Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Community Conversation

January 22, 2025

Watch video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqpxjywRXx0

Valerie Vasquez, First Deputy Commissioner, Mayor's Community Affairs Unit: Good evening. My name is Valerie Vasquez and I'm the first deputy commissioner for the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit. The Adams administration is excited to be here in Corona. We thank you to our host school, IS 61, as well as principal Joseph Lisa. 

The Talk with Eric Community Conversation Series provides an opportunity for the mayor and his commissioners to hear directly from you. It was Mayor Adams's directive for us to bring these town halls to every neighborhood throughout the City of New York. I'm pleased to report this is our 36th Town Hall.  

We are proud of the accomplishments that we have achieved and City Hall is eager to work in partnership with you to address issues and to continue to get stuff done. Without further ado, I would, of course, like to acknowledge Mayor Adams, and then we're going to go through the dais. We do ask that you please hold your applause to the very end.  

We have the 110th mayor of the City of New York, Mayor Eric Adams. Deputy mayor of Strategic Initiatives, Ana Almanzar. First deputy mayor, chief of staff, Nate Bliss. The Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, Commissioner Manny Castro. The commissioner of End Gender-Based Violence, Commissioner Sethi. Health and Hospitals president and CEO, Dr. Katz. The Parks Department first deputy commissioner, Iris Rodriguez. The commissioner for Human Rights, Annabel Palma. The commissioner for Emergency Management, Zachary Iscol. The Department of Transportation Queens Borough commissioner, Nicole Garcia. The Department of DSS HRA administrator, Scott French.  

ACS first deputy commissioner, Winette Saunders. Department for the Aging executive deputy commissioner, Ryan Murray. Department of Health and Mental Hygiene commissioner of External Affairs, Maura Kennelly. DEP Queens Borough commissioner, Alfonso Lopez. Public Schools' chief of leadership development, Danielle Giunta. Department of Finance director of outreach, Kieran Mahoney. The FDNY deputy chief Division 14, Christopher Paolicelli. Eva Wong, who is the executive director of the Mayor's Community Health and Mental Hygiene.  

We are joined by Councilmember Francisco Moya. We are also joined by a representative from the DA's office, Chief Melton of the Human Trafficking Unit. NYPD [deputy] commissioner of Operations, Kaz Daughtry. SBS Commissioner Dynishal Gross. Department of Buildings Commissioner James Oddo. Department of Youth and Community Development commissioner, Keith Howard. 

Department of Probation commissioner, Juanita Holmes. Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, Deanna Logan, the director. The executive director, Elijah Hutchinson, of the Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. The Department of City Planning Executive Director Edith Hsu-Chen. HPD first commissioner, Ahmed Tigani. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection assistant commissioner for External Affairs, Carlos Ortiz. The assistant director of Community Affairs for DSNY, Antonio Whitaker. The Office of Asylum Seeker Operations director of External Affairs, Daniel Henry. 

EDC's project manager and Government Relations, Angie Espino. As well as Commissioner Christina Curry of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities. We are also joined by DSNY Queens Borough Chief Ignacio Izara. We are joined by the CEO of Elmhurst Hospital, Helen Arteaga. We are also joined by NYPD assistant commissioner Richie Taylor. Captain of the 110 Precinct, Captain [Akkadin.] Captain [Brovakos] of the 112th. Captain Chowdhury of the 104th. Captain Cordano of the 115th. 

Chief Glenn of Queens North. Chief Brian Hennessy. Inspector John Portalatin. Captain Alexandra Kovalenko. As well as the DSNY deputy chief, Anthony Leonardo, and the superintendent for DSNY Reuben Vazquez. We also want to thank Megan, who is our borough director, as well as Anthony Juliano, our deputy commissioner who was born and raised in this neighborhood and attended this very high school. Without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Councilmember Moya, who will give us some remarks. 

City Councilmember Francisco Moya: Thank you, Valerie. That was not an easy list to go through. Good evening, everyone. I'm Councilmember Francisco Moya. Thank you so much for being here today. I'm born and raised in this community. I live four blocks away from here. This has been the neighborhood that I have called home my entire life. To me, the importance of being here and bringing the mayor here to talk to all of you directly on the issues that matter most to you is critical for me because, to me, we all work hard, we know how much we love our community, and we want to see the resources come here, and this mayor has taken action. 

I have to say that if it wasn't for Mayor Adams and his entire team, we would not be seeing the results that we're seeing right now on how we're cleaning up Roosevelt Avenue. I think everyone should give him a big round of applause for what's going on. We thank you, mayor, for all that you do. The improvements are noticeable, the goals are tangible. You have committed to this with Kaz. When you guys came to the very district at one o'clock in the morning, you saw what was going on and you took action. 

When we walked those streets of Roosevelt Avenue today, when we were there two weeks ago, people were coming up unsolicited saying, "Thank you. Please don't leave. This is making a real change for us." Business owners were coming out and saying, "People are starting to shop again in our stores." Parents were saying, "We don't have to take our kids to school and see the open-air prostitution that was going on over there." 

People are seeing cleaner streets, they're seeing real changes. While there's other people out there, critics that want to criticize this mayor, want to criticize what is going on here, yet they pose absolutely no solutions to solve those problems. They just want to throw bombs. There's people who want to take credit for what's going on and the cleanup that we're doing now for their own political purposes. Know no one thing, we're not coming here just now today. We were here two years ago working on this, and now we're seeing those results. Mayor, I take my hat off to you because you made a promise and you kept it, and that's why we're seeing those improvements. 

I thank you so much for what you do and how much you care. I'd be remiss. I'm going to wrap it up right now, but I see my mom came. Ma, your favorite son is here. Mayor Adams, it's my mom, who loves this mayor more than, I think, her two sons. By the way, this is what happens when a mayor swears in your mother when she becomes a US citizen and then takes her to go vote for the first time. That's what happens there. Thank you, mayor. 

Gracias a todos ustedes por estar aquí. Soy el concejal Francisco Moya. Les quiero agradecer a todos ustedes, pero también le quiero agradecer al alcalde por todo el trabajo que él está haciendo para limpiar nuestras calles, para hacer una diferencia para nuestra comunidad. 

Hemos vivido aquí por muchos años, sabemos los cambios que se necesita hacer y ese alcalde ha estado aquí presente con todos nosotros y toda la administración que está aquí para ayudar a hacer ese cambio. Eso no fuera posible sin este alcalde. 

Les digo, ahora hay los críticos que salen ahí a decir cosas, que lo que estamos haciendo en Roosevelt Avenue no se debe hacer, pero nunca ellos están parados a traer una solución para esos problemas. Trabajando con el alcalde y esta administración hemos visto esos cambios. También cuando hay gente que está corriendo posiciones políticas para tomar crédito a algo que nunca han hecho, no vamos a dejar que eso pase aquí. 

Ese señor ahí es el responsable de lo que está pasando en el cambio positivo, trabajando con nosotros. Eso es lo que vamos a ser, una ciudad limpia, una ciudad segura, una ciudad que merecemos tener aquí todos juntos, porque este alcalde sabe lo que es tener una ciudad como Nueva York segura para toda la comunidad. Gracias. Que Dios les bendiga. Buenas noches. 

Translation: Thank you all for being here. I am Councilmember Francisco Moya. I want to thank all of you, but I also want to thank the mayor for all the work he is doing to clean up our streets, to make a difference for our community. 

We have lived here for many years, we know the changes that need to be made and that mayor has been here with all of us and the entire administration that is here to help make that change. That would not be possible without this mayor. 

I tell you, now there are critics who come out now to say things, that what we are doing on Roosevelt Avenue should not be done, but they never stop to bring a solution to those problems. Working with the mayor and this administration we have seen those changes. Also when there are people who are running political positions to take credit for something they have never done, we are not going to let that happen here. 

That man there is responsible for what is happening in positive change, working with us. That is what we are going to be, a clean city, a safe city, a city that we deserve to have here all together, because this mayor knows what it is to have a city like New York that is safe for the entire community. Thank you. May God bless you. Good night. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much councilman and your fight for your community and the community you represent. I want to thank all of you and the person who-- it's all right. Leave him alone. He's not yelling. He's not screaming. He's not disruptive. Sir, I'm going to ask you to do one thing, sir. You can keep your sign, but you have to take a seat. We want to make sure you keep your sign up. You can raise it up, but you have to take a seat. That's how we want to run our order. Just take your seat. You can keep your sign up, but just take a seat. Thank you. 

He's good, because in this country, you have the right to protest. Just don't disrupt your neighbors and disrupt the people who are here to answer their questions, to get their questions answered. What does it look like? First of all, again, I want to go back and I want to thank our councilman, Councilman Moya, for what he has done. His continued support for this community. You know what the councilman is? The councilman is an American story. Dad fighting on behalf of this country. His siblings contributing to this country. He's an American story. He's what we all want and what we all represent and what we all stand for and fight for. That's why I'm here in this community today.  

I inherited a city where we were dealing with serious crime issues. I inherited a city where we were not seeing the equality that we deserve. Unemployment was high. Our subway system was unsafe. We looked at a city where we were having thousands of illegal guns on our streets. Where Black and Brown unemployment was at a high level. Where we were not invested in foster care children. Where we were not given vital services that we all know we should have. Where are we now, three years later?  

Really the turnaround was almost two years into our administration. We have more jobs in the city's history. Today standing next to the police commissioner in the Bronx at the 25 Precinct, we removed 20,000 illegal guns off our street. 20,000 illegal guns off our street. 1,400 of them were ghost guns that we were able to remove off our street.  

Just for my book, when I write that. Can you please give me a picture standing next to this guy that's telling me to resign. Somebody got a camera? I want to put all this in my book. I want to capture all that I went through as the mayor. 

Some people, when I was in office and I went through a difficult period of-- I did nothing wrong. I know I didn't do anything wrong. When I went through a difficult period, people told me step down. You know what I did? I stepped up. I stepped up because all of you in this room have went through challenging times. Many people forget who I am. They forget as a little boy what I went through. They forget that a mother raised six children. They forget that I know what hard times are. 

You know what's interesting? Many of you in this room know what hard times are. Many of you in this room know that people told you you would not be who you are. I used to walk into my school every morning as a little boy. They used to laugh at me when I read and they would joke and call me the dumb student. In spite of that, with my diagnosed dyslexia. From being dyslexic to being elected, you don't get here if you listen to those naysayers that tell you what you can't do. That's why I'm the mayor of the city of New York because of my determination and giving back to this community. 

When I met Councilman Moya and we saw what was happening on Roosevelt Avenue, young prostitution, drugs, filth under the train stations, we saw what you were getting as a community. We walked the streets. Not 1:00 PM, 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM. When I went back there the other day to get my eyebrows done, and I saw the garbage removed, I saw what used to be brothels closed down and turned into stores and shops. That's what communities deserve. When I heard the residents saying we're dropping our children off to school and watching prostitution right on our block, self-sex trafficking right on our block, commissioner Kaz Daughtry went out there to put the operation in place. 

We cut unemployment in the Black and Brown community by 20 percent. We invested in foster care children, paying their college tuition and giving them a stipend, giving them life coaches until they're 26 years old. We built more affordable housing in year one and year two at record levels in the city. More in those individual years in the history of the city. We transitioned more people from homeless shelters to permanent housing in year one and two in the history of the city. We took 8,000 people off our train stations that were sleeping in our train stations and moved them and gave them the care they deserve. Over 2,400 are now in permanent housing because of what we have done. 

When you do an analysis of our city, 4.1 million riders on our subway system every day, average of six felonies on our subway system every day, based on what we are doing around public safety. Removed over 80,000 illegal vehicles off our street, ghost cars that were being used for illegal crimes in the process. When you look at this administration, you know what you need to look at clearly? Look at the diversity that's up here on this table, and then when you talk about immigration, everyone talks about it. We are doing it. The first dreamer in the history of this city that's now in charge of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, [Commissioner] Castro. 

First in the history of the city. First Dominican borough president, first Trinidadian deputy mayor. First Filipino deputy mayor. First African American to be a first deputy mayor. First Korean to head small business services when he was here. You are seeing an administration that looks like the City of New York. We didn't stop here. Manny and I not only went to Mexico, Ecuador, and to Columbia to the Darien Gap to see the struggles that people are pursuing to come here. Come to New York. 

Yes, there's a lot of anxiety right now. There's a lot of anxiety, there's a lot of changes, there's a lot of uncertainty, but we made it clear to everyone, not only in this community, but throughout the city, children should go to school. You should call the police if you are in need of services. If you're ill, you should go to the hospital. Why? Why do you say that, Eric? Because when you walk inside of a store to buy a loaf of bread, no one is asking you your immigration status, your tax dollars go back into the city. As we navigate the uncertainties of tomorrow, you do it by communicating. That is why I'm speaking to this incoming administration, because you need to be at the table. If you're not at the table, then you're on the menu. That's why I'm at the table.  

Yes, people are going to criticize, they're going to critique. They've done that for years. It's nothing new to be criticized and critiqued, but I'm in the field of battle. I'm fighting for this city. I wore a bulletproof vest for 22 years and protected the children and families of the city folks. Put my life on the line for New York. I'm not going to stop putting my life on the line for New York. There comes a time when you have to appreciate the five-letter word, trust. If I've been who I've been for 64 years, why the hell am I going to change now as the mayor of the city? Either you trust or you don't trust. With trust or non-trust, I'm going to fulfill my mission that I was elected to accomplish. 

When anyone tells you that I will abandon the city, they're lying. I'm going to conclude with this before I open the floor. I used to walk past mommy's bedroom door every day, and I would hear her in that room crying, wondering if we were going to be thrown out by the sheriffs the next day, wondering if she could feed her six children by herself. No matter how much pain she felt, no matter how much uncertainty, mommy got up in the morning and she provided for us, and because she provided for us, I'm now the mayor of the City of New York. 

That is what I'm always going to do. I will never give up. I will never surrender. I will always fight because she fought. She didn't live long enough to see me become mayor, but every day I hear her, every day I feel her. When I hear people tell me that I should leave my responsibility of mayor, I ignore them because they don't know what I went through. They don't know what you've all gone through. I'm going to be here to fight for the city that I love. Let's answer some questions. 

First Deputy Commissioner Vasquez: Table one. 

Mayor Adams: Where are we starting? Don't put your hand down. Your hands are tired? Keep your sign up, guy. Keep your sign up. You got to work on your shoulders when you exercise so you can keep it up long. 

Question: Good evening, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Adams: How are you, ma'am? 

Question: I am good. And you? [Shanel Thomas-Henry], lifelong resident of Corona East Elmhurst. 

Mayor Adams: Sounds like a plan. 

Question: Sounds like a plan. I would like to say my entire table, our biggest concerns were the plans to protect the safety of all New Yorkers given our president's new agenda. I think we're a little reassured that you are working on that and we'll continue to protect New Yorkers, correct? 

Mayor Adams: Yes. 

Question: I'm going to pivot to our second question, which is sanitation. Overall cleanliness of our streets, garbage being dumped throughout our communities. Not enough trash cans. Not enough cleanup. Not enough pickup. Overall, the cleanliness of our streets. 

Mayor Adams: Tell me something. What do you do for a living? Do you want a job in my administration? Because you flow well. What do you do, if I may ask? 

Question: Thank you. I am currently running to be the next City Council member of the 21st Council District. 

Mayor Adams: You got that, to have that whole energy. DSNY, who do I have for DSNY? Yes, Antonio. 

And you're right. You know what's interesting? People talk about filthy streets and– where's my guy with the sign. Interesting. When people talk about dirty streets, folks, let's realize something, garbage doesn't fall from the sanitation heaven. People are dropping trash. People are littering their own community. DSNY is going to do their job, but we need to be part, as I did in my house on Lafayette Avenue and what I did in Prospect Heights. I went out and did block cleanups. I went out and told people, "Listen, don't dump in our community." 

What we did on Roosevelt Avenue show that we don't have to live in filth. The current commissioner and the previous commissioner, we did a whole trash revolution. No one said we could get containerizing of our garbage within a short period of time. They told me it was going to take us five years. We containerized over 70 percent of our garbage in seven years. You got to put garbage in containers if we're going to fight the issues of rodents in our community. 

If you don't know anything about me, you know I hate the hell out of rats. We need to containerize our garbage, and that's what our fights have been. Let's talk about this community and the issues around trash. If there are corridors where there are real problems, you got to let us know so we can get in there, and address it. 

Antonio Whitaker, Assistant Director, Bureau of Community Affairs, Department of Sanitation: Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you for your question. To speak to your specific issues here, we are very much aware of the issues, particularly the trash. 

Mayor Adams: Stand up so they can see you? 

Whitaker: Oh, sure. 

Mayor Adams: I want the whole place to see you. 

Whitaker: We're definitely aware specifically of the issues along the Roosevelt Avenue corridor. As the mayor had alluded, DSNY, along with several of our sister agencies, have engaged in Operation Roosevelt [inaudible] Chief Azzara or his staff, and let us know, and we'll get right on that. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Where am I going? 

Question: As-salamu alaykum, good to see you. I know that you touched on about the sanitation, but LaGuardia Airport on 23rd Avenue is a culvert camera. The limo service is waiting on illegal garbage– 

[Crosstalk.] 

Question: You heard that. The limo service is waiting on area, illegal garbage is thrown onto the streets. It's used as a bathroom. 

Mayor Adams: Try to explain that to me more. These are cars? 

Question: This lady could really tell you more about it. 

Mayor Adams: Give her a mic. She got you. In case you want to tag team. 

Question: They have covered over there on this table here. I will say that we've worked along with Councilman Moya on a lot of things with the garbage over in the area. There has been a difference, definitely. I know they got some cameras that are going up, and they put them up in the area, and they're making sure that they're getting the people that are throwing the garbage and dumping. 

My thing is on the limo service on 23rd Avenue, they use that as a waiting area for customers at LaGuardia Airport. They do a lot of dumping. They use that area there for a toilet area. I was wondering, is there an update where there's going to be cameras put over there? 

Mayor Adams: You want to talk? Are you familiar with what they're talking about? 

Councilmember Moya: My [Aunt Rita]. [Aunt Rita], we got money put in this year's budget to get cameras there. We work with DSNY to make sure that those locations are locations that actually would yield the results that they want. This year, we've actually put in about 175,000. I would say about $175,000 additional to get extra pickups. We also put in about 152,000 to the ACE program. They're the ones with the red shirts that go out and they clean up the area as well. 

To supplement all the cleanup that we have going on here DSNY has been really great in helping us because every time I get a complaint, if I go to the civic meeting and you guys tell me they're dumping in this particular area, we call them, they go out and they pick that up right away. In this year's budget, we're going to put more money in for cameras specifically in the area that you're talking about, because I know that that's been an issue. We're going to get that done for you. 

Mayor Adams: You want to talk? I was going to call on you. 

Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry, Operations, Police Department: Somebody from my team's going to come grab your information. I'll go back to the office tomorrow. I'll brief the police commissioner about this. We have cameras that we can put to the meantime till you give us a couple of dollars to get some regular cameras up there. Then what I can do is I can have the culvert cameras put at that location and they can be streamed to the prison desk so the desk sergeant, if he sees anybody dumping or a TS operator, they can immediately self-dispatch the car to that location right away. 

Mayor Adams: If I understand you correctly, while the limousines are waiting for their clients to come off the planes, they park there to wait. Is that on the street, is it on the highway, is it on the street area? 

Question: [Inaudible.] 

Mayor Adams: We should go over there, Kaz. Just go over, take a look, see what the problem is, and let's come up with a solution. 

Deputy Commissioner Daughtry: I'll go there tonight. Before I go home, I'll just stop by. 

Mayor Adams: We're going to go over and take a look at the area tonight, and find out, okay? 

Question: My name is [Clara], and I'm from Community Board 4. I've been there since 1985, and also I'm the State Committee person [inaudible] Committee person for the 35th AD. 

One of the main issues my group had, which [Michelle] and myself presented, is the problem of the filthiness, the garbage, and the overgrown weeds in the Queens Boulevard central medians from Long Island City to Jamaica. I started to look at it in 2002. I've just said when the pandemic started, I didn't have anything to do. I said, "What am I going to do with my time?" I started to call the Sanitation Department and said, "Why don't you pull out the weeds?" They said, "It's not our problem, call the Parks Department." The Parks Department said, "No, it's not ours, it's Sanitation." 

Then I found an organization in Queens. It's called Queens Mission with St. John's Church, and this guy, [Craig], said, "Yes, we'll help you, but you've got to help us with money." I gave him $500, and they have a shelter for homeless people. He got his men and his women organized, and they used to come and clean just from the Long Island Road to the Horace Harding Expressway of all the dead trees, and the garbage, and the weed. I said to myself, "Oh, my God, but wouldn't it be wonderful to do it from Long Island City to Jamaica? This place would look so different." 

The problem with the central median also drove– well, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards because he's not here tonight, because that's all I talked to him. He has helped, but I think he should do more.  

The other problem is the graffiti. The graffiti along Broadway from Queens Boulevard to Roosevelt Avenue and all the buildings in Verizon building is painted with graffiti and [Meridad] knows about it because she has gone and cleaned it up with her group and other buildings along Broadway. What can we say? I mean, the graffiti, the garbage in the central medians of Queens Boulevard, and the overgrown weed, and the other problems you just mentioned. I can tell you the narrative. A lot of people in Queens, in East Elmhurst, and they'll tell me what happens in Roosevelt Avenue in detail. If you want, I can send them to you. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you very much. Now, team, notice we had three tables that communicated to us tonight. Three of them talked about garbage. What I want to know is, do we have a graffiti removal initiative? 

Deputy Commissioner Daughtry: We do. 

Mayor Adams: I want to know about Queens Boulevard, and share with the audience the no-man-land–. I want you to talk about graffiti but talk about the no-man-land cleanups that we've been doing for many years like with what was just stated. 

Nothing is worse than you call city government and they tell you, "That's not my problem." No. There's a saying we said in policing, "Refer the complaint, not the complainant." It is our job to hear your complaint and refer it to the proper agency, not to run you around, and you try to figure it out. No, we are supposed to figure that out. We have graffiti removal, and we have a no man's land like Queens Boulevard, like the plazas, where we have been cleaning up. Let's talk about the graffiti removal, and then let's talk about the no man's land. 

Whitaker: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. To the lady who just asked a question, ma'am, I just want to say that on behalf of the department that we do apologize. If someone actually told you that cleaning medians is not our problem, they are incorrect, because DSNY cleans medians, and we make sure that we've cleaned the median. Specifically in Queens, there are 80 miles of medians in Western Queens alone. That's not included Eastern Queens where they're almost double that amount. 

We have been cleaning the medians. It has taken us some time to do so, but we have done it. We will continue to do it, and we're actually going to ramp that up. With regards to our lock cleaning unit and what the mayor has mentioned as our no man's lands areas, there are areas definitely in this community as well as others where there are empty lots and people have been dumping in those empty lots. We are very well aware of those lots. 

Chief Azzara and his staff keep a running record. They work with our cleaning office. We go out, we inspect, we actually have a lot cleaning unit, and their specific job is to clean lots as well as to assist local garages with median cleanups. That's trimming the weeds, getting trash out of those medians. We'll continue to do that. I believe we're going to be starting up again in the warmer months after snow operation. We'll probably be out there come April, May, going on until the rest of the year where it's warmer out. 

For lot cleaning, if there is a specific empty lot or a specific area that you know of that you want us to check out, come and see me afterwards so I can get that information. I'll run it up the chain to our lot cleaning unit so we can put it on our queue. 

Mayor Adams: We need to really look at, because you said 19– When you started, you started this 2000 and something. 

Question: [Inaudible] look at all the garbage in the central medium and the overgrown weeds and nobody's doing anything about it. Then I spoke with [Craig] of City Mission. He told me, "We'll help you." I just gave him $500 every time, and he used to pay the homeless people that sleep at the shelter to come and help him out. They did a good job from Horace Harding to the Long Island Railroad. Then I say, "If we did a job, that job from Long Island City to Jamaica that will look wonderful, look better than Park Avenue." I know you have a Fifth Avenue project. I say, "Oh my God, I'm jealous." 

Mayor Adams: You should be running for City Council too. Let's look at that Queens Boulevard because weeds don't grow in a day. If there are weeds growing, cutting those weeds down would really add to the quality of life and appearance of the community. Kaz, can we talk about the graffiti, because we have a whole graffiti removal initiative? 

Deputy Commissioner Daughtry: I'm going to have my team come over and get your information. Just give me the locations again. We actually have a citywide vandals task force and all their job is to do is investigate graffiti and make arrests for people making graffiti. Also, if you give me the location in the summertime when it gets a little warmer, we normally have our law enforcement explorers under Commissioner Stewart and Alden Foster, and they go out throughout the city and they actually clean locations that have graffiti on them. We can actually help with that as well, sir. 

Mayor Adams: The commissioner of Community Affairs, he's good at doing these various initiatives. Let's look into both of them. Thank you very much. 

Question: My name is [Maritza Romero]. I'm a paraprofessional here, IS 61. On top of that, I'm a former student here with my beloved former teacher. On top of that, I'm born and raised here in Corona. I've been here my whole life. One of the questions that we came up with is that, we noticed that there's a common denominator, that there has been a change in the community. There hasn't been the community coming together, lack of community sense. We were wondering what are plans to get the community more involved.  

A lot of the places that we had here before have been closed or being underutilized. For example, like the VFW Post 150. Recently we lost a battalion by 63rd and Queens Plaza. We were wondering what plans can we bring those back or open up centers in the community? 

Mayor Adams: First of all, I don't know if you all heard her. If I'm incorrect, let me know. You stated that this was your teacher. 

Question: Yes. 

Mayor Adams: People don't realize the bond between teacher and student. To still be in contact with your teacher and to have you here, that says a lot about who you are as a person. We want to thank you. Thank you for that. I still remember my 3rd grade teacher, and she still calls me and communicates with me. 

Question: I got my 5th grade teacher. 

Mayor Adams: You know your 5th grade teacher? Wow. That says– I was a hardheaded little boy, one that just a teacher would love, but I really thank you for– she called you to tell you to come out. DYCD, Commissioner Howard, talk about what we're doing in this area. You are right, and I don't know who else is here who can help me with this, but we do something called breaking bread, building bonds. I think we had probably 2,000 or 3,000 dinners. What we are doing and what we've been doing from the– I did it when I was borough president. Then we continued to do it when I became mayor. 

We're bringing people, 10 people per table, all of them come from a different background, different ethnicity, different group, and they're doing something revolutionary. They're talking to each other. They're understanding why someone wears a hijab, a kufi, or why someone celebrates Diwali, or why someone celebrates Kwanzaa. We are learning from each other. As much as our city is diverse, we live in silos. We don't sit down. We don't talk to each other. We don't interact with people who don't look like us, talk like us, eat the same food, do the same music. 

What we've done with thousands of New Yorkers is get us all in the room and say, let's sit down and let's communicate with each other so that instead of disliking each other, we should learn from each other. Commissioner Howard has been doing some amazing stuff, and I see Commissioner Logan. She couldn't wait to hop up and tell about the road she's doing. Why don't we share what we're doing, and why don't we hear some ideas from her? I'm sorry, ma'am. What is your first name again? [Marissa]. From here some ideas in, but let's say what we're doing now. 

Deanna Logan, Director, Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice: Thank you very much, mayor. Hi, everybody. Deanna Logan from the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. We also have within our ranks the office to prevent hate crimes, which, mayor, you front ran us because we are now scheduling breaking bread, building bonds events in this area coming up.  

We have started talking to the community members to bring together these small tables of 10 people who can sit down and have a conversation with one another and talk about what you're seeing in your neighborhood, and then come up with the solutions that we as government can hear from you and start to come back and implement some of those solutions. That will be coming to your neighborhood, and yes, mayor, you're breaking bread, building bonds. 

Mayor Adams: We want you to host one of the tables. We pay for the food, so it's not coming out of your pocket, but we would love for you to host one with your teacher. Commissioner? 

Commissioner Keith Howard, Department of Youth and Community Development: Yes, so let's talk about the community centers. There isn't an affluent amount of community centers in this district. There's really about a handful, maybe. The Sunnyside Community Center, which we have programs in as well. We have, of course, the YWHA, which we also have a program in there as well, but what the mayor has focused in on is, "Okay, we have schools, and we should be using schools as centers." 

We do have programs in this very building, after-school programs, community programs in this very building, and we have over 15 schools in this district that we have programs in as well. You said the VFW, The Veterans of Foreign War? Is that what the– 

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes. 

Commissioner Howard: We can talk to the commissioner about that, and we can see exactly why that site is not active. We would love to see how we could work on that with the commissioner for Veterans Affairs, and see how we can work through and look at programming. We do have a large investment here in community space, but we utilize more so the public schools in partnership with the chancellor and the public schools. 

Mayor Adams: Go ahead, councilman. Thank you, commissioner. 

Councilmember Moya: Thank you, mayor, and thank you, commissioner, as well, because one of the things that the commissioner forgets is, with the mayor, we're doing something right here in this school. We're going to do it this Saturday, by the way. It is the first Saturday Night Lights program in the city that is dedicated just for soccer. It's starting right here. We did one as well in Newtown High School, but we're bringing an actual community center here to Corona Queens. It's going to be located on 108th Street. 

The mayor knows this because he was in the negotiations with me. Part of the community benefits package for the soccer team was bringing a wraparound service. That means it's not just for kids, it's for seniors as well. We're doing this whole thing. It's not costing the city any money. The soccer club is putting this together. Because we know that it is critical for us to find this space. We found it. We're doing this. Again, it's the foresight of this mayor and this administration that sees the need of what exactly you're talking about. 

We're doing the programs right now with the facilities that are available to us. I'm funding the program. We're working with the commissioner as well to find ways in which our kids don't have to go and be out on the streets. Every single school in the district is now getting free soccer clinics so that no one has to pay for after school. I know, [Mr. Coles], basketball. I'm getting there. Don't worry about it. I saw you roll your eyes. It's not just soccer, but we're getting everything in there. Just allow me to do a victory lap here for a second, [Mr. Coles]. Come on. 

This is what we're doing. The mayor has been instrumental in helping us secure locations like IS 61, Newtown High School, making sure that all the negotiations that we did was to make sure that the benefits came directly to the community. That's what we're doing right now. 

Mayor Adams: That's good stuff. Go ahead, commissioner. 

Commissioner Howard: I just want to add, working with the councilmember on FIFA 2026. We are convening with him and working with his team just to make sure that we have a lot of soccer going on in this community. 

Mayor Adams: When you look at this community, and the councilman is right, we have all these school buildings, gyms, classrooms, auditoriums, we tell our children at 7:00 AM, "Come in," at 2:00 PM, we say, "Get out and don't come back till the next day." We need to be utilizing our pre-existing assets. We need to allow access to these school buildings. It doesn't matter if it's soccer, basketball, if it's after-school programming. 

The adults and parents who use it, these are your assets. These assets don't belong to the Department of Education. They belong to you. Whatever way we can use these buildings in creative ways to keep our children out of harm's way, it's what we need to be focused on. That's what we stated at the beginning of this administration. We have to open the doors and allow children and families to come inside these buildings and create safe spaces for our children as they continue to develop their full personhood. That's our focus. If you have ideas on what we could do in these buildings, let us know. We are open to understanding these ideas. 

Why do I feel so alone without my guy with the sign? 

Question: Oh, stop it. Stop it. First and foremost, I want to say thank you because I really believe that between government and the people, there should always be a sense of humor. I commend you for all your jokes tonight because you definitely made people laugh, and that's warm, and that's something that New Yorkers need right now. A little bit of laughter. 

Mayor Adams: So true.  

Question: So this table, the height of discussion here is, will you commit to a budget that doubles the money for mental health services, fully funds services for everyone, and significantly divert city funds to address the range of quality of life issues?  

At this particular moment, I think that based on the pandemic and what transpired, that a lot of people are mentally touched. I don't think money has anything to do with this because we all know Robin Williams killed himself. Isolation is deadly. You took over administration when we were going through really, really hard times. I think people are still really suffering from mental illness. 

Perhaps, if we did the breast cancer trucks, remember those, and the HIV trucks? If we had some of those mobile units for anyone to be able to walk into at any given time. If they need further help, give them a referral for them to go someplace and get the help that they need because we do have an influx of New Yorkers that are really suffering right now and they're all over. They're in the trains. I don't think people want to stink, Eric. I don't think so, but I think that mental illness is something that is really, really strongly needs to be addressed. Once we address that together as a society and a city, I think we can get things back on track. 

Mayor Adams: A solid, solid, solid question. Ms. Wong is going to share, but you are dead on. I don't know what happened, and I don't have any stats or research but COVID decimated us. Many of us, particularly communities of color, we basically say, "Just handle it." When we closed down psych wards many years ago, we didn't give people the services that they deserve. 

Question: [Inaudible] you suffer from diabetes and you look phenomenal. I remember when you told me, you were like, "I have diabetes and I did X, Y, and Z." I have diabetes. Now I'm cranky because I've got to take those medications, but I did follow some of your instructions and it's working out. Look at you, you lost all that weight, right? 

Mayor Adams: Yes. It is not lost on me when you said I look good, nobody clapped. 

Question: Oh, shady. 

Mayor Adams: Alright, but you're right. We have to be preemptive. Why don't we talk about some of the stuff that we're doing around mental health? Real issue. People are hurting and hurt people, hurt people. 

[Inaudible.] 

Mayor Adams: Now you're hitting on me. 

[Crosstalk.] 

Mayor Adams: Yes we did. Yes, health as well. Well said. Let's talk about some of the stuff we're doing. 

Eva Wong, Executive Director, Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health: Yes, thank you, mayor. I actually saw the sister looking over. I know that you're going to talk about mental health. I am also a resident of Queens and come out here to Corona a lot with my children. I am going to talk a little bit about some resources and also going to pass it to Dr. Katz to speak more about mental health. What I'm hearing you saying is how people really need to get into treatment. 

One big thing is that there are services that we need more, but people don't often know about it. What my office is doing really with my colleagues here, is to make sure that information gets out because sometimes what is– there shouldn't be a wrong door. We do know about 988, well, we should all know about 988, but I think that we need all of you here to support. 

I did bring some of the guides here. 988 is the number that you should be calling if you see someone in your family or yourself, 24/7, it's a hotline. It's a crisis hotline, suicide helpline, but also it's a referral line. There's a crisis counselor on the line. Language, different language, it doesn't matter, you can call in and you can text as well. For teenagers, I think we want to make sure that you're all aware, for 13 to 17-year-old, we have Teenspace and that is through an app where young people can get access to mental health support, free of charge. Teenspace, you can just Google that, download the app, and make it really accessible because what we are doing, this administration is very committed to, is that we know there's no one-size-fit-all. 

First, what we need to get people through, just a number that they can call and find out what is within your zip code, whether there is which agency is already doing mental health, which one has telehealth. I also want to mention Express Care is something that Health and Hospitals offers. It combines your physical health needs with mental health. A lot of times with our community, especially immigrant communities, they're thinking about the stigma, maybe I'm not going to reach out. That's where we get to the issue of people being in crises and waiting way too long before they get help. 

I want to make sure that I get this to my colleagues here. There is a QR code, there's enough for every table, that you can scan it and there's a really comprehensive guide there. It's not just the 988 number, it talks about what if someone is not able to get connected to care, because sometimes the nature of mental illness, it makes it really hard. It talks about what a caregiver, someone in your family, you're going through stuff now because you're caring for another family member. All of that is in there. I want to make sure you're aware. 

There's really big commitment. I know that you didn't specifically talk about it. There has been a lot of coordination across agencies including our Department of Homeless Service, our Health Department and even with PD to make sure there are more teams out there really outreaching folks who need help. I have a number here, in the subway, we have at least over 1,300 people who've accepted help because there's that outreach. We're not waiting for people to call in. We're getting out there as well. I know that Dr. Katz already stood up and you had a lot more to share for those who are really ill. 

Dr. Katz: I thought you did a great job. 

Mayor Adams: Talk about the new investment and the brilliant idea that came from one of the town halls, I believe. What were you ready to do? 

Dr. Mitchell Katz, President and CEO, New York City Health + Hospitals: Absolutely. Just so you know, the mayor has made tremendous investments in mental health. I know he believes very deeply that it's our job to help people, whether it's somebody who's struggling with homelessness or somebody who is housed and just dealing, as you were talking about, with the difficulties following COVID. I'm Mitch Katz and a primary care doctor and I'm the CEO of Health and Hospitals. 

The mayor just last week gave us the funding to create a new program for the seriously mentally ill who are homeless, who often, following a hospitalization of 7 or 14 days, will then be discharged. A lot of the benefits that they got during that hospitalization are lost because there's nobody to help take care of them, make sure that they take their medicines, give them rehab. The mayor has supported us now to create a program like that. That's just one of the things that he's done. I think he's made a tremendous contribution.  

I would just add, also, Helen Arteaga who runs Elmhurst and does a phenomenal job. Stand up, Helen. Helen is a major– another Ecuadorian star who's done an amazing job. Elmhurst takes care of people ranging from people who need serious hospitalization to people who need outpatient support. We do the full range. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Adams: We've got to get beds back open. A lot of beds closed during COVID, particularly in our private medical institutions. We have to get them back open. We have to make sure that when people leave the hospital, that they can have a soft landing. It's a national problem. The mental health crisis is a national problem. We got to make sure we deal with it, and physical health. 

What Dr. Katz has done with his lifestyle medicine in all of our Health and Hospitals, Dr. McMacken, who really started that years ago, is about how do we prevent these chronic diseases from reoccurring. You want to say something, ma'am? 

Question: I know that mental health doesn't have to really deal with COVID. You could be going through a situation in your house, or a different situation, but people call that number and when they come out, they won't take that person if they don't want to go. You can call that number and they could come, and if that person refuses to go, they don't take them. 

Mayor Adams: What you just said– I'm sorry, what's your name, ma'am? 

Question: [Cynthia.] 

Mayor Adams: [Cynthia]. What [Cynthia] has stated is so important, and I'm sure Eva and Dr. Katz will share with you, what a lot of people don't realize, you could see someone that's dealing with severe mental health illness. If you approach them and they say, "I don't want to go," we cannot force them. That is the law we're trying to pass in Albany, which is involuntary removal. 

If you're out on the street right now with no shoes on, human waste on your body, yelling and screaming, we want to be able to involuntarily take that person and to give them the care they need before they harm someone, or harm themselves. That's why we need this bill passed in Albany.  

People say it's inhumane to compel people to go to the hospital, I feel it's inhumane to have people living on our streets, being on our street, being harmful to themselves, and harmful to others. That's what we're fighting for in Albany right now. Ma'am, I'm going to come back to you. I want to come back to you, I want to make sure I follow the roll or my team would get upset with me. I know you don't have another question. 

Question: Dr. Hoa Tu, high school superintendent for Queens North High School. My table here has a range of questions ranging from funding for a community center to protection for immigrant families and students. The question we want to raise as a table comes from high school students.  

There are parks in this neighborhood that have become increasingly unsafe for our young people from drugs, to crime, to loitering. The high school students actually are recommending, maybe, increasing police presence so that they have free open spaces where they can play. In addition to what Representative Moya said, Saturday Night Lights works really well, and in addition to Saturday, they also want to have spaces where they can play safely. 

Mayor Adams: Great question. How many town halls did we do, Commissioner Howard, for young people? We did a number of town halls with young people. 

Commissioner Howard: Six town halls with young people, where they really focused on exactly what their issues were. Issues were police relations and mental health. 

Mayor Adams: Those were the top two issues in all of the town halls we did with young people. Mental health, relationships with the police. Now, you would think that our young people don't want their school safety agents, don't want their police officers around, just the opposite. Who is our community affairs? These folks who have blue shirts, blue jackets, our community affairs officers, are proactively engaging, under Commissioner Stewart. You guys should stand up and take a bow, all these community affairs here. Under Commissioner Stewart, Commissioner Stewart now, he has our young people learning how to play golf, learning how to fly a plane, learning how to get their real estate license, learning how to speak English as a second language. 

He has taken community affairs to a whole nother level because we know our young people from the explorer program, to the cadets program, we know our young people want to engage with the police officers, and so you are right. People who have put out that myth that young people don't want to be around police officers, that's wrong, that's a lie. We heard it over and over in every town hall, they want to be safe and they want to deal with the mental health issues that they're seeing around their colleagues. That's what we were talking about with Teenspace.  

The Teenspace app is an online app where young people are able to get counseling and help 24 hours, 7 days a week. We found the usage has been extremely impressive. We are with you. If there are some specific parks that are dealing with drug issues, Commissioner Daughtry that's here, you should go and see him after, those two parks. We want to make sure we address them. You want to ask something, commissioner? 

Commissioner Howard: Yes. I just want to shout out to NYPD. As you know, Mr. Mayor, this week is the launch of the summer youth employment application, right? Where we have a lot of young people applying online for summer youth jobs. NYPD every year, a thousand young people working with NYPD in summer yards during the summer. 

Mayor Adams: Well said. When I came into office, advocates were pushing for 100,000 summer youth jobs for years. They were never able to get them. Well, you know what? When we came in, we moved from 75,000 to 100,000 summer youth jobs. It is helping children help in their homes, buy school supplies, get work experience. We're not having just jobs where you go and sit around every day. We're teaching these children financial literacy. We're teaching these children how to dress for success. We're teaching them how to deal with mental health issues and crises. 

In our school system, our young people are learning breathing exercises, meditation, because not only must you be academically smart, you must be emotionally intelligent, and you must be able to handle and manage stress, because our children are going to go through more changes than we've ever gone through in our lifetime. They have to be able to manage those changes and manage the stress that they're going through.  

We're developing leaders in our school system right now under Commissioner Melissa, what she's doing. Thank you for that question. Please see Kaz Daughtry before you leave for those two parks that you're talking about.  

Where am I going? Yes, we're going to recognize our vets that's here. Thank you for your service. Before you ask your question, I lost a 19-year-old uncle in Vietnam. He always was on my mind, always thought about him, Uncle Joe. I remember when they knocked on the door and told our family that Joe was killed. I was always wondering what happened. Two years ago, Zach– where's Zach? About two years ago, one of our veterans, Zach, came to me with his report on how he died and where he died. He brought so much closure to me. 

He says, "I don't know if you want to read through the report, but I think you should know." To hear how my 19-year-old uncle died in Vietnam fighting for this country, I was able to get closure from all those years. Who would have thought I would have hired a commissioner who would come and bring me final closure to that. Thank you guys for serving and continue to uplift our country the way you have. Thank you very much. 

Question: Welcome to Corona and welcome to our school district, which is District 24. Our community recently learned you'll be collaborating with President Trump regarding immigration, allowing ICE to come into schools, allowing them into churches. Could you please provide clarification on the next steps you intend to address these issues and alleviate the fear in our community. 

Mayor Adams: Now, I want to be clear on what you said. You said I'll be collaborating to allow them in schools, or I'll be collaborating with them in the streets? 

Question: Yesterday I was in the Bronx in my mother-in-law's house and watching the news, Francisco Moya's interview, and at the end of that interview they said, "Mayor will be working along President Trump." That's how they ended. 

Mayor Adams: Okay. Got it. Well, you see, that's the news. 

Question: I know, and it scares everyone. 

Mayor Adams: Exactly. 

Question: I am a parent coordinator to CASA, Corona Arts and Science Academy. I cannot tell you how many parents have come to me today to ask, inquire what can they do. They're scared. The kids are scared. Kids don't want to come to school. Kids are scared to leave home and not come back to see their parents. 

Mayor Adams: Listen, there's a lot of anxiety and a lot of uncertainty and the ink is not even dry on these executive orders. It is imperative that I speak with the administration to learn what you're doing. It's imperative that I do training in our schools. It's imperative that I have someone like Manny Castro. We are very clear, children should go to school. Those who need healthcare should go to hospitals. Those who are involved in any type of interaction where they're victims of a crime, they should speak to the law enforcement agencies. We have maintained that over and over again. 

We are going to continue to stand up for all New Yorkers, documented and undocumented. We're going to stand up for New Yorkers and we're saying to New Yorkers, those parents, and please tell those parents they should have their children go to school. We don't want children staying home. We don't want people who have medical emergencies not to go to the hospital. We don't want people who are victims of crimes not to call the police department. Our job, no matter who you are in this city, is to make sure you get the services that you deserve. As I say, your tax dollars are paying for that each time you pay taxes. 

Question: Well, I was a dreamer and literally just became a resident three years ago. I can relate to many parents and many people and making it this far to working for the Board of Ed. 

Mayor Adams: That's the American dream. 

Question: Yes, it is. 

Mayor Adams: Look at your councilman. Your councilman is now an elected official in the city. You know what, go back to COVID, during COVID, who was keeping their shops open? Who was delivering food to the city when other people were able to shelter in place? I was out there. I saw what the immigrant population has done in this city. Not only did I just talk about it from my place, I made sure that the person who was going to deal with the dreams of the future was going to be a dreamer. That's where Manny Castro is. 

He traveled with me to El Paso. He traveled with me to Ecuador, to Mexico, to Columbia. We went to the Darién Gap together, so we know how much anxiety and uncertainty there is. I have an obligation to communicate and say, "How do we do this in a humane way?" That's what I must do. Thank you very much. 

Councilmember Moya: Do you mind if I just respond to that? 

Mayor Adams: Sure. 

Councilmember Moya: Was that the Univision piece that you saw? Great. I just want to address that because it's very important. One, that's a made-up story that somebody who's running for office, who's in the building right here decided to come up with a story that they wrote a letter to Homeland Security to come to this community and say that we're going to ask them to have Homeland Security come to this community and get rid of immigrants. That's the fear-mongering that's happening right here with individuals that come out here to run for public office. 

This mayor has stood up for the immigrant community, has stood with me. I wrote the New York State Dream Act, I wrote driver's licenses for all, I stood up for immigrants when no one was standing there. The mayor was there when he was a state senator as well. This is the thing. This is the epicenter of where immigrants come. We are a better city because of them. We share this because we work with people like Commissioner Castro, and we work with an administration. This is a sanctuary city. This mayor has done everything humanly possible to ensure that immigrants here aren't living in fear. 

This is my community, born and raised here, bought the house I grew up in. This to me is home and it is surrounded by immigrants, whether they came from Italy, Ecuador, Mexico, wherever they come from, we're here to protect that. I'm not going to stand here and allow other people to do fear-mongering, and do false stories to get political points here. This mayor and this administration has stood firm on protecting our immigrants. As long as I'm a city councilmember, I'm going to be doing the same thing as well. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. 

Question: Thank you. My name is [Greg Coles]. Pleasure meeting you, and pleasure that you're working with Councilman Moya. He's been doing a lot in our community and I appreciate what you've been doing. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. 

Question: One of the things our table has come up with, and one of the problems that we feel has been happening, and I'm talking about childcare in our area. I've been educating our children for 40 years in our community and we've gotten a universal pre-K program, but since September to now, I'm owed almost $500,000 because they haven't paid us.  

I have 60 families that I'm financially capable of trying to take care of that I can't do. I've been there operating for the 40 years. I'm trying to get them to try to get the money so we can pay these people. We got 300 kids and I got families and teachers that are not getting paid. We have to do something to try to get a loan to get them to get paid. 

They've been working for me for 25 years. I've got to make sure they're trying to get paid. We've been calling the offices, we've been trying to make sure we do the right thing to go forth. In the past, DOE has been taking care of us, but lately, we've been doing a lot of changes with the DOE program, so it's been hard to try to get it done. We're a family operated business, I ran it down, and I transferred it to my son to try to make it work, but we've got to do something to make it better to try to get paid. That's the first question.  

Second question is, I just want to know, Metro Park, which is what they're doing over there at Citi Field. We have the area there. I just want to know if you're supporting that. I'm always for the youth. They're doing so much to bring the youth back to the community, get them trained, get them jobs. We need jobs in our community, we don't have it. If we can do that with Metro Park, I want to know if you're going to support them to try to make it work. 

Mayor Adams: Tell me about Metro Park. I'm not familiar. 

Question: Oh, Metro Park is what they're doing over at Citi Field with Steven Cohen. 

Mayor Adams: Okay, got you. It's been called so many names. 

Question: They've been doing that, and they're trying to build it up. We got asphalt that's been there for years. They're trying to turn that into a little community that we can make it work for the kids, and then after that, they're going to do training so we can get our kids some jobs. I work with the youth all the time, and what's happening is that they're not trained. When they go for jobs, they can't get the job because they're not trained. What they're trying to do is make them trained so they can go and get a job. That's what we need to run into, if we can do that. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. 

Question: Last question. 

Mayor Adams: You're like that sister. You need to come and join him. 

Question: Okay. I'm sorry. 

Mayor Adams: Trust me, I was coming to you. 

Question: Congestion pricing. Are you for that? 

Mayor Adams: When you say for– 

Question: Just in the area, my table was concerned about congestion pricing. 

Mayor Adams: It's too late to be concerned. It's here. What the governor had to do was deal with congestion in our central business district. We were able to secure $100 million for areas right outside the congestion pricing zone. We were able to get some waivers for some of the New Yorkers. This was controlled by the state and the MTA. Whenever something goes wrong in the city, everybody knows the mayor. We were not in charge of congestion pricing. I would have hoped that the city and the city council would have decided what happens on our city streets. That was not our authority. 

We were bystanders to the congestion pricing. I can say all that I want, but we need to go to our state electeds, MTA, and this came out of the governor's decision and the federal government. The only piece that was missing was the city. Jay-Z said it best, I have 99 problems, don't give me also congestion pricing. 

Question: This is true. 

Mayor Adams: To your three questions about the park, and many people may not be aware of what we're getting ready to do over in that area. 2400 units of affordable housing, new soccer stadium, new school, new open space. That's going to transform that entire area. I think it's going to feed the economy in the area, people are going to go to the restaurants, are going to spend money in local stores, so this is a transformative moment.  

That specific part that Steve is doing, anything that's going to encourage our young people to get employment, I'm all for, but I also want everyone here to know we got thousands of jobs that are open in the city. We need to transition young people into some of the city employment's pension, retirement, of service, giving back to your community. We want to encourage to get you to do hiring halls in this area, in this community, what we are doing, because it's imperative to get our young people right into employment right away. We got thousands of jobs that we could fill in city service.  

So we want to continue, as I stated, we decreased unemployment throughout the city, every demographic, we decreased unemployment, but particularly, we decreased substantially unemployment in Black and brown communities by 20 percent. We want to continue to do it, but let the deputy mayor talk about childcare.  

You are aware that what we've been successful in doing, we decreased the cost of childcare. If you make $55,000 a year or less, we decreased it from $55 a week to less than $5 a week. We brought down the cost, we put $30 billion back in the pockets of New Yorkers by finding creative ways to do so. DM, you want to talk about– Give it up. This is the first Dominican deputy mayor in the history of this city. 

Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar, Strategic Initiatives: Thank you mayor, and thank you [Mr. Coles] for the question. To follow up the mayor's point, we have increased the childcare seats to the largest number ever in the city to 150,000 children who have a space in a center like yours to get an education. We also were able to provide a seat or to offer a seat to about 53,000 applicants we had last year. 43,000 of them applied on time, 10,000 after the deadline, and we were able to accommodate those families. 

To your point about the payment, I am going to personally apologize and I will give you my information and I will work with you to make sure that our colleagues at New York City public schools will make sure to process either if it's a contract that's late in registration, if it's a budget that has not been registered, and if it's an invoice that has not been paid, I will make sure that we– Yes, I know. The three points, I know the pain. We've been working on it. 

We have a sort of new deputy chancellor of Early Childhood Education, Simone Hawkins, who has been doing an extensive job looking at every corner of the system where we need to make those changes. How we can apply those changes. Some of them are painful, but where we can be better customer service and provide better customer service to our providers. She came into the office, the first thing she told me is that, "I know why I do this work, it’s for our families, but mostly also for those who are working as our vendors, as our partners, in providing those services." We can't do that without you, and we can't do it if we ask you to do a job and not pay you. I will give you my card. Tomorrow morning, we'll talk and we'll make sure that we process that payment as soon as possible. Again, I'm very, very sorry. 

Mayor Adams: What happened, brother, was that when we inherited the 3-K pre-K was a great idea from the previous administration, but what we found and did our analysis, we had an over saturation of locations. We also found that there were sites where you didn't have enough students. People were not putting in their payment, their invoices. There had to be a whole lot of restructuring to get it right. Great concept, but the infrastructure was not in place. As the deputy mayor stated, 150,000 young people, we had a commitment that every child that wanted a seat would have access to a seat. We lived up to that. We increased the number of those who have seats. 

We know early childhood works. Bill de Blasio was right. We had to build on his idea. Instead of scrapping it, we build on it to make it happen. We got you. We got you. Why was Moya saying you were a ball player? 

Question: I've been working with him with the basketball. We're trying to make it work. He likes soccer. I like basketball.  

[Inaudible.] 

Mayor Adams: 100 percent. Thank you for the work you're doing.  

Mami, I didn't forget you. We'll come to your table. Let's finish this flow. 

Question: My name is [Luciana] and I'm currently a student in I.S. 061 in 8th grade. My table and I discussed and we came up with this question. How can we minimize homeless people in subways, and how can we also minimize crimes within subway train stations? 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you very much for that. I said it earlier in my opening comments. We have 4.6 million riders on the subway system every day. Out of those 4.6 million riders, we have an average of six felonies a day. Robbery in the month of August was the lowest in the history of the city. When you look at what these cops are doing every day on the subway system, it is amazing.  

What we have lost the fight in is the perception. We've been successful in decreasing crime to records levels, but we lost the perception because our success has been overshadowed by horrific actions that are taking place on the subway system. Having someone burned to death strikes at your conscience and it makes you feel unsafe. Having someone pushed to the subway system on the tracks, and pushed on the subway tracks, it strikes at your feeling of safety. 

We have lost the confidence from New Yorkers that the subway system, that is actually safe, people don't feel safe. Safety is not only in stats, it's in how you feel. What are we doing? Commissioner Tisch and I were out last night riding the subway trains because we put in place a new program where police officers are going to be on every train, two police officers are going to be on every train from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM in the morning. 

We're going to have our officers engaged again and talk to people, walk on the subway trains, and interact with people. We need the presence of that uniform again, but we also have two significant programs, one called SCOUT, one called PATH. The programs are teaming up with mental health professionals so we can engage with people who are living on our system. We had encampments on our system when I first came in as mayor, we no longer have them on our system. We removed thousands of people into services and engaged, but I don't know, someone said it over here, it is so challenging. When I'm out there sometimes and I speak to people with mental health issues, severe mental health issues and try to talk them in, they don't want to do it. 

Without the support from Albany, where we can take proper action, we're going to continually have a high number of people on our system, and you're right. When you hear a student like yourself stand up and say, "I want my subway system safe," it shows you that safety impacts us all. We're going to continue to do our job, but we need our partners in Albany to assist us with the involuntary removal proposal that we are putting in place. 

We're going to make sure the system is safe and I'm on the train all the time. I see it, I talk to people, I talk to passengers and we know that people must feel safe on our subway system, so I thank you for that question. 

Yes, hold on one moment, I'm going to come to you. I've got to get to her first and I'll come back over to you. Where are we going? Now, I know y'all going to try to keep me all night, but I've got to bounce because I got a whole city to run. Go ahead, we're going to do you and then we're going to do you, okay? 

Question: I want to thank you for the job that you're doing and other state troopers. I am part of the Roosevelt Avenue Coalition and I have two things to tell you. First of all, what are you going to do with organized crime, with child trafficking, human trafficking, Tren de Aragua cartel, the gang members, the drug dealers?  

I personally do not feel safe in my own community. My niece, her daughter, 24 years old, she got chased behind the health center in Corona with a butcher knife. Luckily that she's an athlete and she was able to run. If it would have been me, I would have been dead. What are you going to do? 

Another thing is, I am part of La Rosa Azul, a non-profit organization for children. I would like you to help not only us, to help us get more programs in the community, to keep the children off the streets, to keep them safe. We need help. We need after-school, we need sports, we need tutoring. We need a lot of help in this community. Thank you and thank you, Mr. Moya, for the soccer. 

Mayor Adams: Check you out. 

Question: I attended IS 61 in Newtown. 

Mayor Adams: You give it to the gentleman over there when I finish answering this question.  

When we started this initiative, the councilman and I started the initiative, people were telling us that we need to leave prostitution over there. We need to leave it alone. What are you doing? Why are you stopping the prostitution that was in the area? We refused to listen to that. Sex trafficking is real. 

When you look at the illegal gangs who are profiting from it, they're profiting from selling drugs. We're at a record level of fentanyl deaths due to the fentanyl that is coming, many people believe, from China throughout the southern part of this hemisphere. We're with you.  

The initiative that we put in place over on Roosevelt Avenue was because we were not going to sit back and watch the conditions where your daughter will have to worry about somebody chasing her with a knife. What are our crime stats? Who's going to help me with these crime stats since we've been doing the initiative? 

[Inaudible.] 

Mayor Adams: That's our goal. How are we doing on crime over here? 

Deputy Commissioner Daughtry: On Roosevelt Avenue, and I'll give you just a quick overview, and if Brian or Bill, if you want to chime in. Year-to-date so far, on Roosevelt Avenue corridor, we're down, total 21 percent and the 110 and 115 we're down 14 percent. The 115 we're down 37.1 percent.  

Since we have put the resources, when I say resources, I mean the police officers, and you've been in Roosevelt, let's be honest, it looks a lot better, correct? I'm asking the whole audiences, does Roosevelt Avenue look a lot better than what it was before October 15th? Like the mayor had previously said, we made a commitment. Promises made. Promises kept on Roosevelt Avenue. We're not taking the resources away from there. 

Talking about the Tren de Aragua, yes, as far as the human trafficking, and I'm going to let Jessica speak about that, we are investigating it. We are looking. We're trying to take– when we take the prostitutes, the women, off the streets and we bring them in to talk about them, that's the one thing we ask them. Are you being trafficked? How can we help you? We also do that with our victims' advocates as well. 

They're in a room with us, and Jessica will tell you, they are working in conjunction with us so we can try to get these women the wraparound services that they need. Nobody should be outside on Roosevelt Avenue in 9 degree weather soliciting Johns for sex. That's not something that we're going to allow. We are totally committed to staying past the 90 days. We're working on another plan and what Phase 2 is going to look like on Roosevelt Avenue, and we're going to make it a lot better than what it is now.  

Mayor Adams: Businesses are opening. Businesses are opening. People are coming back. That should be a thriving, working class community, and we're seeing a lot of energy coming back to that area. The Queens DA has been amazing in helping us. 

Question: [Inaudible] because I don't want them to grow up and say, "Oh, I want to be a prostitute. I want to be a gang member. I want to be a drug dealer." I don't want the children to be exposed to this situation. 

Jessica Melton, Bureau Chief, Human Trafficking Bureau, Queens District Attorney's Office: No, I completely understand that. I'm a mother myself. On behalf of District Attorney Melinda Katz, I just want you to know, thank you so much for your question. It is Human Trafficking Awareness Month this month. I'm sure many of you know my boss, Melinda Katz, cares very, very deeply about human trafficking. In fact, we are the only office in all of New York State that has an exclusive human trafficking bureau with just prosecutors focused on the human trafficking. 

As Commissioner Daughtry said, we're working very close with the NYPD. We have many investigations. In fact, I left my office today with women that were taken from Roosevelt Avenue and were brought to be interviewed to try to uncover whether or not they are being trafficked. Of all the people that were arrested for prostitution, every single one of them was offered services, whether it be immigration services, mental health services, any kind of services to get them out of that life.  

We need your help as a community as well to keep us informed of what's going on. Please call us, inform us. We have many investigations going, and we want to keep this open dialogue because we need to hear from all of you about what you're seeing and what trends you're seeing so we know how to get ahead of it and combat the traffickers, because that's who we really are focusing our prosecution efforts on, is the people that are exploiting the vulnerable members of our community. In fact, they're predators. Humantrafficking@queensda.org is our email. 286-6548 is our direct line. Please reach out to us and the Police Department. We continue to work together on many operations. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you for that. Sir. 

Question: Thank you very much for taking my question. I believe that speaking for everyone here, the consensus is that the safety of the city is a major concern. Listening to the young lady here, I was very glad for her to point out the subway situation. Now, yes, I think, without fear of contradiction, that every single table in this room can come to the conclusion that we are all in fear of the safety. Now, Mr. Mayor, you have stepped up. You have stepped up and represented us in every effort possible, but your efforts have been hampered by negative legislations that has stopped you from fulfilling what we wish you had been able to fulfill, the state legislature and including the City Council. 

The New York City Council and the state legislature have repeatedly passed negative legislation that has not allowed you to empower our Police Department to take care of what that young lady is in fear of still. Now, that I can say this whole room, this entire room can come to that same conclusion. I'm safe to say, I've been listening to every table here, and I believe that you would've been able to complete the job for us had the State Legislature and the City Council had not gotten in their way with their negative legislation that has not allowed you to adequately empower our Police Department. I think that is the solution.  

We support you. I want to thank you because you have stepped up either here, in Albany when you went up to see Governor Hochul, and your trips to Washington. I appreciate the comment you made, because if you're not speaking to the other side, you will not be able to complete your job for us. Now, we are holding personally responsible the State Legislature and the City Council that have gotten in your way because we know that your efforts are completely sincere. You have our complete confidence. I can assure you that table number seven completely, completely is behind you. We have identified– 

Mayor Adams: Yes, thank you so much. Thank you. I really appreciate you for saying that. Now, let me tell you what's going to happen tonight. Tonight they're going to show the one sign that says resign. They're not going to take that clip. They're not going to show everyday a working class person acknowledging what we have done. They're going to say, "Eric Adams is at a town hall and everyone said Eric should resign." They're going to show that one sign. That's what we're facing in this city.  

This team here of everyday New Yorkers that are out here tonight and have been dedicating their lives to giving back, they have been fighting hard for this city but you will open up the tabloids and you look at it and you say, "Oh, our city is falling apart. This administration is a failure. This administration is this." Because those who want to highlight what we are doing are like this gentleman here. Just an everyday New Yorker that realizes that we are committed and dedicated to improving this city. 

That's what we've been up against for almost three years. All the success we've done in housing, all the success we've done in jobs, all the success we've done in bringing down crime, all the success we've done, you would never hear about it. You would think we've done nothing at all. We would think Eric was just out every night at a cigar bar hanging out and partying. We have turned this city around, folks, and I appreciate what was said. I appreciate the acknowledgement of that. Yes, criminal justice is not just the police. 

Criminal justice includes judges, it includes lawmakers, and we have to take the product that they give us to continue to make our city safe. In spite of all the distractions and obstacles, we still brought down crime, we’re still making this city safe, in spite of everything. The prerequisite to prosperity is public safety. No matter how many people attack us for doing it, I'm going to continue to do what I promised you, keep our city safe. Now we'd have to match that, what this young lady raised is making us safe. 

Young lady, I know you've been raising your hand over and over again, but I got to bounce. I got to bounce and I got to have my folks get home to their families. You could come up and see whoever area you need, you could come and see them. Please thank you. I thank the team. That was a great note to end on. Thank you, Corona. 

First Deputy Commissioner Vasquez: Thank you, Corona. If you have a question, please make sure you put it on the card and we will get your response within two weeks.