Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on WNYC

April 14, 2017

Brian Lehrer: Coming up after our weekly Ask the Mayor segment with Mayor Bill de Blasio which begins right now with the Mayor completing his first week of work from pop-up City Halls in each of the five boroughs. This inaugural week was on Staten Island, the only borough de Blasio lost in the election in 2013 and the only borough that Donald Trump won in 2016. Mr. Mayor, welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you very much, Brian. Speaking to you from lovely Borough Hall, here, in Staten Island.

Lehrer: And Staten Islanders, you’re going to get exclusive rights on the phones for Ask the Mayor today. So if you live on Staten Island, have you been following the Mayor’s week of working from there? Did he learn anything? Did you learn anything? We’ll save some lines for Staten Islanders who did and did not vote for Mayor de Blasio in 2013. And, seriously, if you did not vote for Mayor de Blasio and you currently live on Staten Island, we’re inviting you to call right now and tell the Mayor how he’s actually doing in office according to you or to ask him any question. 2-1-2-4-3-3-WNYC, 4-3-3-9-6-9-2.

And we acknowledge that –

Mayor: Brian, are you going to give equal time to the people who did vote for me?

[Laughter]

Lehrer: That’s the next word out of my mouth. If you did vote for Mayor de Blasio and you currently live on Staten Island, if you’re in that 43 percent of the electorate, we’re inviting you to call in right now for 43 percent of the calls, or something like that, and tell us how he’s doing in office according to you or ask him a question, and maybe tell him how he can win more votes next time from your skeptical Staten Island neighbors. 2-1-2-4-3-3-9-6-9-2 – Staten Island exclusively this morning.

So, Mr. Mayor, you billed this as a listening tour, what are some things you heard that you didn’t know before?

Mayor: Brian, actually, I hate to correct to you but I’m going to right off the bat.

Lehrer: Sure.

Mayor: We never called this a listening tour –

Lehrer: Oh, okay.

Mayor: It was one journalist who decided that was their idea.

Lehrer: Okay.

Mayor: It’s not accurate. What this is – this is literally moving all of the operations of City Hall out to Staten Island to intensively focus on the issues of Staten Island, you know, expedite a lot of solutions, certainly, meeting with the elected officials, community leaders, seeing what people need for sure.

But the biggest impact of the week, I think, was having, you know, commissioners of all the different agencies out here. It was a super focused effort to get the issues of one borough resolved. We’ve been able to make a lot of announcement on issues resolving outstanding concerns of Staten Islanders. So, it’s been much more of an action week than a listening week.

Lehrer: Do you come away, though, with a better sense of why most people on Staten Island wind up with the politics they do? There’s been so much national press about the white, working class voters in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Michigan, and why they went for Trump. Trump got just 18 percent of the vote citywide, here, but on Staten Island he got 57 percent. That’s a larger percentage of the vote than he got in Texas. And it was a similar comparison with the other boroughs in your mayoral race, as you know. So, can you explain it in a way that shows the majority of Staten Islanders, that you get them?

Mayor: Okay, you unpacked several points there. First of all, I think there’s a factual issue you’re missing here. There’s a lot of people in this borough who happen to be registered Republicans and are politically conservative. So, it’s not surprising they would vote for a Republican candidate. That is much more likely in Staten Island than it is elsewhere. I think that is a different –

Lehrer: Why?

Mayor: – phenomenon on it’s face. That’s one piece of the puzzle but I just think we have to be accurate about understanding it’s the most Republican of the boroughs and people vote their values. I think that makes perfect sense.

Lehrer: But that’s really my question – it’s why? Why would it be such a Republican bastion in a sea of blue otherwise?

Mayor: Well, you just need to know a little history to understand that. A lot of people over, really, decades migrated out of the Democratic Party and into the Republican Party in Staten Island, and some other places in the surrounding metropolitan region. It’s just been a part of history.

And I don’t think for a moment we stop speaking to folks because we have a different sort of part or stop serving them. But I think we also have to be honest about the fact if someone has a philosophical view of the world and they strongly feel it, they’re going to vote according to that view.

Now, that being said, there are a lot of Democrats on Staten Island, too, and independents, who voted for Trump, for example.

I think the reality here is very, very different, for example, than in the Rust Belt and I really – some people have asked me this. You can’t make a stronger differentiation. The Rust Belt has had too many areas that unfortunately that have had failing economies, people feeling that government did not serve their needs, did not address their economic distress whereas Staten Island, overall in the scheme of things, is an area that’s doing pretty well and a lot of people do have good jobs. A lot of people in public service have good and secure jobs.

So, I think this is more about philosophy than about economics in the case of Staten Island. But to your other point, you know, do I have a better sense of things? I have to tell you, I’ve been working on Staten Island issues and with people on Staten just going back over 25 years. There’s nothing I learned this week that I didn’t know broadly already about the broad views here, the values, the concerns of people here.

I learned about some specific issues I didn’t know enough about. I met some people I hadn’t met but the basic realities of Staten Island I had a good take on. And look, my job is to show people that this City government can get things done for them. The repaving effort has been a crucial part of that. People needed to see that something as essential to Staten Islanders as the roads they drive more than people in any borough, we could fix their roads. We can improve the Staten Island Ferry – 24/7 service. We’ve done lower level boarding to make it easier for people to get on. And we can address sort of everyday life issues that face Staten Islanders in particular ways.

That transcends ideology. That’s the kind of thing people appreciate across the board.

Lehrer: Let’s take a call. Here is Marissa in Heltonville. You’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Marissa.

Question: Hi, Brian. Hi, Mr. de Blasio.

Mayor: Good morning.

Question: So, I have two intertwined issues that I’d like to raise for you. I am a lifelong Staten Islander. I voted for you. I love Staten Island despite its many problems. But as a Staten Islander who lives on what I like to the call the ‘deep South Shore’ getting off Staten Island is virtually impossible. I work for City University of New York. I work in Long Island City but it takes me about two-and-a-half hours to get to my job and home from job everyday using public transportation. And that’s just simply not acceptable. And nothing is being done to kind of expedite travel out of the South Shore of Staten Island into the other boroughs –

Lehrer: What would you like, Marissa? Any ideas?

Question: I would love a fast ferry – a fast ferry from some place on the South Shore would be remarkable because then I would take the fast ferry to Lower Manhattan and then take the East River Ferry over to Long Island City, and that would make my commute at least much more palatable.

Intertwined with that is the reason – part of the reason I live on Staten Island is because I can’t afford to live any place else. And, you know, when I look at the affordable housing lotteries that come up, even for what are considered high-end affordable housing lotteries, I earn more money, thankfully, than I would need to to qualify for those on paper. But what that doesn’t actually take into account is the vast amount of student loan debt that many people between like 25 and 45 are carrying.

You know, I use student loans to finance my doctoral degree –

Lehrer: Marissa, I’m going to leave it there just for time. You put a couple of big issues on the table and let’s deal with – Mr. Mayor, let’s deal with the transportation question. I’m sure that this is top of mind for a lot of people on Staten Island.

Mayor: It is and to be really fair to Marissa’s point – it’s a very good point – you know, I think this is accurate. Around the time the Verrazano Bridge was built in the early 60s there were something like 100,000 people on Staten Island. Now, there’s a half-million. This is not just about distance, this is about congestion. So, people have these extraordinary commutes because this was a place like so many other places in the world that, you know, there was never an anticipation of so many people living here, and the streets get clogged up.

The Department of Transportation is working on a citywide anti-congestion plan, and Staten Island is certainly going to be a part of that plan. And I understand that for folks on the South Shore, it’s a particularly reality. I’ve said about the ferry proposal – we are starting with a plan for 21 stops around the city implemented this year and next, new citywide ferry service.

We’re going to see how that goes for the first year or so. And if it’s going well, if the ridership is strong, if people think it’s working for them, we’re then going to consider other places in the city that need more help.

So, I’ve heard a lot from folks on the South Shore that they would like to be in that ferry service. That’s certainly on the table. I’m not ready to commit to it yet but it’s on the table and we’re going to know a lot more by next year, of course. The people have to make a decision on who they want to be mayor in the meantime but if I’m here I look forward to saying a lot more as we see how the first year of ferry service goes.

On the affordable housing, Marissa’s situation is a very – she makes a very good point. I mean look, we have affordable housing for folks in the middle class, working class, lower income. Our plan – I think this was the right thing to do – covers a spectrum of needs. You know, workforce housing – folks who are teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses – we need affordable housing for them. We need affordable housing for low-income folks. Our plan covers that spectrum.

But the student debt point is a really good one that some people, even though they make a higher income, are saddled with that. I wish I had an easy answer for Marissa today. I don’t. I think the fundamental reality is we can keep putting resources into affordable housing as we had. We just intensified the plan further by focusing more on senior housing. But I think the challenge on debt, on college debt is one that has to be handled federally. And I think there should be, and this was talked about a lot in the presidential election, not only ways to fix it for students going forward but to help people refinance their debt and have more reasonable rates for those who are carrying it right now. That’s a federal thing we need to act on.

So, affordable housing plan for half-a-million people, wide range of incomes doesn’t necessarily handle the issue Marissa’s talking about. But on the congestion front – a plan coming soon.

Lehrer: Let me ask you a follow-up affordable housing question. The new version of the 421-a tax subsidy for real estate developers that got passed as the new New York State budget, you wanted some version of that to incentivize building more affordable housing but not a tax giveaway for market-rate housing. How well did they do, in your opinion, making a new version? And specifically do you estimate a certain number of additional affordable housing apartments as a result of the law?

Mayor: Two things – the plan that was finally passed was a lot better than the old 421-a and I think the big answer here to what’s happened over these last few years. We had a big fight. I’m very proud of the fact that we started the action by saying we’re no longer going to support any 421-a plan that finances luxury condos. The big luxury building on West 57th Street got 421-a subsidies – unbelievably wrong.

So, we said no luxury condos, much more affordability, much better deal for the taxpayers. That was the plan I put forward. You know, the folks in Albany changed it some. In the end, though, it’s still aligns to the core principles that we put forward and it will allow us to keep moving our affordable housing plan.

Now, to your question, will it add more? No, not necessarily because we anticipated, when we put the plan together in May of 2014, we anticipated that 421-a would still be a part of, you know, the overall plan.

I think what we got here, which is really good, is much more focus on affordability in 421-a. That will help move things. But essentially, I would say it will help us stay on track with our current affordable housing plan – currently ahead of schedule, on budget. This will keep us on budget and ahead of schedule.

Lehrer: Tony on Staten Island, you’re on WNYC. We don’t hear Tony. So, you know what that line for somebody who did not vote for Mayor de Blasio is now available. A Staten Islander who did not vote for Mayor de Blasio, we have room for you to ask the Mayor a question. 2-1-2-4-3-3-WNYC, 4-3-3-9-6-9-2. Jan in St. George, you’re on WNYC with the Mayor.

Question: Hi, thank you for taking my call. I’ve lived in St. George for over 35 years, since the early 70s. I will have to control myself and not go into a long rant about what I’ve seen go on here. And I’d like to bring up something other than what I told the screener because, like I said, I could go one for hours. On the Staten Island Ferry, I have heard preachers say things like, “Women should be seen and not heard. And homosexuals should rot in hell.” And I use – I have a vision disability. I use all the public transportation. I use the Long Island Rail Road. I use New Jersey Transit. I use Metro North. And I have never seen what goes on on the Staten Island Ferry anywhere else. The bathrooms are awful. I’ve taken pictures. And I just want to know if it’s ever – of the preachers will ever be gotten off the ferry.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: I appreciate the question very much, Jan. I have to be honest with you. It’s the first I’ve heard someone raise that concern. Obviously, on any kind of public transportation, there is freedom of speech. Now, if someone is harassing people or doing something that violates the law, obviously, NYPD can step in on that. But in terms of freedom of speech, there is that right, obviously.

In terms of the bathrooms, again, I have not heard that complaint from anyone previously. I’ve been on the ferry a couple of times this week. I’ve talked to a lot of people who take the ferry all the time but that doesn’t mean it’s not a fair complaint. I will talk to our Transportation Commissioner and see if there’s things we can do right away to improve that situation.

Lehrer: Jan, thank you very much.

I want to ask you about another thing from the State budget. The free tuition for CUNY and SUNY – certain students – is getting ripped by some as regressive. David Brooks’s column today takes the latest swipe for various reasons including that it only offers the free tuition to full-time students for four years when most of those in the most need of tuition assistance are part-time students. Many are the first generation to go to college who take six years or more while they work. How happy or how critical are you of the way this came out?

Mayor: I think it’s a good first step. I really do. And look, in the Presidential election, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both made a big issue rightfully of addressing the challenge of college tuition and college debt. And as a Democrat, I’m very proud of the fact that was front and center in the Democratic Party debates and in the Democratic Party platform. And then just to be partisan, that was not front and center in the Republican approach. I think Governor Cuomo did the right thing by getting things moving on this front. I’m certain there’s more we need to do, but if it starts the process of breaking down the barriers that keep people from college or give them overwhelming debt, I think it is a good step. We at the – here in the city – with our public schools, we’re trying to do it with free SATs now for the first time ever – all kids in junior year of high school get free SATs in school. We are eliminating the application fee for low-income students when they apply to CUNY. There’s a lot of things that have to be done. But I think what happened in Albany was a good step, and we have to build on it.

Lehrer: Tony on Staten Island – you’re on WNYC with the Mayor. I think we have you now, Tony. Do we?

Question: Yes. Here I am.

Lehrer: Go ahead.

Question: Longtime listener. First time caller. Mayor de Blasio, I just wanted to what your platform is on mentally ill children in the city and what we’re going to do now that you’re in office – thank God – to take care of these young people when they become adults?

Lehrer: By the way, you told our screener that you did not vote for the Mayor, right? Did we misunderstand?

Question: No, that’s right. I did not vote for the Mayor, Mr. de Blasio. But I respect the Mayor, and he’s my Mayor now. And I want to ask him a serious question about what the city is going to do now in the education system to take care of less fortunate children who are mentally ill when they become adults.

Mayor: Excellent children. Tony, thank you. And Brian, I’ll answer the question, but I do want to press us. Tony is saying something very, very important about the dynamics that I think unfortunately get blown up in the public discourse all over this country. There are people like Tony who did not vote for me, but want to see me get good things done for their community and recognize when we get past an election and we’re in office, we all have to start working together. So I very much appreciate the spirit of what Tony said. And I’ve talked this week about Republicans here on Staten Island – Republican elected officials I work very well with, very closely with. We can disagree philosophically on a number of issues, but we still have to get things done for people. And we don’t have to have a negative personal relationship. So I think in a funny way, this week has really been – if you will – kind of life-affirming about the point that Democrats and Republicans, at least here in New York City, have shown we can listen to each other, and we can work with each other. I had a great dinner with Congressman Dan Donovan. I’ve been working closely throughout the week with the City Council members here and with the Borough President, so I think that’s a hopeful question.

But to Tony’s question – look, we now have a plan – it’s almost a billion dollars over the next four years to focus on mental health in the way we never have in this city. And a lot of it is focused on kids. And to Tony’s point, I want to say the first thing we need to do is reach kids very young who have emerging mental health challenges because the younger we find them – like so many other things in life, the earlier you identify the problem, the more you can do. So right now, all of our pre-K teachers are being trained to look for signs that kids need additional help, and now we have mental health specialists that can reach them even as early as pre-K. All of our community schools have mental health professionals in them. That’s over 130 schools already. All of the others have access to mental health professionals who can come in as needed. We have 1-8-8-8-N-Y-C-W-E-L-L that any New Yorker can call 24/7, get a trained professional counselor, and then that person will connect them to mental health services. That is a much stronger beginning for folks from this point on in this city – young and old have a much easier way to connect to mental health services. And a lot of those services were always available, but people didn’t know how to reach them.

Now Tony is making a very important point – once a young person grows up, they’re out of the school system, what can we do? In terms of ongoing things, like if it’s the kind of challenge where someone can be self-sufficient, but needs counseling or mental health support, we can do a lot to connect them to it through 1-8-8-N-Y-C-W-E-L-L. If it’s a young person who cannot live on their own, for example, that’s a bigger challenge. I’m not going to minimize that challenge. That’s where we very much depend on the State to play a big role – the State of New York – and there are not enough of those resources. But at least I can say, we’re going to – in every case – if someone has one of those problems, they can call that number, and they can get connected to services, and at least it gives them a better chance of getting connected to the specific effort that will help their child or their loved one.

Lehrer: Jerry on Staten Island – you’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Jerry.

Question: Hi, thanks for taking my call. I live in New Brighton, and I’ve lived there for 40 years. Mr. Mayor, I voted for you, and I support what you’re doing. I was particularly pleased to hear about the paving initiative, and I’ve seen some of the major streets on Staten Island get repaved recently. But there are a whole bunch of little streets that nobody has any reason to drive on unless they live on the block, and a lot of those have not had attention for a long time. My own street, I think was last paved in 1984. So, I support you, and I support the street repaving too.

Mayor: Yeah, no, I appreciate that, Jerry. And that’s amazing to me – a street that has not been repaved in 30 years. And that could obviously be a real problem. On the specific point, Jerry – if you’ll share your information with the folks from WNYC, I will have Department of Transportation come out and look at your street and see what we can do about that right away. On the bigger point – look, the repaving – this is the highest level of repaving the City has ever seen. And we, in the budget I just proposed, we doubled down on repaving. And I think it is absolutely essential. I drive all over the city, and I used to drive myself just a few years ago. Now, NYPD drives me around. But I feel every one of those bumps, and I know what people go through. And the repaving is essential to the quality of life in this city. It’s essential to our economy. And it’s something we’re very, very committed to. But you make a good point – we focus of course on the most-traveled streets first and the places with the most severe problems. But we might be, in some cases, missing some streets that really, really need attention. So I want to urge folks who have those situations – call 3-1-1 and report them. We’re going to do our best to get to people as quickly as we can. Jerry, in your case, I’ll make sure DOT gets out there to take a look right away.

Lehrer: Jerry, hang on. We’ll get your contact information. Mike on the North Shore of Staten Island – you’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Mike.

Question: Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Good morning.

Question: And I just wanted to say that I didn’t vote for Donald Trump, and I didn’t vote for you; however, based on your performance since you’ve been Mayor, I think I probably will vote for you, especially how you handle Brian Lehrer’s questions on Friday mornings.

[Laughter]

Mayor: Thank you, Mike. I appreciate it. And I have to say – now, I’ll compliment, Brian. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me all over the city who say they really appreciate that there’s a dialogue, that there’s a serious discussion of the issues. And regardless of what it makes them feel about who they’re going to vote for, they just appreciate that it’s different discussion then we get most of the time when we’re talking about the issues that face us. And it’s a chance for people to actually think together about what we’ve got to do, so it’s been a very good experience. But Mike, I’m going to keep working hard to earn your vote.

Lehrer: And what’s your question?

Question: Two questions. One is I think it would be good if the railway on the North Shore of Staten Island could be restored. I think there’s still right of way, although I’m not certain. And if a passenger railway system was set up there similar to the one going down to the South Shore, I think it could rejuvenate the North Shore because getting to the Ferry on the North Shore is very time consuming. And the second question I had is we have a plague of stop lights on Staten Island, which cause tremendous traffic jams in the afternoons. And new ones keep popping up almost on a weekly basis. Surely, it would make more sense to adopt traffic circles or roundabouts in certain areas because then you don’t have to stop, you just slow down, you go around, and on you go. If there’s no traffic around, you don’t stop at all, you just keep going. But at the stop lights, you have to stop at every single one. And none of them seem to be timed. I understand you want to slow traffic down as well. I understand that stop lights in some locations work better than roundabouts, but why not try roundabouts? So those are my two questions.

Mayor: Thank you, Mike. First of all, I want to say when you talk about the roundabouts, it sounds very nice in your accent. They sound more appealing in your accent. But the – okay.

Lehrer: And somehow it’s a more romantic turn of word than traffic circle.

Mayor: Yeah, it is. And actually, two things – I’ve noticed some of the stop lights that are really long, and I understand how that can be frustrating to people. And I’ve also been some places in this country that have focused actually – some places out in a town Carmel, Indiana, where they put in a bunch of roundabouts, they didn’t have them originally, and they have been very, very successful there. I’m not sure how it works in New York City or on Staten Island, but I’ll talk to the Transportation Commissioner about it.

I think the real interesting point is what you said at the end there – we have been trying to slow traffic down because we were losing – literally losing as many people to traffic accidents, traffic fatalities, as people being murdered in New York City. We were damn close to having as many people in the first category as in the second. And that was one of the things that motivated Vision Zero – to really slow things down, get people to be more careful, particularly concern for seniors and for children. And it’s working, obviously. So we want to keep our focus on Vision Zero. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t situations where we can’t come up with a better alternative that maintains the focus on safety, but also moves traffic. So I will take the point that Mike raised, both on the timing of some of the stoplights could be improved for the flow of traffic and also on whether there are some places where roundabouts may make sense. I think there may be.

On the question of the rail line – it’s a tough situation. It’s very, very appealing. And look, we’re moving with the light rail system for Brooklyn and Queens. That’s going to be a big test for this city. I’ve said it’s sort of parallel to the Ferry situation. We’re going to start with a plan to see how it goes and if it goes well, it opens the door to doing more light rail around the city and doing it separate from the MTA – God bless the MTA, they do a lot of good work – but if we’re waiting on the MTA to expand rail lines in New York City, we’re going to be waiting a long, long time. So we want to see if there are options around the city. The North Shore line is plagued, unfortunately, with a lot of logistical problems, a lot of infrastructure challenges. But here’s the bottom line. There’s clearly a need for more mass transit on Staten Island. I’ve got to figure out ways we can get that done or ways we can push the MTA to do that. That’s something – that’s a plan I have to put together because I clearly understand what a big challenge it is to people.

Lehrer: Pat in New Dorp – you’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Pat.

Question: Hey, good morning. I met the Mayor on Tuesday, and it was a pleasure. It was nice meeting him. And I just wanted to follow up again on Vision Zero. I’m talking about this again. Vision Zero – cell phones mounted to wind shields. People driving with handicap tags hanging off their rear view mirrors. How come we haven’t seen a Tweet, or an Instagram post, or an advertisement on the radio or on commercials about driving in New York City – that you need to have a clear windshield to see what’s going on around you? We’re dumbing down society to the lowest level, okay?

Mayor: Okay. Pat, I –

Question: People are out there driving, staring at their cellphones.

Mayor: I gotcha, Pat. I gotcha. We had a very good conversation the other day. I know you’ve called in before. And this is a guy who is passionate on this issue and has done his research. And I appreciate it. So, I want to reiterate because I checked on this issue again after talking to you earlier in the week. So any TLC-licensed driver who is using a cell phone or any electronic device while driving – it doesn’t even matter if it’s hands-free – you’re not allowed to use it. So that’s immediately something we can enforce on, and find the driver. So, I want to be clear about that – that anybody – and this is public service, Brian, we can make this clear. Anybody who is in a for-hire vehicle, and the driver is using a cell phone while driving – hands-free or not hands-free – it’s not appropriate, and we will fine them, we just need that complaint called into 3-1-1.

And NYPD, as part of Vision Zero, is increasingly cracking down on texting while driving and inappropriate use of cellphone while driving, meaning people holding it in their hands. So we know this is a big piece of Vision Zero – that we’ve got to get people to drive – when they’re driving, they should focus on driving, not on being on an electronic device. This is one of the number one reasons we are losing lives, so Pat is making a very good point. And you’re going to be seeing more enforcement on that front.

Lehrer: And Pat [inaudible] did not vote for the Mayor line. I’m still thinking about the previous guy who said he didn’t vote for you, and he didn’t vote for Trump. I saw in one of the articles about you on Staten Island this week that there is a certain percentage of people who did vote for you and did vote for Trump, which to a lot of our listeners might be really hard to imagine and counterintuitive. So in our last couple of minutes here, if we happen to have one of those unicorns listening – if you voted for Bill de Blasio and Donald Trump, call up and you’ll get to ask the Mayor a question, and if you can give us like a sound-bite-length version of your politics.

Mayor: As you get that question, Brian – just a quick rejoinder. Remember, there’s a lot of people in the Midwest who voted Obama, then Obama again, then Trump.

Lehrer: That’s true. That’s right.

Mayor: It’s not so necessarily rare.

Lehrer: 2-1-2-4-3-3-W-N-Y-C. If a de Blasio, Trump voter happens to be out there right now, 2-1-2-4-3-3-9-6-9-2 from Staten Island. In the meantime, while we give a few seconds to see if we get such a call – one more item. You talked on the show about the Fearless Girl statue on Wall Street when you extended it for a year. Now the sculpture – the sculptor, I should say, of the Charging Bull statue, Arturo Di Modica, is going to court, claiming the City totally changed the context of his work from a stand-alone bull that represented optimism and a can-do spirit to one that is unfairly made to look like a symbol of oppression of women, appearing to glare at this girl who is taking it on, which is just not what it was. What do you say to the artist, Mr. Di Modica?

Mayor: I think the artist has to recognize that times change. The people want to see things that represent their lives and their realities. Let’s be blunt, the Charging Bull is a celebration of unfettered capitalism. And I don’t think for a lot of people, that says it all. You could say it is about the spirit of optimism, sure – that’s what the artist was thinking, that’s great. But it is a symbol of Wall Street. And Wall Street – to say the least – is a double-edge sword. So what the Fearless Girl represents to so many people is standing up to justice, the empowerment of women. It’s been incredible – the response people have been feeling to it. So I think this is absolutely a mistake by this sculptor, and we will fight him legally. We think what’s been done here is absolutely legally appropriate on the City’s part. We’re going to defend Fearless Girl and her right to be there. But let’s be clear – it’s a symbol that speaks to people about both their own strengths and also standing up to any kind of injustice. And that is a very powerful message, particularly at this moment in history.

Lehrer: Well, we are out of time with the Mayor, and we did not get an instant response for one of those political unicorns. So maybe we’ll pick this up next week, and see if we can get some of you folks on. I don’t mean next Friday with the Mayor, but maybe on Monday, we’ll do a deeper hunt for the de Blasio, Trump voter. In the meantime, Mr. Mayor, we will talk to you next Friday, right here. Thank you very much, as always.

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

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