Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on AM 710 WOR'S Len Berman and Todd Schnitt in the Morning

March 21, 2016

Todd Schnitt: First, straight to the phones, it is the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio.

Len Berman: Last time he was on, he was stuffing his face at the Carnegie Deli. Mayor, you eating now, or you okay?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: You know, stuffing my face is a strong phrase. The Carnegie Deli – you need to really open your mouth wide for the pastrami sandwich. I think, you know, I had no choice.

Schnitt: Mayor, can you tell us what type of – I think you’re on a cell phone – which brand cellphone are you phoning us on. Are you on an iPhone or an Android device?

Mayor: No, no. This is a flip phone.

[Laughter]

I am very proud of my flip phone. I’ve had it for one or two centuries already.

[Laugher]

Schnitt: The reason why I’m saying it is because an iPhone burst into flames on an Alaska Airlines flight. We’re just wondering – just like we have the signs on the subway saying that hover boards are banned because of the fire hazards, I wonder if iPhones are going to be banned on the subway now as well.

Mayor: Well, I can safely say my flip phone has never burst into flames but I will look into the iPhone issue.

[Laughter]

Schnitt: We’ve got more on that coming up in a bit. You want to talk – we’ve got a bunch of questions but I know you want to talk about the affordable housing that you’re in favor of. You want to talk about that for a bit?

Mayor: Yes, absolutely. Look, there’s no issue that people care more about in this city. And people come up to me wherever I am, any borough, and they say, “Can I still afford to live in my neighborhood? Can I still afford to live in this city? How am I going to avoid being forced out of here?” Everywhere I go, I hear it particularly from senior citizens, many of whom are on a fixed income. And what’s going to happen today is really going to have a positive impact. The City Council is voting on two pieces of legislation. They are going to help us to build a lot more affordable housing, and to make sure that wherever there’s building in this city, that affordable housing is part of the plan. There’ll literally – for the first time in our history – there will be a requirement on developers. Whenever they get rezoning, whenever the city allows them to build more or build taller, they’re going to have to create affordable housing. Whether it’s rezoning a whole neighborhood or just a specific building site, literally, that requirement of affordable housing must be a part of the plan or they will not be allowed to build. And this will be the strongest and most progressive affordable housing plan anywhere in the country, any major city in the country. And let me tell you it’s part of our ability to create enough affordable housing over eight years for half-a-million New Yorkers. We’re two years into our plan, it goes through 2024. When we’re done 80,000 new affordable apartments, 120,000 apartments that will be kept affordable with the families in them right now getting the support they need. So, those apartments will be affordable typically for the next 30 years.

Schnitt: Alright, so with affordable housing, what are your thoughts on if a developer is building a higher-end complex and you want to push affordable units as well? What are your thoughts on the so-called poor door?

Mayor: Look, we don’t believe in that kind of approach. We believe that everyone needs to be treated with dignity and respect. The plan we’ve come up with, it’s economically viable for developers. It’s fair but it requires affordable housing. But under our plan, affordable housing has to be done in such a way that everyone is treated well, there’s not a separation between those who happen to have less income versus those who are wealthy. That doesn’t reflect the values of New York City. We do not allow that kind of thing.

Schnitt: And Mr. Mayor, on the subject of fighting for the city. Every time I look up – last week you were in Washington fighting for cutback of security funds for terrorism. You were in Albany fighting for cutbacks against CUNY and Medicaid –

Mayor: Fighting against the cutbacks – against the cutbacks.

Berman: Yes, fight against – absolutely. And it seems like as a New Yorker, it’s us against the world.

Mayor: Well, it is sometimes. I’m glad you say it that way because that’s the blunt truth, and I’ve reminded leaders in Washington and in Albany that New York City has to stand alone so often. Look, we’ve borne the brunt of a lot of the war on terror ourselves. And we know it. We paid a lot of those costs directly – the human-cost, first and foremost, but also the economic cost. Even today, we have the strongest anti-terror force of any police department in the country – 500-plus officers on Critical Response Command. We pay a very substantial amount of that cost. We get some back from the federal government but by no means all of it. And God forbid there were economic downturns, federal government and the state government are not going to come to our rescue. Everyone knows that.

So, New York City has to stand up for itself but on these issues – basic issues – healthcare – state government, federal government need to do more to support the healthcare of New Yorkers and not keep making it more difficult. And then on security – I mean an attack on us is an attack on the entire country. That’s why I went to testify before Congressman Dan Donovan’s committee in Washington last week. We are the number one terror target. We know it. And terrorists targeting New York City are trying to undermine the entire United States of America. Therefore the federal government should be with us, stand with us, not cut back the anti-terror aid we need.

Schnitt: Mayor de Blasio on the phone with us – Len Berman and Todd Schnitt in the Morning. Now, you’re an ardent Trump supporter. When are you going to hit the campaign trail with him?

[Laughter]

Berman: I want to see that.

Mayor: You know, you’re a funny man on a Monday morning, let me tell you.

Berman: You should see the rest of the week, Mr. Mayor, but that’s another story –

Mayor: It only gets better. I will say for the record, I’m an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter, and I’ve been very blunt about Donald Trump. What he’s doing is divisive. What he’s doing is dangerous. And I think people are going to start to see through it. I think even a lot of Republicans are really upset to see someone talk about a country that needs unity, and a country that’s future is finding a way to work together, and he’s bluntly and openly being divisive. And I said a lot of his rhetoric is downright racist. It’s just very bluntly – what he said about Muslims, what he said about Mexicans – the fact that he couldn’t condemn the KKK. It took him days to condemn the KKK. This is stuff we have never seen in a major candidate, certainly, in decades. And I don’t think the American people will go for it. I think Hillary Clinton’s going to be the next president.

Schnitt: Are you in any way looking into or [inaudible] your people to look into way to make things difficult for Trump in the city?

Mayor: Look, we’re going to follow the laws. And as long as it’s been [inaudible] within the laws, we’ll of course respect that. I don’t look to do any business with him. You know, I don’t want to have anything to do with him. I’ve been very clear about that. And –

Schnitt: Would you get in the way of new Trump projects here in Manhattan?

Mayor: Only within the law. Again, I would never go out of my way to encourage Donald Trump to have any further involvement in the City of New York. But if his business applies for something and they follow the rules, they follow the law, we’ll treat them like anyone else.

Berman: Mr. Mayor we have a couple seconds left – just quick thought on the president in Cuba. It’s been a little bit controversial to say the least. 

Mayor: Well, no, I think the president did the right thing. Look, this is ridiculous that we’ve had a rift with a country that’s 90 miles away from our shores. This is a vestige of another time. It was time to put this behind us. It was time to open up business opportunities for New York businesses and American businesses. It was time to help democratize Cuba by actually bringing in positive American influences. The president is absolutely doing the right thing.

Schnitt: I’ve got a big problem – and I know we’ve got to go – but I’ve got a big problem with the fact that once we normalized diplomatic relations, arrests and oppression have actually increased according to human rights groups like Amnesty International.

Mayor: Look, I think the normalization of relations will bring a lot of connection between the two countries, a lot of travel, a lot of communications. We’ve seen what that does. That democratizes. That opens up a society that’s ready for it. But isolation – I mean look at North Korea, for God’s sake, you allow a dictatorship to exist in isolation. It continues to be a dictatorship. You open up information, you connect the two peoples – I guarantee you democracy wins.

Schnitt: Mayor de Blasio, great to have you on Len Berman and Todd Schnitt in the Morning. We’ll talk to you again soon.