Transcript: Mayor de Blasio, Police Commissioner O'Neill Hold Media Availability on Crime Statistics

July 10, 2018

Video available at: https://youtu.be/7fym59Oqh60

Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill: Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being here. In a moment you're going to hear from Mayor de Blasio, and then you'll hear from Chief of Department Terry Monahan. He's going to talk about the June crime stats and he'll include a summary of the first half of the year. Before that though, I'd like to say this is really a very exciting day, especially being that we're sitting in this [inaudible] when it's about 98 degrees. Today we're one step closer to fulfilling a pledge we made to the people of the South Bronx four years ago. It was to build a state of the art NYPD facility that belongs to this community like no other station house in the city. This is important because we're committed to fighting crime and keeping people safe in every neighborhood in New York City. And our mission as you know it is to be relentless in going after the relatively small percentage of criminals responsible for the majority of the violence in our city. We'll keep doing that until we've helped New Yorkers reclaim every single block where they live, work, and play. People deserve nothing less than their police department's very best efforts in that regard. To that end the current 4-0 Precinct station house where we are right now – might find this hard to believe was built in 1923, even before Terry came on the job.

[Laughter]

Thank you for laughing. Studies concluded it cannot be rehabilitated for the busy day to day activity we need it for, although we are going to repurpose it in some way and keep it in the NYPD family. Meanwhile, we are going to build a brand new station house here for all the hard working men and women that work in the 4-0. And importantly this new station house would be the first of its kind in the history of the NYPD to incorporate a dedicated, directly accessible 800-square-foot community space in which residents, and workers can engage with their police officers. The new facility would be at the corner of East 1-4-9 Street and St. Anne's Avenue, just about a mile from here. Every aspect of the new building, which won a public design commission award by the way, has been considered with the people of this neighborhood in mind. We expect the $68 million project to be complete and move-in ready by spring of 2021, less than three years from now. All the people who live, work and visit here will be able to come in and be part of their police department like nowhere else in the five boroughs. This is critical because neighborhood policing and the shared responsibility of public safety in our city require us to come together. It's a two-way street that needs to happen everywhere, out on the blocks, at local businesses, in our parks, in public spaces, and soon inside the new 4-0 Precinct station house. Our message to New Yorkers going forward, these are your station houses. It's a transformation we're working hard at, especially considering that we're working in a century old building that was designed for a century old policing methods, so at the outset of neighborhood policing when we said the methods had to change, that meant everything else had to change along with them including where we do our jobs. That was our promise to all 8.6 million New Yorkers.

We also made a promise to our cops that we would provide modern state of the art facilities for them to work in. Because everyone should take pride not only in their jobs that they do but also where they do them. The new station house is a huge step in that direction, and I know inspector Brian Hennessy, the commanding officer here in the 4-0 whose birthday was yesterday, and all the uniform and civilian members of this precinct are excited to be part of it. Thank you to Mayor de Blasio for this and for all the ways you support the men and women of the NYPD. I also want to thank Ana Barrio, Acting Commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction, and all of her people who lead this effort from the start. And I also want to thank Bjarke Ingels Group for its incredible design, and thanks to all the NYPD members and all the people they serve up here in the 4-0 for their enthusiasm surrounding this project. We're on this path together, and we're thrilled that this neighborhood will finally get the station house it needs and access to the police department that it deserves. Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner, I want to thank you and your whole leadership team for all the great work that's been done throughout this year. We now have a half a year behind us in 2018. We're going to be looking at the facts of how we've done at the half way point, how we did in the month June. How we did compared to last year, I think we see some real progress and of course some real challenges but I want to commend you and your team for all that's been achieved. A special thank you to all the men and women who serve in the 4-0 Precinct and yes they are serving right now in an almost century-old building but they're doing an outstanding job and we look forward to the day when their new facility is ready and really supporting their work further. To Inspector Brian Hennessy, happy birthday, and commend you for all your good work. Where is the inspector? We are celebrating him, and we can't see him – but he's out there somewhere.

Commissioner O'Neill: He's in the air-conditioned room.

Mayor: He's in the air-conditioned room.

[Laughter]

So, I also want to say to –

Inspector Brian Hennessy, NYPD: Thank you.

Mayor: There you go, there you go.

[Laughter]

Well done, happy birthday.

Inspector Hennessey: Thank you so much.

Mayor: I want to say to our Acting Commissioner at DDC, Ana Barrio and her whole team, congratulations, amazing design. Thank you for all you are doing on behalf of the people of this city and for the men and women of the NYPD with this new station house. Thank you so much.

Also someone who cares deeply both about public safety and about building new things, the Chair of the Subcommittee on Capital Projects of the Finance Committee in the City Council, Council member Vanessa Gibson, thank you for your leadership.

Look as we – again we have got half a year under our belt. The big picture we are the safest big city in America and we continue with a whole host of efforts to get safer but there is also real work we have to do and some real specific things we have to address. At the outset of this year, look we were all quite sober about the fact that trying to repeat what happened in 2017 was going to be very, very difficult. 2017 – record setting year in every sense, crime levels that had not been seen since the 1950s but what's happening overall is the NYPD is on pace on so many fronts to surpass 2017. We have got a whole other half year to go but we see some really wonderful work happening.

Now Chief Monahan will go into the details but the bottom line – crime remains at record lows and at the end of June, so six months into the year, total crime down 1.8 percent year to date compared to last year. So almost two percent reduction in overall crime this point this year compared to the same point last year. Again that makes this the lowest six month period for overall crime in the modern era. Now that said we know that everything we are doing has to be felt in every community. This vision we have of neighborhood policing, precision policing, we are not satisfied until we see the results happening absolutely everywhere.

New Yorkers need to feel just as safe at 138th and 3rd as they do at 38th and 3rd. That is the vision of neighborhood policing. And we have seen some real progress in the Bronx in particular in recent years. But we are constantly reminded of things that challenge us and things that we have to work harder on. And obviously one very painful example was in the last few weeks. This whole city is still mourning the death of Junior Guzman-Feliz, a young man of such promise who wanted to serve in this department. If he had lived he might of, I think, very well fulfilled that dream and be serving right here in this precinct even. We need to have good young men and women come forward and to support particularly our Explorers Program. And that, I want to commend the Police Foundation for setting up a scholarship in Junior's name to encourage more young men and women who are part of the Explorers family. That's so important.

But the bottom line is in the Bronx we know we are going to have do exactly what we have done all over the city – fight block by block to make sure we are bringing down crime and throw at the problem whatever is needed. You see a big compliment of officers that have come to precincts in the Bronx through the Summer All Out initiative. You see important actions being taken strategically to shore up any area that needs it. This is what precision policing is all about. And the NYPD continues to refine its strategies.

The point that was made earlier by the Commissioner, trying to make sure that we give our officers the kind of facilities that allow them to do the best work they can do, modern facilities for a modern, new type of policing. That's why this new precinct facility is going to be so exciting. So what it's going allow for? More opportunity for training in the precinct, a lot more space for our officers to do their work, physical fitness areas, but also that community space, so important – neighborhood policing works because of constant dialogue between police and community, having more community space to meet in allows for that dialogue to deepen. And I got to tell you wherever I've gone all over the city, I get extraordinary feedback from community residents who have experienced the results of neighborhood policing, who feel they have a personal bond with the police officers who serve them. It's making a huge difference and this new facility is going to help in the 4-0.

So look, the bottom line is we are the safest big city in America, we have more to do to keep getting safer but we are confident that we can get safer and in every neighborhood of this city. A few words in Spanish.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that I turn to Chief of Department Terry Monahan.

Chief of Department Terrance Monahan, NYPD: Good morning everyone. I get the honor of sitting here in place of Chief Pollock today to go through the numbers for the first six months. Alright so I'm happy to say for the first six months of 2018, overall crime in New York City continues to fall. We have exceeded historic reductions we achieved at this time last year. Overall crime for the first six months of the year is down 1.8 percent, 853 crimes compared to the first six months of 2017. This is the lowest six-month period for overall crime in the CompStat era. The NYPD has accomplished this while making 11.5 percent fewer overall arrests compared to last year. That's 17,000 fewer arrest this year compared to last year. Looking more closely there are several specific crime categories with historic lows for this six month period. Robberies were down 6.4 percent, burglaries down 5.4 percent, and grand larceny autos down 2.2 percent. Shooting incidents are also at an unprecedented six month low, down 5.6 percent or 20 fewer shootings year to date. But not everything is down, and we still face challenges. Murder is up 8.1 percent citywide. Through June 30th, there were 147 murders, or 11 more year to date, compared to 2017. 147 is still the second lowest six month number in modern era, surpassed only by last year's historically low numbers. And as we sit here today, we have reduced our citywide murder increase to just two, year to date, as of this morning, 152 to 150. The Bronx is driving the murder, year to date, with 51 homicides, an increase of 21 murders from 2017. In those cases in the Bronx, we have made arrests on 33 of the cases, or almost 70 percent of the murders that have occurred this year in the Bronx.

Just as overall shootings have decreased city wide, year to date, they have also decreased in the Bronx, year to date, down seven, 102 versus 109. However, fatal shootings have gone up by twelve in the Bronx, 29 by 17, compared to 2017. We see this trend throughout the rest of the city as well, with 82 murders citywide this year by way of shooting, an increase of 20, 82 versus 62 compared with 2017. So as shootings go down, people who have died when they were shot has gone up this year. I want to mention one other category where we're seeing increases citywide year to date, and that is rape. Citywide rape is up 33.2 percent for the first six months of 2018. However we continue to be encouraged by the increase in this highly underreported crime. Specifically, we see a 45 percent increase in reported domestic rapes, perhaps the most historically underreported category of rape. I also want to note that with more complaints we are seeing more arrests being made. We are up 37.4 percent in arrests for rape this year. As always, we continue to encourage survivors of sexual assault to report it, to continue to come forward for current or past crimes, knowing the NYPD is here to support you and to fully investigate these often underreported crimes so we can get those who are accountable off our streets.

As we switch over in the month of June, for the month of June we've seen 2017's historic reductions pushed even lower in several crime categories. Again, robbery with its lowest number ever, down 8.5 percent, burglary down 2.3 percent, and grand larceny auto down 1.3 percent. Couple of categories went up, we went up in grand larceny, 4.7 percent, and rape for the month of June was up 17 percent. Overall crime is up slightly for the month of June, in New York City, a 0.3 percent increase citywide for 26 total crimes. Once again, this is the second lowest June in the modern era, surpassed only by last year's historic June numbers.

Transit, we've shown down 5.5 percent for the month of June, and housing has shown us an increase of seven percent in the month of June. Shooting incidents also reach a new historic low for the month of June, 72 total, down 8.9 percent or seven fewer shootings. Although once again we see fatal shootings citywide are up six for the month of June, compared to 2017, 19 versus 13, which has contributed to the increase in citywide murders for June. For the month of June, murder is up 34 percent citywide, eight crimes, and again we're back in the Bronx – it is the driver of this increase. 13 murders this June versus six in June of 2017, that's an increase of seven murders or 116 percent.

Once again, just as we are seeing citywide, although overall shootings have decreased in the Bronx by two, fatal shooting in the Bronx are up by four, nine versus five compared to 2017. Included in that number is what the Mayor has mentioned before was the murder of Lesandro Junior Feliz-Guzman. As you know, thanks to the tremendous help from the community and the great investigative work done by the Bronx detectives, 4-8 Detective Squad, and Bronx Homicide, 12 arrests have been made in the heinous crime. And we are also continuing with our practice of precision policing here in the Bronx. Just two weeks ago, a major federal case takedown has taken right here in this neighborhood, the Melrose Jackson Houses, 20 individuals were arrested. They were arrested and indicted federally for a case that includes narcotics trafficking, involves two homicides, and 26 separate shooting incidents attributed to these 20 members.

It's cases like this, with the tremendous work being done by our investigators, working with our prosecutors, to secure preindictments, and in cooperation with the community, that we will attack this spike in violence. And now, as we move into the heart of the summer, the NYPD is poised to continue its overall reduction in crime. Our dedicated cops, like Brooklyn North Warrants' Detective Miguel Soto, who was shot in the line of duty just last week, demonstrate every day that they are willing to go into harm's way on behalf of all New Yorkers. Thankfully, Detective Soto will make a full recovery. I want to commend him and his team for their exceptional police work. Adding to our already hard working group of cops and support staff across the five boroughs, getting the job done will be our almost 300 Summer Out officers that are currently in place in our commands right now, and our most recent class of over 750 Police Academy graduates. These additional resources will only bolster our relentless efforts, as we work hard to maintain our advances and further reduce crime in our nation's biggest city, and safest city. Thank you very much.

Commissioner O'Neill: So let's do this. If you have any questions about the crime numbers we'll do that first and then if you have questions –

Mayor: Wait, wait, wait. Jumping ahead. We have some elected officials.

Commissioner O'Neill: Oh really?

Mayor: Yes we do.

Commissioner O'Neill: Thank you, Sir.

Mayor: I'm here to help. First of all, let's get a chance for the elected officials who represent the community served by the 4-0 to offer their thoughts on this announcement today. I first want to turn to the Council member who represents where we are right now and thank her for her leadership, Council Member Diana Ayala.

[...]

Thank you very much. And now, the Council member who will be hosting the new precinct, Council Member Rafael Salamanca.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you very much. Back to you, Commissioner.

Commissioner O'Neill: So if you have any questions about the crime numbers, we'll do that first and then if you have questions about the new precinct station house, we'll answer that next, So, any questions about the crime numbers?

Question: It's weird that you mention – because I have the figures with me [inaudible]. Now, two weeks ago there was a triple homicide in Soundview. The police have a photo of the suspect. People in the neighborhood have told me after the investigation that they are afraid now to walk their neighborhood. They're afraid to be shot. They're afraid from other – from being robbed, from drug activity, the gang activity there. Can you update me and the community on what is happening with the suspect? Do you know who he is? Do you have him in custody? What are you doing to make the neighborhood safer because I know that you have a 20 percent less police presence in the Bronx from three years ago.

Chief Monahan: The case – it's not Soundview. You're talking about the triple homicide over by Castle Hill Houses. This was an ongoing dispute between a couple of families that knew one another. We have an identified perpetrator that we believe is out of state at this point. Our warrants team is hunting him currently.

Commissioner O'Neill: And I have the numbers from January 1st, 2018 to now. We have an increase of police officers in the Bronx overall and then we also have an increase from January 1st, 2017 to July 10th, 2018. January 1st ‘17, there were 2,561. Now there's 2,661. So that –

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner O'Neill: I'm talking about from January 17th. So this the numbers that I have right now.

Mayor: We're contesting your numbers. So let's – we'll be happy to compare notes but I'm just saying for the record. We contest your numbers.

Question: What do you believe to behind this uptick in crime in the Bronx?

Chief Monahan: It's not an uptick in crime. It's an uptick in homicide. It's the homicide – you know, we're looking at it. We look – it's 30 percent gang related. So obviously, we want to be able to target the crews. That's one of the case takedowns I just talked about – focused right here. That's been historically problematic. We look at – a weird thing this year is less people shot but more people dying after they got shot.

Obviously, you get a hit by a bullet, an inch can make a difference one way or the other. So, that's one of the things we're looking at but again we want to focus in on the individuals who are doing these.

And with the homicides here – 70 percent if you commit that homicide, you've been arrested. So that's one good thing I can say here in the Bronx. If you commit this crime, very good chance that our great detectives are going to catch you and put you away for a long time.

Commissioner O'Neill: So, when we did our analysis out of the precincts in the Bronx, it's two of the precincts. So, they're up by 15 as of last Sunday and in two precincts, 11 – 11 of those murders occurred. So, that's the 4-0 and the 4-8.

So, we're putting additional resources into both precincts. So, it is localized. It's not any comfort to the murder victims and their families but it is localized to two precincts.

Question: Commissioner and Mayor, this is a question directed to both of you My name is Kendall Taggart, I'm a journalist at Buzzfeed News. And we recently wrote about an officer who filed sexual harassment –

Commissioner O'Neill: We'll get to that when we go off-topic. We're talking about crime now.

Mayor: We'll come to you for sure. Anything on the two updates today? The crime stats and the new precinct. Let's just get that out of the way and we'll go to other police matters.

Commissioner O'Neill: Juliet?

Question: The rape statistics that continue to go up. Is there any sort of program or initiative that the department is taking to look at that or to get the numbers down or to – perhaps an awareness campaign?

Chief Monahan: It's not that we're looking to get those numbers down. I mean rape, we always know, has been an often under-reported crime. Statistically nationally they say it's one of the most under-reported crimes there are. So, we've been pushing people to come out and report it, get this information, and let us know that our special victims squad is going to do the investigations and make the arrests when appropriate on that.

So, we encourage people to come out and make these reports. So, when it goes up that's not – that's the one crime we look going up that you got to weigh that it's actually a good thing because more people are coming forward. Especially when we see it domestic violence cases because those are the ones that never come forward. Now, we're seeing a huge uptick in people coming forward.

Question: Neighborhood policing is a big part of your strategy and it's a big investment that you make in personnel and money. I've asked a number of times in the briefings, when are you going to be able to produce the surveys that you have going on with rank-and-file and the public. Are you any closer to releasing that because it's been several –

Commissioner O'Neill: Yeah, we're getting closer, Tony. We're just not there yet. We did the internal survey. I saw the results of that. I was briefed on that before our last crime press briefing. So, hopefully they'll come out some time in the fall.

Question: Chief O'Neill – I'm sorry, Chief Monahan, I wanted to ask you, you mentioned that gang-related homicides are at 30 percent and I'm just wondering if you've seen that gone up or down and if you're seeing spikes among particular gangs –

Chief Monahan: No, we're seeing that being fairly steady. When it comes to the homicides, it's around 30 percent. When we come to non-fatal shootings, it's around 40 percent where there's some sort of gang nexus. Those are the ones that we know about where we've identified either the – well, we always identify the victim but if we have identified the perpetrator.

So, that's 30 to 40 percent. It's been fairly consistent.

Question: Just regarding the rape stats, how many of those are older cases and how many are current cases –

Chief Monahan: We're seeing that come back and level off right now in the month of June. So, it was 15 percent were older cases, 14 percent is what it was last year. So, for this month, we've seen the older cases level off.

Question: There appears to be a rise in random crimes. There was the NYU student that was assaulted yesterday, a subway rider struck by a man holding a metal pipe, back in May there was a couple that had come in to town and they were assaulted while celebrating their 10th anniversary. They're now saying that they don't want to come to New York City anymore. What are you doing to handle these types of crimes?

Chief Monahan: Again, this is a city of 8.6 million people and there are always going to be some individualized acts that occur. But in the three incidents, the three women that were struck down in Lower Manhattan the other day, it all happened within 12 minutes and we made an arrest just moments after that. We had a very horrible rape, attempted rape in the 2-0 Precinct, where we were able to get photos out right away and with help from the community, solved that case and within less than 24 hours, make an arrest. We had the man on the train that was hit in the face with the pipe. People on that train took photos of him, gave that to us. We put it out and immediately he was identified. So, again, this is what the Commissioner, he always talks about the shared responsibility, that everyone's working together and quickly we're getting these individuals off the streets.

There is a small percentage of people within this city that need to be arrested and off the street and I can tell you that the NYPD is committed to making sure we get them off the street and keep them off the street,

Question: Have you seen a rise in crime in all [inaudible] –

Commissioner O'Neill: We're going to have to get back to you with that number. In the back?

Question: So, could you talk a little bit more about this community center and precinct, how you envision it. Would it be kind of a room like this where you have meetings or would it be more of a community facility that I guess they'll get input –

Commissioner O'Neill: It will be both. It will be for NYPD functions where the community can come in and can talk to a precinct commander and the NCOs and the steady sector cops and the response officers but it will also be used for non-NYPD events too. It's a multi-purpose room not just NYPD-specific. It will be a place for people in the community to meet.

Question: [Inaudible]

[Laughter]

Commissioner O'Neill: I certainly hope so. Any other questions about the crime numbers?

Question: So, take an area like the South Bronx. Do you see the opioid issue playing into these new homicide numbers?

Chief Monahan: No, no we don't. Again, we look at gang, we look at domestic, we look at just basic disputes that happen. We have not seen any homicides that we could really tie into drugs – to heroin.

Commissioner O'Neill: But we also have to – I mean, that's a good point but we also have to take a look at the number of overdoses citywide. I'm not sure if the numbers in ‘17 have been finalized yet but it'll be about 1,600. So, we're talking about five times the homicide rate. So, we're doing a lot of things on that front also. Tina?

Question: Has the gang database been helping you? Is that something you're using, the gang database?

Chief Monahan: The gang database is something we use as an investigative tool, for intelligence. We don't target based on the gang database but when we have a shooting – like we had a triple shooting in University Heights recently. Well, we know that was on the anniversary of Juther Perez who was a YG and had been targeting people up there. So, we knew that if there was going to be retaliation or where it may have come from, it was over at the Mott Haven Houses over here. So this sort of gives us the intelligence we know, where to deploy our personnel and where to focus our investigative purposes on.

Question: When a precinct commander comes in for a CompStat now in a precinct that has crime that is going up and they have NCOs, what are they being drilled on to do more of?

Chief Monahan: How are they – and I've run the CompStat every Thursday morning. So, the main thing we want to know is how they're working hand in hand with the squad. If there was a shooting in an area or a robbery pattern within their zone, how are they sitting down the detectives find out what they need to do? How are they reaching out to the residents that they know in the neighborhood, that can give them information? Are they going to businesses to get extra video for the squad that may show the perpetrator leaving? Do they know the perpetrator because a lot of the crimes are done by people who live within the neighborhood. These cops are out there every day.

Have we shown them that video? Can they identify, based on the video – I know that kid, he's here or he's there. These are the sort of things we're talking about. How involved are we in just the everyday life that's going on within that sector and how they can keep the people safe.

Question: [Inaudible] commanders have good answers to those questions and if they do then what do you do?

Chief Monahan: When they have good answers then they're going well. As long as you have an answer for your crime and how you're trying to solve it, how you're trying to keep the people safe, that's fine. It's when a commander doesn't have an answer or doesn't know or hasn't utilized all his resources, then it could be a little different.

Commissioner O'Neill: And David, this is a program – it's up and running for three years but in some precincts it's a lot less than that. So, we have to make sure that the precinct commanders – they know what we're looking for. We don't want to just bring them down there and put them up at the podium and ask them a question that they might not have a response to, something they'd never answers before. So, we have to make sure we do our best to let them know what our expectations are at the NCOs.

Any other questions about crime?

Question: [Inaudible] violence interrupters that have been introduced in the precincts –

Commissioner O'Neill: Look at the work they did over in Queensbridge. I know there's been some shootings in Queensbridge this year but then I think they went 15 months without a shooting or a homicide which is incredible and a lot of that work was done of course by PSA 10 and the 1-14 Precinct but a lot of that was done by the violence interrupters too. And Erica Ford down in Queens South, while I can't give you specific instances because they were prevented, she is fully committed to helping keep this city safe and she does a great job out there with our people.

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner O'Neill: I'd have to find that out and get back to you on that. Any other questions about crime? How about questions about the new station house? It does have air conditioning

Mayor: Yeah, that's the important one.

Commissioner O'Neill: Let's go off-topic.  Yup, back to Buzzfeed.

Question: Yeah I wanted to ask you about a case [inaudible] filed as sexual harassment complaint and then says that afterword she was ostracized by her fellow officers, she was disciplined unfairly and sent to an alcohol treatment program she didn't need. I wanted to know if either you had any plans to reach out to her or if there is anything in place that would prevent something like that from happening –

Commissioner O'Neill: Yeah, so I'm going to talk about what's going forward here. That case is – I think it started in 2007. I think was finally a disposition on it in 2014 but in January I established the Equity Inclusion Office under Tracie Keesee, Deputy Commissioner Keesee. EEO falls under her now. And then we've also established a three-person panel to look at our whole disciplinary process going forward and they'll be coming out with some recommendations, I think it was 120 days, so there's probably about 100 days left, I'm actually meeting with them next week so –  

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner O'Neill: I haven't – I haven't looked at the case. This has a final disposition on it, I did read the article, you know it's from what I read it's a tough experience for her, but as to the particulars I don't – I didn't read the case.

Question: Do you have any plans to reach out to her?

Commissioner O'Neill: Not at this time, no.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Again, I'm not familiar with the details but what I'll say is that we constantly are looking at the disciplinary process and it's something, as the Commissioner said, that we want to make sure is effective and fair and we have to keep updating. So the bottom line is nothing is static, this is something that is constantly evolving and we want to make sure is fair for all the realities that we face today.

Question: Do either of you have the sense that it isn't fair as of today?

Mayor: Look, I have been very impressed. I'll just speak from my own experience as someone who came into working with the NYPD not having seen the fullness of the operation previously and coming in with an open mind. I've been impressed by the disciplinary process, by the thoroughness of it. I think it's been very clear under this Commissioner and under Commissioner Bratton, they sent a very clear message of consistency in that process, but again we have to constantly look to make sure we're working to update it all times.

Commissioner O'Neill: I've had this job now for almost 22 months. I look at the major disciplinary cases that come before me and I've been a cop for 35-and-half years, so I think I do provide that sense of fairness as we move forward. Next to Tony.

Question: Yeah, Commissioner about your disciplinary panel actually, three people are involved and I think it's going to go public in what, 120 days? Are they taking input from the public, from advocacy groups, I mean is it just these three people and they make their recommendation and that's it?

Commissioner O'Neill: Hey Larry, you want to talk about that a little bit?

Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters Lawrence Byrnes, NYPD: Yeah, the panel is –

Commissioner O'Neill: You need a microphone, you need a mic.

Deputy Commissioner Byrnes: The panel is started their work, they're gathering information from the department. They've been in communication with all sorts of external stakeholders and they plan to meet with those folks and groups and get their input on the department. The panel is independent so they'll make their own work plan but we're supporting them and they do seek input from a wide variety of external stakeholders and external overseers of the department.

Question: What about the public [inaudible] stakeholders, does that mean like –

Deputy Commissioner Byrnes: I don't know specifically what they're going to do about the public but any member of the public is welcome to write to them or communicate with them.

Commissioner O'Neill: Tony.

Question: I heard [inaudible] there was a 12th arrest in Junior's case, they're going to be – you see this going any further, 13th, 14th arrest?

Commissioner O'Neill: Chief Abry will talk about that. Bill?

Chief of Manhattan Detectives William Aubry, NYPD: Right now we have made the 12th arrest – the 11th and 12th arrest, we linked them to the chasing of Junior during the incident. If you look at this incident and you look at how the public has helped us, how the neighborhood policing program came together, working with the public, we had over – 100s of Crime Stopper tips coming in ,a lot of resourceful information coming out of that and that's where we got 12th arrest. So right now we've identified these 12 individuals, they're arrested, they're all in, charged with murder one and murder two, and we're not currently looking for any additional people, but that could always change. I encourage the public to continue to cooperate with us, call in, I can't thank this community – we made a commitment to the family, to Junior's family, to unturn every stone and I think we've worked very, very hard to go through the evidence, working with this community, working with the public, and we've unturned every stone. So I'm satisfied right now that these 12, they're – they've been linked to this incident and the district attorney – I want to thank the district attorney as well because they've working hard with us as well.

Question: Can you specify about where the linkages between the incident and Junior's incident, and the 5-2 incident on the Bronx River Parkway, there some linkage that was alluded to in previous press conferences, can you specify anything more?

Chief Aubry: At this point, they're part of a gang and – but we don't see anything other than they're part of gang. We don't see any linkage to the incident with Junior and that incident as a motivator, so at this point I would say no they're not – they're not linked together.

Chief Monahan: It's something – excuse me – it is something that we're still investigating. There could be some possible linkage, you know, it's all Trinitario's and different clans within the Trinitario's, Sunset Clan, Versaro Clan, so there may be some linkage with something that is still being investigated through the prosecutor's office.

Question: Can you talk a little bit about what the 12th suspect, what was his role or believe his role to be?

Chief Aubry: The 12th suspect was – we have him in one of the vehicles and we also have him chasing Junior.

Commissioner O'Neill: Marcia?

Question: Commissioner, I wondered if you could tell us about the decision to send the Counterterrorism [inaudible] with the Mayor in Canada, and really I wonder if you think the lawmakers in Washington would give you a hard time in terms of counterterrorism funding because they're always to trying to cut [inaudible] counterterrorism funds and if it will make it more difficult [inaudible] –

Commissioner O'Neill: So our Intel Bureau, Intelligence Bureau, makes the decision on how we transport the executives in the city. As far as using the plane, we did not see any obstacles to that, I don't think there is going to be push back from Washington on that. And – I mean bottom line the Mayor came back to go to a street renaming for a detective that was brutally murdered a year ago, so I think that has to be taken into consideration also. Juliet?

Question: Yes, there've been several precincts that I'm aware of, the 1-0-9, the 1-12, and Midtown North where this mailbox fishing is a problem of the mailboxes on the corners and people's checks are being you know, deleted and rewritten and what's happening with that? How do people help, you know –

Commissioner O'Neill: Chief Aubry will talk about that.

Chief Aubry: That's a scam that's going on citywide, our Grand Larceny Division is working on it. So, you have different components of that, you have the person who actually does the fishing, so they have people that go out there, they go to certain mailboxes. They also have keys to some of the mailboxes which we've identified. And then you have at the end, you have the person cashing the check and in between you have different entities, you have the people washing the check, so there are certain ways that you can change over the ink, you have the coordinator, the one that's pretty much quarterbacking the whole operation, then you may have some outside entities involved, from you know the bank and maybe the postal service. So it's a very, very complex type of scheme. We're identifying people every day that are part of it. We're working with the various local district attorneys' office on these cases, working with the postal inspector. So we're making a lot of headway on these cases.

Question: Have there been any arrests of like groups or organizations that are –

Chief Aubry: We just made an arrest in the Bronx this week. I'll get you the details afterwards.

Commissioner O'Neill: Grace?

Question: There are Staten Island reporters that have been looking into a case of South Shore, a number of cases, there have been something like 40 cars that have been vandalized on the South Shore of Staten Island. Keyed really deeply, causes a lot of damage, I'm wondering if you all – if that's on your radar and what kind of thing you know about it?

Commissioner O'Neill: Yeah and it's – I'm going to have to get the investigative chief out in Staten Island to give you an update. We can do that – we get you in touch with him this afternoon, okay?

Unknown: Anymore on police topics? Right here on the left.

Question: I just want to follow up on – you said that the NYPD plane to transport the Mayor, I say – it would be one thing if it was a plane that had multiple uses, but in this case the plane was kind of specifically bought with federal funds to use for anti-terror, and I'm wondering if that gave you pause in using it to simply transport an elected official, but also did you clear that use with either Homeland Security or have you heard from them since –

Commissioner O'Neill: No to either one, I didn't ask for clearance and I haven't heard from them. It is a multi-use plane, we use it mostly, primarily, for detecting radiation out in the shipping lanes but there are other uses it can be – that we use it for, so.

Question: Question on speed cameras, Mr. Mayor. Your predecessor set up speed cameras and at the press conference at P.S. 81, in Riverdale. DOT said it surveyed a street which everybody thought was in front of the school, however DOT surveyed these streets were seven blocks away, which was behind the exit of the Russian Mission, which led to the Henry Hudson Parkway South, into a private community hall, so on a downhill slope where they said over 9 –

Mayor: Can I meet you at bottom line because I can't follow all your detail. What's your bottom line?

Question: When they said over 90 percent of the vehicles were speeding even one mile over then 30 mile speed limit. You're pushing for the renewed speed cameras. Senator Klein did a survey of the street in front of the school and got much less numbers. Are you willing to survey the street in front of the –

Mayor: We look at this all the time. Look, elected officials who are opposed to speed cameras because they think it will please a constituency are constantly trying to promote this idea that there is something about them that is not right. That's absolutely false based on all the facts we have. The facts are speed cameras bring down speeding around schools 60 percent, already, a 60 percent reduction in speeding. Those are the facts. Making sure our children are safe, there's no reason in the world for any elected official to oppose a speed camera to placate some constituency in their community, the only people who should be upset about speed cameras are people who speed.

Question: This is not about an elected official. It's about are you willing to resurvey the street, to see how many people are speeding?

Mayor: We constantly look at the question of what the speed cameras are yielding in terms of impact, we're very satisfied – it's been consistent across the city – reduces speeding consistently. We'll happily look at any situation but really what the fact is, is that we not only need the speed cameras we have, and there's only a couple week left for Albany to act – we need a lot more around schools, to make sure kids are safe. That's the bottom line.

Question: On immigration, Mr. Mayor, we're being told the couple of elderly immigrants who were detained at an upstate New York military base.

Mayor: [Inaudible] just to see to if there is anything else police related, then we'll come right to you.

Question: Just on the shooting in Woodside, do you have anything you could tell us about the incident?

Chief Monahan: Bill -

Commissioner O'Neill: Billy.

Unknown: 108?

Unknown: Wait-

Mayor: You have it or if you don't have it –

Unknown: Talking about the homicide in the 108 last night?

Chief Aubry: Yeah, that – that case there, that victim, at a little past midnight last night, he was found with a gunshot wound. We have him on video with two other individuals, we are trying to locate those two individuals and the autopsy has to be done today, as well. We're looking for evidence on that, but pretty much right now we're doing a video canvass, and we're also trying to track those two individuals.

Question: Okay, thanks very much.

Mayor: Wait, wait, last [inaudible]

Question: Officer Brian Groves, it's been six years now, he's one of the few officers who were shot in the line of duty and this case hasn't been solved yet, we did a story about it today, and we still keep hearing from, you know, DCPI that the investigation is ongoing, no arrests. It seems very odd because these cases tend to be solved very quickly. Do you have any information about that? Why his investigation hasn't been solved?

Commissioner O'Neill: No, I'm going to have to get back to you, I haven't been updated – I haven't been briefed on that case recently, so I'm going to get back to you.

Question: Okay, Officer Brian Groves was killed in –

Commissioner O'Neill: Yeah I know, I got it, I got it.

Mayor: Yeah.

Commissioner O'Neill: Yeah I got it. Yup.

Mayor: Ok now, oh thank you, we're going to go to other topics, way back –

Question: An elderly –

Mayor: Actually let's give them one second to clear, hold on one second.

Unknown: Yeah.

Mayor: About to restart, last chance. Okay, is everyone ready? And way back, way back, way back, yes?

Question: Mayor, a couple was detained apparently in an upstate military base after they presented their NYC ID. They were trying to have a Fourth of July celebration with their son-in-law who happens to be a sergeant there. So, I guess the question would be, as far as the documentation, how would you tell our viewers – are they valid on these military bases? The NYC municipal ID –

Mayor: I think it's a very fair question but I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding here. If someone doesn't have any other ID, and they present an NYC ID, as a general rule, it's better to have some form of ID than none. One of the very positive outcomes of NYC ID has been more and more New Yorkers actually having a form of identification that is official on them which is really important in the event that they come into to contact with the police. It's extremely important to have ID. It's one of the reasons why, often, people do not have to be taken to a precinct if they have ID on them.

This is one of the things that really, the NYPD was very enthusiastic about when we came up with this idea originally, borrowing from the model of other cities. And now as you may have seen, this model is being adopted all over the country in bigger cities, smaller cities because it's just virtuous for more and more people to have ID.

The second question – or the specific question you raised about the military bases. If anyone is on a military base and any individual there chooses to act on the fact that they're undocumented, that has nothing to do with what kind of ID they're carrying. If they're undocumented, and then unfortunately someone chooses to take action against them, that's going to happen whether they're carrying a local ID, a State ID, whatever kind of ID.

So, I think we have to separate the two questions. NYC ID, I'm absolutely convinced has been a positive for our communities and certainly for law enforcement but what we're seeing is, if you go onto a military base, it's an unpredictable situation if you're undocumented. I think that's very unfortunate but that's the reality.

Question: You don't think it's [inaudible] not to accept the municipal ID [inaudible] –

Mayor: Just think about it for a minute. What – if someone had a passport, they would use a passport. If they were documented in that fashion, they would use a passport. If they happen to have a municipal ID and someone asks for ID, it's better to present an ID than not. But the bottom line is, the root cause of this is someone choosing to act against someone undocumented. In this city we don't do that. We don't believe in that. We don't think that's fair. Again, in my view, unfortunately, if someone were to take that stance on a military base to act on the fact that they knew someone was undocumented, it has nothing to do with what ID they're carrying. It has to do with the fact that they're undocumented.

Question: As part of implanting Raise the Age, there is this mandate to get 16 and 17-year-olds off of Rikers Island. There's been a goal of having it happen by October 1, do you think that deadline is realistic and how is the progress coming along?

Mayor: We're working on that deadline right now. We need help from the state, and we've been in constant touch with the state both on the executive and legislative level, to make sure that we get some of their support. As you know, originally when I absolutely believe Raise the Age was the right policy. When it was passed last year, there was an open consideration and discussion about making sure it did not create a hardship for localities in terms of how quickly it was being implemented. We also wanted to make sure it wasn't an unfunded mandate. Unfortunately at this point, it really does appear to be an unfunded mandate so I'm very unhappy about that, so I hope we could do something about that going forward. But we want to make sure we're getting the support from the state to be able to meet that deadline. If we get that support I'm very hopeful we will.

Question: Are there any particular pieces of support that we're looking for? Anything in particular you need from the state?

Mayor: The bottom line is we just need to align the facilities we'll use and we need some help from the state in terms of getting access to the right facilities.

Question: On the NYCHA announcement that you made last night, you found out about the failures in the lead inspections more than two years ago now around May of 2016. Why did it take you two years to decide to go back through and inspect essentially all the apartments that might have lead? Why not do that earlier? Certainly the feds couldn't have asked you not to do it during their investigation.

Mayor: Well, in fact, no one suggested we do it in the form that we're doing it now this was an idea that was developed by our Chair, Stan Brezenoff at NYCHA and General Manager Vito Mustaciuolo. What I think's happened here, David, is this was an issue that for years and years essentially wasn't core to the public discourse. I was around when Local Law One was passed, early in the last decade. I think for a lot of people there was a feeling that that really addressed the lead issue once and for all and obviously lead paint had been outlawed for quite a while. We were not hearing reports of problems. The first time it really reemerges as an issues was when the Southern District's investigation begins, and as this has proceeded we've been trying to figure out all the things that need to be done here essentially starting from scratch as an issue because it had not been something that we just think about all the last years in this City – before that investigation is was not something that was being pointed to as a problem. Obviously the inspections stopped in the previous administration, I think that is the core mistake here.

But as we have gone deeper and deeper into the issue, all of us, the question got raised of how do you get to an actual baseline here? Because you'll remember, there was some work done during the Giuliani Administration, that defined which apartments in public housing might have lead, and which weren't – which didn't. There was a methodology required for the – by the Federal Government which was a sampling methodology, not an exhaustive review of each apartment. Federal regulations changed over time. This has been something of a moving target.

What Stan Brezenoff and Vito Mustaciuolo put forward I think was audacious and smart. They said let's do once and for all, a baseline study of all apartments that have any possibility of having lead. Let's be able to rule out a lot of these apartments, I'm certain we will – let me just finish it – I'm certain we will rule out. For example, we're saying from the beginning, any apartment built after 1978, we're absolutely certain does not have lead, because it was outlawed, and apartments that were individually reviewed and certified as non-lead previously we have faith in. What we don't have faith in is apartments that were not looked at individually. So we're going back through all of them it's a huge undertaking. But the good news is when it's done, we will have a perfect view of what's happening. And that's why I say it's really now a Vision Zero mentality. The more we've looked at this, and we've said, you know what the Vision Zero concept fits here. We've seen a 90 percent reduction in lead poisoning in New York City since 2005. That's a huge amount of progress. We actually want to see if we can, once and for all, end lead poisoning in New York City.

And the NYCHA piece of it is actually less than ten percent of the cases in the city. Most of them are in private housing which is why we announced last week that anyone in private housing whose child is found to have that five microgram or above level, we will go and do a specific inspection through our Health Department.

But I think the important thing here on NYCHA is the realization that rather than depend on methodologies of the past and flawed information from previous administrations, we're going to once and for all define the universe and that's going to allow us to constantly shrink the number of apartments that needed attention.

Question: Here's what I don't understand [inaudible] what changed between when you found in 2016 that this was a problem, certainly that DOH has all the health data about children that have been sickened. You knew that the inspections weren't being done. You knew you didn't have a baseline then. Why did it take two years to make the city –

Mayor: Because sometimes it literally – when you're in the middle of, as all of us are, running a whole host of things, it takes a while for some new ideas to develop. Obviously, there had never been a survey of all the units in NYCHA. So, think about this for a moment. Lead paint was outlawed in New York City in 1960. Lead point is outlawed federally 1978. Local Law One is 2004. In that whole sweep of time over half a century, no one thought – literally no one thought to survey every apartment. As we've talked about it more and more, consulted with HPD which has done great work on inspections, Health Department, the idea arose – wait a minute, why don't we do the ultimate baseline study? It's literally a new idea that came out of a lot of discussion.

I think the other piece that needs to be looked at that's really important in this discussion, when we think about area of public health or public policy, the fact that we've had a 90 percent reduction in lead paint poisoning since 2005 indicates that so much progress was being made. I think attention was on some other areas honestly where there were bigger sharper problems. But now I think the good news here is all of our energies and resources are going to go into eradicating this once and for all. One more and then –

Question: [Inaudible] draw attention to this issue in 2016, 2017 because of your re-election?

Mayor: No, of course not. That's not the issue. Again, I don't know if you heard everything I just said. This issue had not been in the public domain –

Question: You would have brought it into the public domain by doing what you did yesterday –

Mayor: Listen to what I'm saying – when I ran for Mayor, some of you were there, this was not an issue in New York City. The fact is that we had seen constant reductions in lead paint poisoning in NYCHA and outside of NYCHA. Again, I want to emphasize to everyone – well over 90 percent of the cases we have the city are outside of NYCHA.

As we have gained more information, it is clear that there is a way to address this that might eradicate this problem once and for all. That is something that was on nobody's mind. I mean go and talk – look at all the different voices in this city and take 2013 as a great starting point. This discussion was not part of the public discourse. I would have happily embraced these options if we had known about them.

But the good news is, now we have a three-point approach, I think is going to make a huge difference. Survey 130,000 apartments with x-ray technology to once and for all know what's going on underneath those layers of paint and to rule out a number of apartments. Once we know an apartment doesn't have any lead, we no longer have to worry about that apartment. We can put all our energy into the other apartments.

Two – a much more intensive outreach to any families that have a child who has experienced any elevated level. Now, that five microgram level is a very stringent level. The good news is if a child is exposed at that level and it's caught and addressed, that number can go down very quickly and you can overt problems. So, we're going to do heavy outreach to make sure there's follow-up appointments and all the support those families need.

And then for the public and for all of you, quarterly reporting that will start next month and we're going to do what wasn't done in the past which is to break out the NYCHA numbers from all the other numbers so you can see literally what's happening to the numbers. And I think what you'll see is they'll start to go down consistently because of this intensive effort.

Question: Later today, you're going to be meeting with Andy Byford.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Do you agree with his assessment that it was, "a bit weird," that you hadn't called in six months?

Mayor: Not at all.

Question: And second of all, even though – why don't you think that? Why –

Mayor: Look, I want to emphasize just as this previous discourse indicates, I've really tried to make the clear to the people of the city, and I think certainly based on 54 or 55 town hall meetings that people of this city really get it. I have the honor of being in charge of a whole host of areas of concern as Mayor of this city – policing, Education, Sanitation, Parks, Fire, a whole list for you.

The people of this city expect me to make sure we're  making progress in all those areas. It's abundantly clear that the City of New York does not control the MTA. If we control the MTA, I would be talking to Mr. Byford, as often as I talk to these guys and to Richard Carranza and a whole lot of other people who I talk to all the time.

I have said I think his vision that he's put forward is on the right track but we need an answer to the financing issue once and for all. He's been right to say – let me finish – he's been right to say that the MTA has a huge need for sustainable resources. That can only be done in Albany and I believe the millionaire's tax is the best way to do it but I'm also going to press him on the fact that as those resources come in, we'd like to see them used a lot more effectively than they have been in the past. But look, when it's an agency I don't control, I'm going to put my focus on the things I can control. I think that's a smart use of time.

Question: [Inaudible] L-train shutdown –

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Would it not make sense to have a more robust presence from you even as a cheerleader for 8.6 million –

Mayor: No, I've got a lot of other things. People need me to make sure the things that I control are working. There's endless focus on that. We just did a budget. We just did a major labor deal. There's a lot that's been focused on and that's where the focus needed to be.

Now, that being said, on those issues where we do work closely with the MTA in a collaborative fashion – the L-train shutdown is a good example, Select Bus Service is a good example – I'm actually very pleased with the relationship. Our teams talk all the time. There's been a very cooperative dynamic. I don't have any doubt about the ability of my team and Mr. Byford's team to do good work every single day.

On the bigger things that I care about on the substantive or policy level – again, I know where the power resides at the MTA. I'm not going to kid myself or my fellow New Yorkers on that. The ultimate decisions are being made in Albany and so, so long as I'm convinced that our teams are working well together or getting the things done that we can get done, we'll keep doing what we're doing.

Question: Today was the reunification deadline for kids – migrant children under the age of five. What are your thoughts on only half of them being reunited with their parents.

Mayor: Yeah, it's absolutely unacceptable and you know when you look at the human reality here, and again I got to see some of these kids at the center in East Harlem. You know, any parent – anybody who had children in their life, you can't see these kids and not feel a deep pain that they're being kept from their parents. And now we're learning that some, it may be a long, long time before they ever seen their parents again because some of these parents have been sent back to their home countries, and it's not like ICE is trying to keep track of them to make sure the unification occurs. It's becoming worse not better. There's no plan, there's no information being given to us. And I think it's very clear that people in this country are disgusted by this and expect the federal government to reunify these families quickly.

Question: Are any of [inaudible] under age of the five here in New York, at Cayuga for example –

Mayor: I would love – we know from the folks at Cayuga, at various points, they've had kids as young as nine months but again we don't have the most up to date figures because the federal government still refuses to give us any accounting. And this is true for the whole country. They're not giving anyone an accounting of where these kids are.

Question: Mr. Mayor, two quick questions. Two articles recently in the New York Post about the private school [inaudible] segregating students in their school building, now plans to segregate minority students in the sixth grade too. It's been ongoing. Parents have recently discovered this. They have a camp program there right now [inaudible] parents have pulled their kids from the camp program after hearing about this. Other parents who were thinking about sending their kids there in the fall have decided –

Mayor: I'm just going to cut in and say I have not seen that coverage. So, I just can't comment. I don't know enough to be able to speak to it.

Question: My question is [inaudible]?

Mayor: About?

Question: Trump's appointment.

Mayor: Kavanaugh? I think it's a dangerous situation because it's clear that Mr. Kavanaugh has been part of the ongoing Republican effort to fundamentally change how this country governed and to favor corporate interests to reduce government regulation, to reduce the rights of working people, to undermine the rights of women. There's a lot in what he has said and what he has written that's very troubling. And to say the least, that I think there's need to be a very careful examination of whether there was any quid pro quo with the President on avoiding any kind of prosecution of the president.

My bottom line here is – and I think all Democrats should rally around this concept – what was done to his colleague Merrick Garland, same exact court, also someone who in theory was a respected jurist – he wasn't even given the time of day on the theory there was an election coming up. This should be held until after the election and let's see what that Senate looks like, and let that Senate make the decision. I think that's the only fair way to go for it.

Question: Mr. Mayor, two questions on NYCHA. One of the issues of the last couple years is has kind of been with criticism of the level of transparency about what had gone on in the past and what steps the administration was taking. In January, the administration lowered the threshold at which you would go into apartments and examine them from ten micrograms to five micrograms. Why wasn't that announced until six months later?

Mayor: Again, look, we're trying to once and for all create a common set of information for everyone. This, as I was just saying to David – this is an issue that has come out in sort of waves of information. We need once and for all to establish baseline information for the people of this city, for the people of NYCHA, over communicate not under communicate, publish data on a regular basis – that will be quarterly starting next month – and I want to emphasize, the Health Department has been working with any family whose child was identified by a doctor to have exposure at the five microgram or above level.

So, that's been going on for years and years – outreach to the family, outreach to the doctor to make sure there was proper follow up but we're going to intensify all of those efforts. As we've learned more and more, our decision has been – again, I'm using the Vision Zero analogy – we're going to eradicate this problem. That is the position we're now taking, that the more we've learned, the more we believe. This is a problem that can be ended one and for all.  And it's taken a while to understand all of the facets of it and all of the things that we could do but that's how we're going to approach it.

Question: I want to focus specifically on the fact – it was a conscious decision not to publicize that. You were taking an action –

Mayor: I don't agree with that statement. I think the bottom – again, I don't agree with that statement. We have been –

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: No, I'm saying, we have been constantly communicating as we learn things, as we refine strategies, and we're going to keep doing it. Marcia?

Question: Mr. Mayor, getting back to your meeting with Andy Byford [inaudible] this is an opportunity for you to [inaudible] on behalf of your constituents [inaudible] frustrated with the quality of service and they now wonder if you will use your [inaudible] express your frustration and maybe make some suggestions about he –

Mayor: So, Marcia, first of all, yes, of course, I will take the occasion to speak on behalf of millions of New Yorkers who are deeply frustrated with the subways who don't care about nice pretty lights on bridges or amenities in stations. They just want the train to show up. That's the bottom line. So, I'll vehemently make that point to him.

But that's not where the action is meaning Mr. Byford is not the person who can solve the problem. Only in Albany can the problem be solved. Mr. Byford, I have a lot of respect for, I think is someone who is going to help but until he has a regular revenue stream, this is all a charade. We've got to fix the underlying problem. He doesn't make that decision. The Governor and the legislature make that decision.

So, I have been advocating rather vehemently as you know for a millionaire's tax which I believe would provide the MTA with the resources once and for all to fix the subways. The advocacy, the bully pulpit, needs to be directed at Albany. That's the bottom line.

Question: Just a follow up question. The Governor has been pushing [inaudible] because that seems to be the only way he can get funding. Will you support it?

Mayor: It's the same answer I've given before. I believe a millionaire's tax is a better solution. I believe it's a more popular solution. I think it's a more politically saleable solution in Albany. You know there was a poll a few months ago that should it with over 70 percent support. Now, I'll look at other options too. And for example the surcharges that were put on the for-hire vehicles, I thought that was a very good step. The Governor's commission that said let's not look at the bridges, let's look at a zone in Manhattan, I thought that was a very good step.

So, I remain open-minded that there may be ways to come up with other good ideas but they have to be fair. They have to take into account the particular impact on Brooklyn and Queens, for example. So, I'm listening but I'll tell you I still believe in my heart that the millionaire's tax is the fairer and better approach.

Question: So, are you saying that time is running out and something has to be done?

Mayor: Something had to be done a long time ago. The bottom line now is the window of opportunity to me is spring of 2019. My hope is we're going to have a new State Senate that's going to be ready to act and that the fact that we now know how bad the problem is and that we need a big solution, not a small little Band-Aid, a big solution that there's going to be real energy directed on Albany and forcing their hand in 2019 to act. Let me do a few – a couple more.

Question: For the Commissioner, during the news conference, there was a car that crashed into a building on Staten Island.

Mayor: You're saying right now? Okay.

Question: At some point during the news conference. I didn't know if – and there is reportedly one person dead and reports of shots that were fired.

Chief Monahan: As I was sitting here looking at my phone talking about this press conference, yeah, it looks like there was someone chasing someone, fired some shots at him, and the car ended up crashing into someone. There was one person that was dead on arrival over there and from what I believe off the phone, we made four arrests and recovered a gun.

Mayor Gloria, last call.

Question: Mr. Mayor, you're familiar with the community preference lawsuit that's now going on. The plaintiffs in that suit have said that want to depose several of your deputy mayors. Would you be willing to sit down with them?

Mayor: That's a question for the Law Department and I let them figure out what makes sense in all those situations. I'm obviously not going to comment on a pending lawsuit. But please ask that of the Law Department. Thanks, everyone.