Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on the Brian Lehrer Show

May 17, 2019

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and now it is time for our weekly Ask The Mayor segment, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Our phones are open as if it was any other Friday, 2-1-2-4-3-3-WNYC, 4-3-3-9-6-9-2, or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. And this is like any other Friday except for the little fact that the Mayor joins us from Iowa this morning on the day after announcing that he is candidate for president of the United States. I’m told he was just touring an ethanol plant, so good morning from New York, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning from Gowrie, Iowa.

Lehrer: And I want to say for clarity’s sake, for you Mr. Mayor and for our listeners that our Ask the Mayor segments will continue to focus overwhelming on the issues of the city, not the presidential campaign because that is our number one job and, Mr. Mayor, I know you will say it was yours, to serve the people of the City of New York. So let me make that very clear to listeners about what this is going to be going forward, but also make my first question today, what do you say is response to the many New Yorkers and many news articles, questioning whether your absence on trips like this will hurt the city?

Mayor: Brian, it’s a very valid question and I want to give an honest answer. I have thought about this a lot. I’m absolutely convinced that my administration and I can continue to serve this city very, very effectively. This is my sixth year in this job, I know exactly the agenda that I am implementing, it’s very, very developed at this point – Pre-K For All now going to be 3-K For All and keeping the city safe, safest big city in America and continuing to get safer as you’ve seen from the recent news and everything we are doing to create and protect affordable housing. That’s all going to go – and I think it is going to intensify as we move forward because we have a great team. We have a very clear vision of where we are going to build up, you know, our city in the right way. And I am confident that I am going to be able to get the job done where ever I am. I’ve traveled before, I stay in touch with all the key folks in my administration constantly. We are going to keep things moving forward in New York City.

But I also have to say that a lot of the problems of New York City cannot be solved just within the five boroughs. And a very important thing for me in making this decision was, recognizing that first of all, New York City can’t move forward if Donald Trump continues to be president. His policies are hurting New York City, what he is doing to unfortunately exacerbate global warming rather than address it. We are one of the great coastal cities of the world, that’s a huge threat to us. The fact that there is no infrastructure plan, there’s no resiliency plan, there’s no health care plan nationally, there’s actually an effort by the Trump administration to undermine the health care we have and 1.6 million New Yorkers depend on the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare. The issues that confront us in New York City in so many ways are federal issues. And we have to change the national discussion and we have to get Donald Trump out of office and I think I have something to offer both in terms of showing the kinds of things that can and must change but also in providing a message that can actually beat Donald Trump. And I think this is the best way to help achieve what we need in New York City. We are doing everything we can do with our resources but unless there is a federal government helping us New York City cannot go as far as we are meant to.

Lehrer: The New York Times columnist, Jennifer Senior, reminds us in her new column of Times reporting that you averaged just ten days per month at City Hall last year compared with 19 days per month in your first year in office. She also notes that since you and she belong to the same gym, she’s aware that you are getting there after 10:00 am more often as time goes on. Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf is quoted in that article saying he doesn’t like to be, saying you, don’t like to be at City Hall, quote, “He doesn’t like to be at City Hall.” Senior’s conclusion and that of some others who have written on this is that you are increasingly disengaged from the day to day-ness of running our big, complicated city and more interested in the national political fray. Given those attendance –

Mayor: That couldn’t be more false. And Brian, you know with all due respect, I don’t know her and I don’t know what time she has been at the gym, I’m at the gym all sorts of different times depending on the day. But that’s not even the point, the point is it’s an absolute misunderstanding. And I don’t know why some reporters fail to notice all the new initiatives we keep putting out, Guaranteed Health Care For All, Paid Time Off, everything we have done with the Green New Deal. All of the decisions that happen all day long in this administration, how we have been addressing the City budget situation, what we got done in Albany in the state budget and what we are working right on, on right now for the legislative session. You really have to work hard to miss all of that activity and all that progress. It doesn’t matter if I am having meetings at Gracie Mansion or having them at City Hall or going out into the boroughs and meeting with people. We do a lot of our events and meetings out in the five boroughs. We are going to continue to do town hall meetings and all the kinds of things – I’ve had a series of town hall meetings with Chancellor Carranza with parents over the past few months. I’m going to keep doing that. But this very narrow notion that the Times is purveying, that where you are sitting at any given point somehow relates to product – they should spend more time looking at the achievements and the outcomes and as a CEO, as a chief executive, I’ll tell you something, I don’t ask people where are you sitting right now or which meeting are you having where, I want to see product. When I look at what this administration has achieved and the people who I have chosen for key roles have achieved, across the board I see progress and I see product. Becoming the safest big city in America, more jobs than we’ve ever had, affordable housing program that’s the biggest the city has ever seen and it’s on budget and it’s ahead schedule – come on, let’s get real and we are really going to achievements that reach everyday New Yorkers. That’s what the New York Times and all media should be focused on.

Lehrer: Debbie in Queens you are on WNYC with the Mayor from Iowa. Hi, Debbie.

Question: Hi, how are you?

Lehrer: Good, thanks for calling.

Mayor: Hey, Debbie.

Question: Sorry, just had to take you off speaker phone. Good morning, Mayor, thank you for taking my call.

Mayor: Good morning.

Question: I live in northeast Queens and there’s a proposed building, a 15-story building that is being proposed nearby where everything here – you may remember Little Neck because you come sometimes to our parade.

Mayor: Yep.

Question: Every year actually to our parades. Everything around here is like two stories. So, besides the fact that this is going to be a 15-story building or at least they’re proposing that – I kind of suspect that that’s not going to be approved – it’s a for-profit elderly care facility. So, my question is – you know, when the City does deals with developers, correct? They – I don’t know how you do it, but you – like for example –

Lehrer: I’m going to move you along Debbie, just for time sake. I think you want to ask why isn’t there a 20 percent affordable percentage in this as with some developments. Is that it?

Question: Yeah, exactly, like you do with residential, like luxury co-ops.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor?

Mayor: Debbie, it’s a great question. And, thank you for it, and I really appreciate it, because this is the kind of thing we need to both understand better in our city, but also make decisions about it. So, what I believe in it’s the law we passed, it’s the strongest law in this country is when the City grants a developer the right to build more, the people get something back. There’s a requirement of the creation of affordable housing. Now, there is some places where because of the zoning, a developer is allowed to, or a for-profit company as you indicate, is allowed to build something bigger by the current zoning. And in some cases that may suggest that the zoning needs to be changed, in other cases it may appropriate. I like best when we can use the power of the public sector to require that we give – you know, the developers give back the private interest, give back to the public, give back to the community. And that’s why we put such aggressive laws in place. If you will give your information to WNYC, I’ll make sure that our team updates you on this site, whether it is a situation where we can require affordable housing or other community benefits. I do hear the point about the building being out of scale with what’s around it.

Now, the only other thing I want to say is we, as city, we’re going to be coming out in the not too distant future with a plan for the future of New York City in terms of seniors, because this is a city that has a growing senior population, and folks are living a lot longer which is a blessing, but there is a big reality in our city that we must have more affordable housing for seniors, that’s going to be more and more of our affordable housing plan. And Deputy Mayor Vicki Been is going to be speaking to that soon. We’re going to need nursing homes; we’re going to need assisted living facilities, we’re going to need a lot of things to really embrace a population of New Yorkers who are older. So, while we’re trying to make sure that neighborhood character is respected and community benefits like affordable housing are created, we also have to figure out what amount of these kinds of facilities we need going forward. And that’s something we have not answered, but we will come out with a bigger plan. In the meantime, Debbie, if you’ll give your information to WNYC, I’ll make sure that my team follows up with you on what’s happening in Little Neck, and we’ll work with you to see how we can address it.

Lehrer: And let me ask a follow up question that relates to you running for president. We know the problems of housing and affordability in New York and other gentrifying cities and your history as the Regional Housing and Urban Director in the Clinton administration. Is there anything you – new, that you would propose if you’re elected president to address affordability and gentrification at the national level that you cannot do as Mayor?

Mayor: Well, first of all, we’re really the national leader in New York City on a host of affordable housing measures, and measures to address gentrification. When I was talking to –

Lehrer: Right, but I’m asking you if there is a federal policy that you’re running on with respect to this.

Mayor: Well, yes, and I just want to – let me just finish the point. When I talked to Vicki Been to – about becoming our Deputy Mayor, and she’s well known as a real national expert on urban planning, and housing issues, she said there is a list of best practices that has been developed to address gentrification and protect affordable housing, protect the folks who are living in communities already. And if I remember to quote specifically, New York City is – you know has almost brought in policy and implemented almost every one of the national best practices.

But if you’re talking about where we should go as a country, Brian, look, I think with what we’ve done with rent regulation is crucial and is needed in many other parts of the country, certainly in a lot of big urban areas in particular. There was a referendum in California that didn’t pass. I think it will pass in the future. I think it’s needed – but we could use a national policy to help encourage the right kind of rent regulation, and I’m really looking forward to winning stronger rent regulation in Albany. I think that situation looks very strong for next month that will finally, you know, really put teeth into a lot of our rent regulation and protect our tenants. So I’d say rent regulation, I would say the idea of supporting – I’m talking about renters here – supporting folks who are being illegally evicted with legal services has to be done in New York City, I think that has application in lots of parts of the country, Newark, New Jersey.

Lehrer: With federal fund –

Mayor: Recently –

Lehrer: With federal funding, you’re saying then?

Mayor: Well, I think these are the kinds of things that needed to be looked at. How do you get policies at the federal level that encourage things like stopping illegal eviction? I think it can be done, because we’ve seen it work in New York City. And clearly passing laws either locally or there’s some kind of national legislation to require the creation of affordable housing when developers are allowed to build, you know, in a bigger way than was previously allowed. That’s something I think is really good model that could be used anywhere. So I – I am going to come out with position papers over time. I’m giving you a flavor of what I’m thinking, and you’ll understand it’s going to take a little time to formulate the formal proposals. But I actually think a lot of what we have done has a lot of application elsewhere and for federal policy.

Lehrer: Dana in Long Island City, you’re on WNYC. Hi, Dana.

Question: Yes, I’m interested in the Mayor’s experience with Amazon and Long Island City. I met a person in our community garden who said she works for the City and that Amazon had approached the City in order to take over the purchasing and distribution jobs that are [inaudible] in City government, including the Department of Education. Amazon wanted to locate exactly where the Department of Education has its purchasing and distribution headquarters. So, it was astounding to me the Mayor would be ignorant of this move by Amazon, who he backed, to land in Long Island City, throw out many, many tenants because landlords were salivating over the idea of having high rises grow where there weren’t any in a manufacturing area –

Lehrer: And what’s your question, Dana?

Question: My question is how can he be so out of the loop as to allow a huge cooperation to take over a part of the city and then pretend that he’s not getting, for example, interested real estate backers for his campaign? Does he have real estate backers? Did he get contributions from Amazon? Be truthful.

Mayor: Yeah, Dana, respectfully, you should ask someone what they think before you just assume. No, I don’t have any donations from Amazon and I’ve said very clearly Amazon left New York City high and dry, left Queens high and dry. They confirmed everyone’s worst assumptions about them. We offered them a fair plan where they were not going to get a dollar of taxpayer money until they created between 25,000 and 40,000 jobs and a huge amount of tax revenue. We were going to get nine dollars in tax revenue to pay for things like affordable housing and education and mass transit, for every dollar of tax incentive. But nothing was going to happen until they actually produced the jobs.

But they broke their word. And I’ve said I think Amazon has given a very, very bad lesson in terms of corporate irresponsibility. And we need a national law. This is something – another example, Brian, of a national policy that needs to be put in place, to stop this practice of big corporations playing one city off against another, or one state against another. We need to put real limits on that –

Lehrer: How could a national law do that?

Mayor:  – so that we don’t have these kinds of situations. But this notion that Dana raises about Amazon taking over something at Department of Education, that’s just wrong. I don’t know – there’s one building that we were going to move the Department of Education to another site. That’s the only interconnection there. Amazon was not taking over any kind of City role at all. And, no, I have not accepted any donations from Amazon.

Lehrer: Do you have the outlines of a national law that could stop this race to the bottom, city against city, for tax incentives for jobs?

Mayor: I have the outline only and we’re going to make it another one of those formal policy positions. Look, it can – it just stands to reason, there’s so many ways the federal government encourages and supports the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of certain corporations and obviously in the hands of the wealthy. You can put that in reverse and say here are real limitations on the kinds of subsidies that can be demanded. There’s a way to create a national standard that says if you’re trying to relocate somewhere or create a new facility somewhere that you only can ask for a certain narrow band of incentives. I believe there’s a way to do that legally and I think that would then stop this situation where a lot of cities and a lot of states – they want the jobs, who can blame them? Who would ever not want 25,000 to 40,000 jobs? But – or even a smaller number, 1,000 jobs, for a lot of places in this country – a huge, huge deal. But it can’t be at a price that really undermines what local governments are trying to achieve for their people. So, we’ve got to put rules into that and that only can be done on the federal level.

Lehrer: We’ve got about a minute left and I want to ask you, sort of, a political question and a campaign question. I think one thing the national media is missing when they talk about your approval rating here is that in the Quinnipiac poll everyone is citing you’re at 43 percent but scratch below the surface and they’ll see you have a 31 percent approval rating among whites in New York and a 66 percent approval rating – very high – among blacks. You have long and deep black support. You relate well to black voters. I’m guessing that’s one of the reasons you think you could be competitive in the race. How much would you put it that way?

Mayor: Look, one thing I’m proud of is I’ve always been able to build a very broad coalition. You know when I won in 2013 I ran against a very diverse field in the primary. There was obviously a woman candidate, a candidate from the LGBT community, an African American candidate. I ended up winning all of those demographics in that primary. Folks thought there was going to be a competitive general election – obviously, I won that general election with 73 percent of the vote, won re-election with 67 percent. The polling is of the moment but when people make a decision about who they want to lead them, they are very clear about who shares their values and who is going to get something done for them. And what I’ve seen is I can build a very broad coalition.

Clearly, anyone who is going to be the Democratic nominee for president must build that kind of broad coalition and for me it’s not theory. It’s something I’ve already done and it’s consistent with the things we’ve already done in New York City that help working people. I think one of the things I’m offering in this race is evidence of actually being able to achieve the things we’re talking about and that includes on the electoral side as well.

Lehrer: And so to ask you, kind of, a blunt question about that in our last 30 seconds – why would you make a better president for the overall interests of African Americans than Kamala Harris or Cory Booker?

Mayor: The simple answer – and again I’m not here to compare against my fellow candidates, I’ll make a broader point – I have proven for people of all backgrounds that you can have a government that puts money back in the hands of working people. That’s what pre-K was, after school, paid sick leave, guaranteed health care – all the thing we’re doing are literally ensuring that working people have more resources and a better life. I hear from all the communities in the city an appreciation for that. It’s not just about one community or another.

But I’ll tell you something – I think for African American voters and all voters, they are not looking first at demographics, they are looking at who can produce for them and their families. And I have a track record of actually achieving progressive outcomes that help working people that I’ll put up against any candidate.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, we really appreciate you making the time today on the day after you announced and so much going on. Thanks for doing the Ask the Mayor segment as usual, and we’ll talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian. And we’ll keep it going.