Transcript: Mayor Bill de Blasio Appears Live on CNN’s New Day

January 22, 2016

Alisyn Camerota: This blizzard warning has been issued for New York City. How is the city preparing? Given all the uncertainty that Chad just talked about – joining us now is New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio.

Mr. Mayor, thanks so much for being here.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Alisyn.

Camerota: Okay, Chad said he’s worried –

Mayor: Yep.

Camerota: – about New York. He also said that the model shows somewhere between eight inches and two feet of snow here. So, how do you prepare?

Mayor: New York City has a huge capacity for these situations. We have 1,800 snow plows; almost 600 salt spreaders – everyone’s on high alert right now. We take this very, very seriously. And the most important thing is for the people of New York City to recognize Saturday and Sunday – don’t go anywhere; don’t assume you’re going to be travelling; stay indoors. Let our Sanitation Department get out there and clear the streets because they’re going to have a lot to do.

Camerota: Even with all those resources that you’ve just talked about, the last big storm, there were some neighborhoods that felt forgotten. The Upper East Side said that their roads weren’t plowed. So do you –

Mayor: No, everyone’s treated the same. What we have – sometimes we have problems at a particular sanitation garage, but we found a way to fix those quickly. We have a very, very strong – it’s going to be full court press. And look, we’ve seen, when we throw the full force of what we have that we can handle a storm like this, but the important thing is for people to recognize, stay off the roads for your own safety, but also so we can keep them clear.

Camerota: Yeah, I mean not only that, Chad was talking about how the winds could be 40 miles per hour, which makes plowing almost futile because as you plow the snow blows back onto the roads. So, cars can get stuck if you’re out there.

Mayor: Well, that’s the thing. And that’s what we’ve seen in past storms that folks go out, a little over confident, and that’s bad for them; that’s bad for their safety, but it also makes it very hard for the folks that we send out to clear the roads to do their work. The good news is, and I think CNN is doing a service here, telling people in advance, look, don’t have any illusions about Saturday and Sunday it’s going to be really bad, get ready; get your supplies today; stay indoors; stay safe.

Camerota: What are you doing about coastal flooding? That, of course, has been a big problem, certainly, during Hurricane Sandy. Staten Island could face some coastal flooding. Downtown Manhattan where the subways flooded during the hurricane – what are you going to do about that?

Mayor: Look, thankfully this does not seem anywhere as bad as Sandy, but we have made a lot of progress since Sandy. We’ve had a lot of help from the federal government. A lot of the major areas that bore the brunt of Sandy have been reinforced; sand dunes and other measures have been put in place to really protect those communities permanently. So – and we have temporary measures we’ll put in place as well. So, we’re in much better position than we were a few years ago with Sandy.

Camerota: Things are going to start at about midnight tonight. What are you doing at this hour to prepare?

Mayor: We have our teams now working on an emergency basis – all of our agencies; NYPD, Fire Department, of course, Sanitation Department, Emergency Management. So, everyone’s already in ready mode, personnel are coming in. They know they’re going to be doing long shifts. We’re going to have plenty of vehicles; plenty of people to handle this.

Camerota: New Jersey mayor – I’m sorry, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is running for president, as you know. He has said that he’s going to stay on the campaign trail. Let me play for you what he just said about the storm.

Chris Christie: “The Lieutenant Governor is there. And she’s handling things on the ground there, and if I needed to go back I would. But at this point, it’s too speculative to know.”

Camerota: What do you think? Does he need to come back now?

Mayor: I think he needs to come back. You know, look, a day or two ago it might have been a question mark. Right now it’s not a question mark anymore and, obviously, we are being warned that it could even be worse, and we find this out with each storm. Sometimes it’s less than we expected; sometimes it’s more. So, for any governor, it’s time to come home.

Camerota: And why is that? I mean, he has a cell phone. Why can’t he just sort of dictate orders from wherever he is?

Mayor: You can, but there’s nothing like feeling what the people of your city or the people of your state or going through. Last big storm we had I toured all over the city. You see what’s happening on the ground; you see where there has to be changes made or where people need extra help. It’s very important just to be at the front and understand what’s going on.

Camerota: I mean, particularly, since he was the face, in some ways, of Hurricane Sandy.

Mayor: And he did some good work then, but I think he should remember those lessons and – look, this is more important than politics; this is protecting people – making sure that everything is being done that can be done. And again, I remind you, we’re looking at a projection that’s bad enough, but we have to be ready for the possibility that it could be worse.

Camerota: Let’s talk about politics.

Mayor: Alright.

Camerota: You have come out and endorsed Hillary Clinton –

Mayor: Yes.

Camerota: Latest polls show that Bernie Sanders is surging in Iowa and New Hampshire and, at the moment, beating her in some polls. Are you concerned about her campaign?

Mayor: I think she’s doing well, I really do. Look, I think she has a very powerful message – talking about what we need to do to restore the middle class in America, which is really what – if you look at all the polling, all the discussions – this is what the American people want to talk about. How are we going to get back on our feet economically? How are we going to reverse the decades in which middle class people were falling behind? And she has a vision of the kinds of things we need – how we raise wages and benefits, how we tax the wealthy in a more fair manner that allows us to do more as a nation. She is expressing that vision. That’s what people want. They also know she can get it done and this is, I think, one of the crucial points about Hillary Clinton – no one doubts her capacity, either on domestic issues or international issues. Whether you care most about restoring the middle class or you care about fighting terrorism, she’s perfectly capable on both fronts. I think, in the end, Democrats and Americans in general, want a more progressive president going forward and a president who can get things done – and she fits the bill.

Camerota: What about the point that some people have made, including Vice President Joe Biden, that when it comes to economic issues – income inequality issues, it’s Bernie Sanders who has owned that, who is more authentically the champion of that?

Mayor: I was surprised by the vice president’s comments because I remember the years 1993 and 1994 when Hillary Clinton took on the health insurance companies, when she was fighting for health care reform when it was often a very lonely battle – she was vilified, she was attacked, millions and millions of dollars of advertising thrown at her – she never flinched. That was a fight for income – to address income inequality long before a lot of other people had taken it on and, certainly, look, it’s because of her efforts in ’93 and ’94 that we have that we had the stage set to finally achieve what President Obama achieved with national healthcare reform. So, I think it’s really important to remember the history. I give Bernie Sanders a lot of credit for the things he’s talked about over years, but she took on very powerful interests and showed her medal decades ago. So, it’s important to recognize, if you see that kind of history of someone who fights for progressive change against very powerful interests, that’s the kind of person you want in the White House.

Camerota: And yet, on those very issues healthcare and the economy – let me just pull up the latest poll – this is P-11 in our system. This is the Democrat in Iowa, according to Iowa voters, who are best able to handle these issues. The economy – Sanders – I can turn, well I can turn your attention to the screen in a second – gets 58 percent of the likely Democratic caucus goers – there you see it – versus her 36 percent. Look at this, healthcare – he gets 51 percent support to her 45. On foreign policy, as you note, she gets 65 to his 25. So, what is the disconnect? Why don’t the voters there in Iowa know what you’re saying about her history?

Mayor: Well, first of all, there’s still a lot of time on the clock on Iowa – we know that. Iowa changes right up until the last moment. But look, I think on the issues, the more people are hearing about her vision, which is a very sharp one – she’s talked about the things we need to do to help families, Paid Family Leave, Paid Sick Leave -- these are – look, Hillary Clinton, with her husband President Clinton of course, brought us family medical leave long before anyone else was making that happen in this country and talking about it. They put it on the national agenda. They achieved it. She’s been working on these issues. She’s going to continue to put this forward. But what’s going to happen, I believe, in Iowa and beyond, is people are going to say, “Great, here’s the vision we want, who’s going to be best at getting it done?” And they’re going to recognize that Hillary has a history of achievement and effectiveness. So, in the beginning, I understand, voters are looking at different issues, considering different things but when they really start to think about who’s going to be the president who will achieve these progressive changes, I believe more and more voters will go to Hillary Clinton.

Camerota: Mayor Bill de Blasio, best of luck over the next 72 hours.

Mayor: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Camerota: Thanks so much for being here.