Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on Siriusxm POTUS’ the Midday Briefing

May 15, 2018

Tim Farley: Now, let’s move right along and the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio has joined us here on POTUS at the Ideas Conference for 2018. He is tweeting, by the way, for those who do not know – @BilldeBlasio. Mr. Mayor, thank you for being here today.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: My pleasure, Tim.

Farley: So you’re here to talk about bold ideas. I mean this is an ideas conference, and you have some specifics? Maybe you can lay some of those out for us just in general what you think are the most important things I guess democrats but also Americans need to be focused on right now.

Mayor: Look, I think this is something for all Americans, which is how to make sure we’re safe but also that we feel that our society is fair. And that comes down to policing, and how we go about it. We have a strategy that we’ve implemented in New York City called neighborhood policing. It’s a very different approach – NYPD is an extraordinary organization. I think it’s the finest police force in the whole world.

Farley: Does that try to get more guys on the street – I say guys, but men and women –

Mayor: Men, and women in the neighborhoods, but not just in the neighborhoods, staying in a neighborhood for long term, deeply connecting to the people there. Literally here is a great example. Today’s NYPD officers who are part of neighborhood policing give their cell phone number, and their email address to neighborhood residents so they can have direct contact with their officer and if there is a problem, see if they see something brewing that they think is a problem or they know unfortunately somebody has an illegal weapon or there is a gang problem. They can go right to the officer on their beat, directly, personally, and get that information to them. It’s changing the relationship between police and community profoundly. It has a lot more mutual respect and understanding. There is a lot more dialogue; there is a lot more thank you’s which our officers deserve. There is a much more sense in the community members that they’re being served and listened to by the police. And this is something we’ve done over the last few years. And here is the amazing statistic now, four years into my term in office we’ve seen crime go down four years in a row. But we’ve managed to achieve that while reducing arrests simultaneously. We have 100,000 fewer arrests in 2017 than we had in 2013.

Farley: How is your relationship with the police now? Of course with the NYPD there was a little bit of a tension at one point.

Mayor: Well with the unions. I want to be really clear, I’ve said it consistently. Some of the union leadership, and there is five police unions, and they’re all different. But some of the union leadership and I had some differences. But I think in terms of the rank and file there is a clear sense that these strategies are working and there is a sense that their work is valued, including by the people they serve. We’ve seen some great developments in terms of everyday officers being able to have more professional opportunity, more ability to apply their training, and be respected as professionals. We retrained the entire police force. I mean this is something you’ll appreciate. You know in this society we retrain lawyers, doctors, airline pilots, all sorts of other professionals. We didn’t retrain our police officers. So when Bill Bratton was my commissioner, now Jimmy O’Neill. There has been an absolute devotion, the constant retraining and upgrading the training of officers. Officers appreciate that, that’s a sign of professionalism, and respect for their craft, and it’s one of the things I hear from officers the most about. They like that opportunity to get the up to date approach. What it’s meant also is – for example teaching them de-escalation techniques. So we’ve see some very sad incidents all over the country. It used to be unfortunately more common in New York City, but you can literally help officers understand how to defuse a situation. We have one of the lowest amounts of officer use of force that we’ve ever had. Literally, last year I think about 35 times if I am remembering correctly that officer used force in an adversarial situation in all of New York City, 8.6 million people 365 days a year.

Farley: So how does that apply to smaller cities? I mean in other words, what’s the lesson to be learned if you only have you know a city of like 20,000? Because quite frankly we have a series that we do with mayors around the country and you’re the Mayor of the biggest city we’ve talked to so far. But I talked to a lot of mayors, and they all will tell you it’s not about democrat or republican, it’s about getting problems solved.

Mayor: That’s right.

Farley: So how do you take what you had success with your police force and translate it to smaller counties?

Mayor: I’ll tell you my republican colleagues, mayors from around the country, we talk about this stuff all the time. This idea of taking policing back to its roots, connecting at the neighborhood level and making it a very personal relationship – it’s something you can apply in big cities and small towns alike. You know unfortunately there was a period in time particularity when crime was high where I think there was an assumed disconnect between police and community. Where you know cops were stretched very thin. You know coming in a squad car responding to a call, deal with that then you have to go deal with something else. We’re in a better time now, but also the understanding of what works has changed. So now it’s about developing that human relationship.

Farley: Well in the 90’s it was all about being tough. Right, the crime bill, which Bill Clinton helped to champion, was a bill that got really tough on people, and criminals and a result of that there was a swing in the pendulum too far in one direction. So we are where we are now. Just out of curiosity, it just flashed my mind. You ever watch Blue Bloods?

Mayor: I do, of course, yeah.

Farley: Do you wish Tom Selleck was your Commissioner?

Mayor: Tom Sellick – well, I like my Commissioner, I like Jimmy O’Neill. But Tom Selleck narrates one of the videos that we show at every police graduation. So, for that moment –

Farley: Really?

Mayor: – it feels like he is the Commissioner.

Farley: There you go. I always thought by the way, Joe Crowley, the Congressman would make a great Fire Department Chief on the show, just for the heck of it.

Mayor: Yeah, you’re right. We could give him a cameo, right.

Farley: He’s got the accent and the look, right, exactly. Obviously, there are other bold ideas. I do want to ask you something about the news because you were on the record, I guess today or yesterday, as saying you have some skepticism about the Supreme Court decision on state gambling, allowing states to go forward with gambling. What’s your issue?

Mayor: I just – look, I think what happens a lot of times in the public sector is people hear gambling and they think revenue. And unfortunately when I hear gambling, I think addiction and I think a lot of things that could be really bad for families. We are a society with all sorts of addictions problems. This is something my wife, Chirlane, has worked on a lot too – mental health issues and addiction issues. And let’s face it, we’re not really addressing it in a bigger way therefore if you legalize sports gambling and it’s that much easier to get into something that can be in effect an addiction and can have ruinous economic impact on people and families that worries me a lot.

I don’t know what we’re going to do on a public policy level to help address those problems. So, it doesn’t shock me the Supreme Court did it but now, you know, I feel there’s a bit of a Pandora’s Box being opened.

Farley: They’re saying it’s up to the states now to move forward. So, obviously, if you went to Albany you would say [inaudible] would tell the legislature there think about this [inaudible] –

Mayor: I would be very cautious because again what kind of track record do we have in this country on dealing with addiction? It’s not very good. And the opioid crisis is an example of that. We’re finally giving it some of the attention it deserves. But this is a culture that in so many ways – just look at advertising alone where a whole lot of bad practices have a whole lot of money behind them. And if you have sports gambling now available more broadly, there will be a huge amount of money behind that and it will get ever more attractive to some people who really should stay far away from it. And that worries me a lot.

Farley: Mayor of New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio is here with is here on POTUS during the Ideas Conference, Center for American Progress. I have to ask a political question. That is – the media portrayal of your relationship with your governor, Andrew Cuomo, is one that is that is contentious. And I wonder how you would feel about – how you feel about that characterization.

Mayor: I think it’s been made too much about personality and what’s been missing is two central facts. So, one, there’s really strong philosophical differences. I come from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. I think he’s clearly more moderate. That doesn’t mean one is bad and one is good but I think that’s the underpinning of a lot of the disagreements.

And second, the fact that the Mayor of New York City’s job is to defend 8.6 million people and their interests. A governor in Albany, in the capital, often has a very different game plan and a very [inaudible] –

Farley: Seven million other people.

Mayor: Yeah. More. Right, and a different sense of who to lean to on any issue. I feel like we’re almost half the state’s population now. We’re the economic engine of the state. I just want fairness for my city and my people, and I don’t feel that’s been the case often enough. Ed Koch used to say this and I thought it was a beautiful summation. He said when any governor helps New York City he’ll stand by them, he’ll praise them and if they do something that hurts New York City he’ll take them on.

And that’s my job. I’m supposed to be a shrinking violet. I’m supposed to stand up for New York City if I feel our interests are being hurt.

Farley: Ed Koch always used to say also, “How am I doing?” How are you doing?

Mayor: Look, I feel good. I have lots of Catholic guilt, even though I was not brought up a Catholic. My mother was. It got passed on a generation –

Farley: It happens.

[Laughter]

Mayor: I have many things I want to do better, many things I think I can do better but when you look at the big picture in the city right now – I mean, we have the most jobs we’ve ever had, we are the safest big city in America, our social fabric is a lot stronger. There’s a lot more harmony in the city right now. Our schools are getting better. I’m very proud that I created Pre-K for All. Now every four-year-old in New York City gets early childhood education for free. We’re going to do that for three-year-olds in the next few years too which is going to be a huge step.

I feel great about New York City. But I also have to keep doing better all the time.

Farley: Mr. Mayor, it has been our pleasure to have you here. We’re so glad you could stop by and say hi to us on POTUS today. Look forward to having more conversations. Thanks so much.

Mayor: My pleasure, Tim.