Transcript: Mayor De Blasio, Chancellor Fariña Announce 115 More High Schools to Offer New Advanced Placement Courses Through Equity and Excellence for All

June 9, 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you so much, Gonzalo. Well done.

[Applause]

So, I just want to brag about Gonzalo for a moment. So, as he said, his goal is to be the first generation in his family to go to college. He is well on his way. A classic New York City story, Gonzalo. Comes from a family of Ecuadorian immigrants, lives in the Polo Grounds Houses, hardworking young man working his way up.

This is an example of what we’re so proud of in this city, the next generation coming along. And focusing on the subject matter, we need more and more young people on computer science.

So, as you said, you’re part of the first class to ever take the AP Computer Science Principal’s Exam. This is a really good example to the city – your personal example and this whole group we met with upstairs – of a new generation coming up that’s going to focus on this subject and have now the AP courses to help you all do it.

So, let’s give Gonzalo one more round of applause.

[Applause]

We look forward to reading about you one day.

So, Gonzalo provides us a glimpse into the city’s future. We saw upstairs something very exciting, the energy, the focus. I was, as I said upstairs, stunned at all those young folks could keep focused on their work despite all of us being in the room and all of the tv cameras going. But that’s an example of how much they care about what they’re learning and how much they see it as their future.

This is an example of the excellence part of Equity and Excellence, our vision for our public schools. This is the shape of things to come, more and more young people taking AP courses.

And I will say although math and science were not my strongest suit nothing makes me happy – maybe it was good for you but it wasn’t for me – but nothing makes me happier than seeing more and more young people focused on math and science and particularly computer science because we need to turn out a talented generation for the future of this city, for the workforce of tomorrow, for the future of the country. And the New York City public schools are helping to lead the way in that work.

So, this, to me, is an example of a vision that is taking hold but I want to emphasize at the outset, a vision that only works because of mayoral control of education.

The big changes in this school system can only happen when we have a governance system that allows for fast, bold change. It does not work if politics interferes. It doesn’t work if patronage interferes. It doesn’t work if everything is balkanized.

The big changes you’re seeing like this amazing growth of AP courses all over the school system are only possible when there is unity of command and one person responsible and one person who is held responsible by the people of the city. That accountability system is working wonders for our kids.

So, we’re going to be talking more about this today and you’re going to hear from some very important leaders of the business community of this city. I just wanted to say upfront a thank you to some other folks who are here from my administration, First Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris and my Senior Advisor Gabrielle Fialkoff, both of whom played central roles in the many, many improvements we’ve made in our schools.

I also want to thank someone who has been a leading voice helping the legislators in Albany to know how strongly the business community in this city feels about this mayoral control – Kathy Wylde, the President and CEO of the Partnership of New York City. I thank you for your efforts.

And a special thank you to Tim Chen, the Computer Science teacher from the Urban Assembly whose good work we saw upstairs. Tim, you got a lot to be proud of.

So, very quickly, look, Equity and Excellence comes from the experiences that I have had as a parent and a public servant, from the experiences Carmen has had. We knew these were the two missing links in our school system. Our schools were not aiming for a high enough standard and there wasn’t fairness across the school system. We had to change both those things.

We believe in equity. We believe it is essential to the values of this city but equity has to come hand in hand with excellence or our kids will simply not be prepared for what’s going on in today’s economy and today’s world. That’s why we made big changes.

And what I want to emphasize is these changes are happening very, very quickly. This is the beauty of the mayoral control system. We’re talking about things happening with lightning speed. You saw pre-K grow by 50,000 students a year in just two years’ time. And we’re about to do the same over the next few years with 3-K.

You saw what we were able to do with providing afterschool programs for every middle school student. You saw the growth of AP classes, again, with record speed including to high schools that never had them before. These are the kind of changes that we need and there’s a lot more that has to be done.

The status quo is far from acceptable. There’s a lot that has to be done.

So, we’re announcing today 115 more high schools will be offering new AP courses next year, again, as part of the rapid change on the AP front. We know we need to get more and more schools to a point of equity. And it pains me to think about again some schools that have had AP courses literally for generations like the school my son Dante went to, Brooklyn Tech. The AP courses have been the norm for literally generations but there are high schools that never had a single one.

That not only sends the wrong message, it doesn’t allow us to tap into the potential of our children which resides in every single ZIP code. So, 115 more schools will have AP courses starting in September. Thirty-two of them will be schools that for the very first time will have an AP course.

And this means we will now be at a point of 410 schools that will have AP courses next school year. Just to conclude before turning to my colleagues, it is the right thing to do to improve the quality levels of our schools for every reason – morally, humanly, in terms of fulfilling the potential of our kids.

But I think of it very practically as well. I’ve talked to a lot of the business leaders of our city, and I want you to know something I don’t think is acknowledged often enough, one of the number one things they ask and one of the number one things they raise consistently is their concern that they want to see constant improvement in the quality of our public schools.

There may be a lot of assumptions about what business leaders care about but if you actually ask them point-blank they will tell you probably right after public safety comes the quality of the schools system and the fact that there’s an understanding that the workforce of tomorrow is going to have to be more sophisticated the workforce of today and our schools have to lead the way in that effort.

So, this is about the future of New York City in terms of our economy, in terms of our ability to be a place where there’s good high-paying jobs. It all revolves around making these changes in our schools and they can only happen because of mayoral control.

The old system literally didn’t produce these changes. We have plenty of fact to go with this point. Just look at those decades under the previous system of school governance. These big changes didn’t happen. Period. They didn’t. They couldn’t.

The system was mired in chaos and corruption. Only under mayoral control had big changes occurred. And as I turn to my colleagues, I remind everyone, and it’s one of the most profound and obvious examples, when Mayor Bloomberg achieved mayoral control of education, I applaud him for it, our graduation rate was hovering around 50 percent. As of the end of the last school year we were at 72.5 percent. That change happened in less than 15 years. We’re going to go a lot farther because now we have the tools to actually reach so many kids who were being left behind before.

So, with that I want to turn to our Chancellor. She has done an extraordinary job taking this opportunity for bold change and putting it into action. Our Chancellor, Carmen Fariña.

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña: Well, thank you. As someone who has been in the system over 50 years, which I think I just going to be put in my tombstone. I want to be clear, that this system, mayoral control does work. And it works for several things; you don’t have a balkanized system, which every borough or even within each borough. People can have expectations that are different depending on kid’s zip codes. We started this administration very clearly, saying all can succeed. Some kids may need more support that others, but everyone can succeed. And the AP courses in particular are part of that. It’s also about computer science not being for a chosen few, or for kids who are pre-tested to get into a program. The other thing that was very clear about the AP courses means that all the teachers have to be retrained and go for more training. So, there was a time when only teachers who were interested in teaching these courses, would go for training. We’re now saying that this an expectation, that teachers who want to teach, advance placement courses  will have the training they need and its happening in every single borough and every single school. And just one example, is a model school, Lehman High School in the Bronx, was one of the very first high schools that we turned into co-located campus. Seven schools on that campus, only one was providing AP courses. Now, they have 11 AP courses, a single bell schedule, kids can take AP courses across the entire campus. That’s what happens when you’re able to with one voice, say to all the superintendents this is what our expectation is, this is what we want to see you do. And then everyone gets out there, and gets the work done, and that’s not – could not have happened, if every community was making their own decisions, and some community as well. 

Obviously kids, who live their zip code, should have this, versus kids in another zip code who couldn’t. And the other thing that is particularly important about the AP courses for these students that we met today. That’s not a “may I go to college” – the expectation is, you will go to college. High School is only the third step, you went to elementary school, you went to middle school, high school and what college are you going to. I never ask any of our high students anymore, how many of you are going to college? I want to know, where are you going to college? What are you going to major in? And that level of expectation is because this is a passion, of both the Mayor, myself, and the entire staff. We want to make sure that New York City is the best urban system in the entire country.

[…]

Mayor: That is an excellent last word. Alright, we’re going to take questions on the announcement today, regarding the advanced placement courses, and on mayoral control, and education topics in general, and then we will turn to other topics. 

So, first, anything about mayoral control, etcetera?

Question: I have an education-related question. This is your third education announcement of the week. In your second press conference you took some criticism for not having a press conference about this [inaudible]. I wanted to ask whether you think that plan is perhaps less important than the gym and A/C announcement, and today’s mayoral control announcement. And two, the administration has shown a reluctance to use the word segregation and integration when talking about the state of the schools [inaudible]. Do you believe that there are [inaudible] racially segregated. And, if so, why not use the word?

Mayor: The concept here that governs everything we do is Equity and Excellence, I think we made that really clear. And there’s a lot of elements to achieving equity and excellence. The things we talked about this week I think are particularly fundamental to that vision. Having mayoral control of education allows all other elements of the Equity and Excellence vision to be achieved. Advanced Placement courses right some of the biggest wrongs of the past in terms of our schools system by providing the highest quality education in every part of the city. Fixing the physical [inaudible] which also often was a question of inequity. It’s not a surprise a lot of the schools that didn’t have air conditioning and didn’t have a space for gyms also happen to be in the less privileged communities. We think all of these things are fundamental to the changes we have to make. The plan that was put forward in terms of diversity is a first step, there’s a lot more we intend to do. I think in this case we have an embarrassment of riches this week. We have a lot we’re announcing, a lot that’s going on, but I can safely say that’s going to be a major focus and it’s an important first step. I don’t get lost in terminology. I think the notion of saying we have to diversify our schools is the best way to say it. 

Yes?

Question: On the same topic, the plan was criticized by some for being too incremental, not bold enough. Do you think those are fair [inaudible]?

Mayor: I think it’s what we believe are strong first steps. Any turning of the supertanker takes a certain number of steps and this is what we think we can do to get started. You all know – I’ve talked about it a lot of times – a very profound additional step would be if Albany would change the admissions rules related to the specialized schools, which I think are fundamentally unfair right now. I think they’re unfair because we see such a lack of diversity in some of our specialized schools and they’re also unfair because they rely upon a single, standardized test. I don’t think anything should rely upon a single, standardized test. 

Unknown: Hear, hear.

Mayor: But this is a strong first step. There will be more to come. 

Question: On that topic, would you be considering eliminating school zones or creating enrollment lotteries?

Mayor: When it comes to school zones, those are decisions we make by law with the Community Education Council. So, that’s a very localized situation. A good example, on the Upper West Side in CEC 3, was the rezoning of the schools that the CEC initiated and we worked with them on, and we ended up with a very positive result which also furthered the diversification of the schools on the West Side. But that’s going to be a district by district discussion. 

Question: You said you don’t get caught up in terminology. Do you yourself agree with the conclusion that many researchers have come to that the city’s schools are heavily segregated? Do you think that’s [inaudible]?

Mayor: I think we have a problem and, as I’ve said to you many times, it’s a problem rooted in history that goes far beyond our school system. And, today, again, we’re here, first and foremost, to talk about mayoral control, which is the profound issue facing us right this moment. I’ll certainly have more to say over the coming months as we deepen our vision of how to address the need for greater diversity in the schools. But I think the problem is much, much bigger than our school system. 

Question: Given that the problem goes beyond – the levels of segregation in the schools that are – in the elementary schools, in particular – linked to residential segregation. Do you have any plans to collaborate or match your housing policy, particularly your affordable housing policies, with [inaudible] schools?

Mayor: I think the affordable housing plan by its very nature helps to bring people from different communities together. But, again, I would go back to – and it’s a bigger discussion, and I look forward to having it at the right time – I go back to the origin of Equity and Excellence. We are concerned deeply with the kids right now in our schools who are living in a situation that is not yet fair, and we have to do a lot more right now to address it. The larger issues related to housing patterns and economic realities, which, again, were created over not just decades, but over centuries – there’s a lot we would like to do to start to change that for the long-term. But my concern and how I always make clear the hierarchy of need here, is we have a right-now problem, and it’s not abstract – it’s practical and it’s real. We’ve got kids right now that we have to reach better, and the kids coming up right now. That’s why we’ve done things like pre-K and we’re moving to 3-K. That’s why we’re doing advanced placement courses right now to reach a lot of kids who would not have had them otherwise. We have to improve the quality levels of our public schools and we have to do it in a way that promotes equity – that’s the mission, now – that’s the central mission. And so, I will look forward to a continued dialog, but I need people to understand that’s how I see the priority, because I’m concerned about reaching kids in the here-and-now. 

Question: So, Albany controls a pretty small subset of high schools, but –

Mayor: [Inaudible]

Question: Albany controls a pretty small set of high school admissions, but there’s a lot that is in the city’s control, including about a third of the schools are screened, require test [inaudible] and grades and things like that. Do you have any plans to address the schools that are in your control?

Mayor: Yes, absolutely. Some of that you see the beginnings of in the plan that was put out this week. There will be more to come. I personally want us to use every tool we have. I want to make sure there’s maximum access for kids of all backgrounds – that has not been the case previously. And I think kids really benefit from learning together – kids of different backgrounds. So, yeah, I think there is more we can do about the [inaudible] schools. I think the situation with the specialized schools is particularly troubling, and, again, I look forward to the day when that gets resolved. I think that’s something we have to do for the good of New York City. But yeah, we can do a lot more with the [inaudible].

Question: You’ve talked in the past about desegregating schools. You’ve talked about people making real estate decisions about where they’re going to live, and investments in communities. So, is it a political choice to get very slowly and do these steps first and not risk the blowback that would come with controlled choice?

Mayor: No, look at the Upper West Side. I’m not sure control choice is the best model. That’s something we would talk about with each CEC. But look at the Upper West Side. I think if you know something about politics – and I believe you do – the highest voting assembly districts in New York State, and there was a lot of controversy, but we thought the Community Education Council was right. We thought it was a very thoughtful plan. It was about a lot of things, and that’s where I want to remind people, when you’re thinking about a plan for children, the first question is – what’s going to help children? And again, there’s a much bigger discussion that I look forward to having. Today, we’re here to talk about some other things, but I will offer this – on that plan we had to think about the quality of the schools, which was uneven. We had to think about access to the schools, because we had schools with waitlists, which are very rare and it’s a very troubling reality to have a zoned elementary school with a waitlist. We had to solve that problem. We had to think about fairness to families that had thought they were going to one school and might have a change in their life. We had to think also about creating more diversity. And I think CEC 3 did a great job of balancing those factors. And there’s plenty of unhappy people, there were unhappy elected officials, there was controversy, but it was a smart plan and we moved it right in the middle of a place that is politically considered one of the very most important places in the city and State. So, there’s no lack of will, but I think it’s important to recognize, we’re looking at more than one factor all the time. The quality of education for students is paramount in this discussion. So, when we talk about it, we have to understand, we need any plan to start with the quality of education for all students, including those who have not gotten a fair shake previously. 

Question: The fact that a more diverse school, an integrated school directly lead to better education outcomes – that’s a –

Mayor: I don’t think it’s as simple as that, and David knows a lot more than me – but I don’t think it’s as simple as that. I think the question is what is going to help each school to be the best it can be and here and now. And this is to me – when you look at the things we’re doing and I’ve spent a lifetime in my own way working on social justice issues – things like Pre-K for All are a response to history. They are righting wrongs of history in my view. They are addressing the results of segregation in a way we could do very immediately and have a very high impact. So, it’s a bigger philosophical discussion again, but I think the equity and excellence vision is aimed right at that negative history. But it’s the way we can have the biggest impact right away.

Do you want to add, David?

David Coleman, President and CEO of the College Board: As you probably know, there’s promising data from North Carolina about integration and academic performance. And I think there are promising signs that students from different backgrounds learning together advances academic performance generally. And I grew up in a more diverse New York City public school system – wish for it daily. But there is an important fact that I hope everyone with their evident concern about diverse academic performance really heard today because it’s very important.

In schools where there was not Advanced Placement – like let’s just cut to the chase – there were evidently many black and Latino students who were fully able to perform college-ready work in high school, but without the opportunity could never show that. And I know it is a wonderful vision that they will all be in the same school or that we’ll have many more, but it is undeniably and immediately wrong no matter how unequally such students are distributed that they do not each, every one of them have a chance to show their power. And that’s the idea here. It’s a very simple idea. I hope that isn’t lost in this broader discussion because whatever we do to move kids around – by the way, as you can tell, which I would love us to move with all deliberate speed to do so – but we cannot ignore our immediate imperative to offer all kids the chance to show their strength.

Mayor: Yeah?

Question: Piggybacking on Ben’s question and point – and I am not an education expert – Ben was a teacher. I was not.

Mayor: I didn’t know that. You were a teacher?

Sorry to interrupt your question. For how many years?

Question: About eight years in the Boston area.

Mayor: Wow. You’ve served your time.

Question: [Inaudible] really.

Mayor: Impressive.

Coleman: We’ll probably have a new course when we’re done.

Question: My mother is a teacher, my aunts were teachers. Forgive me, but I thought that it’s been pretty well established that actually integration and diversity is a critical part of having quality education. So I guess I’m just wondering should we have more urgency around that piece of the way we address our schools in general?

Mayor: I think the simple answer is we believe we’re really urgent about addressing inequity and the lack of quality education for so many kids. Look, this is something we think about very strategically. What’s going to change kids’ life right now? That change in the zoning on the West Side took years. I’m very happy with the result, but it took years to be done the right way. And there was a lot of contention. We got there in the end. But that was one piece of one school district. There’s a lot of other places where you couldn’t even physically, geographically achieve something like that because there’s not access to different populations so close together. So I understand the questions – again, these are the same questions that have pervaded everything I’ve thought about my whole public life. But I need people to look squarely in the eye a really cold, hard reality. We’ve been all dealt a very imperfect hand a very long time ago. What are we going to do about it? I say right now improve the quality of the education for kids who have been left behind – right now, while continuing to constantly look for ways to achieve diversification within some of the physical realities we have. I don’t think there’s a dichotomy. I think we’re doing both. But I will tell you that our sequencing I believe has been right to focus on the big slots where we could improve quality in the here and now. And then start to build out the diversification plan from there.

Question: Follow-up – do you personally believe that it is possible for the children of this city to get the education that they deserve without attending fully integrated and diverse schools?

Mayor: Absolutely. And it’s not – look, would I like a perfectly diverse school for every child? Yes, I would. I really would. I think that would be the optimal situation. To achieve that will take many, many years and be up against immense physical and geographical barriers. And that’s where I want honesty in the discussion. I think you guys are right to press me and my team. But I think you guys also need to look at the hard, hard reality of what we’re dealing with physically and historically. If we were a small, little place and all the different people of different backgrounds were really next to each other, this would be an easy equation. We are a huge sprawling place. We have a lot of separation of different populations. And therefore, it’s going to take a series of steps to get better. But why would we delay the things we can do right now? I think part of the vision here – if you achieve equity and excellence, if you create a consistency across the entire school system – I’ve talked about this before, the “good schools” and the “bad schools.” Imagine the day when that concept is essentially arcane – when there is a broad confidence in schools of every neighborhood. That is going to be profoundly helpful to diversification. So we think that’s the core of what our immediate mission is – to fundamentally improve the schools system across the board and to create an equity model that’s never existed before, while moving the bigger efforts, the bigger structural changes on diversity. But that’s going to be a long-term effort because of what we’re up against, just physically.

Questions on mayoral control, AP, anything else?

Question: One more following up on Mara – she asked my question word for word.

Mayor: How dare her. Mara, you asked her question word for word. That was very insensitive.

Question: And I want to clarify your answer – so you are saying that you believe that racially separate schools can be equal?

Mayor: You’re asking it in a way that I think is leading the witness. I don’t want that. I don’t want that. I would love perfectly diverse and integrated schools. If I could achieve that with the stroke of a pen, I would do that right now. And in my lifetime, I’ve benefitted from being in diverse schools. I wanted my children in diverse schools. I really get it. But again, we can have a conversation where we don’t come to grips with hard realities or we can level with the people of this city. And I’m trying to level with the people of this city. It’s going to be a long, hard road to try and change such deep-seated realities. So, to flip your question – since we know right now we have real geographical separation – if I said, oh no – people cannot learn if they’re primarily surrounded by those of their own community – well then, we’re damning at least a generation of kids to not getting a high-quality education. I don’t accept that. We can make things work, even within our imperfect situation today. But while we’re doing that – we can walk and chew gum. We can also work for constant efforts at diversification, which we’ve done in Downtown Brooklyn, which we’ve done on the Upper West Side. And the plan released this week is the beginning of doing it a lot of other places. So no, if I were to say we can’t give kids an excellent education in the current dynamics – come on, guys – do you know how many decades it will take to fix all this? So would you really just tread water for those decades? I don’t think that’s fair. I think we have to fix the schools right now.

Anything else on education?

Teacher?

Question: On AP, you’ve spoken a lot – I know you’ve spoken a lot about different measures. But you’ve spoken out against standardized testing.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Can you sort of square a little bit how you view AP courses, which move very quickly, are very focused on a test, and very often leave students without the sort of rest and other things that you’ve also spoken about.

Mayor: I could attempt – let me just say, I could attempt to restrain David, but it would not work. I will start and pass to David. Where I particularly am unhappy with high stakes testing and over-reliance on standardized testing is when it is the single determinative factor of one’s future. Literally – a test, one test, one standardized and you’re either in Stuyvesant or you’re not. Like, that’s really profoundly shaping the child’s future. I don’t think that’s fair. Nor would I ever want to see college admissions determined just by a standardized test or any high school admissions, etcetera, etcetera. And we’ve moved away from the grading of schools and we have moved away from a reliance on high-stakes testing and how we evaluate teachers and throughout our admissions process for students. So an AP course is part of a bigger portfolio that that student brings forward. So that’s why – I think it’s apples and oranges to begin with. But David is much more of an expert than I am.

Coleman: I think the deep truth of your question is the worst thing the assessment industry has done is to confuse quick and smart. There are many gifted people, able people who move more slowly, even sometimes they're slower movement is a sign of their intelligence and care in what they do. So I’ve made that a major priority over the last five years at the College Board. In the new SAT, there is 45 percent more time per question than any other entrance exam in the country. In the revision of the AP U.S. History, which you used to teach – let me be rather blunt, as you can tell I’m prone too – you’re exactly right about the old AP U.S. test. It was a race through almost endless content, forcing teachers like you to not make a college – like the worst of college survey courses actually. The new AP U.S. course, the new exam has roughly half the number of multiple choice questions on it than the old exam. The source material is right in front of you, so there isn’t the drive toward endless content. Instead, the careful, critical analysis of sources drawing on a broader knowledge which is much better to find. So you are right, but we acted. I just want to tell you that your experience as a teacher is a true one, and moved us to redesign not only the SAT but AP exams themselves. I’d love you to take a look at the new one and tell me what you think, candidly.

Mayor: Now, I want to see because the mayoral control debate is happening right now and a lot has been happening in Albany if you have any questions on that before we move to other topics. Questions – go ahead?

Question: For Kathy, or anybody else other than Mayor – are you having conversations with Senator Flanagan, candid conversations about just getting this done, and not making the Mayor jump through hoops, and go through some of these other mechanisms?

Kathryn S. Wylde, President and CEO of the Partnership for New York City: Certainly expressing that that is our hope that this won’t be horse-trading in Albany. But unfortunately all of this will come together probably in the middle of the night, and we’ll all learn the next morning what happened. So we’re making the case as best we can, including having a letter today that we’re sending up to Albany on behalf of 105 major employers and business leaders in the city. So we’re doing what we can do. And I think that reason will prevail because it’s clear that it would be so irresponsible to disrupt a governance system that is showing good results and replace it with nothing because there isn’t an alternative right now. I think that it will hopefully get done as it has every year, but we’ll go through some pain in the meantime.

Mayor: Just a quick follow-on. I will not respond to the question. I will add. The – I want to thank Kathy because she’s highly respected in Albany in general, but particularly the State Senate listens very carefully to what Kathy Wylde says. And I think she has been a very powerful voice for mayoral control. And she’s being kind and diplomatic as always. But I think she is quite clear how devastating the impact would be if we didn’t have it. And I want to thank her – I think you’ve done – you’ve done a lot for the kids of New York City.

Yes?

Question: [Inaudible] some changes or concessions or horse-trading on charter schools in order to get mayoral control [inaudible]?

Wylde: I don’t know. The Partnership has supported the expansion of charter schools, and we would like to see that happen as well. But we don’t think these things should be linked or tied. We think that the importance of mayoral control, the importance of charter schools both stand on their own and to politicize it is a big mistake.

Question: [Inaudible]

Wylde: [Inaudible]

[Laughter]

Question: [Inaudible] the Senate, given the fact that it had to do with the Assembly [inaudible]

Wylde: Well, I think that there will be a number of things at the end of session related to education and many other items that are in what they refer to as the big ugly. And none of us will know which was traded for what. It will come out in the wash, so we’ll see.

Mayor: Any other questions on mayoral control? Okay, before we go to other topics, I’m going to do a pop quiz now that we have a – pop quiz – we have a history expert in the room. What leading 18th century American figure wrote the phrase the sometimes soldier and the summer patriot?

Question: [Inaudible]

[Laughter]

Mayor: No, you can’t look it up. Don’t go online. The sometimes soldier and the summer patriot.

Question: I don’t think I know that one.

Mayor: Does anyone got it? Anyone, anyone? Anyone, 18th century? Aww, man. Who is Thomas Paine?

All right.

Unknown: [Inaudible]

Mayor: No, it’s not from Hamilton. All right, I think we’re done. Last call on education questions and our good friends, thank you so much.

Thomas Paine.

Unknown: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Not often, but I love Thomas Paine. I think Thomas Paine – I said to Chirlane – he was downright punk, Thomas Paine. He was edgy and way ahead of his time.

All right, other topics. David?

Question: Just before adopting the budget, the Council Speaker added a permanent condition to have money spent in legal services, as you know. Do you plan to veto that section of the budget? And either way, do you think that this causes future problems in terms of how the negotiations work between the Council and the Mayor’s administration?

Mayor: No and no. I think the bottom line here is we had a very productive budget process overall. Obviously, early and collegially – collegial. I don’t agree with that particular move. But this issue will be resolved during the contracting process.

Question: [Inaudible] because speaking to lawyers who worked on the Charter itself. They said that essentially by putting a term or condition on how money is spent, that really sort of handcuffs the administration on how you can spend that money.

Mayor: We believe that there’s ample room to resolve it in the contracting process. That’s our legal interpretation. Other questions? Yes?

Question: Mr. Mayor, while you do not control the subways – 

Mayor: Ha. Who does, Mara?

Question: That’s right. The Governor does and the MTA. So while that is the case, subway riders have been suffering greatly.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Just the other day, this F train – 

Mayor: The F train. Yep.

Question: Got stuck underground for nearly an hour. I spoke to many of those people. They were there without AC. It seemed on the brink of being frankly dangerous – 

Mayor: Yep.

Question: If not already. You often speak about issues of which you have little control – for example, actions of President Trump. Do you think you should be using your bully pulpit more to advocate on behalf of riders, even though you don’t actually control directly the system?

Mayor: Yes, and we will. I will. The – I think it was very important to get clear where responsibility resides so there can be action. It parallels the mayoral control of education debate. I think when things are divided between lots of different power centers, nothing happens a lot of the time. I think it’s really important to establish who’s in charge, and who’s accountable. And that they be held accountable publicly. So I think there’s been real progress in clarifying that the Governor and the State of New York in general have responsibility for the MTA. That being said, the City of New York has tried in many ways to assist, including the $2.5 billion that we added to the MTA budget, even though there was no legal obligation to do so. And things that I’ve mentioned to you that we do all the time, like we collaborate on select bus service lines, where we invest in those specifically.

But beyond that – I said the other day as a result of the F train crisis – that the Governor and the MTA have to come forward to address this current crisis. And I will be very adamant about that. I rode the F train for many, many years from – in fact, from ‘92 to’99 it was the only way I got around, or also, the R train sometimes because those were the two that go near my house in Brooklyn, and I didn’t have a car into well into 1999. So for years and years and years, the F train was the way I got around. I can absolutely relate to what people must have gone through at a horrible incident. We need to demand a plan of action immediately. And I’ve said previously – if it means shifting resources within the MTA away from other things to address this crisis – so be it. The MTA historically has not focused enough of its energies on the New York City subway system, even though by far it’s the number one thing the MTA does – five to six million riders a day. So I will be speaking about this regularly. And if we don’t see a plan, we’ll put forward a vision through my representatives on the MTA of what needs to change.

Yes?

Question: Over the weekend there was an incident on Staten Island, a cop was caught on video waving a gun and pointing it in the direction of several young men, who had just come from playing baseball. And the police said that they got a tip that some kids were essentially, I guess wilding with baseball bats and being dangerous. However, from the video it appears they were just coming back from playing baseball like kids do, and the police over reacted potentially were waving a gun in their face. Does that concern you? I know you might not have seen the video, but does this type of incident something that you are worried about?

Mayor: I don’t want to pass judgement till I see the video. What you described would concern me for sure, but I want to be fair and see the video and talk to the commissioner before making any judgement on this or offering any comment.

Question:  You haven’t heard of this in the last couple of days yet.

Mayor: No, I have not. Yes?

Question: Mr. Mayor I know you cant, I’m sorry for bringing this up again, but I know you can’t speak for the City Council Speaker. But, she said she’s going to find a way to honor Mr. Rivera for the Puerto Rican day parade.

Mayor: We’ve covered this subject matter; I’ve made clear this should be about Puerto Rico. And we had a reception at Gracie Mansion last night, and my remarks were about Puerto Rico, about 3.5 million people are right now going through a profound health care crises and economic crisis and aren’t getting enough help from Washington, that’s what I want to talk about. So, she will do as she sees fit, but my focus is on Puerto Rico. Yeah, Marsha.

Question: I have a question about it too; [inaudible] so first is [inaudible] reinforcement, I wonder how it’s going since you have announced, you [inaudible] backed down?

Mayor: It’s just began, and as you know, we’re going to have to hire up a lot of the personal we are going to need or re-assign personal to achieve it. We are deadly serious about this, and we’re going to make it work. But, it is literally just begun, so I think it’ll take several months to get up to full speed. And that’s when will have a better idea on what impact it’s going to have. But look, I think the word has gone out squarely, that folks who use their placards inappropriately are really taking risk, including the potential of having it revoked.

Question: So, in your sense, I mean given what that your transportation commissioner said earlier in the week, that placard abuse contributes highly to congestions.

Mayor: Yeah.

Question: Is that the reason why you doing this [inaudible].

Mayor:  No, it’s one of many reasons; I mean I think it does contribute congestions. I just think it’s unfair, you know it’s not fair to people to have someone given an opportunity to use something for very specific purposes, who then cheats and uses it for other purposes. That’s not fair to everyone else. Parking is obviously limited in this city. So, no one is above the law, everyone has to follow the rules, and – yeah congestion is one reason, but I think the most fundamental reason is, people who are given the right to have a placard are not allowed to abuse it.

Question: So, my second question is this, the third time this week that you’ve taken questions from the media, I’m wondering if it’s something we should get used to or not?

Mayor: I think we’ve established a good template in terms of what you will have as a guarantee, and then when we have specific occasions where we want to throw on more, we’ll be throwing out more. There is a lot to talk about today that we think it was very-very pressing, obviously given what’s happening in Albany. So, we’ll always reserve the right to add.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I wanted to follow up on going back to the budget issue. When can you tell about your current relationship with the speaker? And, has your calculus at all been different, because you are at election year, the speaker is on her way out. Do you think that’s at all affected, the way that she’s made these decisions and –

Mayor: That she’s made these decisions?

Question: Do you think it’s- it’s part of the overall decision making process for her, and as a card of yours since it is an election year? 

Mayor: I can’t speak for her; I have always found her to be a person of integrity. I can’t speak for how she weighs one year versus another. The relationship is fine, we agree on the vast majority of things, and we obviously partnered very well on the budget. If this one-one dispute out of a 85 billion dollar budget that’s pretty good. But no, for me again – my belief is that this whole discussion should be about Puerto Rico, it was about anything but Puerto Rico to this day.

Question: [inaudible] budget.

Mayor: The budget? Okay, on the budget piece per say. We have a disagreement, it’s a respectful disagreement, we fundamentally believe we will resolve it. But, I think when you put it in the context everything else. Again, it’s one disagreement against a backed up of you know, many hundreds of other issues. And no, it’s just what I believe. It’s what my view. And I believe she believes her view. I think it’s – I think it’s philosophical on that level. Yeah? Willy.

Question: Related to what Gloria was pointing out. The speaker has crusaded for years for the release of Oscar Lopez- Rivera and she very strongly was in favor of honoring him as a hero at the parade. You have said that you thought it was a bad idea and were against giving him that honor. Tell us about the conversations that you had with her, on this, which was such a fundamental issue.

Mayor:  I just want to put this behind; I am obviously not going to go into private conversations. What I believe fundamentally is the forest got lost for the trees, and that for not just you know – I’m not talking about her and me, I am talking about the whole city. I mean, guys I would ask you to compare a column inches, and broadcast minutes on the play to 3.5 million people who are, you know, really central to this city because 700,000 New Yorkers are Puerto Ricans. How much attention is going to what’s going on Puerto Rico versus this one symbolic event? It’s a parade, it’s not an actual thing, it’s a parade. An actual thing is health care, and actual thing is an economy that’s failing for 3.5 million people. So, that’s what we should be talking about.

Question: I’m trying to get the relationship between you and –

Mayor: The relationship is fine as –

Question: [inaudible] conversation, more and more conversations about this specific issue.

Mayor: Yes we did.

Question: Did you tell her –

Mayor: I’m just not going to go into private conversations. Go ahead.

Question: I just want to follow up on the budget, but I also have a separate question. So, when you say you think that you have power to resolve through [inaudible] process. Does that mean that you think you have the power to spend the money, while not following the council’s condition?

Mayor: You know, again, without getting into legal details I’m not expert in. The bottom line is I have very clear views on this matter. I appreciate that the speaker has clear views; we will resolve it in the contracting process. I am comfortable that the outcome will reflect what I think is appropriate. There is obviously plenty of time to keep conversations going with the council too, because this is the kind of thing that takes months to play out.

Question: My second question was, you reported in your financial disclosure form at least $250,000 in legal debt. Do you believe what you recorded covers all of your legal bills, or will there be more? And considering Conflicts of Interests Board ruling on legal defense fund, have you figured out at this point how are you going to pay?

Mayor: We have not figured it out, and when we do, we’ll tell you. And, no there is more going on certainly with the accounting of the legal bills, that’s an ongoing process. And when that finally gets to an end point, we’ll tell you that as well.

Question: Going back to the F train problem, as you know with the F trains, they’re older train [inaudible] and older cards, and the doors are locked so you can’t go in between the cars. On the newer trains, like 4, 5, and 6 lines, those trains allow you to pass through the cars, so is there a way that you making a statement to the MTA to restart replacing those older trains? Because, in an incident that we saw where the train was broken down in between stations, passengers were unable to go through those cars because they were locked. In addition, to other trains were backed up, mechanisms were in place there, pretty could tamper a rescue ability, on that particular line and the R train is similar with the older –

Mayor: It’s a very important point; let me first do the broader part of that. To the previous question about what the city should demand of the governor and the state. We not only need a plan to fix the fundamental problems, which are about the signal system and you know the physical reality of the MTA. And, obviously again we are in the middle of a crisis, where these breakdowns are happening more and more. But, we also need an emergency response plan, when god-forbid one these things happens. I mean those folks were on that train for a long time, under really horrible conditions. I want to be very clear. We will do anything and everything to work with the MTA to provide you know, the most immediate response. You know, NYPD, FDNY, any and all city agencies. There are different jurisdictions, but when it comes to addressing people in crisis, we’re all wearing the same uniform. So, we welcome you know total cooperation, and seamless you know, planning with the MTA on that front. And we’ll certainly have those conversations right away to see how we can do; all of us can do better. On the question of the ability to move between the cars, because I rode the subways for many years, I asked myself that question many times. I always as a rider prefer to go between the cars. You know, you’re in a car, you don’t like that car, its crowded, it’s you know hot, and the one next to it is air conditioned whatever. I think riders prefer the ability to move between the cars. I am not an expert on all the safety considerations, and I know that’s a real concern as well. So, what I would say is – I’ll certainly ask my members of the MTA board their view on that. As a consumer, I find it more appealing to be able to move between the cars, it gives you ore options. In an emergency, I agree with you, there’s an advantage. I think what that has to be weighed against is, does it create a safety concern in terms of day-to-day riding that might outweigh those other considerations – that’s what we need to know.

Question: Back to the budget handshake – when you went to that handshake, were you under the impression that you and the Speaker had an agreement on that immigrant defense money?

Mayor: I thought it was a detente in the sense that we had differences but we understood that ways it would play out.

Question: And you were surprised that she –

Mayor: Look, I’m not going to get into private conversations or staff conversations. I thought things had been made clear all around. Sometimes in the legislative process there’s more clarification that’s needed. You’re talking about a big, sprawling budget. But, again, it is a small item in the scheme of things and I believe it will be resolved. 

Question: [Inaudible] you felt like these investigations were wrong to begin with, that they shouldn’t have occurred because you did everything the right way. So, what’s your level of frustration over having to pay back these debts for something you felt like shouldn’t have happened. 

Mayor: I’m beyond frustration. I don’t register that emotion anymore. Look, it is what it is. I said what I believe – that was had done things the right way. This is the world we’re living in. It’s something we have to find a way to deal with. 

Marcia?

Question: [Inaudible] when you said that at some point if the State, and the MTA, and the governor, and the MTA board don’t move fast enough to fix the subways that you would be proposing your own plan through the members that you have on the MT board. WHat’s the breaking point? What’s the point where you feel that you would have to have your members step in so that you could reflect the frustrations that –

Mayor: Marcia, absolutely New Yorkers are frustrated with the situation in the subways, and this particular crises I would say is the last month or two where it’s really gotten epidemic – the number of breakdowns and all the electrical problems and everything else. Look, I absolutely am convinced the governor understands it’s a crisis and his most recent statements suggest he’s taking responsibility for having to come up with a plan – I respect that. I don’t have any specific day for you, but the time is coming soon where we have to see a vision, again, for fixing the overall crisis and moving resources towards the subways, if that’s what it takes, because the MTA has a really big budget – a big annual budget and a big capital budget. So, I don’t think this is about lack of resources. This is about prioritizing our subway riders. And we also need that emergency response plan, which is something we will absolutely, positively participate in any way that the State and the MTA need us to.

Question: [Inaudible] need to get more signals and more subway cars. It is a question of sending money to those issues? [Inaudible] it seems like we’re at a crisis but there’s no way out of it. 

Mayor: There’s never no way out of a crisis. So, let me say it this way – I’m sure the folks at the MTA are trying in a lot of different ways to address the issue, and I know some of them are complex issues and some of these things will take a long time to fix. That being said, there’s [inaudible] about any bureaucracy, there’s always things you can do differently. There’s always things that you can find a way to do in the short-term that’ll have an impact. So, I think it’s good that there’s public pressure demanding those solutions. I think it’s a fact that historically a lot of resources didn’t go to the subways that could have and should have. So, some of this, like everything else in the world, is a resource problem, and I believe the resources are there. 

I’m going to give Rich the last one. Go ahead. 

Question: [Inaudible] clarify something about the parade, because last night at Gracie Mansion the Speaker said that the [inaudible] continues to be given to Oscar Lopez Rivera. Your administration has made clear that you don’t believe he’s being honored, and I just wanted to as what the basis for that belief –

Mayor: I’m just not going to dwell on this. I think I’ve been very, very clear – he declined. 

Question: [Inaudible] 

Mayor: I’m saying he declined. That’s all there is to know. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, so in becoming the most prominent voice for the beleaguered straphanger now, are you prepared for a more interesting relationship with the Governor in regard to a back and forth about the subways?

Mayor: You don’t think it’s interesting enough already? No, look, I don’t think this is a contentious point. I think this is obvious and factual. And I have no pretensions about my role. The State runs the MTA. The Governor runs the MTA. That’s where the solution has to reside. We’re going to work very cooperatively. I’m simply saying we need a plan. A lot of times the public has demanded, or you guys have questioned sharply, when there was a need for a plan on any number of topics, right? We came out with a plan on homelessness. We came out with a plan on affordable housing. We came out with the Equity and Excellence plan on the future of our schools. We came out with a neighborhood policing plan – you go down the list – a plan to close Rikers. Each and every one of these were a systematic response to real issues the public wanted real answers on and the media, raising concerns to the public, said, where’s the plan? Perfectly fair question – one after another, here’s a plan, here’s a plan, here’s a plan, now, hold us accountable for the plan. We need the same thing at the MTA. We have a crisis. 

Question: So, you’re working on a plan now, just in case?

Mayor: I don’t want to make it a gamesmanship thing, I want to be very straightforward. I believe it is very important that the Governor said the other day he understands it’s his responsibility. I believe the MTA’s all along been trying to address the issue. I don’t want to say the people at the MTA haven’t been trying. I believe they have been trying. But we need a plan. So, let’s see a plan. Let’s see what is the maximum the MTA can do to address the crisis of train breakdowns, signal problems, electrical breakdowns. Let’s see what they’ve got. As I said, even if it means shifting resources away from other things, because this is happening right now, this is affecting people right now, and there has to be something different. What did Albert Einstein teach us? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. So, the MTA has to do something different. I have every reason to believe they are working on that plan. If we don’t see something, we’ll come forward with ideas, for sure. 

Thanks, everyone. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, I don’t think Einstein said that one, you should look it up. 

Mayor: I have so often heard it as Einstein.

[Laughter]

If I’m wrong, I still feel comfortable quoting him. 

[Laughter] 

And Thomas Paine said the other one.