because it is unbelievable to be able to really be part of what is going on here.

And that's what this is all about. It's about knitting the city closer together. You're going to really begin to feel why we are a true five-borough city and that's why we set out to create New York City Ferry, which was the first attempt to connect a ferry system since 1898. And everybody said we were a little bit crazy and we couldn't do it and why would we do it? And part of why we did it is because for decades the city has been reclaiming our industrial waterfront, revitalizing these neighborhoods, investing in neighborhoods so we can have more jobs and more people living on this unbelievable resource, and this waterfront that we call New York City. And I remember talking to the Mayor early on and he said, are we – can we actually create an entirely new mass transit system in a few years? And the answer is, yes, we did it.

So, five years later from that initial conversation, we are serving millions of New Yorkers every year, five routes are up and running, two more roots are coming and more of the expansions that the Mayor mentioned. And I think it's because New Yorkers have embraced the ferry, because the City's waterfront does belong to all of us, and the people in Staten Island deserve the same exact opportunities that people who live in a shiny new tower in Long Island City or in Williamsburg too. And that's what we're here to do, right? Bring cities and communities together in a way that they haven't been able to come together. And you deserve it at the same price as it takes everybody else to get on the subway.

[Applause]

So, you deserve it. So, I think in the end, this is a real testament to the fact that New York City works because it is diversity personified. We have a diverse population, we have diverse cultures, we have diverse industries, and mostly we have diverse neighborhoods. And now, we have a diversity in the way in which we approach to transit, right? Transit is not just what gets New Yorkers to work, it's what makes New York City work. So this is unbelievable. I'm so proud to be here today. And, of course, Jimmy, you know, I love hanging out in Staten Island, so thank you for hosting us. 

Thank you very much.

[Applause]

Mayor: We’re going to turn to the Borough President, but I want to say something upfront because this is something he and I care about a lot. I see you brought your audio-visual aids. I'm shocked. 

[Laughter]

Wow. That's never happened before. This is wholly unauthorized. How could this possibly have happened? 

Borough President Oddo: Security was very [inaudible].

[Laughter]

While we are talking about something good here, and this is – boy, I used to talk about the tale of two cities, let me give you another one right now. Here we are in our city talking about doing something to help people. Our government's open, our government's working. We're providing more service to our people. Meanwhile, 250 miles to the south, there's chaos. And I talked yesterday about the horrible impact that's starting to have on New York City. Jimmy and I talked about another part of this story that people need to recognize, and it has to do with some of the bravest people who serve us and who we depend on, particularly in this great coastal city.

I'll harken back to – back in May, Jimmy and I were among those honored to participate in an event where NYC was declared formally as a Coast Guard city. And there's a lot of us who have just a special feeling for the Coast Guard, because they have saved so many lives, they play such an important role in this City and this nation. And, right now, the men and women of the Coast Guard are hurting because of the shutdown. They are feeling the brunt of this too. And that is true all of the City, all over this country. It is true, particularly at Fort Wadsworth. And I know a number of leaders here in Staten Island have been trying to reach out in support the members of the Coast Guard, including Congressman Rose and Council member Borelli, and I want to thank them for that.

[Applause]

And I want to just say to every federal employee in New York City, everyone who works as a contractor for the federal government, everyone who right now doesn't know when their next paycheck is coming – thank you for all you do for us. This is wrong. This should not be happening to you. We're going to try and support you in every way. But when it comes to our Coast Guard, I mean, what an example of what's gone wrong? That the people who protect us are now bearing the brunt of this crisis. It has to end with that. 

With that, I want to turn to someone I think everyone knows. I think Jimmy Oddo is someone who not only loves his borough and fights for his borough, but is often a way ahead of the curve in terms of thinking about what can and should be done for the people of Staten Island. He's won the respect of everyone in my administration and certainly won my respect a long time ago when we were in the City Council together. And he has thought for a long time about the future of Staten Island, what the waterfront could mean for the people this borough. But boy, has he advocated for ferry service. I have no words. I have no words for how often, how persistently, how loudly, how creatively, how audio-visually he has advocated for ferry service. 

[Laughter]

Well, Mr. Borough President, there is no one who deserves more credit than you. I think you are the number-one reason why this announcement is happening today. 

Congratulations, Borough President.

[…]

Mayor: We’re going to be in a moment talking about the weather situation. We're to separate that piece in a moment, and give an update, and take some questions from the media on that. But I just want to see if there's any media questions on the ferry announcement before we move over to that other very important news. 

So, any media questions on the ferry announcement? Okay, go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible] something that's ongoing?

Mayor: Yes. What happened here was 35 locations were looked at all over the City, all five boroughs. We made decisions based on a variety of factors, starting with a projected ridership, obviously the costs involved, what it would take to set up the service, etcetera. This is something that continues to grow. We're going to reevaluate again in the future. Now the Borough President laid out that there are some very specific challenges that's so far we have not found the way to overcome. So, we're going to continue to see if there is a way. But yeah, for Staten Island, for the whole city, there will be another review in the future. And I think the most important piece of the equation is – if we can get that cross registration with the MTA, which isn’t a foregone conclusion, but something we're going to work hard for and I'm confident, you know, we have a good shot at getting. It will show us the full potential of ferry service in a way that we can't see fully now. And then that will tell us a lot about what the real cost issues are and what the bang for the buck is. So, the question remains open, but job-one now is to get these new lines in place and see how everything grows. 

Yes?

Question: [Inaudible] seven locations you guys initially looked at on Staten Island [inaudible] going forward, do you still plan to look at those sites? Are you guys planning to look at new sites?

Mayor: I would say, some of the sites we looked at – and you saw this all over the city, and, again, that report has been put out publicly – some sites were physically impossible and those will not be considered in the future. But, you know, we had – we did an open nomination process with elected officials and community leaders and community boards, and we came up with 35 sites, which is a lot of sites that obviously we're worthy of review, but there's a number of them where the physical barriers are insurmountable. So those will come off the list. But it's perfectly conceivable to look at new sites if we can find a site that's viable. The Borough President will remember on a hot summer day, humid summer day, we went out and looked at three sites on the South Shore, that we all went to, hoping to find real possibility. We found real physical and logistical challenges, but that does not rule out that another site would be developed or new way to approach a site might open up the door in a different way.

Question: [Inaudible] next fast ferry location on Staten Island, which area –

Mayor: Well, first, I want to be careful not to be hypothetical. There's going to be a whole process for this borough and for the whole city. Obviously, I have heard the concerns of residents of the South Shore, the mid-island. I understand they have a horrible commute. We have other things we need to do for them, by the way. Obviously, the idea of getting the express train is a great one. There's more we can do to clear out the HOV lane on the Staten Island expressway. So there’s a lot of things we need to do to help people on the South Shore, but I have heard their concerns deeply and we're going to certainly continue to look at that, but I can't project until we go through another formal process. 

Anything else on the ferry from the media going once? Yes, sir? Not Media? Okay, I’m just doing media right now. My apology. Any other media questions on ferry? 

Okay. I want to let these good folks – we’re going to go on to give you a weather update so anyone wants to stick around can, but I don't want to keep people. 

Thank you everyone very, very much. Well done.

[…]

Mayor: All right. Here we go, everybody. I want to give all New Yorkers an update on the weather situation and what we're going to experience this weekend. I want to make sure everyone is forewarned so that people can make smart choices and get ready for some unpredictable weather. We have a complex a weather system coming in. It's actually two systems, one on top of the other, and it makes it harder to know exactly what's going to happen. So I want to urge everyone – first thing I want to say is, please keep posted, pay close attention to the news media. You can also sign up through Notify NYC. But this is gonna be an ever-changing situation. So, if you hear something in the morning, it may be different by the afternoon. It's important to keep updated. I think we've all learned through a number of storms that as much as we appreciate our meteorologists and the National Weather Service, they can't know everything. It's physically impossible. There are always – there’s always the potential that storms will change. Sometimes we've been lucky and storms that were coming right at us moved out to sea. Other times we were told we weren't gonna get much and we end up with something a lot worse. So there's an element of unpredictability. For every-day New Yorkers, the way to deal with that is to keep constantly informed. And you know, thankfully, nowadays there's a lot of ways to do that. 

For all of us preparing, we take a very conservative approach. We assumed the worst, not the best. And when we look at this storm coming, we assume all sorts of potential here and we have to be ready for anything that mother nature throws at us. Deputy Mayor Anglin, our Deputy Mayor for Operations will go into some more detail as well as our Sanitation Commissioner, but a few things to remember.

First of all, please, everyone, exercise caution Saturday and Sunday, and even into the Monday-morning commute. We don't know exactly what we're going to be dealing with here, but we do know it's a real storm. We do know we're going to have very cold temperatures, a lot of potential for icing. The best thing that people can do is get whatever you have to get done during the day Saturday. So this is a very clear statement I want to make to all New Yorkers. I want to see people off the streets when it gets to Saturday evening and Saturday night, to the maximum extent possible.  Based on what we know now – and again, that could change – but based on what we know now, get everything you need to get done during the morning and the afternoon, Saturday, stay off the streets Saturday evening, Saturday night. Conditions could get really difficult. And we know – we’ve seen this and other storms – the men and women at the Sanitation Department can do extraordinary things if there's not traffic blocking them. So their work is going to begin as soon as snow accumulates on Saturday evening, let's get out of their way and help them do their work. Obviously, it’s gonna be tough driving conditions, potentially dangerous driving conditions, better to make other plans so you're not out on the road. 

Now, we do, again, expect the storm this moment they hit Sunday – excuse me, Saturday evening, going into the overnight Saturday. That means that Sunday's going to be a mess based on what we know now. Expect it to be very hard to get around on Sunday morning – a lot of ice, there could be some flooding as well. So, we want people to assume, when you're making your plans, again, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon are the safe zone where you can get done what you need to get done. Do not count on a Saturday evening – Saturday night, do not count on Sunday because we don't know what we're dealing with yet. Just get things done Saturday, stay home Sunday to the maximum extent possible. 

We do expect a potential of downed trees, that happens with a lot of storms. This was a situation we need to be ready for that and we're putting measures in place, but we all know, even when we're prepared, a down tree takes time to address. So, be prepared for those kinds of situations, which could knock out some roads. I always say to people, check on your fellow New Yorkers, check on your neighbors, check on the elderly in particular, anyone in your life, anyone you're building you know is older, might need help – anyone who is disabled might need help. One of the number-one thing that New Yorkers do is look out for each other and it always, always helps. If you see someone who's out in the cold or needs help, if it is a situation that is not dire, you can call 3-1-1 and they will get help. If it's an emergency situation, of course, call 9-1-1. If you think someone's life is in danger, call 9-1-1. Both the NYPD and our Department of Homeless Services will be available to immediately address any situation with anyone on the street. 

Anyone that does not have heat or hot water – if you don't have heat or hot water today, call right now to 3-1-1 so we can try to get you help now and Saturday before all this hits. So don't hesitate if you don't have heat or hot water at any point. Make that call as quickly as possible to 3-1-1.

Just want to say a little bit Spanish before turning to my colleagues. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, I’m going to turn to Deputy Mayor Anglin, she has been in regular touch with National Weather Service and all of our agencies as we prepare. Deputy Mayor –

Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin, Operations: Thank you, Mayor. So, let me give you a little update on the storm. We just got off the phone with the National Weather Service about half-an-hour ago. Just so you know, right now the City is under a storm watch. That may change later on today, where we might actually go to a storm warning based on forecast later on this afternoon. As the Mayor said, this is going to be an unpredictable storm, it’s also a storm that is carrying a lot of moisture, and when we see storms with moisture, that gives us potential for snow, sleet, rain and ice, and that's what we're expecting in the storm – a lot of everything. And I'm going to say – a little of everything. We're spending a lot of everything. 

Let me give you some of the details. Overall amount of snow right now we're expecting for the storm – but once again, the storm can change – is three to six inches citywide, three in the southern parts of the city, closer to six and the northern parts. National Weather Service is forecasting a worst-case scenario right now, six to nine inches across the city.

Let me give you a little information on timing. Light snow will begin, as the Mayor said, tomorrow between 5:00 and 7:00 pm, and then, starting at 7:00 PM, from 7:00 to 10:00 we will see moderate to heavy snow. And within that three hours, that is where the bulk of this three to six inches of snow will fall. So you will see heavy snow during that time period. After that when we got to between 10:00 pm and midnight, it will start to change over to sleet and freezing rain, once again, making dangerous conditions because we now have ice on top of snow. And then in the morning, Sunday morning, between 2 and 3 am, we’re probably going to see it shift between rain and freezing rain back and forth. So obviously there's a lot of moisture and there's a lot of ice and dangerous conditions within the storm.

The one thing that, as a Mayor alluded to, that I'm particular concerned about, we are particular concerned about is the drastic change in temperature that you're going to see during the duration of the storm. When we start tomorrow midday on Saturday, we'll be roughly mid-30’s, maybe a little higher than that, but as we go through the evening and go through the morning, by the time you get to Sunday morning you're going to be and probably the 20s, and then later on in the day you're going to be in the teens, and overnight Monday morning you could even be in single digits. What that means is, the moisture that is on the roads will likely freeze. And we can see tree limbs freezing and breaking, downed power lines. Sidewalks will be very messy. We will – Commissioner Garcia will do her best to keep, you know, the road salted, but it will be very messy and very dangerous. That's why the Mayor saying, please stay off the roads. 

In addition, as we get into late Sunday, we'll have another situation is that the winds are going to pick up dramatically. So we're gonna have icy conditions on limbs and power lines and all over, and then the winds are gonna pick up. Sustained winds will be 20 to 25 miles per hour on a Sunday afternoon and forward gusting to 40 miles per hour. So that's a dangerous situation that everyone needs to be aware of, and that’s why we're asking please say off the roads. And we will keep everyone updated as a storm goes through. We will be talking with the National Weather Service, but we're going to be looking at down trees, downed power lines, and icy conditions. So it's going to be very important that everyone let us do our job to make sure we can clear the roads and have everything back together by the time Tuesday-morning rush hour starts.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I want to turn to our Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. She's going to talk about the preparations that are being put in place by her agency.

Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, Department of Sanitation: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So obviously, we're taking this storm very, very seriously. We are splitting the shift. We will be completely split by tomorrow morning at 7:00 am and we will stay in that formation probably at least through early part of next week. We will have available at the start of the event nearly 700 spreaders and another 1,600 plows, and we anticipate that those will be primarily needed on Saturday night for the plows, but then the spreaders are probably going to keep running a well through Monday, because the only thing that we really have that’s going to attack ice is going to be the salt. 

I would say again that the weather is going to change. If you leave your house and it's snowing, it could be sleeting and raining by the time you get to your destination, and it will happen very, very fast. These transitions of the temperature are incredibly steep.

We are going to be joined by other City agencies who will also bring in equipment for the direction of Sanitation at DOT, DEP, and the Parks Department. I do want to stress that we do need support from New Yorkers in terms of business owners or property owners to make sure that you are also salting your sidewalks so that we don't have injuries to pedestrians. We are completely coordinated through OEM and the Joint Transportation Team to make sure that we understand any of the triggers that could happen. And this is going to be a very dangerous storm with a lot of different variables. And so we are preparing for the worst and anything that is still on the ground Monday is likely to stay around because of how cold it will actually be.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Commissioner. So let's do some media questions now, we’ll take them on the storm and then let's do it with anything else that's on people's minds. I want to affirm upfront there will be another briefing by the agencies at 5:00 pm tonight at OEM. So, this is the information we have now, obviously anything that changes in the meantime, that's very important, we’ll put out. You can expect a formal briefing by the agencies at 5:00 pm here. 

Let me see if there's media questions on the storm situation. Anytime a storm? 

Yes?

Question: So how much is it helping [inaudible] is it helping that at least it’s on a weekend? 

Mayor: It’s very, very important, very important. 

Question: What’s your greatest concern for this weekend storm? 

Mayor: Anytime you're talking about cold temperatures like this, you have to be worried about people who are out for any reason. You know, just people going about their normal business, the cold can really catch up with them very quickly. That's why people have to be reminded, if you go outside, do it for as little time as possible. That worries me a lot. The wind situation too – the possibility of downed trees, downed power lines – that can be very unpredictable, very sudden obviously. But to your first point, the fact that this is happening in the middle of the weekend and then we get Monday off on top of that to work with that, in a tough situation, that's certainly – it gives us a major advantage. 

Question: [Inaudible] are you still going to Maine? 

Mayor: No, I’m going to cancel my trip. I'll postpone it and go at another point. 

Question: Because?

Mayor: Because of the situation. 

Question: Does it have anything to do with the fact that [inaudible] November [inaudible]?

Mayor: No. Marcia, I’ve been at this for half-a-decade. We have handled a wide variety storms. I want to say – I always want to say thank you to my colleagues, and I particularly praise among women of the Sanitation Department who, in the biggest blizzard in New York City history, that happened on our watch, got this city up and running and just over a day. So the folks up here do some really, really good work. I've always said if there's something here that demands my attention, I changed my plans accordingly. 

Question: Do you want to be hands-on?

Mayor: I always am hands-on in storms. You've been out – maybe you haven't been out there, but other people going out there with me during storms. I tend to go get very physical during storms. I have tremendous shoveling skills.

[Laughter]

Question: This is the first storm since the one that we saw [inaudible] November. What guarantees can you give New Yorkers that they’re not going to see the mismanagement that took place –

Mayor: Respectfully, I’ve said this before, I'll say it again, and, you know, people can ask me the same question a hundred times, I’ll keep answering a hundred times. That was a freak storm, by definition, what we experienced that time, and where this city ended up in a horrible situation was because the George Washington Bridge went out – that just has not happened before. That said, we've learned from it for sure, but I just reject the underlying concept. It was very painful for people who are involved. I too was stuck in traffic for a long time, I know what it feels like. But the problem wasn't that people weren't ready. The problem was we believed we were dealing with the storm that was to be much smaller. And the one thing that is for sure is, we now have decided to take a stance where what the National Weather Service tells us is only an indication to us. We are going to add a lot more on top of it in terms of our assumptions, because we have to be very, very conservative. And, you know, we obviously are going to over communicate with people. And I think there was – I've been willing to say for sure there were mistakes and one of them was the lack of communication, but I think lack of communication was directly connected to the fact that we thought were going to do it with a few inches of snow in a normal situation. What we're doing now is exemplary of the approach we'll take. And we've done that, you know, when we knew a big storm was taking – excuse me, when a big storm was coming, this is exactly what we would do – early on, tell people please change your habits, please make plans, stay off the roads. So we're gonna be doing that now more and more and be more and more conservative, because the good thing about New Yorkers is, they listen. And we saw, especially with the biggest storm in our history, we were projecting the people early on get off the roads and they did, and that's part of why Sanitation did such an extraordinary job. So, we’re here to tell people, take this one seriously, get off the roads, stay safe.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: There certainly is communication. The the whole concept of why we have Emergency Management is that kind of communication. I want to caution that the notion of extra crews and all is a not a limitless idea. It's a very fair question. But in a situation where you have a lot of trees go down and a lot of wires go down, it still takes a lot of time to get them back up. So it's not like they have tons of crews hanging around who can do it so easily.  

If either you want speak to that? I'm happy to but I haven't had you come up, or Laura, you want to start? 

Commissioner Joseph Esposito, Emergency Management: We will be opening up. Our situation room’s open right now. We're opening our emergency operation center sometime tomorrow afternoon. But we’ve been in constant contact with Con Edison. As a matter of fact, Deputy Mayor Anglin was talking to him earlier today – that extra crew’s coming in. They’re aware of the potential for downed trees. When you get a downed tree, a lot of the City has overhead lines and that causes those lines to come down. So, they have extra crews available and extra equipment available. But there'll be with us in our emergency operation center also.

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner Esposito: And that’s what they’re doing. And they’ll have representatives at the emergency operations center and they are pre-deploying as they think appropriate. 

Mayor: Let me see if there’s anything else on the storm or anything else, we can take a few more – going once – yes, go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible] in your school diversity plan, Mayor? Even some supporters [inaudible] desegregate are saying that the plan should be open at least to revision. Is it? 

Mayor: So, there’s a couple different of it. When it comes to what's happening in individual districts, that's being done with the community education council in that district, they're literally the originators of the plan. That's a body elected by parents and we work with them. So right there, there's a constant dialogue happening at the local level and, so far, the three districts – District 1, 3, and 15 – came to a decision they felt made sense for the community. We agreed. When it comes to issues like a school screening, we're making some changes and we're continuing to announce approaches that will be different, that's being done at the deal. We were going to certainly have a dialogue with parents and with the education policy panel on that. When it comes to the specialized schools that has to be decided in Albany. I've presented an idea, a lot of people support it – of getting rid of that single test for the specialized schools and approaching, what I think, the admissions in a more fair manner that will give a whole broader opportunity for many young people. But that has to be decided in Albany. There's to be hearings. There's been the legislative process. I don't get to make that final decision. I wish I did, but I don't. So, I think there'll be a lot of interaction before these things are finalized. 

Question: Are you positioning with the storm [inaudible]?

Commissioner Garcia: So we will be positioning our equipment, going out tomorrow night. We have not changed their locations, per se, but we will be prepositioning all of that equipment. We have done a lot in terms of things that we learned from November and about coordination to make sure, particularly on highways, they were in close contact with NYPD.

Question: [Inaudible] closer to the West Side Highway and the FDR, just because of what happened in November?

Commissioner Garcia: So, will have the same amount of equipment. There was a lot of equipment on the FDR and the West Side Highway. It was in traffic with everyone else that day.

Mayor: So, I'm gonna just jump in and try it one more time. Guys, I understand the need to tell a straightforward, simple story, but you've got to look at the difference here. The night before we were being told one inch of snow. Now, we are not Washington D.C., where one inch of snow paralyzes us. We are a city that has handled perfectly large storms very well. We were told one inches of snow. Think of where we are right now – we’re talking about I'm going to hit more than 24-hours from now. We are right now hearing three to six is the normal, and six to nine is the worst-case – that’s the formal report from National Weather Service more than 24 hours out. That's all we need to know the throw everything we got into the situation, but when it is 11:00 pm the night before and you're being told one inch of snow – come on, guys. We're not going to send in the sixth fleet in that situation. When we finally had more information, it was too late to make the really big adjustments. Those are the facts. That said, we learned things – communicate more and more intensely, so we're doing that now. This could switch for all we know up or down, but rather safe than sorry. We're telling people get off the roads Saturday night, get ready to be off the roads Sunday. We're sending out a lot of equipment, but I need people understand this is an entirely different situation than what we experienced in November. 

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I feel we crossed the t's and dot the i's every time based on the information we have and we're not mind readers. We take the information we have, we do the best we can with it.

Let’s see if there’s anything else – please?

Question: [Inaudible] Borough President Oddo who said he’s trying to being the State and federal government back to the table to considering doing a call on Staten Island’s deer population. He said the last time he to get this off the ground it didn’t go anywhere because the city was opposed to it. Since the vasectomy program is ending at the end of this month,  would you consider, you know, call, moving forward?

Mayor: So, the bottom line is, as much as it was taking time, and we always knew it would take time, the vasectomy program is working, we see a real reduction in the deer population. By definition, you’re going to see a lot more going forward – that’s the whole idea of the vasectomy approach, that you invest up front and you'll see more and more gain over time, fewer and fewer deer. I don't rule out anything when it comes to a new approaches if we don't see the progress we need. The initial progress is promising, but I will remind you it was not just a question of the City, there was also a lot of resistance at the State level. I think it is a complex issue. There are real complex environmental issues and other issues here. Bottom line – I think the current approach will work, but we'll never take off the table other options if it doesn't work.

Question: Some parent on the [inaudible] some members of the Manhattan community education had said that the diversity plan hadn't been developed with adequate input from the second –

Mayor: Which one would you say? Let's make sure we're not talking past each other. If you mean something for their district, it can only happen with them. If you mean the specialized school plan, I'm sure they could feel that, because of something we worked on and announced knowing it would still have to go through a whole legislative process. I think that's – the problem here, we’ve got called different trains running. The specialized school plan – I guarantee you – first of all, I think there’s been a tremendously good debate in the City. I've really been heartened. Sometimes I wish some of the issues that really affected every New Yorkers were talked about more. The debate over specialized school plan has been outstanding, both sides raising really important issues, but we know it's going to be a major, major topic in Albany, and get a lot of attention, a lot of back and forth. So there'll be ample opportunity for parents weigh in, including with their Senators and Assembly members. If you mean that – that’s the answer. If you mean something for their own district, it can't happen without them. That's the way we structured it. The Community Education Council has to buy-in or we don't move forward a local plan.

Okay. Thanks, everyone.