Transcript: De Blasio Administration Marks Significant Progress On Sandy Recovery, Announces Additional Improvements To Streamline Relief For Homeowners And Small Businesses

July 17, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Alright. It is a beautiful day for some construction here in Canarsie. I know Tonyelle feels that.

I want to welcome everyone and especially thank Tonyelle Jobity, who has lived in this house for more than ten years, for welcoming us and allowing us to show everyone in this city the progress that’s finally happening here that is long overdue, that she deserves, that so many of her neighbors deserve, and is finally happening.

This – you won’t be able to see this well, but we will get it around to all the members of the press – this is a picture of this street right after Sandy hit. As you can see, water up to the level of the hood of the car here in this picture. The houses here sustained a huge amount of damage. The basements – you can see how the driveways slope downward – the basements got hit very hard. And well beyond that, roofs and so many other parts of the buildings hit hard. And Tonyelle was – had a home that was hit very hard. She’s lived in this house, as I said, for more than ten years. This is what every homeowner has a deep fear of. You know, you put so much time, so much investment into your home and, god forbid, that day comes when something catastrophic happens.

Tonyelle is someone who not only had a home to worry about – she has a very demanding job. She works for New York State, managing a group home for people with mental disabilities. She has her hands full with her work. So she found that she had suddenly a crisis on her hands with a home in such disarray. And so in the weeks and months after, she did what any citizen would do – she reached out for the work she deserved – excuse me, for the help she deserved. She reached out for the help she deserved in rebuilding her home. And she believed that that help would be forthcoming, but it wasn’t. The efforts that were supposed to be in place to help homeowners certainly weren’t working at that point.

So Tonyelle emptied out her savings account, maxed out her credit cards, did everything she could to get herself back on her feet. And she was intrepid about it. She kept working hard no matter whether the government helped her or not – she kept doing all she could do. And she signed up for the Build It Back program as soon as it was announced. She heard lots of promises and pledges, but after a year and a half she was still going it alone. And I’ll just say the obvious – that’s unacceptable. No citizen, no homeowner should be treated that way.

Well, I’m pleased to say that that changed in recent months. And, finally, the Build It Back program is working for Tonyelle – and you can see with your own eyes the progress being made, the work on the roof right now and other parts of the building that should be finished very soon, we’re proud to say. And Tonyelle got a reimbursement check from the city for the work that she had paid for out-of-pocket.

And I want to just say – I want to really thank her for being really a model citizen – no matter what was thrown at her, standing up for herself, her family, and her community – and being as good as we could ask any New Yorker to be in the face of crisis. Now it’s time the city government respond in kind. And I’m thrilled to say that this is an example today of the city government being as good as the people of New York City and answering Tonyelle’s needs. Let’s thank her for being a part of this today and for welcoming us.

[Applause]

And the folks who made it possible – and I’m thrilled to be here to make this announcement and use this example of the kind of progress we’ve made – but the folks who’ve done this hard work – Bill Goldstein, my Senior Advisor for Recovery, Resiliency, and Infrastructure; and Amy Peterson, who’s done an outstanding job leading our Housing Recovery Office, which has been on the frontline of these efforts to help individual homeowners; and Maria Torres-Springer, our commissioner for Small Business Services, who’s doing great work with the small business community as small businesses are still struggling in some cases to get back on their feet.

You’ll be hearing from our elected officials in a few moments. I want to thank them all for being here – Borough President Eric Adams, Assemblymember Nick Perry, Senator John Sampson, Councilmember Mark Treyger, Councilmember Alan Maisel, and Councilmember Eric Ulrich.

Tonyelle waited for a long time to hear a beautiful sound – the sound of hammers knocking on nails and saws going through wood and all the things we associate with repairs being made and people getting back on their feet. And I’m proud to say that that’s happening now all over the areas affected by Sandy.

Since January 1 – since we took office – construction has started on 132 rebuilding projects, including 30 that are now complete. So, not only are we seeing large numbers – and growing numbers – of construction starts, we finally have something in the year 2014 that we never saw in the year 2013 – completed homes, people whose lives are whole again because the city of New York did the right thing and helped them out.

We’ve also been sending out reimbursement checks to so many deserved homeowners who’ve been waiting. 397 reimbursement checks, totaling over $6.37 million, have been sent out – many more coming soon. We’re very much on track to reach the goal that we laid out three months ago – 500 construction starts by Labor Day, 500 reimbursement checks by Labor Day. I just want to remind you that the day we were out in Staten Island we issued this report of what the game plan was and we said out loud – and we think it’s very important to hold ourselves accountable – that the people know what our goals are and they hold us accountable – we said 500 construction starts, 500 reimbursement checks by Labor Day. We are going to keep that promise and work hard to go on from there and get more and more people the help that they deserve.

We are all gratified – especially this fantastic team working on the relief and recovery efforts – we were all very gratified when the Staten Island Advance said a few days – July 3, in their editorial – “Now there are finally signs of progress.” People all over the city are finally seeing signs of progress. Our job is to speed that up every single day so more and more people have that experience.

The city’s changed the approach to Build It Back in so many ways. It wasn’t just about getting great new leaders – and we have really competent, focused, energetic leaders. It’s also making the process simpler and more streamlined so that it can work for everyone. We’ve expanded eligibility so every applicant can move forward. There’s no question now – if you were affected by Sandy and you are eligible, we’re going to move your application forward, regardless of income. We’ve streamlined the process to get construction started, made it a lot simpler to get to the first moment when a hammer hits a nail. And also we’ve made it a lot simpler to get checks in the hands of homeowners. We’ve provided direct relief – financial relief – to homeowners – for example, property tax relief, and relief on water bills. And we've made the hiring of local residents on rebuilding projects a priority. Four of the people working on Tonyelle's home are from Sandy-impacted neighborhoods. So, we've proven that you can reach a lot of people in need, get the job done well and efficiently, and get employment opportunities for people who were affected by Sandy, all at the same time. 

We know there's still a lot to do, and we're therefore making a series of additional changes and improvements in the effort. The city is now directly managing all of the Build it Back centers. So, every one of those centers is being held to a single high standard. Customer service focus. People come in. They get answers. They get action. That's what we're doing in these centers. We're providing more types of services and programs at each center. We're working closely with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, improving the Hurricane Sandy Business Loan and Grant Program. Again, thanks to Maria for her great work in helping small business owners. We're providing larger grants to eligible businesses, and making the approval guidelines more flexible. We know the small businesses are the engines of economic opportunity and employment in so many of our neighborhoods. They're also key sources of civic pride and civic stability. We want to make sure our small business owners are supported as they fully recover. 

Now, today, we think about getting the job done for people who still have real needs, and we think about, in the process, making our neighborhoods more resilient – whether it's Canarsie, or so many of the other neighborhoods that were affected. The job is to build back, build better, and make us more resilient for the future. With that, I'd like us to hear from a woman who's done absolutely an outstanding job – and I've heard all over the city – people appreciate deeply. Amy Peterson comes out to the neighborhoods, spend time – spends time with residents, listens carefully, and acts on what she hears. She is tireless and she has done an extraordinary job on this recovery effort. Welcome, Amy Peterson. 

Amy Peterson, Director, Housing Recovery Office: Hello everyone. This is a very exciting day for us. I started about three and a half months ago, when we issued the report three months ago today, and in that time, I've been out in the community – communities like Canarsie, and communities in Queens and Staten Island, and hearing about the struggles of all of the homeowners who've been trying to deal with the Build it Back System for the last year, and been trying to really put in place the things that will get us to the next step. This is a big ship – that's what I like to say – that we're really trying to turn, so that everyone can continue to move [inaudible] forward, but move in the direction that they want to move. A lot of people were getting to the point where they were having an option offered to them, and they were frustrated with the choices that were being given to them. It's was a very restrictive process, a very complicated process, and it was hard to move people to the point that Tonyelle is at today. 

We have really turned it around, and changed it from a system of – No, you can't do this for this reason, for this HUD reason, or this Buildings reason, or this wetlands reasons, to a system of – Yes, we can move you forward. And we made a commitment to hit 500 construction starts, and 500 checks, and we're well on our way to that commitment. We have over 650 projects that have actually gotten to design, that will help us certainly get to our 500 construction starts. And one of the numbers that I think is most important is, at the beginning of this year, maybe 100 people had said – I know what Build it Back is going to give me, and I agree that that is what I want. Now over 2500 people have made that selection, and that's 1500 people just in the last few months. So, our ability to actually move people through the process, and make people feel like there's hope at the end of the road, is really shown out there in the progress that we're making, and in the changes that we're making in the centers. The city has taken over control of the centers, and ensuring that people get the service they need. We're bring design and construction professionals into the centers, so they can answer complicated questions about roof repair and elevation and rebuild, and we're also taking our workers out into the communities, and working directly with the local officials, who have all been incredibly supportive in our efforts, so that people don't have to come all the way to the center. People can be in a place where they know the people that they're working with, and get the answers that they want. So, we're here today to show some progress, and let you know that we're well on our way to our 500 goal, and that the people who applied for Build it Back programs should really have some hope that we're coming to help them.

Mayor: Thank you so much. And Amy, let's always remember, the people who do the work – they're a damn good-looking group there on that house. Let's give a round of applause to these hardworking folks. Looks like a Build it Back calendar. [laughter]

As Amy said, we have had tremendous support and cooperation from elected officials. We're now providing a lot of services with them out of their district offices, and all their mobile and outreach efforts, and that partnership has been incredibly helpful. We want people to know what their rights are. We want people to know the help that they can get. We want to get it to them quickly. So, all the elected officials up here have been a part of that. I want to bring each of them up so they can all say a few brief words about their experience, starting with our President – I am a proud Brooklynite – I want to thank Borough President Adams, who's really good on the front line at getting people help they need. Borough President Eric Adams.

[Applause]

Eric Adams, Brooklyn Borough President: I really want to really just thank the electeds here. I remember the day after the storm, Senator Sampson and I walking this block, and we moved from many for sales to now we have signs of progress, of something that's more important than the construction team, is a team of governmental officials who are all on the same plan. We seem to have hit a roadblock under the previous administration, and now we're moving past that roadblock, and we're allowing homeowners and families to give back. The only thing worse than a terrible storm, is a flood of bureaucracy that prevents you from returning and making you whole again. And now, we're meeting with these families – out of the storm, out of the flood of bureaucracy, moving towards rebuilding a home – Building it Back. This administration is saying we have your back, and combined with the families, and communities, as well as our local electeds, we are going to return homeowners to their homes. Congratulations to you. You're doing a great job as an employee for our city, and now we're going to a group doing a great job and get you back in your home. 

[Applause]

Mayor: Eric Adams is no stranger to the sound bite. I think you've given us a new slogan – “We have your back at Build It Back.” I like that. Councilmember Mark Treyger has been on the front line as chair of the council’s Committee on Recovery and Resiliency, he knows a lot from his own community, what people are going through, but he’s been a forceful citywide advocate for so many people still in need and a great partner in this work. Chair Mark Treyger.

[Applause]

Mark Treyger, Councilmember: I have to lower the microphone after the mayor. Thank you Mr. Mayor, my colleagues in government, and most importantly the residents here and the victims of Superstorm Sandy. I want to first start off by thanking Mayor de Blasio for pledging to take ownership of this recovery because this recovery requires real leadership. It also – Sandy was an unprecedented storm and it’s going to require an unprecedented amount of cooperation from all levels of government– from federal, state, to local. And to put this into context, when we first started this year, there were thousands of victims, thousands of small businesses impacted and very few people were helped. And this mayor put together a team of people who have been incredibly responsive.

And I want to publically again thank Amy Peterson, Bill Goldstein, who have been very responsive to the concerns of many of the impacted communities and the residents.

I also want to acknowledge the council’s role. City Council has put together – led by Speaker Mark-Viverito – a new committee, which I have the honor of chairing. And many of my colleagues from the impacted areas have been very helpful with very important input, where we’ve had some pretty intense oversight hearings. And many of these announcements and recommendations are a result of the discussions that we’ve had – fruitful discussions we’ve had – at our seven to eight hour hearings, where Amy Peterson stayed for the entire duration, Commissioner Springer stayed the entire duration, Bill Goldstein. They have listened, they have really made it a point to stay the entire time and to listen to people’s concerns and to hear our input and feedback. So, I want to thank the Mayor for pledging. I want to thank the Mayor for showing us signs of progress. And we’re not going to stop working until every storm victim gets the help that they need and every community is going to be whole again – but today we are finally really starting to see evidence and signs of progress. People have heard the term progress before, but now we’re starting to feel it. Thank you, Mayor de Blasio. 

[Applause]

Mayor: Now I want to bring up the elected officials who represent this community and do it with great energy and pride, that’s first Councilmember Alan Maisel.

[Applause]

Alan Maisel, Councilmember: Thank you Mr. Mayor. First, let me thank all of my colleagues, and the Build It Back people, who are here today. But I want to especially thank the Mayor for coming to Canarsie. 

[Applause]

Councilmember Maisel: Canarsie is one of those communities that – over the last year and a half, we really felt neglected by the previous administration. Nothing seemed to be happening in Canarsie – and part of it has to do with the way Canarsie was constructed. We have nice houses, but you couldn’t go past the façade of the houses to see the damage that was done inside the houses – the basements, the huge toil that had to be put in to get everybody right. And unfortunately, the insurance companies didn’t cooperate. They did not have our backs. The fact is that people have been struggling on their own – my office as well as others, John Sampson, Nick Perry – we have tried very, very hard, but the bureaucracy was overwhelming. And now for the first time as you have heard, we’re overcoming that. So I’m really grateful that you’re here, Mr. Mayor, and I hope that the next time you’re here we can say this is all done, everybody is whole, we’re all happy, and we can continue on with our lives without any more aggravation.

And again, let me just thank Amy Peterson and Bill Goldstein and all the Build It Back people. You should also know, my office is a Build it Back – uh, what would call it? – a satellite, two days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 5. You can come to my office, you don’t have to go to Coney Island or the city – you can go to my office. [inaudible]—no, no, no, let the chief do business in the neighborhood, 2424 Ralph Avenue between Avenue N and Mill Lane. Thank you very much.

Mayor: Thank you. Senator John Sampson!

John Sampson, State Senator: Thank you very much, Mayor. For every setback, there’s a comeback, and now we’re seeing the comeback here in this community. And the reason we’re seeing the comeback is because we have an administration who understands the struggles of the middle class, the working class, and the poor – and that’s the difference. When you understand the trials and tribulations people are going through, you understand that you have to be there for them. This is what we call government at work. There’s nothing wrong with partnership, partnering with government, especially when you have an administration who understands the struggles of the people. So I want to thank the Mayor and his administration for fine work. And, as I’ve said before, for every setback, there’s a comeback, and now we’re experiencing a comeback here in Canarsie. Thank you very much, Mayor.

Mayor: Thank you. Assembly Member Nick Perry!

Nick Perry, Assemblymember: Thank you Mr. Mayor, and welcome to Canarsie. I just want you to keep it in your memory for the next four years of the administration that this is a neighborhood that went against the assemblyman and voted overwhelmingly for you. And so this is your area. That’s right. Canarsie went big time for de Blasio in the last election. So the Mayor is delivering on some of his promises and the assembly wants to work with him to make sure that he’s known as the mayor who kept his word. Now, we’re very grateful for your vision and your effort – taking charge of the Build it Back program and make it – reshape it so it’s begun to work for the people. Build it Back is not going to be complete until we put together a major capital reconstruction program to fix the sewers in Canarsie, because every time that the rain falls, my constituents in Canarsie have a revisit of Sandy. Sandy isn’t here in name, but every time that the rain falls, and the streets fill with water, so many basements are flooded. And until we fix those sewers, we’re always going to have Sandy visiting us in some shape or the other. And we are trusting that this mayor, this administration, is going to get all of the agencies together and put together that program that’s going to bring us real relief and real build back from Canarsie by fixing our sewers. Thank you so much Mr. Mayor, and we appreciate your work.

Mayor: And in the spirit of bipartisanship, and even including people from Queens, is Councilman Eric Ulrich.

Eric Ulrich, Councilmember: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. And we’re going in alphabet order, clearly, today as well. Yesterday I received some of the best news that I’ve heard in a very long time from my very good friend Jerry Romsky and the folks at Arverne By The Sea. Work was finally beginning on rebuilding a home for my constituents in Broad Channel that had been without a home since Hurricane Sandy. And for them, and to the folks behind me, and for so many other families now throughout the city who were displaced by the storm, who lost their homes but were still trying to keep their dignity, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and there is hope and there is help – and help has arrived in the form of Build it Back and the renewed vigor in the new administration into making this program work. The day when every person who was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy can be fully restored and made whole again, that day cannot come soon enough. And we have a tremendous amount of work still to do, but I am confident that working with Amy Peterson, Bill—both Bills, I should say—that that work will get done. They made a promise, they’re going to keep that promise, and we’re going to see people to the finish line. We’re going to get them back in their homes. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor – thank you for everything that you’re doing to help victims of Hurricane Sandy. And thank you all for being here today. Thank you.

[Applause]

Mayor: Just a few words in Spanish, and then we’re going to do on-topic questions followed by off-topic.

[Speaks Spanish]

With that, on-topic first.

Question: Mr. Mayor, most of the money in the final round of HUD funding was directed to housing recovery, but most of the initiatives in former Mayor Bloomberg’s SIRR report – the special initiatives for resiliency and rebuilding – are still unfunded. Do you think there are alternative sources of funding for those that can be found? Or is that just not as much of a priority?

Mayor: Well, I would say first and foremost we have to get homeowners and our citizens back on our feet. [inaudible] obviously have work to do as well in public housing and multi-family housing to get people back on their feet and immediately protect against upcoming storms. So I think there’s a sense of the first priority – but, that being said, a lot of work is happening all over the city on resiliency already. Our colleagues in the Army Corps of Engineers are doing incredible work already, for example, in the Rockaways. A lot of additional projects are planned for Brooklyn, for Queens, for Staten Island, from the Army Corps. You know we had the announcement with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development recently – not only of the additional funding that will help in the recovery efforts, but also additional funding for new designs and new implementation of safeguards for the future. So there’s a host of things happening from the Army Corps, a host of things that will be funded by HUD, and other opportunities thereafter to do more resiliency work.

So I think the work of resiliency will go on for many years. I want everyone to be perfectly clear about that, it’s long-term, important work. It will be constant. It will take many forms. And Bill Goldstein can chime in and give some additional points after I’ve finished, but I think that – I also would argue that resiliency is something we will work on effectively permanently, because we know what climate change means and we are one of the great coastal cities of the world. So this will be something we will be working on every day. We’ve obviously been changing building codes, changing our approach to construction, changing where we locate generators, etcetera. But what’s already in the pipeline – from HUD, from the Army Corps, from the state – is very, very substantial and is going to have a huge impact on resiliency in this city. Bill, why don’t you chime in?

Bill Goldstein, Senior Advisor for Recovery, Resiliency, and Infrastructure: Yeah. We have a program that’s really a $20 billion program, which I think was – you were referring to the SIRR report – about 60 percent of that program is now funded. But as the mayor said, this is a – these projects – many of them take – will be long-term. We’ve already started on many of them as we – as he noted, the Rebuild by Design work on the Lower East Side. We’ve already got the agencies beginning the preliminary design work and planning work and community outreach work to get those going. So I think it’s a long-term program. We have about 60 percent of the funding and some of the work is already underway. 

Question: Mayor, are you satisfied with the pace that the city is spending the federal money for Sandy recovery? I ask because city records show that only a small fraction of the money that was given after the storm has been spent so far on businesses and homes.

Mayor: Up until January 1, no, I was not satisfied at all. And I don’t understand it, honestly. But since January 1, we’re on the right track. You’ve heard the updates I’ve given along the way of reimbursements and construction starts. I know my friends in the press corps are good at math, and so you’ll notice how the pace has sped up intensely in recent weeks. You’re going to see these numbers continue to grow quickly. And Amy and Bill have done an extraordinary job setting up a system that will actually produce more and more with every passing month. So we feel very good that money’s going to be utilized quickly and well. Let’s face it – we had a year and a half where a lot more could’ve been done, but now you’re going to see a very, very fast pace and a lot of people getting the repairs and the rebuild that they need. 

Question: On that topic, you’re less than halfway to the 500 goal of construction starts. So how are – are you still confident you’ll be able to meet that by Labor Day? And what’s going to happen – how are you going to speed that along?

Mayor: I’ll start and Amy will join in. We are absolutely confident that we will meet that goal. A lot of energy is being put into it, a lot of personnel is being put into it, but the pace has sped up with every passing week. And obviously now we’re in the perfect time of year for construction and we’re going to take full advantage of it. 

Peterson: Yeah. So the way you get to a construction start is an owner says that they agree and they want to move forward with a construction project and then you get into design. So we have 2,500 people who’ve said, “I want to move forward with a project,” and we’ve got 653 that are in design. Every week, we get more and more agreements signed between designers, contractors, and homeowners, and we move these projects forward. We’re very confident we’re going to get to the 500 goal. 

Question: [inaudible] lack of oversight [inaudible]. What is the city doing to prevent that [inaudible]?

Mayor: Well I think it’s clear that a number of mistakes were made after Sandy – also some good things were done after Sandy. It’s not one or another. But clearly we appreciate the comptroller’s report. We think there’s some important ideas in it, a number of which, actually, the city had already been starting to act on independently. So we are and have been already making changes at DHS and we think we’ll be in a much better position in the future. Everyone – Bill, Amy, everyone in the administration is focused on making sure that whatever money we spent is used effectively and the taxpayers are treated fairly. So, I would simply say I think a lot of reforms have already happened and more will be underway. And we feel good about the ability to manage the money going forward. 

Question: So at this point, do you feel that you’ve hit upon the right formula for this program [inaudible]?

Mayor: We’ve got the right formula, but it’s a formula we’re going to keep perfecting. That’s why, again, you’ve seen the increase in the rate here over the last few weeks because we’re finding ways – literally every week – to speed up the process and simplify the process. And what we also are finding is a lot of homeowners – and I think Tonyelle is a good example – went through such a difficult process before. A lot of them had given up or didn’t know what they were supposed to do to access the help. We’ve now created a situation where it’s customer-friendly, it’s respectful of the homeowner. So people are having a much easier time – like, now they know you’ve got to answer these questions, you’ve got to make this choice, here’s where you go, here’s who you talk to – bang, we’re done – now we’re going to repairs. You’re going to see, therefore, a lot more activity on the ground because the process is getting simpler all the time and homeowners are gaining more confidence in it. So we think we’ve got the right formula and we’ll keep working to always improve it. 

Question: What’s the bottom line number of the number of homes that were [inaudible] by Sandy? And can you give a figure [inaudible] be able to actually reach [inaudible] all [inaudible]?

Mayor: I’ll start and Bill and Amy can jump in. Look, many thousands of homeowners were affected. Now, some – thank God – were able to get the help they needed from insurance, from FEMA, from other sources. Some – thank God – did not experience major damage. But we know from the level of applications that there’s still thousands of people who need help and we’re going to get the help to them. Most need repairs – a relatively manageable scale of repairs – they need the roof fixed or some other discrete pieces – that’s the biggest category of people. Many fewer need a full rebuild. The number of people who need a full rebuild is in the hundreds, thank God. But we have a lot of work to do. We want to get a lot done this year, and we’re going to have more to say around Labor Day when we complete this first segment. We’re going to set a new public standard thereafter. So when we get to Labor Day, we’ll announce the results on this first pledge and we’ll make a new pledge in terms of construction starts and reimbursement checks. Do either of you want to add?

Peterson: Yeah. We know that we have around 20,000 people who’ve applied for our program, and we’re sure that there’s about 15,000 homes that we need to work on. The majority of them are being repaired.  There’s a large number of homes that need to be elevated, and then there’s about 750 that we’re looking to rebuild. So we’re currently putting the plan together to show how quickly we can get that work done.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Well let me address that. We – look, we have a simple view of this. We want to get the most done we can in 2014. We are – 2014 going in, and then we want to then go into 2015. So let me make clear, we are right now working on our 2014 goal of Labor Day. We will come up on Labor Day with another goal for the remainder of 2014. And then after that we’ll project – we’ll have [inaudible] done in 2015. We want to get the vast majority of the work done this year and next year. So we’ll have very specific updates for you. But I think the most important point to make, and you can see it here – I’m going to turn to Tonyelle. You don’t have to speak publically, but I’m just going to ask you. You had the roof being done, what else is being done here?

[Inaudible]

Crawlspace, anything else? Boiler room, okay. Tonyelle’s example is a good one. So she had three [inaudible] things that had to be fixed. We are hopeful this will be done in the next week or two. And then the crews go on to the next one and the next one and the next one. So the repairs, in many cases, can be done very quickly. Weeks for a house, and then go on to the next one. The rebuilds, by definition, are the toughest, but again the total universe of homeowners who have applied for a full rebuild in the entire City of New York is 750, so thank god that is a manageable number and we’re going to put a lot of resources into getting that done quickly. On topic, yes?

Question: [Inaudible] breakdown [inaudible] between full rebuilds and [inaudible]

Peterson: Right now the majority are the repairs. We just have had a few new closings, which is what  the council member referred to. All of the rebuilds and elevations go through a much more complicated permitting process. But we’re starting to see those through, and we have our first elevation scheduled for the beginning of August and we’re having more closings on the rebuilds, which is the construction start for rebuilds on a daily basis.

Mayor: Let me also add, you know, the folks who are doing the work, the contractors who we’re depending on rightfully have grave concerns about streamlining the permitting process. Because typical work being done in New York City, one of the things that delays it is permits needed from city agencies. Bill and Amy have done a fantastic job of clearing that out, of [inaudible] the process. And we’ve said to every city agency, when it comes to a homeowner affected by Sandy, the answer is yes, get out of the way, make it happen, make sure it’s safe, make sure it’s legally appropriate, but move the ball. And that’s what we’re seeing from our agencies. On topic. Yes?

Question: Should there be another storm like this, have you made any [inaudible] city’s management of the [inaudible] emergency management [inaudible]

Mayor: Well we went through – we went through an exercise a couple days ago at OEM to look at what a coastal storm scenario would mean today and to coordinate with all the pertinent city and state agencies. It was a very productive exercise. I think people learned a lot from Sandy. I think we're in a much better position to handle whatever's next. I remind everyone, you know, whatever is next doesn't come on a schedule. We don't get a memo telling us when it's going to happen. We have to be ready, literally, today, tomorrow, a month from now, a year from now. But the team in place – and obviously, that meeting, our OEM Commissioner Joe Esposito, who is extraordinarily experienced at dealing with different crises in New York City, Commissioner Bratton, Commissioner Nigro, and all – Commissioner Bassett, at health – all of the different agencies, with our state partners. We've learned the lessons of Sandy. We're going to be in an aggressive and proactive stance if we see something coming.

Now, one thing that I learned – I've known it a bit, but I learned it even more the other day – the weather service, the National Weather Service, literally can tell us a week or two – or even more in some cases – out, that they see storm systems developing, even a continent away, or an ocean away, and they can give us a sense that something may be coming. So, the planning process starts weeks in advance now. The other thing is that we learned from Sandy some of the vulnerabilities that have been acted on. A lot of generators have been moved out of basements and to upper floors in various health care facilities, for example. So, we are entirely ready. I think the people are more ready, too. I hope and pray I never have to stand before you and say that we are evacuating an area of this city. But if I say it, and if I say it's mandatory, I think the people of this city will take it seriously and will act accordingly. And we'll be in a much different mindset than we were a couple of years ago.

On topic. Anything else on topic, going once. On topic, going twice. It's like – it's like an auction house around here. Hold on. As the MC, I get to delay the third – the third bid. Last call, and gone! Off topic. Off topic, Dave.

Question: Mr. Mayor, a couple of things, but [inaudible]. If the rumors are true and we do have a deal on the Long Island Railroad this afternoon – two things. First of all, how much are you saying, “Thanks Governor”, because it takes some heat off you going to Italy [inaudible].

Mayor: That is not how I look at it, Dave, but continue.

Question: The second thing is [inaudible]

Mayor: [Laughs]

Question: The second thing is –

Mayor: Can we pull the editorial comment out of the question?

Question: What does this say, in your opinion, about Governor Cuomo's [inaudible] ability [inaudible]?

Mayor: I think Governor Cuomo's handled deliberations very well, and very effectively. It's obvious. When he came into office, he had an extraordinary and unprecedented deficit and he had to work out some really challenging new agreements with labor. He had to do the Medicaid reform, and he did – I think – an absolutely amazing thing, to get the state back on a sound fiscal footing and to come up with labor deals that were affordable. And we obviously, here in the city, looked at that and tried in our own way to come up with labor deals that were fiscally responsible and sustainable, and fair to our workforce. And we managed to do that, and now as you know, pending some ratifications, we have 60 percent of our workforce that will be under contract. Many more will be soon.

So I think that history is very good, and I think this particular one is – it's different than any other kind of labor dynamic with the LIRR, because there's a federal role as well, those federal regulations that oversee railroads, that are different than other types of public entities. But we don't know for sure if a resolution will be achieved. I'm certainly hopeful. We're hearing good things. The response to the first part of your question is, what I care about is the people of this city and their safety, their well-being. With the Long Island Railroad, first and foremost, of course, the impact is outside the city. But what I said from the beginning is, my hope was that if we were to confront a strike – because it was in July, because people are telecommuting more than ever before, because we had a lot of notice, because contingency planning was strong, that we would be in a good position to mitigate any impact. I still feel that. If for any reason we don’t get a resolution, I think we’re in a strong position to handle whatever is thrown at us. But I think everyone would breathe a sigh of relief if this gets settled, and that will allow us to keep our focus on a lot of other work that we have to do here in this city.

Question: Following up on that, can you give us some details about the contingency plans that your staff has come up with and what the city’s role would be if there is a strike?

Mayor: Yeah, I’ve met with Commissioner Bratton, Commissioner Esposito, Commissioner Trottenberg, we’ve all gone through this in great detail. Our sense at this moment – again, we have not had this scenario before, where we’ve had a strike on one of the suburban railroads in summer, in the modern age, where people telecommute as much. So we’ve got different scenarios. We believe a lot of people will stay home, that is certainly the first fact to say. From everything we’re seeing from all of the data we have. And obviously the fact that it’s July means there’s a lot less traffic, a lot less usage of the MTA, the usual. So one of the questions had been, what will be the impact on the subway? to handle whatever is thrown at us. But I think everyone would breathe a sigh of relief if this gets settled and that will allow us to keep our focus on a lot of other work that we have to do here in this city.

Question: Following up on that, can you give us some details about the contingency plans that your staff has come up with and what the city’s role will be if there is a strike?

Mayor: Yeah, I’ve met with Commissioner Bratton, Commissioner Esposito, Commissioner Trottenberg, we’ve all gone through this in great detail. Our sense at this moment, again, we have not had this scenario before, where we’ve had a strike on one of the suburban railroads in summer, in the modern age, where people telecommute as much. So we’ve got different scenarios. We believe a lot of people will stay home, that is certainly the first fact to say. From everything we’re seeing from all of the data we have. And obviously the fact is July means there’s a lot less traffic, a lot less usage of the MTA, the usual. So one of the questions had been, what will be the impact on the subway? There would be an impact for sure, but we think it would be very different than if this were happening say in September or October.

So what we’ve done is we’ve beefed up policing at – the contingency, if this comes to pass – we would beef up policing at the key locations that would be used as entry points to the city, where people would go and park and get onto the subway. So the series of locations where people would come in, either on buses or individual cars, parking to get on the subways, there will be a lot of police presence there to make sure that that went smoothly. There will be extra police presence in terms of areas that we think might experience additional traffic. We obviously would consider suspending alternate side of the street parking to just take some cars off the road that would normally be looking for parking and dealing with alternate side. We haven’t made that final decision, but if we get to that point, that’s an option on the table to relieve a little bit of the pressure.

So we feel good that all of the agencies that need to get ready are getting ready. Very close coordination with the state, you’ve heard about some of the plans the state has, MTA has, the ferries, the additional buses, HOV lanes being utilized more, so we think the contingency plans are strong. Obviously we’re all hoping that we hear today some definitive progress.

Question: Mayor, [inaudible] in favor of the horse carriages and to see how [inaudible] do you think there’s any room for a compromise [inaudible]?

Mayor: We had an election last November, that is the ultimate public opinion poll. I said throughout the election that it was time to end the use of horse carriages in New York City. I am going to keep to that promise, and that’s what matters. We had an election, people voted.

Petitions are a part of the democratic process and we get a lot of petitions on a lot of things and I always listen to peoples’ views, but I stay true to what I told the people I would achieve, and we’re going to move forward. There, in my view, is not an obvious compromise. The horse carriages don’t belong on the streets of New York City, and that’s what we’re going to move to change.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: I don’t think they expect anything and I would never feel comfortable if they did.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Look, the effort that that committee is structured to support [inaudible] vision of this administration. The first focal point was the pre-K effort full-day pre-K for every child in the city. That is not a partisan issue. That is an issue that a lot of people in business, a lot of people in labor, believed in, and they supported us. If they believed in it, they wanted to help us get it done. Plenty of people didn’t necessarily agree with the agenda. You remember the original construct we had of how we wanted to fund it and what we wanted to get done in Albany, there were certainly some individuals who didn’t agree with that, but those who did supported it. And it’s such a big public policy change that will affect thousands and thousands of New York children for generations to come, that it’s natural that some people would want to invest in that kind of change and they did. But that’s the extent of their involvement and there’s no other assumptions. Ross?

Question: Do you have plans to take any more vacations this year, or are you kind of limiting yourself to one vacation?

Mayor: I don’t have a plan in place that I want to talk about today. This is the first time the family’s been able to go away together for a week in a couple of years, and it’s a very important moment for us, especially the opportunity to go to the hometown of my grandfather and my grandmother, and that’s going to be an incredibly important moment for our family. But I can’t project what’s up ahead. We have a lot of work to do, and I don’t usually get to take a lot of vacation.

Question: Now that we’ve gotten the money for pre-K from Albany, what are the next big initiatives you want New York to undertake?

Mayor: Look, I think that we’re going to look at the whole agenda and what’s needed to achieve the agenda. [Inaudible] the affordable housing plan and many other pieces that we’ll focus on. And when we have something that I think is important for the public to get involved in, I’ll certainly say it, when that committee has determined its next step, I’m sure they’ll say it. But I would say that any organization that’s supporting our agenda, we’ve put it out there pretty clearly what our priorities are for this year – the affordable housing plan, the implementation of paid sick leave, the municipal ID plan, all of the efforts to increase wages and benefits. Obviously looking forward to next year I’m hopeful that we will have a different reality in Albany where we can get the minimum wage bill done. So, over time, there’ll be more to say, but I think those are obvious areas that we’re going to be asking the public to support us on.

Question: Mayor, it was about 60 days ago that your administration called a halt to the 911 project, can you talk about the review process and do you have any updates?

Mayor: Don’t have an update for you today, but we will have one shortly. I’ll only say what I felt at the time and it still holds – we were distressed by what we found when we looked under the hood of that project. We didn’t think money was being used well, and we didn’t see a kind of timeline that we felt comfortable with, so we’re going to – we’re in the middle of doing a very intensive review to make sure that whatever we invest in, whatever we take taxpayer money and invest in in terms of providing emergency services, is going to happen in a realistic timeline and be effective. In the meantime, we’re constantly working to improve our response to our existing approach to emergencies, something Commissioner Nigro is very focused on and very expert on, as the guy who brought the merger of FDNY and EMS to bear. So, constant work being done on the existing system. We’ll soon have a report on the proposed new system.

Question: Mr. Mayor, are you packed for your trip? Are you packing your own bag? And what food are you especially looking forward to eating over there?

Mayor: No, yes, eggplant parmigiana. No, I’m not yet packed. Yes, I’m looking forward to the trip. Eggplant parmigiana is my all-time favorite Italian meal, thank you brother. But, this is the truth – my mother, Maria de Blasio, may she rest in peace, still no one has come close to an eggplant parmigiana as great as hers. So I will search all of Italy to see if I can find one. Thanks everyone!