Transcript: Mayor Adams Announces $77 Million in Federal Grants to Electrify School Buses, Build First-in-the-Nation Electric Truck Charging Depot

March 18, 2024

Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: We're excited to be here. As somebody mentioned earlier, there's no better backdrop than school buses: what could go wrong if we've got school buses in the background? But we're here to welcome and celebrate a major milestone to fight for a greener and healthier New York.

I do want to take one minute to talk about and thank all of the members of our Federal Infrastructure Funding Task Force, which began at the beginning of the Adams administration because of all the new opportunities coming out of the bipartisan infrastructure law and the IRA. 

The agencies work collaboratively together. We submit multiple applications for the same program. program, something that used to be taboo. We asked for more money than is officially being offered; and in this case, as Lisa pointed out, it worked because the cap was much, was half of what we applied for and we got double that. And we also have agencies compete against each other, and that's proven successful as well because there's very many instances in which both agencies win grants.

Just in the last two months, we've been selected for over $200 million in awards. Last week, USDOT announced that we won the Historic Reconnecting Communities Construction Grant, $117 million to create a park in Queens — Queensway Park, and a $5.6 million planning grant to plan and envision what we can do in the north and south sections of the BQE— or, Robert Moses Highway— that ripped those neighborhoods apart. 

So, we're really thankful for the hard work and thought that goes into all of the applications that we put forward. But the reason we're here today is thanks to President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg and the EPA as well, because thinking about how transportation and climate can really work together to reinvent our city is important and it starts with our kids. 
And I want to just say, it's not just about transportation. All of these kids riding electric school buses will now think that electric is the norm and they'll expect that. And I think that culture change is just as

important as actually the emissions reduction. And with that, I'd like to turn it over to our mayor, Eric Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: The buses are running?

Deputy Mayor Joshi: Yes, they're so quiet, you can't hear them. 

Mayor Adams: Wow, technology's amazing. Thanks everyone who's here. Congressman, thank you so much. You know, we can't do it without our partners in Washington, D.C. And cannot think of a better partner than what you have been bringing in, I think over a billion dollars thus far in grants coming from Washington, D.C. 

You have been a steadfast committer to not only the environment but also to the environment here in the Bronx, often an area that is overlooked. We were clear when we came into office that was not going to be the case, and we're living out and proving that every day with our real federal partners. 

And also thank you, deputy mayor, you have brought a level of expertise to how do we connect the dollars that are coming from Washington, D.C. to actual projects we could do here on the ground to improve what has historically been a problem not only around the asthma issues, this community often is known, locales, as Asthma Alley. 

We have often used the economic development of the city at the expense of communities like the Bronx, Hunts Point, East New York, Brooklyn and other parts of the city. And so hats off to the entire team. 

And I want to thank Matt Berlin, CEO of New York City School Bus Umbrella Services, Robert Reichenbach, president of Bird Bus Sales, and to all who are standing next to us during this important announcement, particularly on the federal level. 

And this is clearly an alignment of what this administration has stated two years ago when we came into office with a clear mission: protecting public safety, revitalizing our economy and make this city livable for hardworking New Yorkers. And after more than two years, I keep saying it over and over again and it will resonate, our streets are safe, we have more jobs in the private and public sector in the history of the city, and our city is getting cleaner and cleaner due to what the amazing work of the Department of Sanitation is doing every day. 

And we're taking another big step towards our vision for New York City. And I always said, you know, I'm a five borough mayor. This is a city where we have five boroughs, not one. I'm a five borough mayor. Manhattan centered has always been viewed as those who in the outer boroughs that they were ignored and denied their proper access and resources. This is a five borough administration. 

We are proud to announce that New York City has won $77 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

Our congressman and the team, Minority Leader Jeffries, have really just called for assistance for New York City and particularly here in the borough of the Bronx, Congressman Espaillat has brought home those resources over and over again. 

And this grant will allow us to put more electric vehicles on our streets and take thousands of pounds of CO2 out of our air. This will allow us to turn one of the world's largest food distribution centers on the globe into one of the world's greenest facilities. 

This terminal market and this area feeds so many New Yorkers across the entire city, and it was at the cost of their health and healthy environment, and we are going to change that. This is going to also allow us to grow the green economy and build a cleaner future for New Yorkers. So, this is a big deal. This is a huge deal and part of our overall master plan, $77 million to make New York City even more resilient. 

And that starts with replacing dirty diesel school buses with clean electric ones, because when students step on board New York City's yellow school buses they're stepping into the future, and it should be a healthy future. We want that future to be safe, clean and healthy, and these funds would do that. 

It will also allow us to put another 180 electric schools buses into service. Help us… You can clap for that. 

Help us transition our entire fleet to zero emission vehicles by 2035, something we're moving towards and adding with the electrifying of our school buildings as well, and create new paid internship opportunities to train students in the electrification jobs of the future. Oftentimes these young people are left behind, and we want to ensure that they're part of the green dollars that come with the green economy. Thousands of trucks pass through Hunts Point every day. We want to make sure those trucks are electric, and that is why we are announcing another grant to build the first in the nation electric truck charger at Hunt's Point and charge over 7,000 vehicles each year.

We talked about this in my State of the City address, and I told you that we were going to grow our green economy and create the harbor of the future and that we are going to use our historic waterways to turbocharge innovation and create jobs from Hunts Point to the north shore of Staten Island.

Today, we are taking another step in getting that done. We have an amazing waterway here in the city. It was underutilized. With the partnership of our congressional delegation and the City Council, we will be able to finally put our waterways to use as they are meant to do. The more we use the waterways, the more we can take vehicles off our streets and produce a cleaner and better product.

Hunts Point is the largest food distribution center of its kind, and this funding will help deliver greens to New Yorkers in the greenest possible way while creating 50 new green collar jobs and helping train hundreds of truck drivers every year. 

And you know, there's a real trucking shortage, truck driver shortage. As we look to improve unemployment numbers, this is an excellent opportunity to do so, a good career path job, and we're going to encourage our young people to participate in.

And as I said, this is a big deal.

It's going to keep our children safe in and around our school buses, and help ensure that every single New Yorker has clean air to breathe, especially in Black and Brown communities where this problem has been so pervasive for so many years and it has been ignored. 

There's a reason these young people are having asthma pumps in their hands, because far too long we have been pumping dangerous toxic fumes in the communities where these young people live, play and grow up in. That is changing. For too long, we have let our economy grow at the expense of these neighborhoods, and we have watched air pollution and respiratory diseases rise and increase. 
It's time to give rid of those names like Asthma Alley and produce healthy environments and healthy alleys. That is what it looks like when our government works for all of us and when leaders from New York City to Congress come together and produce the quality of product that we know we can produce. 

So again, I want to thank Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi and her team. What she has been doing with over a billion dollars to modernize our infrastructure and improve public spaces. Just last week, we announced that we had secured another $120 million through the federal government's Reconnecting Communities Program. 

Over and over again, you're just bringing home the bacon, man. You know, over and over again... bringing home those federal dollars. This funding will allow us to expand the Queensway Park. This is an attempt that has been made for so many years. It's going to provide residents with new green space and repair the damage caused by the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. This is an exciting project that we rolled out and we were able to secure the funding to put it in place. 

So, I really want to thank everyone here from President Biden who championed the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Environmental Protection Agency and all our partners who are making New York City the greenest on the globe. Congratulations, job well done. 

And I don't know the speaking order, but with all the money he brought in, I gotta bring up our congressman to come and say a few words. 

US Representative Adriano Espaillat: I told the mayor that all that bacon is going to lift my cholesterol to another level. [Laughter.] 
Well, thank you mayor and deputy mayor, and all of you that are here from the Adams team. This is how we clean the environment, this is how we clean the air, a bus at a time. time, right? A truck at a time, right? And this funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act, don't forget the last word, the "jobs" word, because this money not only brings infrastructure, but is an economic stimulus for the economy, right? 

It's a job‑producing initiative. And so, the charging station, great for this neighborhood. A lot of truck traffic here, obviously. So, this will help us get away from fossil fuels and help us clean the environment, particularly in the Bronx and other places where, as was said earlier, children suffer from a high level of asthma and other respiratory diseases. 

So, this is the kind of work that we like to do in Washington. It produces changes. Infrastructure is not a cheap endeavor, right? It's deep pocket, right? You travel to other places in the world. You know, I get jealous. I see the infrastructure in some other countries, and I say, wow, America, come on, let's do it. 

And this is what it is, right? This is how we do it. Like the song says, right? 

This is how we do it, right? Yes, I think this is a song like that. I think I'm aging myself here. 

But this is important. $75 million in federal grants for new electric school buses and the truck charging infrastructure at the Hunts Point produce market, which is one of the biggest, if not the biggest in the country, in the Northeast for sure. It feeds all of the East Coast and maybe a little bit more than that. 

So, this is so important, it's an historic investment. We'll put 180 clean school buses in our New York City streets and ensure clean and breathable air for all the kids in our neighborhoods. 

So, this is important, they ought to learn about this, too, because this is also like a culture, right, that you got to develop. It's not just the bus, it's not just the charging station, it's becoming acquainted with the issues of clean air and the environment, and I think kids are open to that. 

I have a grandson that lives not too far from here. In fact, you know, when I come see him I always get lost on Zerega Avenue. 

So, you're doing some heavy construction there, yeah? And so, he suffers from asthma, right? But he's, you know, he's into the environment. He's a smart little kid, and I think that children now are ready for this. They ought to know that they're going to go on an electric school bus, and it should become part of their everyday culture, right? I think that's what we need to develop in the city.

I want to thank the mayor and all those, I think we have a new regional EPA administrator, right? 

How do I know this? You know, I think it's my team. I have a good team. [inaudible], get up. A hand of applause for my chief of staff. 

You're from the Bronx? And she's from the Bronx, too! Give it up for her! [Laughter.]  Thank you. 

Lisa Garcia, Regional Administrator, Region 2, Environmental Protection Agency: Thank you so much, congressman. Yeah, so right over here grew up on White Plains Road and Gleason Ave, so I would be one of the beneficiaries, and so it is really great to talk about how we are turning the corner. 

You know, I used to hang out on the stoop or go get ices and ride my bike to the playground with my friends, and we never thought about the quality of the air. We were just outside, and so who knew that it was part of Asthma Alley, and that maybe even my asthma was caused because of some of the problems. 

So, it's just great, now working with EPA as regional administrator, partnering with the mayor and leaders in New York City and Congressman Espaillat, and all of our congressional leaders, to really say we are going to put our money where our mouth is, we are going to deliver clean air into the future. 

And so it's so great for [the] EPA to say we are delivering $61 million towards clean school buses. It's really great to say that. And to our grant selectees, our [JP bus truck and repair], Robert, and also NICE bus, where we are here today, CEO Matt Berlin, it's really great to be able to say thank you to everyone for partnering, because this is how we deliver clean air to our children and into the future, is by doing this together. 

So, thank you again for your commitment to this project, to everyone, to all of our partners. Like I said, transitioning to clean school buses means cleaner air, less pollution and means cleaner...or, healthier kids and healthier communities. 

So, the success of the Clean School Bus Program is possible, yes, because of the Biden‑Harris administration, but because of our partners on the Hill saying we will do this; and of course, the Adams administration taking advantage and saying, all right, we're ready, deliver to us.

So, it's really great to be here. EPS says thank you, and cheers to a cleaner, healthier future. Thank you. 

Deputy Mayor Joshi: Now we'll do on topic questions. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Adams: What's happenin'? 

Question: I notice you're covering a lot of council hearings and talking about budgets. We hear a lot about federal emergency Covid aid running out and putting a strain on programs that you have, more federal grants coming in. Can you talk about what the loss of the Covid aid does to your budgets and your priorities? And then, do these grant opportunities make that whole or is it a drop in the bucket?

How does it compare? 

Mayor Adams: Great question, great question. You know it's going to be a huge hole in the budget that many of the permanent programs that were in place, they were based on temporary dollars. such as our pre‑K program. Summer Rising, we were able to pick up the tab for that. 

But there's a list of programs that were being funded based on the dollars that the congressional delegation was able to leverage to get to deal with the pandemic. But those dollars are sunsetted, and we have to make sure that we are able to pick up the costs of those programs because many of them are crucial to the everyday lives of New Yorkers. 

These are different dollars and they come from come through different pathways. So, even as we deal with those sunsetting dollars we cannot ignore the rising sun of having a healthy environment. 

And that's what this delegation has done. They found that we must deal with these environmental issues. But we have to find out and find the dollars to look at those programs that are sunsetting because those are some important programs. 

That's part of the negotiation that's going on right now with the City Council. They're aware of the sunsetting of these dollars, and we have to make sure that we can find a way to fill those holes.

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