Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on CBS 880

June 28, 2017

Wayne Cabot: The Mayor of New York is joining us live. Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning. How are you doing?

Cabot: Fine here. I know there’s a caravan of sorts to Albany right now. They’re there to talk about giving you back control of the city schools. You haven’t actually lost it just yet. We want to talk about that in a second, but first on everybody’s minds is what’s happening with the New York City subways. How frustrated are you with all the constant drumbeat of delays and cancellations and now a derailment?

Mayor: We’re all frustrated, but I tell you the important thing is to get to work on solutions, and I think the governor made a good move naming Joe Lhota the head of the MTA. He’s a very accomplished guy, and someone that we in the city work with very well. And now we got to get to work – all of us – on a plan to address this immediate crisis. So, there’s real resources at the MTA. There’s a lot of capacity at the MTA. We have to figure out how we can all do better.

Paul Murnane: What was happened, speaking of the crisis? What is it? It all of a sudden seems to be that the transit system has just fallen apart maybe in the last couple of months or the last year. It used to be fine. Now all of a sudden it isn’t. What’s wrong?

Mayor: No, I’m going to challenge you on that statement with deepest respect. It never used to be fine. It’s gotten worse because all aging infrastructure in this city and cities around the country are struggling. Remember, there used to be a lot of federal investment in mass transit for decades and decades. That started to decline in the 1980s, and it has constantly decreased. That’s one of the underlying problems. So the maintenance that should’ve been done, you know, 10, 20 years ago never happened. I do think we’re seeing an uptick now, but I don’t think it’s mysterious after the decline we’ve seen over so many decades.

Cabot: Those same state lawmakers that you hope will give you continued control of the New York City schools, what would you whisper in their ear about the MTA? What’s your wish list?

Mayor: Look, my hope is that we all focus on it. I’m certainly going to be focused on it. We’ve got to figure out a plan to address the situation. And again, it’s not new, but it is worse. There’s no question. We need to figure out with the substantial resources the MTA has right now how to focus on New York City subways. And here’s something I keep saying – the subway is 5 to 6 million riders a day – the number one thing the MTA does. There’s always important things they do in the suburbs, but nothing as important as the New York City subway system, and lots of lots of people who come in from the suburbs to work every day use our subway, too. So let’s get focused on job one with the resources we have to figure out what can be done in the short term. I’ve been talking to all the other key players about this. I’ll certainly be talking to the governor about how we can move this forward. Again, not a new problem, but a problem that’s getting worse.

Murnane: On the issue of city control over the city schools, special session today, but it would seem that the problems that prevented its passage during the regular season of the legislature remain in place. Is that your understanding? Those problems are still there?

Mayor: Well, the bottom line here is as many people have said from the business community, the labor community, civic community, faith leader, mayoral control is just something where there is a broad consensus. It’s the only system that works to run our schools. You guys remember the old system with 32 local school boards with no accountability. Unfortunately a time characterized by chaos and corruption. No one I know – not even the senate Republicans – disagree with the concept of mayoral control. So I think the governor’s done the right thing to say ‘come back, let’s get this done.’ Then we can work on the bigger issues. If there’s concerns for example about charter schools, let’s work together on that. I remind everyone that we included charter school in our pre-K program, which was my number one initiative in this administration. We included them in our after school program, our new 3K vision for three-year-olds – charter schools are going to be a part of. We can certainly work together. We can certainly find common ground, but mayoral control of education is something that should be above the fray because it’s about how we have accountability with the education of 1.1 million kids. And one other point, Mayor Bloomberg achieved it, and I give him a lot of credit. Since he achieved mayoral control of education, our graduation rate has gone up almost 50 percent in just 15 years – 50 percent. That should be enough for everyone to agree this is the right way to run our schools.

Cabot: Mayor Bill de Blasio, we thank you for your time this morning. Before you run, I just got to – I don’t want to hammer you too hard on this, but I don’t sense a real sense of exasperation on your part about what’s happening underground. You hear it from the riders, but I’m not hearing it from you.

Mayor: No, I disagree with that. I’m – like every New Yorker – I’m very, very aware of it, and I’m feeling it. But the point I’m trying to say is besides being frustrated, you’ve got to figure out a solution. So I understand everyone is frustrated. I’ve seen it. I’ve been on plenty of delayed trains in my day, so that’s why I’m saying it. I don’t think it’s a brand new phenomenon. I just think it’s gotten worse, but here’s the bottom line. Rather than being upset, let’s figure out a solution. The resources, I believe, are there if the focus was right on the subways first. Subways are the number one priority of the MTA. That’s what we have to achieve.

Murnane: Well the outrage is going to give a little energy behind all of this, right? Well, you can kind of rope that and use that to pull things along.

Cabot: That’s for sure.

Mayor: Well, the voices of the people are certainly being heard. I can tell you that much.

Cabot: Mayor Bill de Blasio, thanks for your time, Mr. Mayor.