March 4, 2019
Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill: Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for being here. In a moment you'll hear from Mayor de Blasio, then you're going to hear from Chief of Crime Control Strategies Lori Pollock, and Chief Monahan will go over our homicide strategy, and then Kings County DA Eric Gonzalez is going to speak also.
First and foremost, I want to thank you for good work that was done in telling the story in the media of who Detective Brian Simonsen was and is, and what his legacy will continue to mean not only to those of us in the NYPD but to his family and his friends and to all the people of the 1-0-2 Precinct in Queens and quite frankly to all the people in New York City. So, I really, truly thank you for that.
Citywide fighting crime and keeping people safe is an ongoing effort. Conditions are ever changing and each neighborhood has different dynamics that have to be individually addressed. Our approach to combating spikes in murders, shootings, and other crimes must constantly be adjusted as circumstances dictate. We are always in the process of deploying the right type and amount of resources at the appropriate time and places and to work our members on the ground to continually focus very precisely on the real drivers of crime – the small percentage of people responsible for a majority of the violence. As I said, we do have an increase in homicides and Chief Monahan will speak about our plan.
Because of these efforts, New York City has collectively seen massive overall reductions over the years. But as you know, we've identified nine commands at the end of last year that had violent crime rates more than twice as high as the rest of the city. And we called for a series of community based meetings in each of these neighborhoods to find out what the NYPD can do in close partnership with our fellow City agencies or elected officials and our neighborhood leaders to make the streets of those communities just as safe as all of our streets.
We've had three meetings already. There are discussions with contributions by all involved. We have some fresh ideas and insights and what I'll call a holistic approach to reducing violence in those nine commands because it can't just be the NYPD. It is going to take every resident and every worker in every agency and every community-based group if it's going to work properly, we all have to listen and we all have to take action together. That's how we build trust and strengthen relationships and we'll know these efforts are ultimately successful when participation from all sectors of government and communities is commonplace, and crime and disorder continue to fall and when quality of life on every block in every neighborhood is improved and most importantly sustained. Mr. Mayor –
Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you very much, Commissioner. Commissioner, I want to thank you and the men and women of the NYPD. Once again we saw in the month of February the impact of precision policing and neighborhood policing, the difference it makes and the overall drop in crime that was achieved, record lows being set. Once again, that's the good news.
The bad news is we see some areas of real concern, particularly when it comes to homicide. We take that very, very seriously. You're going to hear today an aggressive plan to address some of the uptick we've seen. We look at this – every one of us looks at each individual homicide as a human life and it is our obligation when we see any kind of negative activity to do something about it and I think the plan that's been put together, that'll be announced today, is a very aggressive approach.
I want to thank all the leadership of the NYPD who are here. A special thanks to First Deputy Commissioner Ben Tucker. You're going to hear from Chief Terry Monahan in a moment as well. Thanks to them and their teams for the work they have done on the plan that will be discussed today. Also want to thank the Director of Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, Liz Glazer, who's been directly involved in this effort and thank her for her leadership as well.
Now when it comes to the overall picture, this is where the good news is overall crime year-to-date compared to last year – down almost 11 percent. Once again, the NYPD has beat its own records for driving down overall crime and that's very good news for the people of this city. You'll hear from Chief Pollock on the details, and again, from Chief Monahan on some of the specific actions that we're going to take to address some of the areas that we are not satisfied with.
What we do know is that the use of precision policing allows us to make quick adjustments and really focus on the areas that need additional help. So, on the plan you're going to hear about in a moment, a couple of things will stand out. First of all – making sure that there's more officers in some of the places that need them the most. So, it’ll be strategic redeployments to some of the precincts that are having some challenges. We want to make sure there's additional strength there and you'll see that including more support from the Strategic Response Group.
Second, you're going to hear about our close collaboration with the Brooklyn District Attorney, who will speak in a moment, and what he is doing with working with us to step up gun prosecutions. This is crucial. This is going to be one of the building blocks of reducing violence in Brooklyn.
And third, the NYPD has had success with the anti-gang violence initiative known as Ceasefire. That's going to be expanded, want to help ensure that people who have been involved in gangs are given the maximum opportunity to get out of that life and no longer participate in violence. And the expansion of Ceasefire initiative can make a big impact.
So as we've seen for many years the NYPD keeps innovating even when there are challenges. The answer here is to come up with new strategies and new approaches or deepen the things that we know work and apply them to the areas of greatest concern. This is why we're the safest big city in America. This is why we will continue to be the safest big city in America because of the ability of the NYPD to make those kinds of rapid adjustments and have a huge impact on the people that they serve.
A couple of quick words in Spanish –
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]
With that, I want to turn to Chief Pollock, who will analyze the crime data for this month and year to date.
Chief of Crime Control Strategies Lori Pollock, NYPD: Good morning. Overall crime is again at an all-time low. January and February, with an overall crime reduction of over 8 percent, have on pace for the lowest quarter in the CompStat era. This means that this February, for the first time, we recorded under 900 robberies – a record-low for any month – under 800 burglaries – also record-low for any month – and car theft is that a new low of 326 for any month. Shootings, however, we're up in February, but remain down for the year-to-date. Murder has increased in both February and year-to-date, and, as you can see in today's press release, rape reporting trends continue, but with smaller increases over last year. You will be hearing from Chief Monahan shortly regarding initiatives and measures taken to address areas and precincts where we have seen an increase in violence.
Murders in February were up, 24 versus 16. Brooklyn's increase drove the February murder violence, accounting for half of the City's murderers, recording 12 versus five during the same period last year. Murder year-to-date – end of February – we were up 52 versus 38. Overall gang-related murders accounted for 30 percent of the citywide incidents. Domestic murders accounted for 23 percent of our murder incidents, and drugs or narcotics-related accounted for 10 percent. Brooklyn North – it was 15 versus five. The motives for these murders are primarily drugs, gang and other disputes where the parties are known to each other. Higher than the City average of half, 70 percent of these Brooklyn North murders were the result of being shot, and seven of the 15 murders occurred in housing. Brooklyn South – is nine versus four, including three males killed in a hammer attack in the 6-1 precinct. Queens North – four versus one; Manhattan North – four verses one; Manhattan South – two vs one; and Staten Island – one versus zero; with Queens South and the Bronx both having decreases in murder. 12 of our murder victims were the result of domestic violence. All of these domestic murders occurred behind closed doors. The victims and perpetrators varied between having no domestic history with each other to know recent police contact. We have closed all of these cases to arrest or suicide of the perpetrator. There have been no domestic shootings this year. Last year, we had domestic shootings with 19 – excuse me – last year, we had 27 domestic shootings, with 19 associated deaths. We have been vigilant in removing guns from households where there are reports of domestic violence. We removed 66 guns in 2018. February – we removed eight guns, bringing our total of guns removed from homes with reports of domestic violence to 14 so far in 2019.
Shootings during February increased 42 versus 36. Manhattan North saw the biggest increase in shootings this month, nine versus four, with drugs, gangs and disputes amongst people known to each other as the drivers of the violence. Queens North increased five versus two. Brooklyn North increased seven versus four. And Queens South increased to five versus one. Year-to-date shootings, however, we are down to 93 versus 95. 25 percent of the 93 shootings were fatal and 30 percent – 37 percent are gang-related year-to-date. Brooklyn North increased 21 verses 12 with the 7-5 and 7-9 Precincts driving their shooting number with five – with five each year- to-date. Manhattan North had 16 versus nine shootings, an increase of 78 percent, and their shootings are almost solely driven by gangs and drugs. The areas driving the violence in Manhattan North are the 3-4 Precinct, where year-to-date there have been five versus one shooting – two of which occurred in February – followed by the 2-3 and the 3-2 Precincts with four narcotics or gang related shootings each. Queens North increased eight versus four, with the 1-0-9 Precinct recording four shootings this year. And Staten Island is even, with two shootings.
Brooklyn South decreased 11 verses 14 and Queens South decreased 10 versus 14, with the 1-1-3 recording three of these shootings. Bronx saw a significant 34 percent decrease in shootings year-to-date down 25 – excuse me, down – 25 down from 38. The Bronx just went seven days, from February 25th to March 3rd, without a shooting incident. This 4-3 Precinct is driving the shootings in that borough, with five year-to-date.
Rape – February saw an increase, as has been the trend – it was 133 versus 122. However, the increase is 9 percent this month as opposed to the above 30 percent increase we saw last February. Another distinction is a leveling off of rapes from prior years. As you can see in your printed brief, the increase in rates is primarily from February 2019 and mostly domestic, which we believe has been traditionally under reported. We have an arrest rate of approximately 50 percent this February for domestic rapes and 40 percent year-to-date. Special Victims CompStat was held in early February for the first time, allowing a citywide sharing of strategies. We'll be holding those meetings regularly. We shared best practices and initiatives and the lively conversations we had during those meetings were very fruitful.
Many of our clusters of violence are driven by gang activity and gun violence. We have seen similar increases in violence during last year and our murder number remained under 300 through the end of 2018 because of the constant attention to detail with precision policing and the great work of our detectives in solving cases. The last three months of 2018 were all-time low record numbers for murders and shootings. An increase in murders, shootings, and rapes is always concerning – one murder, one shooting, one rape is to money, but it is too early to say this increase is indicative of a lasting trend. Fluctuations are constantly monitored and addressed as Chief Monahan will explain.
Chief of Department Terence Monahan, NYPD: You finished?
Chief Pollock: Yeah, that was to you.
Mayor: That’s your cue.
Chief Monahan: Thank you. I got it – I’m quick like that.
[Laughter]
All right. Good afternoon, everyone. As you just heard from Chief Pollock, overall crime has continued to drop in New York and we've had two fewer shootings this year than we had last year. In spite of these historic successes, we have some serious concerns over the increase in murders. We've had 52 murders so far this year, an increase of 14 compared to same period in 2018. Seven of the 52 are reclassifications that occurred prior to 2019. The remaining 45 murders have occurred in 2019. 23, or 51 percent of them were by the use of a firearm. We are working quickly and strategically to stem this violence. Today, we are announcing a five-point violence reduction plan that will address this uptake from several different angles.
First, precision deployment – we took a close look at the 45 murders that have occurred so far this year, as well as the 93 citywide nonfatal shooting incidents we have. Through this analysis, we identified four precincts that are currently experiencing pockets of violence – they are the 3-4, the 4-3, the 7-9, and the 1-1-3 Precincts. Beginning immediately, we will be sending at least eight additional officers from other precincts around those boroughs to each of these commands. They will be deployed by the precinct executive officer at highly visible locations and at critical times when and where this violence has occurred. The Strategic Response Group will be bolstering these additional officers by pre-deploying to designated hotspots within these commands. The Warrant Squad, working without partners at Parole and Probation – our Warrant Investigators will be focusing on these locations in order to identify and apprehend top offenders [inaudible] drivers of violence that have opened warrants. Through our in-depth CompStat analysis, commands driving violence will be evaluated each week and adjustments will be made to these deployments accordingly. If we look at the four commands that we're targeting right now, they're up seven to three in homicides, and 18 to nine in shootings year-to-date.
The second point is increased a partnership with the Brooklyn DA to help with gun prosecutions. Where we look at Brooklyn as a whole so far this year, this is where our problems lie. We're up in homicides, 24 verses nine. We're up in shootings, 32 verses 26. For this reason, myself, along with other members of the NYPD leadership team will be meeting with the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice and the Kings County District Attorney, Eric Gonzalez, to discuss gun prosecutions in Brooklyn. In fact, as soon as this press conference is over, we're going to be sitting down having this meeting. Together, we are working to ensure gun arrests are fully prosecuted, because anyone who is carrying a gun – an illegal gun on the streets is a moment away from a shooting, and any shooting could be a millimeter away from turning into a homicide.
Third, we're going to be expanding our ceasefire efforts. We've seen tangible successes with our comprehensive intervention program that offers an alternative to the gang lifestyle. Based on these reductions in violence, we will expand the ceasefire program to three commands in Brooklyn – the 6-0, the 7-0, and Police Service Area 1 – and two additional commands in the Bronx – the 4-3 and the 4-8 Precincts.
Fourth, we are going to be starting a re-entry stat in collaboration with the Manhattan DA's Office, Chauncey Parker. We will be convening meetings, beginning in April, to take a close look at resources being offered to individuals upon leaving prison and to prioritize those most likely to re-offend. We will marshal all the resources of Parole, Probation, the DA's office [inaudible] so we can give a simple message to those returning from prison – you don't have to become a victim or a criminal again, there is another way to go. We will talk about all the recent releases who will be coming out. Anyone who is out, we will discuss the re-arrest and then, most importantly, we'll be discussing what services we can be offering to these individuals so that they do not re-offend.
Fifth, and final, is the domestic violence gun investigations. We have completed a thorough review of domestic violence incidents involving guns in 2018. As Chief Pollock's said, 27 incidences [inaudible] in 19 murders by guns. As a result, we launched a pilot program, going back around four months ago, with the Intelligence Bureau and our Field Intelligence Office in conjunction with command-level domestic violence offices in which we open an intensive investigation on each domestic violence incident that involves a gun in any capacity. This includes a mention of someone known to have possession of or any access to a firearm. As Chief Pollack mentioned earlier, because of their efforts, we have successfully removed 66 guns from individuals involved in domestic violence incidents. As we moved through the first quarter of 2019 we will continue this focused approach to domestic incidents involving firearms. Again, as Chief Pollock said, it's worth noting, we have not had a domestic violence homicide involving a gun so far this year.
New York City has experienced unprecedented drops in crime and violence over the last few years. And while the men and women in blue have done phenomenal work – neighborhood placing and our precision investigations – we are by no means complacent. This five-point plan is doubling down on our commitment to the safety of every single New Yorker. The residents of every borough in every neighborhood on every block have the right to be safe and to feel safe, while, at the same time, sharing trust and respect with our local cops. We hold ourselves to this standard. The NYP D has a two-and-a-half decade track record of reducing crime. We have no intention of stopping that in 2019.
Thank you.
Mayor: Thank you very much, Terry. Last speaker – very important to our efforts to ensure that this is a safe city. Obviously, a lot of challenges that we are experiencing are in Brooklyn, but we have a tremendous partner in Brooklyn. And the NYPD leads the way, but there's no way that this work can be done effectively without a real partner in the District Attorney. I want to thank District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and his whole team for their persistence and their partnership with us. And again, this additional focus on gun prosecutions is going to make a huge, huge impact.
District Attorney Gonzalez –
[…]
Police Commissioner O’Neill: It’s going to open up to some questions about the crime statistics. Dave?
Question: [Inaudible] I got that you’re concerned about these four precincts that you’re going to flood them with more officers, that gang related activity may be the reason, but specifically what’s the reasoning? Why are we seeing this on the street comparing, let’s say December of last year when we had an all-time record low, to today. Something changed out there, what was it?
Police Commissioner O’Neill: And Dave, we’re not really seeing it on the street. We have an increase in homicides inside as opposed to outside. I think you have that number Lori?
Chief Pollock: Yes. Indoor, there at sixty percent of the murders, and that is up – go ahead –
Question: [Inaudible] I just mean what’s changing out there from, let’s say December, when we had record lows, to now? What’s the reason?
Police Commissioner O’Neill: Yeah, we have shootings down. We do have some re-classes, we have seven this year as opposed to four last year. We had the attack out in Brooklyn South with the three murders with the hammer. So, you know, we’re talking about very low numbers – these are the lowest homicide numbers we’ve had since the 1950’s. Sure, they’re going to be periodic fluctuations, so that’s why I ask Terry Monahan and Lori to come up with a strategy, a murder strategy, to make sure we do our best to protect the people of this city.
Mayor: Yeah, and Dave I think the thing that is – you’re question makes a lot of sense, but what the trend shows us is what’s so striking, the overall crime numbers down eleven percent. So we have to see that in perspective too. I think if we saw something where a number of different categories were all going in the same negative direction, we would be very, very, deeply concerned. We obviously take this matter very, very seriously but it’s against a backdrop where overall crime is going down still.
Question: So there’s not a one specific reason? Is this just a fluke?
Police Commissioner O’Neill: Right, no, it’s multiple M.O.s, its multiple boroughs throughout the city. I think Lori and Terry explained that, it’s Brooklyn North, it’s the 3-4, it’s the 4-3 up in the Bronx, you know, these are very specific locations so that’s why the strategy we’re employing will be effective. Tony?
Question: Chief Pollock, I guess. In terms of the domestic homicide, which is about I think 23 percent total homicides you have now, none of – none seem to be gun – the weapons – a gun being used in the homicide if that’s correct, this year? What’s the M.O. on that? Is it strangulations, is it stabbing, is it something else? And really, the second part of this is what can you do if this stuff is happening behind closed doors? What kind of precursor could you look for [inaudible]?
Police Commissioner O’Neill: Let me just – before you answer that Lori – just in general, Tony, this is – if you take a look at what has been occurring in New York City since the 1990’s when we had a record high homicides, with 2,245. I mean this is – we can’t sit here and say, we’ll, you know, they’re happening inside, they’re happening behind closed doors, there is nothing we can do. The NYPD has never taken that approach and we never will. So we’re looking at domestic violence homicides, we’re looking at inside homicides, we’re looking at gangs and crews, we’re doing very good things now, but I’m sure there’s things we can do better.
Chief Pollock: Most of the manners of death were – three were force, and the rest were – the other nine were from knifes, or cuts. So, you know, things that are around the house. Nothing specific, nothing that you have – that’s contraband, just knifes that you find around the house or other household items used to kill people.
Question: Strangulation [inaudible]?
Chief Pollock: No, there’s no strangulation.
Police Commissioner O’Neill: Rocco?
Question: Commissioner, how do you go about strengthening gun prosecution and how often does that involve [inaudible]?
Police Commissioner O’Neill: I know Terry and Eric speak about that a little bit, but it’s got to be hard work on both sides. It’s got to be on the prosecution side and certainly has to be on the arrest side.
Chief Monahan: From our side we have to make sure that we’re presenting the best possible case to the DA’s office. We’re going to do everything we can, we’re making sure that guns get down to the lab in time, we’re making sure we’re getting video out there, we’re making sure that we’re getting interrogations of the people that we arrest. As far as it goes to federal prosecutions, if it’s qualified for trigger lock, that means that they have past felony conviction or a past domestic violence conviction, then we can take it to the feds where the sentencing guidelines are a little bit stronger. And then we sit down with Eric, and I know we disagree every once in a while on what should be prosecuted, what shouldn’t, but we sit down and try to work this out and that’s part of what we’re going to be doing later on today.
Question: [Inaudible] a gap or an area where you could improve?
Chief Monahan: Oh always. On a daily basis we’re looking at this. And we just – seeing what’s going on right now with the violence, we just have to get better on both sides here.
Mayor: Let’s go to the District Attorney.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez: I think Chief Monahan touched on the main issues, which is each one of these cases, they have to be strengthened to every measure possible in terms of providing the evidence that a jury would need to convict someone beyond a reasonable doubt. We’re working very closely and – like I said – we speak about every single gun arrest to make sure that all the evidence is achieved, including the forensics from OCME to make sure that we have testing and DNA covered on these guns. My office is also in the process of doing some training on some of the issues that are common in these cases from suppression hearings to what it takes to win these cases at trial, so we’re working on it. We also have a very close relationship with the Eastern District of New York where we are beginning to start having these conversations of what cases are better handled by them versus us. Like we have issues when it comes to confidential informants in state practice where they could probably do a much better job in those kind of cases.
Question: [Inaudible] top source states change at all. Are the guns still coming essentially from the same certain states [inaudible]?
Chief Monahan: Yeah, we’re still seeing the same thing. Again, we’re very concerned about that person walking the streets of Brooklyn or the Bronx carrying that gun, because that’s when it’s going to do the shooting. So those are the prosecutions we’re talking about right now.
Police Commissioner O’Neill: In the back?
Question: Commissioner, what’s the time frame for the five point plan? How long will it take? Are you rolling it out all at once or [inaudible]?
Police Commissioner O’Neill: The time frame on the five point plan.
Chief Monahan: Today. Today most of our reentry staff will start in April, but everything else is as of today.
Question: Given that domestic violence deaths are helping to drive the increase in murders, are you doing anything differently in the way you’re handling domestic violence calls? I know as part of the fact [inaudible] domestic violence gun investigations, but gun deaths were not part of the domestic violence deaths so far this year, so I’m wondering if you’re changing your strategy in any way to address [inaudible]?
Police Commissioner O’Neill: Did you give out the number for domestic violence homicides year to date?
Chief Pollack: Yes, we had twelve domestic violence homicides. Like I said, the varying degrees of history would not trigger an intervention on our part. A lot of these people did not have a history with each other, they had history with other people, and that history was old, so without maybe a neighbor or somebody calling us and telling us there is an issue, we would not have an opportunity to intervene in these situations.
Chief Monahan: And that’s part of what we’re looking for is more outreach. We’re looking for - if anyone sees something, say something. A victim of domestic violence may not be reporting, but a neighbor hearing something, call, so we can start getting that intervention. I think only three of the twelve homicides had any sort of previous history so most of them we’d never had any interaction before. And speaking with the guns, you know, last year 19 were killed by guns, so that’s why we’re keeping their focus. It worked, it’s working so far this year, and we’re going to continue that.
Question: [Inaudible] Chief Pollock [inaudible] discussing increase of complaints over the last year as well [inaudible]?
Chief Pollock: We do and we are looking at that as well. We do attribute that to the increased reporting.
Question: Increase 70 percent [inaudible]?
Chief Pollock: I’m not following your question.
Question: [Inaudible].
Chief Pollock: Yes, because the domestics are forcible, so that’s a rape one. So I can give you that after. You do have the time breakout, but we can give you the category breakout as well.
Police Commissioner O’Neill: Tony?
Question: For DA Gonzalez, historically as we’ve heard over the years gun prosecutions in Brooklyn have sometimes – there’s been a rate of – a certain dismissal rate. Sometimes as high as 30 percent when these cases get to court for various reasons, it could be suppression, could be other issues. And when they – are you satisfied with what your dismissal rate is now in most cases and what happens once you get to conviction, are you seeing the kinds of sentences you want to give.
District Attorney Gonzalez: That’s a good question. So we’re in the process of auditing our gun prosecution to – we have a gun part in Brooklyn, that’s unique to Brooklyn, that’s supposed to help enhance the speed by which these cases are handled. I’m personally dissatisfied that that is happening in the way that we hoped it to happen, when the Mayor and others helped us create that part, because part of enforcement and having the impact that it needs to have in the community is we believe that swift, certain punishment is very important. We’re not doing such a great job in being swift, so that’s part of the concerns that we’re going to have.
In terms of enhancing the penalty, we’re not trying a number of these cases, and the number of the cases that we do try, we’re not winning a number of these cases. So we’re working very closely to make sure that we can do a better job. That’s a self-reflection – inter-reflection on how well we’re handling those cases and that’s why we sit down with the police department to go through these cases. So we need to do a better job, there’s no question that we need to better in Brooklyn in terms of these cases, but there are things that are important in gun prosecutions beyond the ultimate sentence that we need to work on as well as making sure these cases come in and that people are actually held accountable.
We’re not seeing bail on these cases, so people who are being arrested by police officers, who have to make these arrests – these are, you know, dangerous arrests to effectuate because you have people with loaded guns. There’s not bail being set on these cases and then these cases don’t get tried for over a year, which means that the offender is out on the street, which means that people know that someone who gets caught for gun, how seriously are we taking this if there’s no consequence. So we have to do a lot more and we’re going to sit down and try to figure this out together with the police department and the Mayor’s Office. But we’re looking at it, we’ve been auditing our numbers. So the long answer to your very easy question is I’m not satisfied but I’m working on it.
Mayor: Can I just add – let me jump in here – that this point the DA made. We need criminal justice reform in Albany and certainly we need measures that will speed up the trial process, as you said, we have a lack of speedy justice right now – excuse me – but we also need reform that would give judges the ability to consider the dangerousness of an individual in terms of making their decisions on whether they should be held because that exact scenario you point to is one of the problems plaguing us and that can only be changed via legislation in Albany. That’s something I highlighted in my testimony back in February, we’re going to be working very hard to achieve in this legislative session.
Question: Just to follow up on what the Mayor said [inaudible] final part of the question, the sentences that you are seeing, are you satisfied with what you get from the judiciary in terms of gun convictions?
District Attorney Gonzalez: Well, when we try these cases and when we win them, they have mandatory minimums. You know, those are imposed. I think with the – the bigger question is not what our judiciary is doing, it’s how we’re plea bargaining these cases. Is what we’re doing making sense in the terms of how we plea bargain them? In Brooklyn we take an approach that’s a little bit different because we do divert some gun cases, it’s an issue that myself and the police department discuss all the time. Whether or not diverting some of these cases makes us safer or makes us less safe. So we’re looking at that question in Brooklyn carefully. But in terms of our judiciary, when we get a conviction on trial, they do what they are required to do. Unfortunately, and I think this is a big issue for us in the county, is it takes us way too long to get these cases before a judge and we have to do a much better job because we need accountability on the front ends of these cases. Yes?
Question: Follow up on Tony’s question – is the issue – like it seems to be you’re sort of walking around two issues. Is the issue the caseworker getting from the Police Department on these gun cases, or is the issue the time it takes once you get the casework to get someone to trial and get a conviction? And secondly, what’s the acquittal rate in Brooklyn these days for [inaudible] case?
District Attorney Gonzales: We win about half our gun cases that go to trial. So about 50 percent is the acquittal, and the work with the Police Department we’ve gotten much better over the last year, I would say, in particular since we started meeting with the Police Department. They’ve went really out of their way to get us some video showing the apprehensions, and they have a Gun Enhancement Unit in Brooklyn that’s doing phenomenal work, and when those officers that are part of the Gun Enhancement Unit are involved in the case, we see much better results.
Question: Does anyone know the acquittal rate for the other four boroughs?
Chief Monahan: We don’t have the acquittal rate yet—
Commissioner O’Neill: We can get it for you—
Chief Monahan: Yeah, we’ll get it for you. John?
Question: Are body cameras making a difference in gun arrests now and prosecutions?
Chief Monahan: Absolutely, it’s given us exactly what we’re seeing. It’s something – more evidence to go to the District Attorney’s Office, so absolutely, it helps a lot.
Commissioner O’Neill: Rocco.
Chief Monahan: I noticed that the sign is different. Is that a reflection of some of the concerns as a—
[Laughter]
Commissioner O’Neill: What does the sign say?
[Laughter]
I don’t have a copy – we don’t have a copy over here.
Unknown: Deepening our commitment.
Commissioner O’Neill: That’s our homicide plan.
Question: Could you specifically, or I guess, less specifically of the Brooklyn area, what – to what can you attribute this rise in murders? Is there anything in particular that you’re eyeing in terms of why there is an increase in homicides?
Chief Pollock: It’s gun mur – it’s gun violence is really what it is. And as Chief Monahan alluded to, it gets a little tricky. We had fifteen versus five, but five of them are reclassifications so, you know, it’s something that we handle year over year so we just count – we count it, but as far as the analysis goes it’s really ten versus five.
Question: Do you know who makes these signs or who comes up with the phrases? I’ve always been curious, many of us have been?
Mayor: We’ll let the – our colleagues from the world of communications let you know about the sign making wizardry.
Unknown: Aren’t we in Crime Stats?
[Laughter]
Commissioner O’Neill: Hold on Dave, just one second. Yeah?
Question: Can you talk a little more about the need for the reentry stat? Is there any trends within the trend that prompted that?
Chief Pollock: Yeah, the Police Department has had much of their success because of the CompStat platform and three years ago, a little more than three years ago, a process called RXStat was created where we joined public health with public safety and there was a conversation there how we could help with the opioid and there was a conversation there, how we could help with the opioid epidemic. So through conversations with Chauncey Parker who heads HIDTA and the Manhattan DA’s Office, we asked if we could be part of the reentry process, because anything that’s going to strengthen our communities is of an interest to us. It’s not about incarceration – it’s about what do people need to successfully not reoffend. So that’s the genesis, the impetus of reentry stat, as it stands right now.
Chief Monahan: And we look at the last year, parolees – so your parolees in non-fatal shootings, they were the perpetrator 40 times, and they were the victims 69 times. In homicides, they were the perpetrators 21 times and the victim 12, so it’s a portion of what our crime stats are, so this is maybe one way that we can help get rid of those numbers, or lower them.
Commissioner O’Neill: Dave, sorry.
Question: You certainly touched on this one – I wanted to ask you again. When you took office five years ago, no one thought that crime would go lower, and you’ve had great success in that, through Commissioner Bratton and also Commissioner O’Neill. But when did you see this trend starting, at least with homicides, starting to change. You must have been, given the history of the last five years—
Mayor: Sure.
Question: —worried?
Mayor: Oh yeah, absolutely. No, I get it every day and we talk about it every day. The – literally one of the first things I see every morning is what happened in the last 24 hours in terms of homicides and shootings. And so, it’s quite clear when you see a trend. Now I will say, Dave, we had some other times over the last five years where the numbers went up for a period of time, then came back down. So, one of the things experience has taught me is don’t judge too soon. But, no, it’s obviously an area of concern, we know the specific precincts where there’s an issue and this is exactly why we have CompStat and exactly why we have precision policing, to make those adjustments and make those movements. So we take it very, very seriously.
Now, over all, I would say, five straight years of crime going down, and two years that we’ve had under 300 homicides, which hasn’t happened since the 1950s, I am still confident that the NYPD will keep driving down crime because I just see greater and greater ability. I see the NYPD doing things better and better all the time, and we’re still feeling the positive benefits of neighborhood policing, of the 2,000 more officers on patrol. Those are still pretty new things and their full impact is still yet to be felt, and obviously we’re going to have, I think, a real impact from greater number of gun prosecutions, et cetera. So I’m confident that we can continue the progress we’ve made but yeah, to your question, when I see even a little bit of change, I’m talking to the Commissioner, he’s talking to me.
District Attorney Gonzales: And as the Mayor said, in Brooklyn, last year was a historic low in terms of homicides, under 100 homicides, and in the last two years, 100 fewer shootings in Brooklyn. So, we’re taking this gun violence very seriously. Now, we’re going to work with the Mayor and the Commissioner to make sure that we’re always paying attention to every single case. But, I’m optimistic as the chief law enforcement officer in Brooklyn, that we’re going to continue to make sure Brooklyn is a safe place to raise our families and to live and work so, we’re pretty confident that this is just an area of concern but not necessarily a lasting trend.
Commissioner O’Neill: All right, so much for Crime Stats. Crime, specific crimes or other police questions. Grace.
Question: I have a question about a bike messenger who was killed in Williamsburg on Thursday night, hit and run. Any update on locating the driver or making an arrest in the case?
Commissioner O’Neill: Chief Chan will speak about that, thank you.
Chief of Transportation Thomas Chan, NYPD : That investigation on Broadway, in the vicinity of Rodney Street occurred on Thursday, 2/28 at 11:00, 11:30, five hours in the evening, in the confines of 9-0 Precinct. We have a bicyclist that was traveling on Broadway itself and subsequently, we believe that a silver-colored tanker truck, going eastbound at the direction struck the bicyclist and left the scene of that particular location. The bicyclist was pronounced DOA at the scene itself. We do have information. We have a vehicle of interest, and also a driver of interest that we’ve been able to identify. We are in the process of, again, looking for any additional video and also witnesses. We’ve placed our VMS signs out there, prior to the snowstorm, to see if we can get additional evidence. At this process, we have scheduled an individual to come in to be interviewed by our detectives, and it is currently under investigation.
Question: A follow-up on that same issue. My understanding is that five cyclists have been killed so far in the city this year and that none of the drivers involved in any of those deaths have been arrested. I’m wondering if there’s any reason for that – if it’s particularly hard to make these arrests and why? That’s also just compared to last year – there were 10 cyclists during the course of all of 2018 who were killed, so this year we’re only in the beginning of March and it’s already at five.
Commissioner O’Neill: Tom, do you want to talk about the investigations?
Chief Chan: Okay. Again, we have to certainly – the investigation that is conducted by our Collision Investigation Squad is similar to a homicide investigation, which is detailed. We certainly have to ascertain the witnesses, the video, and things of that nature. This one is leaving the scene from that particular collision and we’re working on it – with our detectives, working along with other local precincts and things of that nature. I believe some of them are currently still under investigation and again, we’re working with our DA’s on those particular cases and we will make the arrest when it’s appropriate to.
Mayor: Yeah, and Grace, just to follow up, this is a very serious issue and unquestionably, we’re going to throw everything we got at finding the perpetrators of these crimes. Overall, what we’ve seen in recent years, particularly because there’s a lot more video available, is the NYPD does an extraordinary job of finding people and a lot of these hit and run cases we have brought the perpetrators to justice, so we’re very, very focused on getting that done.
Question: Just one other quick follow up. Cyclists reported that NYPD officers were at that intersection in Williamsburg over the weekend and were ticketing cyclists – they say this is part of a routine that they say occurs after the death of cyclist. They say the police often come to the scene and crack down on cyclists rather than—
Commissioner O’Neill: Yeah, Chief Chan has the numbers. Tom, you want to—
Chief Chan: Okay, and – correction on that. The five collisions involving bicyclists as you mentioned before – we do have one arrest on one of the cases in reference to it. In terms of the enforcement, normally when we have a fatality at any location in the city in things of that nature, involving a vehicle and things of that nature, we will conduct a 72-hour enforcement plan at that particular location. In the 72-hour plan, we issued 33 summonses – one summons was issued to a bicyclist. So again, we are targeting the conduct and also the violations that are occurring out there and again, 33 summonses issued – one to a bicyclist.
Mayor: Can I just, can I just clarify – hold on one sec, Tom, just to clarify – how many were – just so everyone hears it loud and clear – how many were issued to vehicles?
Chief Chan: The other 33 summonses were issued to vehicles. Only one was issued to a bicyclist.
Mayor: There you go.
Question: [Inaudible] we do know from cyclists, we do know from local precinct commanders that they do go on these 72-hour blitzes which do often result in a preponderance of tickets or disproportionate number of tickets to cyclists. As you know automobile drivers killed all of the 201 people who died on city streets last year. We’ve heard from the Mayor on this but from the Commissioner O’Neill, I’d like to understand whether the officers or different precinct commanders know about and are taught about the [inaudible] destructive power of an automobile.
Commissioner O’Neill: They are as a matter of fact because they do go to – they all go to TrafficStat – the XOs, sometimes the COs go to TrafficStat. This is something that Tom Chan speaks about every time he holds a TrafficStat meeting. So we are – we do conduct enforcement and as Tom said out in Brooklyn, 32 went to automobiles, one was to a bicyclist. We do have to make sure that everybody drives safely and rides safely also.
Question: Quickly clarify, that 32 – 33, one to cyclist and 32 to drivers that was from this Thursday – that was the crackdown right after this Thursday’s incident, correct?
Chief Chan: Correct.
Question: [Inaudible]
Chief Chan: Yes.
Question: [Inaudible] fatal bus accident this morning [inaudible] the 1-15 – any criminality there from the bus driver?
Chief Chan: That’s a matter that’s currently being investigated by our Collision Investigation Squad. At approximately 2:55 am in the morning, we have a New York City MTA bus that was travelling westbound on Roosevelt Avenue. Subsequently, the driver was notified that there was a pedestrian that was possibly struck and underneath the wheel of the bus. The individual was subsequently pronounced at the hospital. He is currently unidentified at this time. The bus driver did stop at the scene and it’s a matter that’s being investigated at this time.
Question: Fatal stabbing of Uber driver in 4-5 –
Commissioner O’Neill: Bill?
Chief of Investigations William Aubry, NYPD: This was an incident that happened Saturday night about – a little past nine o’clock. It’s a tragedy. A 27-year-old man trying to make a living, married, two-year-old child – and he was found after a 9-1-1 call was placed at 4160 Hutchinson River Parkway East. He was in his 2015 Toyota Camry. So, we do an investigation, we track down video. We released images – we did a media release of the individual that we feel is responsible for this death. We’re continuing to track down additional video. This suspect was seen wearing all black. He went – ran westbound on Hutchinson River Parkway East then westbound on Bartow Avenue then northbound on Co-op City Boulevard. We looked at other robberies in the area to see if they match up – if this matches up to any other ones and it doesn’t. So, we’re continuing to track down video and witnesses. I would ask the public – please help us. Call Crime Stoppers, contact them if you have any information leading to the death of this 27-year-old man.
Question: [Inaudible]
Chief Aubry: Yeah, he was working. There’s different ways that – I know he had worked for Uber. He also picked up fares along the street. We did recover his phone and we did recover money. So, it doesn’t, at this point, appear that anything of value was taken from him. Crime Scene is processing that vehicle right now and we’re hoping that we get some forensic evidence.
Question: [Inaudible]
Chief Aubry: Right now we would classify it as an attempted robbery then the car crashed but that can always change.
Question: One Detective Simonsen’s shooting, I know the department said last week that the ballistics evidence had been inconclusive. Does the department have more clarity on how this all happened, where people were standing, how this went so tragically wrong, and if the department is clear on it, is there any intention to [inaudible] –
Commissioner O’Neill: We did a briefing, the Force Investigation Division did a briefing for us. It’s hard to watch but any officer-involved shooting, we’re going to learn from it. And I asked Chief Shortell from the Training Bureau – oversight by Commissioner Tucker – to conduct a comprehensive review of what happened and what we’re teaching people when they respond to armed commercial robberies. I don’t know, Ben, if you want to add anything to it –
Deputy Commissioner Tucker: So, that inquiry has begun and in fact we’ll be getting together again this week – I think Wednesday – with Chief Shortell and this team that we put together to take a deep dive and look into just the circumstances. Very complicated which is why we ended up with this tragedy. So, we’ll look at it very closely. We’ll take it apart and try to come up with and get some sense of – both in terms of how it will inform us going forward in terms of how we train and reminding our officers about the need to be really focused on what they do at the scenes when they arrive and what information they have and let that drive and dictate what they do next. But as you all know when you have a situation as fluid as this one was and as quickly as it occurred, it makes it very challenging.
Question: At the 103rd Precinct on Friday there was a man who was found dead in his backyard under, sort of, mystery circumstances – just wondering if there’s any update on that.
Commissioner O’Neill: Bill, you have anything on that –
Chief Aubry: Yeah, I’ll have to look into it for you but at this point I think I would know about it if there was any criminality. Usually, we wait for the autopsy – if something would come back from the OCME, we would get notified. So, I’ll get back to you on that.
Question: Commissioner, following up on what Commissioner Tucker just mentioned about [inaudible] Detective Simonsen’s death – in light of the body camera decision out of the appellate division, are you going to be in the process of releasing this long backlog of body camera [inaudible] FOIA? And have you given an consideration of what [inaudible] criminal case compromise your ability to disclose the body camera videos [inaudible]?
Commissioner O’Neill: Each and every incident is different, and we spoke about that before the TRO went into place. We are working with local prosecutors, in this case the Queens District Attorney’s Office, and at some point I’m sure we will be releasing some of that body-worn camera footage.
Question: [Inaudible] homeless being beat up by a bunch of kids [inaudible]?
Commissioner: [Inaudible] got that.
Chief Aubry: Yes, sir. So, yes, we actually have good news. So, there were five individuals that punched, kicked, and threw objects at four individuals that were on a sidewalk on 10th Avenue between 60th and 61st Street on Saturday – that was the 23rd. It was about 6:45 am in the morning. So, one of those males – it’s a 42-year-old – he’s in critical condition at Lutheran Hospital and he’s on a ventilator right now. Three other individuals – a male, 61; male, 51; and male, 41 – are recovering.
So, in the course of our investigation we have identified three individuals. Two of them are in custody for unrelated matters – and I’ll go through each one. [Inaudible] Romero – he’s a 25-year-old. He’s in custody for committing an unrelated robbery on Saturday in transit. In additional Jesus Guadalupe – he’s a 29-year-old, he’s in custody from February 28th. He had an open container and he gave a false name.
And then, the one individual that’s still wanted is [inaudible] and we’ll get you additional information. This is him. And then there’s two more individuals that were punching and kicking them which we have – we’re close to getting their government names and we’ll release that to you once we have it.
Question: [Inaudible]
Chief Aubry: No, they – this case is ongoing and it’s developing. Romero was just arrested on Saturday night for that unrelated transit robbery but they will be charged for this crime.
Question: [Inaudible]
Chief Aubry: No, the individuals that approached the four that were sleeping – I believe it was a robbery. I believe that they were looking for money as well.
Commissioner O’Neill: Any other – anything else? Yeah –
Question: [Inaudible]
Commissioner O’Neill: Bill, can you go over the hate crime numbers please?
Chief Aubry: Yes, sir. So, the hate crimes are up 66 versus 47 this year versus last – that’s an increase of 19 or 40 percent. In those 66 cases there were 33 arrests and of those 66, 51 are either aggravated harassment, criminal mischief. The difference between aggravated harassment would be where there is no damage, there’s graffiti, you’ve written in chalk, shaving cream, or even snow we had an incident – a swastika. It seems like most of the increases are in anti-Semitic type crimes. And the criminal mischief – where there is damage to a piece of property. So, that’s what we’re noticing. Again, the 33 arrests this year versus 17 arrests last year at the same period of time.
So, these types of crime are very difficult when you have somebody drawing an anti-Semitic symbol on a piece of property. We’d hope that there’s video. In some of these instances there is video where we could get an identification or a lead in the direction that this individual that the perps came from or fled to. We’re hoping that there’s witnesses. But just looking at the 33 arrests – that’s a lot of hard work done by our Hates Crimes Unit headed up by Inspector Mark Molinaro.
Commissioner O’Neill: Thanks, Bill. Yeah?
Question: I have to ask the Mayor this question about snow –
Mayor: Okay, can we – we’ll certainly come to other topics.
Unknown: Last call on police matters.
Commissioner O’Neill: Yeah, one last –
Question: [Inaudible] Bronx. Is there any [inaudible] –
Chief Aubry: I’d rather not comment on that right now. That car is being processed today by our Crime Scene Unit. So, as part of that – delving into that vehicle, that’s one of the things that we look at in addition to forensic evidence.
Question: [Inaudible] San Francisco, it’s actually required to [inaudible] –
Mayor: Sorry, say it again. My apology.
Question: [Inaudible] cities it’s required to film the passengers [inaudible]. Is that something your administration has discussed to [inaudible]?
Mayor: Look, our goal is to keep everyone safe including obviously the folks who drive for-hire vehicles. And you know, I take my lead from the NYPD on what they think will help us achieve it. So, if that’s something we need to look at we will but we’ll be governed by what the NYPD thinks will be effective. One more.
Question: [Inaudible] which arrest was made in the cyclists’ death so far this year?
Commissioner O’Neill: Tom Chan, do you have that? We’ll have to get back to you, okay?
Chief Aubry: Just last week when there was a press conference on Friday, the 7-0 murder of the 15-year-old on Flatbush Avenue was mentioned and Chief Shea had mentioned about we’re making progress. We do have a person identified. We have probable cause on that person. This 15-year-old – it was Friday, February 22nd 5:44 when he was shot and killed – in his torso, head, and arm.
There were two individuals that we were looking for. I thank the public because you helped us, the media helped us, the public helped us identify this individual. And this is his picture. It’s Martial Amilcar. He’s a 22-year-old individual and we’re going to get you information on him. So, I thank you again for helping us solve this murder.
Question: [Inaudible]
Chief Aubry: He indicated that he was looking for the older brother, yes.
Question: [Inaudible]
Chief Aubry: We’re still investigating. Again, we don’t have him in custody yet. We’re asking for your help to locate him. Our Fugitive Enforcement Division is currently looking for him – to try to locate him and try to arrest him and then hopefully we’ll have additional information after that as far as what the reason was.
Mayor: Okay, reset.
[...]
Okay, sorry, I don’t know your name.
Question: [Inaudible]
Mayor: I’m sorry, my apology.
Question: [Inaudible] PIX-11. So, I just have to ask you, do you still stand by your decision to close public schools for today and what do you say to critics who were bashing that decision?
Mayor: Nicole, the decision I make with the Schools Chancellor is always – whoops, sorry, my apology. Nicole, the decision I make with the Schools Chancellor is always about the safety of our kids. That’s the number one consideration and we looked at the information at the end of the afternoon yesterday. It had been very, very consistent. It indicated the kind of situation that was going to hit right as the school buses were rolling and potentially very intense accumulation around that time. And it just did not look like a safe situation for kids based on the information we had.
You know, later there was an update around 10:00 pm or 10:30 pm that confirmed the same exact trend. So, we have to make decisions based on the information we have. If we think we’re seeing a clear picture then it’s important to let our parents know as quickly as possible. I was a public school parent and I’ll tell you parents need that information at the first available option.
We also consulted with a variety of experts – not just the National Weather Service – throughout the afternoon yesterday. Had we seen a variety of projections and opinions, we might have delayed the decision but every analysis was the same. It was very consistent and based on the information we had we thought it was important to make the decision and get the word out to parents.
Question: Let’s put aside the weather prognostication on that one – let’s talk a little bit about cars. Obviously, teachers got 50,000 parking spaces as a result of your administration expanding the use of placards. A lot of police officers, fire fighters drive to work – 51 percent of cops live outside of the City. You’ve spoken a little bit about how you want to create more parking for police officers, more parking for FDNY officials – is this cancellation of school, could it be seen within the prism of someone who views New York commuting as a car-based thing when, in fact, it is mostly a transit –
Mayor: Well, obviously, Gersh, there’s a thing called school buses and a huge number of our kids get to school on school buses. And the report that we had made very clear that the storm could be at its worst directly at the time when school buses were starting to roll, let alone what it would mean in terms of our Sanitation Department’s ability to clear streets if we had that much more activity on them. So, we have to look at all of these things in perspective. Look, like you, I would like to see more and more people use mass transit. I am someone who did not even own a car until 1999, and I do not intend to own a car, going forward. But when you’re thinking about a decision like a snow storm, you do have to take into account that a lot of people do use cars. There’s a lot of trucks out there, there’s a lot of school buses out there – we have to look at all of that, and the number-one question is how do we keep our kids safe?
Question: Just following up on that, what – to what extent are teachers who need to drive into the City taken into account in this? Anecdotally, we’re just hearing that – and maybe there are numbers to back this up – that more and more teachers are living – who work in the public school system, don’t live in the City, but commute in from elsewhere.
Mayor: It’s certainly a factor. The most important factor is – and everyone would agree with this, including our teachers – the most important factor is the safety of our kids, and that is where we make the decision, first and foremost. We’re aware of the fact that a lot of our staff are coming in from relatively far away. So, that certainly informs what kind of school day we would have if we really had tough conditions. In this case, it was clear the worst snowfall would be to the north of the City, but it was also clear the storm was moving eastward, so we didn’t like either of those things. We didn’t like the fact that for teachers and other staff coming in from the northern suburbs – that was going to be a challenge. For staff coming in from Long Island, they were actually going to be experiencing worse weather as the hours passed, leading up to school starting – a lot of pieces that did not look good here. And the other thing to remember is – and we’ve all been through this together – take the National Weather Service report, and then as a matter of precaution you have to add several more inches to the report. As a question of safety, you have to be conservative. We’ve seen those reports jump up. I remember the storm that ended up being the worst in the history of New York City – I think it was 28-29 inches – started out – early reports – as eight to 10 inches, and just jumped up intensely as we went along. And so, we’ve learned that hard way that you've got to assume the worst projection, and then some. And you’ve got to assume that it will come at the worst possible time. So, originally, the projection was the hours right before rush hour – we had to assume that could easily drift right in to the middle of rush hour.
Question: [Inaudible] City’s response to the November snow storm, which sort of escalated and [inaudible] quicker than people expected color this response? And how much of the administration’s response [inaudible] analysis showing that your administration has been more likely to declare snow days than your predecessors is colored by some of the troubles the City’s had with dealing with snow storms in the past, most infamously the [inaudible] –
Mayor: Yeah, the last storm was very different, obviously, and it wasn’t around a time that would have affected school. So, really, the decisions we make are based on our history with storms that might have affected the opening of school. And we definitely had a few situations, like I just described, where the numbers came in a lot higher than projected and the timing was worse than was originally projected. So, that’s very much in the front of our mind. Now, this is the first school day we’ve had – snow day we’ve had all year. So, it’s still a pretty rare occurrence. But, you know, I think the important is the think about – thinking about those school buses rolling, you’re thinking about families taking their kids to school, whether they’re in a vehicle, whether they’re in a school bus, whether they’re on foot, whether they’re on subway. If it looks like everything is coming together at exactly the wrong time – icy conditions, intense snowfall – that’s when we get worried, and this one looked like that could exactly happen – that worst-case scenario could happen.
Yes, Willie?
Question: Do you support Governor Cuomo’s efforts to revive the Amazon deal, bringing Amazon back? And have you or anybody in your administration or EDC reached out to Amazon as part of it?
Mayor: I see no evidence that Amazon is reconsidering. My team has certainly made clear to the folks at Amazon, if they want to engage in discussions, we will certainly have discussions. But there is no evidence this point that there’s any interest.
Question: [Inaudible] can you talk about that? Have they called them recently to say, we’re here to discuss –
Mayor: They made clear last week, as, you know, some more information seemed to be flowing, that we’re ready to talk if they want to talk, but we’ve gotten no tangible evidence of that.
Yes?
Question: I had a budget question for you –
Mayor: Please.
Question: So, you want your agencies to collectively cut $750 million – at least, maybe more, depending on what’s needed. I’m curious – the Council Speaker said he would like to see zero service reductions as part of that – and I’m curious if you think that’s realistic or if you’ve included any sort of mandates like that in your directives that you’re going to give to your agencies?
Mayor: I appreciate the question. So, $750 million is overall savings that have to be achieved from the time of the preliminary budget to the time of the executive budget. Now, that can include the PEG program, the expansion of the partial hiring freeze, and any other form of savings. It’s not that it’s only one kind of savings – we’re looking for any and all that will get us to $750 million by April. The goal, of course, is to avoid service cuts and I think many agencies, when challenged, when they handle this kind of scenario properly, find other types of savings that do not affect frontline service. But I did say at the time of the preliminary budget, if an agency is not constructive in that process, the Budget Director will make those decisions herself. And I also said that we’re not holding programmatic activates harmless – we’re not saying those are outside the conversation. There may be some programs that when we look at it, we don’t feel are as worthwhile as other things we spend money on. But what I think will happen is a mixture of hiring-related savings, other types of savings, and then the PEG program, and generally that will be agencies finding something other than frontline service to cut from.
Question: Have you sent out any directives to the agencies yet to say, here’s how much your agency needs to cut?
Mayor: That will be happening very soon. It has not been sent yet, but it will be happening very soon.
Yes?
Question: Can you talk a little bit about – just sort of swing it back to Amazon – sort of, what lessons you learned from Amazon and how you’re going to apply those in selling congestion pricing in the deal you struck with the Governor last week?
Mayor: Well, look, it’s a very fair question, but I also want to note the apples and oranges dynamic here. The approach that I took I think was part of an outcome in which a clear majority of New Yorkers believed the Amazon deal would mean more jobs, more revenue, more opportunity for people living in public housing or kids coming out of CUNY. There was clear majority support. So, all of the information that was put out, all of the making-the-argument clearly worked if we’re talking about majority rule. If we’re talking about how one company makes it own decision, that’s an entirely different matter. So, I think there was always going to be some dissent, that’s normal in New York City. I’m certain there’s some things we could have explained better, but when you already have majority support, including a lot of elected officials, a lot of small business owners and leaders, a lot of public housing leaders – I mean, we had the support. It really came down to Amazon’s decision. None of us saw that coming. If they had simply stayed the course, we would be in the middle of implementing right now.
Question: Congestion pricing polls pretty well, not unlike the Amazon deal, but it’s opposed by, you know, sort of, vocal minorities, people who drive a lot, commuters into the City who do have a lot of sway in Albany. Are you worried that this is another situation where, sort of, you know, a tightly knit-together opposition can defeat, in your mind, the will of the majority?
Mayor: Look, it’s fair to say it’s a major decision and there’s going to be strong views on both sides. But again, to your first question – I think it’s a very fair one, but I think actually looking at the difference between the two is important. There was a lot of support for the jobs and the revenue that the Amazon deal would bring and there was not a particular reason it had to stop. The difference here is, the congestion pricing plan has to go to a full vote in the Legislature. So, it’s an entirely different process. Now, there’s clearly openness both in the Assembly and the Senate. Look at everything that we’ve heard from the Legislative leaders, they’ve maintained an open view. I think there’s been a clear understanding that something has to give, there has to be a decision as part of the budget that will allow us to finally fix the MTA once and for all. I will tell you, that unlike something like that Amazon deal, which was a new thing, the subways are not a new thing and elected officials have been hearing from their constituents for years and years with great intensity, especially the last few years. So, I think, if you’re a Senator or an Assembly member, you’re thinking about your constituents who are demanding a solution and something has to happen. There’s not an option for the Legislature not to act. Also, with the Governor and I finally having come to a shared vision, that’s a powerful statement, and that vision talks about multiple types of revenue and it talks about a lockbox, which is something I think a lot of New Yorkers wanted to know – that there would be a guarantee, the money would actually go to the subways and buses, and really addresses some of the fairness issues too that have been associated with the issue. So, I think there’s momentum. I’m going to talk to a lot of people in Albany and I’m going to go around the City talking about this, and I’m going to talk about it as someone who’s views evolved because the crisis got worse and worse and we had to do something.
Question: I’ve asked you about this a couple times previously – do you think that work rule concessions from the building trades and from the TWU should be part of the any congestion pricing package, because so much of the MTA’s problem is cost overruns and an inability to operate efficiently, maybe not so much in actual funding shortfall, at least on the operating side.
Mayor: Well, I think it’s more than that. I appreciate the question. Look, I think, right now, to get a congestion pricing and overall funding plan done, we’ve got to focus on the plan in front of us. I think there’s always issues to be worked through with labor about how to make sure any organization works effectively. And look at the example with municipal labor – we’ve gotten a lot of very constructive work done. Obviously a great example – the recent teacher’s contract, where we came to an agreement on how to staff schools that were really having challenges getting to full staffing; what we’ve done with the Municipal Labor Council in terms of health care savings. There’s lots of good examples of people recognizing there’s a shared interest. So, obviously, we have to do that with the MTA as well. But I don’t think that’s part of the decision over the next four weeks. I also think, to your point, the problems of the MTA management go far beyond anything in labor deals, and I agree with the Governor that that structure needs to be revamped. And as you know, I agree with the notion of one person being held responsible, and, in this case, the Governor.
Question: In your media event after you announced the deal with the Governor, the day after you were on – you’re getting on the subway, Gersh asked you a question – what did you glean from the trip? And your response was, what I gleaned is that people really depend on their subways. They need their subways to get to work, and they’re frustrated, because a lot of people I talked to – and I don’t know when I’ve ever – you know, say that they don’t know whenever they’re going [inaudible] – to paraphrase your quote. Do you worry that you’ve sort of become disconnected from the pain that New Yorkers feel every day when it comes to riding the subways?
Mayor: No. You know, look, guys, I hope you understand as someone who rode the subways fro decades and decades that that was not a revelation to me. I was only telling you what I heard from people. Gleaned is eye of the beholder – I’m going to hold Gersh personally responsible. Glean –
Question: It was a softball question.
Mayor: Thank you. Glean does not mean heard it for the first time, you know – amazing, stunning revelation. Obviously, I know what people have been going through and I’ve experienced it myself plenty of times. My point only was to say, the frustration levels are intense, the fact that people are demanding a solution and they know the time is now, that we can’t wait any longer.
Last call if there’s anything else? Yes?
Question: Just to touch one more thing on congestion pricing, there’s some folks from Long Island in the State Legislature, Democratic State Senators from out there who are arguing that in order for them to support it, they want to see a portion of the revenue, or a fair share – however, they put it – of the revenue go toward Long Island Railroad improvements. You have made a big deal about the lockbox and the revenue being dedicated to the subway’s needs in particular. I’m wondering how you respond to that and to what extent you’d be open to seeing a portion, or however large a portion, of the revenue go to the railroad, to the commuter rails?
Mayor: So, one, I respect their concerns because they’re talking about mass transit for their communities. Two, we need to come an agreement that those Senators can live with. The lockbox idea is that, whatever the dollar figure that’s going to be committed to our subways and buses cannot be moves, it can’t be supplanted, it can’t be transferred. And, bluntly – well, unfortunately, I’m speaking from painful experience – almost half a billion dollars in the last seven, eight years was moved out of the MTA budget and to the State overall budget, even though it was dedicated MTA revenue. So, we have to make sure that never happens again, there has to be a legally binding agreement to stop that. But I am open to whatever gets us to a solution by April 1st, that’s the bottom line.
Yes?
Question: Mayor, I know you’ve sort of the toyed with the idea of running for President, and last week the First Lady said in an interview on a podcast that she didn’t think it was the right for you to run. Do you guys have different personal realities on that?
Mayor: No. Again, I haven’t ruled anything out, and she and I are constantly thinking about what we think is the right thing to do, and there’s nothing new to say. She was only saying – making a very broad comment.
Yes?
Question: Kind of going off of that, and to your earlier comments about the Governor, there was an article in the Atlantic about the Governor today, in which he said – not today, sorry – but in which he said he didn’t feel he had been petty, sort of suggesting that maybe you had been petty in the relationship before. And also what do you think of his aspirations – potential aspirations to run for President?
Mayor: You know, I don’t want to re-litigate anything from the past. The Governor and I obviously have had some real difference and they’ve been very substantive and philosophical differences. And we’ve also found some areas that we agreed upon and we could work together on – mayoral control of education, Amazon, and now, of course, the plan to fix the subways. So, you know, I think the important thing is to keep trying to work together on all of the areas we agree. And if I think he’s doing something that’s not good for New York City, I’ll stand up for New York City. I’m not going to comment on anybody’s political aspirations or decisions – that’s for each person to make for themselves.
Okay. Thanks, everyone.
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