Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Impromptu Gaggle in Albany

May 27, 2015

Mayor Bill de Blasio: …you guys for the press conference at 2 o’clock. The purpose of the visit today is to talk to the different leaders here in Albany about our core priorities for the people in New York City. Obviously extending mayoral control of education has a huge impact on our 1.2 million public school students and their families. Extending rent regulation and strengthening it so we can stop losing so much affordable housing – that obviously affects over 2 million New Yorkers – and reforming the 421-a program so it’s more fair for taxpayers, so it produces a lot more affordable housing. 

These are priorities for us. They’re going to have a huge impact on our people. And these are the things we expect Albany to be responsible on and to act on. And we’ll have a series of conversations today to hopefully achieve some progress. But we also know, in Albany terms, there’s a lot of time on the clock here. There’s still several weeks, and a lot can happen, but I’m here to make the case on behalf of the people of New York City. 

Question: Mayor, why accept three years on mayoral control instead of seven as your predecessor?

Mayor: As I’ve said, it should be made permanent. That’s the only logical solution because clearly the previous system did not work. It was prone to corruption, it was inefficient, you could not make reform under the previous system. And fortunately, we see it all over the state, you know, where local school boards are standing in the way of reform all too often. It should be permanent. But if three years is the practical possibility right now, that [inaudible] help us to keep moving forward and keep making the changes we’re trying to make in our schools.

Phil Walzak: One more, guys.

Question: [inaudible] in terms of rent and 421-a, the best [inaudible] 

Mayor: I think it would be irresponsible. I think you can’t simply extend 421-a without reforming it. If you extend it, it just constitutes more giveaways to developers and less ability to create affordable housing. You can’t obviously – in the case of mayoral control – turn it into a political football, which anything less than three years would do. So, I think if our leaders here in Albany are going to be responsible, and really focus on what the people need substantively, they’ll take the kind of actions we’re talking about and allow us to keep helping the people of our city.

Phil Walzak: Thank you, guys. We’ve got to go to our next meeting. See you guys at 2 o’clock.