Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Roundtable, Announces Launch of Neighborhood Organizing Census Committees

September 25, 2019

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Welcome, everybody. Very happy to have everyone here and I want to say a few things up front and then very much look forward to your questions and dialogue on any and all issues. I want to first of all thank everyone for joining us and thank you for the work you do. To say the least, there are millions of people who depend on all of you to help them – that's a very good ringtone. I've never heard that one before.

[Laughter]

That's a joke.

There's of millions of people that depend on all of you to get them information, to raise issues, to ensure that the government is responding to community concerns, and I dare say a lot of times your outlets bring up issues that need attention and are not getting attention in other elements of the media or often need more focus from the government for sure. And you often serve as voices of the community, and this is something I value tremendously and I am very happy to say I started out in a very, very local way in public service. First with my community school board, and then through City Council, so I have a keen sense of the importance of community and ethnic media and the difference it makes, and when we always want to make sure that we are being responsive. I think everyone here knows it is a big city, there are more outlets here than in any place of all different kinds. Sometimes we struggle to keep up but we always want to do better. But I do want to express tremendous appreciation for all you do. I think it makes a big difference in this city.

And I want to thank my teams here, folks who I think are doing tremendous great work for this city as well. I want to thank my Press Secretary Freddi Goldstein and our Director of Community and Ethnic Media Jose Bayona, my Community Affairs Commissioner Marco Carrión, our Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Bitta Mostofi, and the executive director of NYC Care, which I have spent months talking about all over the country and telling people how extraordinary it that we are guaranteeing health care for folks who don't have insurance, Marielle Kress – native New Yorker come back to us, so we're very happy about that. Also we're getting background noise to prove that the democracy is working.

Now, very quickly, the work you do is important every day. I'm going to argue that with the census coming on, the work you do is going to take on added meaning. We've never seen anything like this. We are literally in uncharted territory. The census – everyone knows representation is determined by it. We all understand there's literally a whole congressional seat that could stay in New York State or go, depending on the outcome of the census. We understand we are not talking about millions, but billions of dollars of funding that could be greater or lesser depending on the outcome of the census. We know that historically, the census has undercounted all of our people, and then throw into the dynamic an atmosphere of fear created by the Trump administration and focused particularly on the immigration question which we all know has been struck down but the atmosphere of fear has not been stuck down. So the question the court – and I'm glad the court said that question does not belong in the census form – that did not erase years and years of fear that has been created. So we have extraordinarily tough work to do here because it is not simply enough to say let's repeat what we did last time on the census. No, we know it didn't reflect all our people. It was a good effort, but it didn't reflect all our people. We have to actually surpass what happened last time, but under much more difficult conditions. Now, I've turned to Julie Menin, and her team, and all of my colleagues here to ask them to the impossible and – Phil Thompson, why are you not sitting at this table? Because you have to go to something, okay. I also want to thank – that was good you – sign language, that is Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson, who has played a crucial, crucial role on a number of the issues that we're going to talk about here today including the census and immigration issues, so thank you Deputy Mayor.

But I've turned to Julie to lead this effort, working with literally every agency in the city government and every part of our nonprofit community, community organizations of every kind, labor unions, faith organizations. This is going to take a grassroots mobilization that we've literally never seen before around the census, we have to go to a whole new place. I know Julie has a great plan to do that working with the team. Yesterday, announced $19 million in funding that we put together with the City Council as part of what we call the "Complete Count Fund." It is the largest investment of any city in the nation to get the census right. And we're going to do whatever it takes to ensure a fair count. But your voices, your outlets will play a profoundly important role because the question is going to be trust. And I want to emphasize this today. A lot of people are going to make the decision of whether to answer or not based on whether they trust the process. Right now they have good reason not to, we need to give them that reassurance. You're in a particularly powerful position to do that, so we need you, your city needs you, and your country needs you to help us get this right.

We're also organizing something wonderful today at the grassroots. And it has a great acronym. I didn't see it until now. I didn't get that it says something. It's a new initiative and it's called NOCCS, like knock on the door, but the acronym is NOCCS, it is Neighborhood Organizing Census Committees. And the idea is that the most trusted voice in anyone's life, are the people in their immediate life, family and friends, people on their block, people they work with, people they worship with. We want to take all that energy, folks who want to help us get this right and are willing to put in their own time and energy to do it, and we are signing people up with cards as simple as this all over the city. We think thousands of people are going to get involved because we're hearing already from folks that they want to be a part of this and they want to help get it right.

So there will be census organizers all over the city working on this, literally encouraging grassroots activism to make sure that people have that trust and they sign up. Now, Julie, and we're here also with Amit Bagga, the deputy director of this census effort. They're going to show you the website, you're going to do that right now. We're doing a live demonstration.

Director Julie Menin, NYC Office of the Census: We're doing a live demonstration. First I'm going to describe the process, and then we're going to do the demonstration.

Mayor: Alright, please.

Director Menin: So thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. So I widely want to explain why we feel we need these neighborhood organizing committees. We have an unprecedented situation here in New York City. In 2010, New York City self-response rate to the census was 61.9 percent. The national average was 76 percent. The borough of Brooklyn was at 55 percent. And that was in 2010. We've been dealt what can only best be described as a very bad hand here in New York City for two reasons. One, as the Mayor talked about, the citizenship question – New York City – we were a plaintiff on the case and it's wonderful that we won the case at the Supreme Court. But the problem is due to the fact that the president continues to tweet about it, and threaten executive order, the people that we need to reach most don't know that we won that case. And we have to then undue the misinformation that the Trump administration has spread. The second reason that we're in an unprecedented situation is because the census for the first time is online. That's wonderful, it means that people will literally be able to take out their phone during the self-response period starting in mid-March and in several minutes fill the census out. But it presents unique challenges to a city like New York, where a third of New Yorkers do not have access to broadband. So that is why we're in unprecedented situation, and that is why we need to organize and that is really why this announcement today is so incredibly important. I chaired a local community board, Manhattan Community Board 1, this very area, for seven years. And so I really know first-hand that as the Mayor said its neighbor-to-neighbor contact that can make a difference. And that is why we are announcing the NOCCs

So before I take you to the interactive website, let me tell you what these neighborhood organizing committees will do. First of all, we've divided New York City into 245 NOCCs. These NOCCs will do four things. First, trainings - our team will train these NOCCs volunteers in a civil rights-style census 101 trainings about what the census is, why it matters, in fact that we're fighting for our fair share of over $650 billion, funding for public education, public housing, Medicaid, et cetera. This is a "train-the-trainer" model that is proven to work. Secondly, census ambassadors – so volunteers will then take what they've learned and they will then become census ambassadors in their own neighborhoods. They will hold teach-ins. We're going to give them printed materials, talking points, digital tool kits and more. Third, the NOCCs will engage in phone banks, and text banks. So with support and supervision of course from our team, volunteers will host phone and text banks. And they'll use the latest campaign-style direct engagement technologies. Fourth and finally, the NOCCs will also sometimes be paired with local community organizations. As the Mayor announced, we've recently announced our $19 million grants program. So, we will pair NOCCs when appropriate with local community organizations that are receiving grants.

So let me explain how get involved. So Amit, if you can help me here with this part. So if you go to our website, which is nyc.gov/census, we've got our interactive map. This map shows the 2010 response rate, so you can see who your neighborhood did in 2010 and really where we need to go. So let's go to – for example, Bushwick. If you click on Bushwick you will see that in 2010 the average self-response rate was 54.1 percent. Again, remember, the national average 76 percent. You can then volunteer to be on your Bushwick neighborhood organizing committee, and just like that you can sign up and you'll hear immediately from our team and you'll be able to get involved. Another really incredible feature of this is that we have negotiated an agreement with the federal Census Bureau during the self-response period, which is, again, starts March 12th, to get real time data by census track. So we're going to show every single neighborhood in New York City every single day how they're doing. And it will allow us the flexibility to quickly deploy resources into neighborhoods that are not responding. So that is a little bit about how the interactive website works. I really want to thank our team, our Deputy Director Amit Bagga, our Field Director Kathleen Daniel who is here as well for all of their help – oh she's right over here, Kathleen, thank you.

Mayor: There she is – I was going to say, I didn't see hand go up, there you go.

Director Menin: Sorry, Kathleen Daniel over there, our fantastic team who have worked so hard on making this possible. And lastly we just want to remind all New Yorkers to sign up for their local NOCCs. You again, go to nyc.gov/census and then also as the Mayor mentioned our RFP on the grants launched yesterday. The due date is October 15th, the website for that is getcounted2020.nyc. Thank you.

Mayor: So, Julie, just following up on that – and then what I'd like to do is take people's questions or concerns on census first and then we'll go to all other topics – but Julie, one, people can start signing up right now. It's live –

Director Menin: It's live.

Mayor: Breaking news, it is live. You can sign up right now. Two, I want to emphasize to everyone, I really think helping people understand how powerful their role can be in their community on – even just on their block, a single volunteer just working their own block can make a difference. Three, the RFP going out is very important. We want to see tremendous representation from nonprofit organizations – every conceivable type and background, and neighborhood. So, helping folks to know that RFP is out – when is the RFP due?

Director Menin: October 15th.

Mayor: October 15th – and I believe it's a pretty straight forward process for applying, right?

Director Menin: Yes, very – very streamlined. Yes.

Mayor: User-friendly. Streamlined – that's the word we wanted. So, folks have a few weeks to apply. We want to get that word out. And then again, to educate all of us, the – say it again, the census count period starts when, ends when in 2020.

Director Menin: So, March 12th, everyone will receive a mailer from the federal Census Bureau. You'll be able to fill out the form in three ways, online, by phone – the phone is also new – or the old fashioned paper form. These self-response periods then goes through mid-May. If you don't fill it out, and they'll mail you four times, a federal door-knocker will show up on your door. We do not want that and we do not want that because that data is not generally reliable for the City – for us to get the services we need and, two, that's how people are not counted. So, in 2010, two million children nationwide under the age of five were simply not counted.

And they're not counted because that federal door-knocker goes to your door, understandably most people don't want to answer the door for a stranger, that door-knocker is legally allowed to talk to anyone in the hallway, in the elevator, and say, 'do you know how many people in apartment 3A?' And that person might just say, 'I don't know, three,' and they write down three. There could be eight people living in that unit. And that's how people are left out of the census. We want all New Yorkers to respond in the first eight weeks during that self-response period.

Mayor: So, March – first day again?

Director Menin: March 12th –

Mayor: 12th –

Director Menin: – to mid-May.

Mayor: Mid-May, okay. So, we basically have eight weeks. So, I would just say to everyone, we're going to have to say this a thousand times to get it into everyone's bloodstream but also, you know, this is a question of organization. And I want to thank everyone up here who has been working so hard to get ready. But, you know, we will win or lose depending on how well-organized we are and how deep we get into communities. So, today is another step in that direction and we need everyone to be involved. With that, let's see if there's any questions on the census front, anything regarding census, and then we'll go to other questions after.

Question: You talked specifically –

Mayor: Yeah.

Question: Hello?

Mayor: There you go.

Question: Hi, thank you so much for having us. My name is Rachelle Ocampo from Makilala TV. This is the first [inaudible] TV talk show in the New York metro area. So, I'm very thankful for Jose and his team for inviting us and giving us a voice at this table. My question is – for the RFP, this is my first time hearing it, this is great that you are investing $19 million to the community. What makes an application a stronger application to make sure that we get the most out of the $19 million? Is it if we provide language access to community, is it how much our budget is if they are nonprofits? How do you make it a more competitive application?

Director Menin: That's a wonderful question. So, first of all the grants are going to range in size from 2,500 to 250,000. To be clear, we are looking for outside of the box ideas on how to reach people. We – what happened in 2010, and also in 2000, didn't work. It didn't reach New Yorkers. So, that's why I say we're looking for outside of the box ideas. Language access, obviously, incredibly important, but we're also looking for a reach. And you mentioned the size of the organization – we are going to granting to small organizations and large. We're not just looking at the larger organizations. It is often time the smaller groups that have been working in communities for years that are the most trusted voices.

Mayor: Alright. Go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible] challenges there. Do you foresee any challenges in the Bronx and what was that census like in the last [inaudible]?

Director Menin: Sure, so the numbers in the Bronx were not much better than Brooklyn. They were in the high 50s, some neighborhoods in the low 60s. So, absolutely, we see challenges. Perhaps the biggest challenge is education. The messaging around the census in 2010 – and I know this first hand because I chaired the community board down here – and no one from the City government or State government ever came to a single community board meeting and said, did you know if you don't take the two minutes to fill this out, you will lose funding for your local public school? If that message had been delivered, I guarantee you we would have had a much higher response rate. So, our challenge is to educate New Yorkers about the over 200 programs that literally are at stake here and why this matters to their daily life, and the challenge that the Mayor spoke about which is undoing the damage that the Trump administration has wrought by the mere scepter of the citizenship question.

Mayor: Please?

Question: Mr. Mayor, can you just talk a little bit more about the threat of losing a whole congressional seat in New York especially in this political climate?

Mayor: Yeah, I think we have to understand that it would be a tragedy to lose a seat because of a mistaken count. And I think it's a very real possibility right now. The fact is that we know last time that the count missed a huge number of New Yorkers. We know the pressures now are even greater. And it is a likelihood that New York State could easily lose one seat but there's a danger of losing two seats, and that would hit New York City very, very hard. So, I, you know – and, by the way, that's crucial on so many levels, the more representation you have, the more chance you have of getting resources, of getting the needs of your people addressed on a policy level. But literally a single vote – and we've seen it, we saw it on the Affordable Care Act in the Senate – came down to one vote – we've seen it in the House as well. So, losing a single Congress member can have a huge, huge impact, and, right now, that's a real potential danger. 

Please –

Question: [Inaudible] and the possible laws [inaudible] 40 percent of the population did not say I'm here. With all these situations that are going on, the public charge threat, how do you counteract that? And then, if you do get laws like that [inaudible] New Yorkers, what will you translate into fund so people can get an idea of resources that are – 

Mayor: Yeah, I will start and I'm sure Julie and others we'll have more to add. Mariela, I think it's important to understand that – first of all, the human impact, we're talking about billions of dollars, which translates into whether schools are better or worse, whether there's a mass transit that works for people or doesn't. It translates into very tangible things. Right now, we need so much more affordable housing in this city. We don't get enough federal support the way it is. If we even lose more, it's going to hurt public housing, it's going to hurt affordable housing. So, it all comes home to really the kitchen table issues, the things that people depend on – so much of that is federal money. Imagine if we lost billions of dollars that we actually deserved because we had the people, but the count didn't represent it, so it was a false reality, but it costs us hugely. That's what we're facing right now. If what happens last time happens again, we're going to lose a lot. Now, the challenge is greater, but I also want to say having watched the last effort versus this effort, this is a much deeper, more organized effort than what happened in the City a decade ago. The last effort was a good faith effort, no doubt. This one is more focused on the grassroots and much more about creating those local partnerships with trusted organizations and people –

Question: To remove fear – 

Mayor: To remove fear, but even if you didn't have the fear created by Donald Trump, what Julie said earlier is right, people don't necessarily like to open up their door to strangers. What's going to make them more comfortable is to participate in that two-month window, because people they trust and voices they trust and media outlets and leaders and organizations are saying, this actually matters to our community. Whether we're going to have enough for our people or not will hinge on this. And I think that could inspire people. We've never had this kind of very intense grassroots organizing effort before. I think it's going to make a big difference.

Director Menin: Yeah, so New York State derives $73 billion per year on Census-related programs. We're talking about dozens and dozens of programs. So, for example, the impact of the City – New York City derives $700 million a year in Title 1 funds directly linked to the Census. So, we need to explain to New Yorkers that by not filling the Census out, not taking the five minutes it takes to fill this form out and answer 10 simple questions, it will be a direct hit to their community. So, the mother whose child depends on Head Start, we need to explain to them why they have to fill this Census out. That's not what has existed in the past. And again, messaging around the Census was traditionally done by the federal government, and the messaging was fill the Census out, it's in the Constitution, it's the law, it's your civic duty, and that didn't resonate. So, we are going to micro-target our messaging, focus on programs, and make sure that we reach every single community.

Commissioner Bitta Mostofi, Office of Immigrant Affairs: I'd like to add to that specifically on that sort of fear factor question. We've seen time and time again with attacks on our communities that the most critical and the most powerful messaging is a recognition that people deserve the right to understand who's attacking them and why, and feel empowered with good information. We know that the conversation with the inclusion of a citizenship question and what the Trump administration has continued to do is intentionally designed to make it so that our communities do not participate. It's intentionally designed to make it so that people are feeling like they need to be invisible and in the shadows. But time and time again in engaging with community members and having frank and honest conversations about the fact that people deserve to be respected, people deserve to know how things will impact their family and their children and their education and their health care. And with the power of that information, with the honesty about what protections there are, like Title 13, which have strong privacy protections, empowering people to make decisions for themselves and their families. And time and time again, with public charge and with other things, we see the tone and tenor and community conversations change. People feel the difference. They take information materials. They say, I'm going to take this to my friend who's confused or scared. I'm going to give this information to my sister who has questions, because they know that they are contributing to our communities, they are working, they're paying tax dollars, and they have the right to these resources.

Mayor: Yeah, and the other thing to remember is, the fear has been much greater than the result. And this is a hard point to make, but I do think for all of us, and you all in particular in such a crucial role communicating with communities. You know, remember the day when there was supposed to be nationwide – originally, Trump said he was going to deport all undocumented people, literally, and then there was going to be a nationwide blitz and it was going to be thousands and thousands of people, and that weekend came and went and nothing happened to speak of anywhere, including here. It is so – it's worse because it is fear for fear sake and it often does not result in anything that actually changes people's lives negatively, but the fear remains. So, I think it's important to explain to people that, you know, while that fear is being created, it's like the famous Franklin Delano Roosevelt – we have nothing to fear, but fear itself. If the fear makes people not participate, then Trump wins. Right? And all the people who do not want to acknowledge America as is today win. But the actual danger is not real. If someone participating in the Census can do so without any fear anymore – the question's gone, the immigration question's gone, people can participate freely. We can prove that to them. We cannot let the fear win and that's what we have to communicate to people. 

Please?

Question: Hi, Brian Vines from BRIC TV in Brooklyn. I see you've built a very robust website here and platform and we intend to use the hell out of it for eight weeks. But I wonder once it's done, what the other implications for this technology might be in providing services and greater transparency for service providers and folks on the receiving end here in the City?

Mayor: That's a great question and I think it's something we want to keep innovating with. Like, anything that helps us to better explain to people what is their right, you know, what they have a right to, what's available to them, but also to show us where we can do more – we want to do. So, I think we are learning every time we use technology to deepen our engagement communities. We actually almost always take it and then apply it to the next thing. But we need input from people, obviously, too, so I welcome from you and from everyone. As you see people use this – this working, we want to figure out how to use it more. 

Okay. Anything else on the Census before we go to other questions?

Question: [Inaudible] signing up for. What do you [inaudible]?

Director Menin: Sure. So, the hour commitment for volunteers is entirely flexible. We're not mandating a certain amount of time per week, because, again, we understand that people have different amounts that they can volunteer. As I explained, there really four things that we're asking volunteers to do, everything from teachings, to text messaging, phone banking, and they can do any of the four or all four. There will be a leader of each knock, so there will be one person in charge then who will work directly with our office. But we will be training every single member of the NOCCs. We've already actually booked training dates in our office people. So, as we sign them up today, they'll be contacted immediately by our office and come in for a volunteer.

Question: Mamdou Niang, NextMedia, African news service – are you planning a public announcement event for additional visuals for us to compliment this –

Mayor: We'll be doing lots of things, yeah. This is – I mean, we're announcing that it has started today, but as we get closer there'll be many, many events to keep reminding people of the Census and also to encourage people to sign up. Julie, talk about the outreach efforts that you and your team are going to undertake to get people [inaudible].

Director Menin: Well, sure. So, we have already done hundreds of events to begin with, just informational events. Now that we've announced the NOCCs, we're going to be doing events in every single neighborhood to sign people up. We're going to be working with PTAs, with community education councils, with civic groups, with community boards, with elected officials, with labor organizations, faith-based leaders all across the city. And so, that's what our team will do.

Mayor: So –

Question: Is there a date set for the first event?

Director Menin: We have a tremendous amount of events listed. So, if you'd like to talk to our team after, we're happy to give you events.

Mayor: And I want to say that your desire for visuals is good. So, I'll start now with a visual. This is actually – I was just admiring this – I've encountered many a sign up form that was way too complex. This one's beautiful, this is as few words as it possibly could be and it says everything. So, we want people to sign up, but the most important visual will be when our folks are out in communities, talking to people and getting them to engage, and we would love for you and everyone to be there. 

Yes?

Question: [Inaudible] are you including social media into this campaign, or is it something that you're planning on doing? Because when we talk about immigrant communities, they do trust a lot into groups that people are sharing jobs. And especially in Queens, they tend to say, you know, this is a [inaudible] New York or something like that. And people trust the people who are posting stuff there. So, [inaudible] it's important and everything, but a lot of these people are just working and going on Facebook and sharing stuff. Are you planning on doing – 

Director Menin: So, couple of different things. First of all, for our printed materials, we have heard feedback from community groups that they want to be able to put logos onto our materials, which we will do, because, to that very point, it's oftentimes the local community groups that are the most trusted voice in the neighborhood. And that's why we will be doing that and printing materials and making sure that working directly with community groups to do that. On the digital front and social media, one of the most amazing things honestly about the Census being online is that when we do digital ads, we're going to have a click through directly to the census form so that you will look – see our digital ad and then on the spot the call to action is fill the Census out right there. So, we will be doing that. We are going to be using social media, but we recognize that many people are not – that is not their main point of information. That's why our media campaign will be TV, radio, print, digital.

Mayor: But I want to pick up on your point and everyone on your team – I would say, this is a great example, what you're saying – if the place people turn for their job listings is not traditional media and not even, if you'll forgive the phrase, traditional social media, you know, it's very particular and human than communal. We've got to be there too. So I think it is a good education for all of us. And we would have, you know, this is, this is sort of in the good sense of word patriotic for our city. Everyone is, has a common interest here. We need feedback constantly of where we need to go that we might not traditionally go because this is, this is literally everyone, you know, when you think about a lot of things that we promote are for one piece of the community and other, like schools are for kids and parents and not necessarily for some other people who wouldn't be as concerned. But census is literally every single human being and everyone has a role in this. So we welcome understanding every, you know, sub current, if you will, of social media that we might be able to engage. And I think it also interacts with this point that if someone's – you know, there's all sorts of wonderful, you know, localized social media networks, for example, parents around their individual school or community and all, we want everyone feeling empowered to promote this without us ever being involved, right. That they have their own network, they're involved in that. We are saying to them, you are now, you know, you're now deputized to go spread the word about this within your network, whether we have anything to do with it or not. The more people just take it into their own hands, the better. Okay. Last call on census.

Question: Just to try to clarify, the [inaudible]

Director Menin: Yeah, the media campaign –

Mayor: The paid media.

Director Menin: The paid media campaign, we will be working with existing city vendors from it. Do you want to elaborate on that?

Deputy Director Amit Bagga, NYC Office of the Census: Hello, so we will be working as Director Menin mentioned with some existing city vendors with whom the city has contracts. Obviously, as you can imagine and as we have established ensuring that we are reaching all of our communities through community and ethnic media and paid advertising and community and ethnic media is a real priority for us. And so we're going to be dedicating a very fair amount of our advertising dollars to that effort.

Mayor: Okay. One more time on census and then we'll go to other topics. Yes, please.

Question: Hi, Scarlet [inaudible]. My question is what is important that the Latino community in particular participate in the census?

Mayor: The Latino community has been the victim of this fear campaign more than any other community. And I remind people that when Donald Trump announced his campaign for presidency, he attacked the Mexican community and the Latino community literally on the very first day, and he has taken a perverse joy of all the people he's attacked. This has been his sort of his go-to tragically and obviously as the biggest immigrant community in our city, the fear has reached most deeply into Latino communities. And we have a special obligation to reassure people to tell them how important it is to be involved and, that, you know, they, they will be made stronger by standing up to this fear because literally by confronting the fear, there is more likelihood of Latino representation by confronting the fear, there's more likelihood of money reaching the Latino community that it deserves. You know, for seniors, for children, for people need affordable housing. But it's also, I think very important civically to not give into the fear. This is a country that one day the single largest community will be the Latino community and people should start right now the practice of owning the full process and not letting anyone tell them that they should be excluded.

Director Menin: And if I could just add one point in 2010, the neighborhood with the highest response rate in the city was Washington Heights and Inwood. They out organized.

Mayor: In every community?

Director Menin: In every – citywide, citywide.

Mayor: That's beautiful.

Director Menin: At 77.5 percent they out organized everyone, they are a model of how to do community organizing, how to go door to door on the census. And by the way, they've now said they want to reach 90 percent. So we want everyone to copy that energy.

Mayor: So you go interview them because then they can teach us all something.

Question: [inaudible] other topics.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Just one point what you just said, because you know, to fear – to face fear sometimes you have to fight it, just be part of the solution.

Mayor: Yeah.

Question: So or you're calling out for volunteers or maybe a call would be to for immigrants to be part of this volunteer process because I would assume that statuses have an issue?

Mayor: No, of course not. I mean, it's an excellent question. Thank you, Mariella. The – it's very important to say that. I mean, I – the City of New York has made our standard in everything we do, that everyone is welcome regardless of documentation status.  This is another example. This is the city's own effort. This is not the federal government running this outreach effort. This is the City of New York. Everyone is welcome to participate and the census is supposed to include everyone. It's supposed to count everyone regardless of documentation status. So no, in fact, it's a great opportunity to exercise community leadership for people to get involved, know that they will be welcome and respected and that we need them. We can't succeed without folks who are undocumented, providing leadership to get other folks to participate. And I would argue, again, it's like let's model good behavior. It's kind of like IDNYC. You know, one of our responses to this oppressive atmosphere was to create an identification that was positive and said, everyone belongs here and they are valued. Well, this is another example. Everyone needs to be a part of this, to own their own city, to claim their own space and to say, you know, we're not going to let anyone intimidate us from exercising our rights. So to me, this is a – this is a good act of defiance to say we're not going to give into the fear, we're going to be part of making sure that everyone is counted and please encourage people to volunteer

Question: [Inaudible] suggestion. We see Univision but Instagram is huge.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: And so is WhatsApp, because people can contact their family members outside of the United States, you know, they don't have to pay for it.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: And so WhatsApp, it's a great way of communicating and Instagram is where they are. At least our main demographics. That's so important. So I just [inaudible].

Director Menin: Thank you.

Mayor: I want to emphasize that to it. To all of you that I, I'm going to be watching, I'm saying this very loving, very positive, but I'm going to be watching to see if we really go deep, deep, deep. Because what's happened, it's become legendary as the communications vehicle of choice for many immigrants. We need to figure out how to maximize our presence there. So all the traditional elements are crucial and we'll have the single biggest impact. But we've got to look in every possible new opportunity as well and what we need from you all because you're in a position to be consciences is here. If we are not reaching people in some ways we need to hear about it. This is a criticism we will welcome. That if you don't see us finding some of those key elements of social media or if you find certain communities that are not hearing the message, we need that feedback loop so we can fix it.

Question: Twitter is nice but the [inaudible].

Unknown: Just one more.

Mayor: Truth teller.

Question: -- the idea of best practices. Is there a lesson learned from 2010 that you maybe not going to make that mistake again? Was there any specific thing that you learned then that you're going to apply now?

Director Menin: Absolutely. I mean the problem with 2010 and the same can be said for 2000 is there was no messaging to New Yorkers about what was at stake for them. To just tell people that it's in the Constitution is their civic duty. It's the same as voting. You've got to explain to New Yorkers why this matters. And that's our job and that's why we're forming these local neighborhood organizing committees. It's why we're disseminating grants to community organization. It's why we're going to be doing media messaging focused on the funding that's at stake, Head Start and senior centers and Medicaid and Title-I funds. That's really – not in our opinion, the lesson that was learned.

Mayor: It was, yeah, it was also not deep grassroots. It was, you know, a good faith but superficial. In other words, sort of the most traditional established organizations were welcome in. But what we want to do here is reach. We – I don't care if an organization is very, very small and localized, we still need them. We need, we need everybody. And, I think this is a much more grassroots focused initiative and you can hear as Julie's speaking to her great credit, the passion about finding a way. I think this time there's no sense of limit. We have to do something that's never been done before to possibly succeed. I'm very inspired by the example of Washington Heights and I actually think another thing we should do, I'll give a helpful suggestion, is sort of get someone to do their own video of what they did up there and you know, show it to everyone else to inspire them cause people are going to need hope in this process.

Question: [Inaudible].

Mayor: Yeah, that's good. See where we – the news before it happens. So, we, we should make very visual, very emotional to people that folks have figured a way to do this and, and help everyone else to do it. Okay. Other topics? Anything else please?

Question: Hi, Andy Levinson, Staten Island Community Television. Thanks for having us.

Mayor: Thank you.

Question: As Staten Island's population continues to grow.

Mayor: Yeah.

Question: How is the City addressing the increased stresses on infrastructure that this growth brings to the areas of traffic and schools?

Mayor: Well, it's, look first, this is a problem that is particularly clear in Staten Island, but it is also a problem the city has faced in general. We are classically kind of victims of our own success. As we became safer, as our economy became stronger and I'm very proud of the fact in this administration we've added over half a million new jobs in this city, including much more deeply in all five boroughs, not just Manhattan. It's been much more of a five borough economy. Staten Island has been a key to that. With more safety, more economic activity, more jobs comes more congestion and challenges. I would say we have done a lot better on schools for example, where we're aggressively building schools in communities that need them. And you've seen in Staten Island a constant either building of new schools or announcement of new schools coming in. That's been a very good thing. Pre-K and 3-K has actually disproportionately helped Staten Island. When you look at the numbers before those initiatives versus what we have now, Staten Island has gotten a lot more capacity proportionate to the rest of the city. So that's more options for families. That's great. But if you look at something like trafficking and congestion, we're still struggling. You know, we're trying to get a Select Bus Service done on the North Shore.

There's real physical challenges, but we're still trying to get that done. We're trying to get the express lanes, the HOV lanes on the expressway to work better with more enforcement. But Staten Island was, I think originally conceived of as a much smaller population and, and there's just that physical reality, and again, not unique in the city, but one of the best examples of the challenge. We got to keep doing more and we do have the new ferry service that'll go from the North shore to the West Side of Manhattan. That's going to be helpful. We just got to keep finding more and more ways to improve options, and address it. Now, some of what we've done, like more affordable housing – some people say, oh, that's going to create, you know, more activity.

Well, I would argue no, it's people who are already there who need more options for affordability so they can stay. And, I think that's also been another example of progress that more focus on affordable housing. But I would argue to you some of the things we've gotten, right. Other pieces, we've just got to find better solutions. Please. Thank you. Please.

Question: So recently in Queens - Flushing and Bayside [inaudible] two very beloved restaurants where - had to close down because they weren't able to negotiate a decent leasing price. And I think it's not -

Mayor: Which ones, tell me, which ones?

Question: It's BCD in Bayside on Northern Boulevard. It's a very huge restaurant. And Kawa it's another restaurant on Northern Boulevard as well. And I think this is sort of like a citywide problem where we see a lot of businesses who need to close down because they can't afford the lease. Is there a way the City can control, you know, put a cap on, you know, how these building owners are increasing the leases for these business owners, for them to thrive? I think this is, it's an ongoing - this issue comes up every single time you have a community meeting. So I don't know what, what can the City do?

Mayor: So I want to say two things. One, less in the restaurant world, although to some extent, certainly even more in the retail world, some of this is just, you know, the changes in consumer tastes in technology and other things affecting the equation, which is shocking all of us, how fast it is making these changes. But I think the answer on the city side, there is an option which I've been promoting to create some ground rules about, whether landlords can keep their storefronts vacant for long periods of time, which I think is one of the ways to correct the situation. So the simple way of saying it, we'd need the State to help us. There's a vacancy tax. It says if you intend on keeping your storefront vacant, because you'll say you put up the rent a lot higher and the people that had it had to leave.

You can't do that for too long without having to pay some kind of penalty. Because right now for some landlords it's too convenient in their eyes to, you know, put up the lease level to something a lot of stores can't handle, a lot of restaurants can't handle. So that's a State policy. We're going to work on that in the upcoming legislative session that I think could make a real difference. We don't as a city, you know, without State help, we don't have a way to create that ground rule alone. We do have lots of ways to help small business. So one of the other things I think we need to do better and we need your help is some small businesses, if they had legal help, they could defend themselves on the lease. And we do have legal assistance we can get them. Some of them need loans to keep going. We do have a low interest loans we can get them. So there's different, we've obviously reduced the number of fines, which is a very good thing for small business. So I would say if you're trying to let small businesses in your community know what they can do to survive, the first thing they should do is pick up the phone to Small Business Services and talk through their situation. And in some cases we can help them figure out a plan that could keep them in business. Please.

Question: So on a similar note to [inaudible] question about small businesses, after stepping down for the president's candidacy a few days ago, you've said that you're going to redouble your efforts to improve the quality of life of everyday New Yorkers, proving that policies like guaranteed paid personal time can work on a grand scale. So what is your message to New York City's small businesses across the five boroughs of how your policy will not only support small businesses to survive, but to also thrive?

Mayor: Yes, thank you. So I'm a fundamental believer that if you create a more just and humane society where people are living a better life, a lot of ways it does help small businesses and all businesses. So if people, for example, if employees are healthier and that's things like paid sick leave, which Julie was in the front line of - a healthier employee is more likely to be an employee who stays at the job longer. That's good for small business, turnover is bad with employees, that really has a cost. Healthy employees, happy employees stay longer. The same with vacation time. I really believe this is about thinking about the long game, not the immediate. Some people say, oh, if someone has two weeks paid vacation, that's going to affect scheduling, that's going to affect my bottom line. That's not an illegitimate concern. But if you have people who are healthy and fulfilled and living a decent life, it encourages them to stay on their job and stick with it for the long term. I think that's a huge benefit. Obviously also about giving people a decent quality of life, which is what we all should aspire to.

But the other thing is in terms of the paid time off, this is a conversation we're having with the City Council to figure out what is the right size business to start it at. There's an initial proposal, but there's obviously concerned and valid concern that we figure out what is that right number that does not create an undue burden for the smallest small businesses? When do you get to the point when it's something that a small business can work with more effectively? And that's a conversation we're having right now with the City Council. So I think you'll see, you know, that that kind of dialogue and the legislative process is going to yield an outcome that really is sensitive to the needs of small business. Yes, please. I'll finish this side and I'll come over again to that side.

Question: Thank you Mr. Mayor. Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier Anthony Carlo with News 12 Bronx. Thank you for this opportunity. My station is concentrated a lot on hate crimes and I know recently you've designated an office to focus on hate crime prevention. I wanted to ask you, basically where the progress is with that at this point, why you decided to open that office ahead of schedule? Especially with the high volume of crimes towards the Jewish community here in the city?

Mayor: Anthony, the hate crimes office, I think the Office to Prevent Hate Crimes going make a big difference. Deborah Lauter who's running it has a - literally devoted her life to anti-defamation work and you know, efforts to undermine any of those tendencies towards hate and figure out how to educate people, bring them together. So, the office is up and running. It's building out quickly, working closely with the NYPD. If I had to say it very simply, it's a carrot and a stick. The carrot is to educate, to listen to community leaders who can often tell us things that we could do better to create more dialogue. Because I know for a fact that there's often folks at the community level who see something coming and know enough to help the police stop it. We need more of that depth of dialogue. A lot of work we need to do with young people.
And then there's also a mental health component. Clearly, and the NYPD has been very clear about this. Some of these, a substantial number of these crimes are committed by people who have other issues and need help. And we have to do a better job of reaching them. That's the carrot.

The stick is, you know, very aggressive enforcement arrest, prosecution, which NYPD has done better and better on, but we've got more to do. So, we're very focused. I think it's, there's a strange dynamic where this is the City's - probably even my experience, is probably at the all-time high in terms of respect between communities, dialogue between communities. I always use the example of Crown Heights, Brooklyn as a place that was torn apart 25, 30 years ago and now is a picture of unity. But still we have some of these incidents so people are getting along better.
Communities are getting along better, but we have a growing problem. It's really only been the last few years we've seen it. I do think it's a little connected to the national environment or a lot connected maybe. But I think we have the right tools. It's about getting to the grassroots, you know, Jimmy O'Neill is very eloquent on the point of, even with the biggest police force in the country, the force multipliers are everyday people. And that's certainly especially true with hate crimes. So, so it kind of, just like we're talking about with this, you know, another version as of people see something, say something. If they think someone might be about to commit an act of hate, calling it in makes all the difference. Please.

Question: Yes. You have a Mayor, a unified and unabashedly, committed constituency of a new African immigrants, and they're first generation families, who have heavily invested in your leadership and profoundly benefited from your administration policy. But they do complain about one thing.

Mayor: Thank you. They're New Yorkers. So if they didn't complain they have not yet fully become New Yorkers.

Question: Actually it is not a major topic to my knowledge. They have repeatedly been denied, to have you as an invitee, to some major dates of their community's life. We know that tomorrow you're hosting their third annual African Heritage Day.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Which is typically elitist and leaders like generally -

Mayor: I wouldn't call it elitist. But it is -we have a limit of how many people can be there. That's true. But, but I see your point.

Question: And there also in 2015, there was probably a missed opportunity when we had this major AIDS crisis in New York City, which the ground zero was a 116th Street. We were hoping to see the Mayor walking through that corridor and, we just wanted to see where we are going to see you set foot in the community for one event?

Mayor: I have, as I think, you know, besides the events we've done with the community, we're obviously, this is the first administration to honor the African community by having those events at Gracie Mansion. But I've definitely spent time in the community in a variety of ways over the years. And I look forward to doing more. If there are specific gatherings that you think I should be aware of, I'm going to ask that Bitta to follow up with you right now. Absolutely. I appreciated the way you opened and I feel a real bond with the community and we've tried in a lot of ways including the team members we've put together, many of whom have come from the community, to help deepen the community's connection to the city government. But I am more than happy to show up at some important occasions and important areas of the neighborhood. And I'd love your help to know what, what's good to do.

Question: Mayor, when we heard about this round table, we open the conversation with our viewers basically. And we cover a lot in Queens, especially Jackson Heights where we have a lot of immigrants' right there. They do want your help in trying to fix Roosevelt Avenue. And I have probably ten questions here and we don't have the time. But basically what's happening right there is there is - only on a Monday, we covered two stabbings on 78th Street and Roosevelt Avenue. Yesterday we covered a hate crime right on 81st Street on Roosevelt Avenue. And basically they want to know what else can you do there because it's basically prostitution after 9 pm. kids living behind that and they have to see all that. There are drugs, people drinking all day. They wake up on Corona Plaza and they're like sleeping there after drinking all night. So there is a, there is a big thing and we do want to answer that question to the viewers. So you know, you can tell something about that?

Mayor: Well, look, the first thing I'm going to do is talk to the Police Commissioner about what additional enforcement we need and police presence we need to address these issues. I think the big picture, and this is something we should all be proud of, is that the NYPD continues to drive down crime and improve quality of life, working with all the city agencies and now working more closely than ever with communities. And that's what neighborhood policing is all about. And what I have heard from community leaders and activists all over the city, folks in the cure violence movement for example, and, community leaders of all different backgrounds is their dialogue with the NYPD, the responsiveness of the NYPD is better than they've ever seen. So that's a very good thing. So crime is down. Relationship is better, but that does not mean there are not going to be places where we don't have to do more. Of course we have to do more. So if that area of Roosevelt Avenue, if we're having some serious problems, the answer is always more focus, more police, more engagement with community, figure out how to disrupt the negative patterns. We've had proof time and time again that when NYPD puts that focus on a neighborhood, it has a huge impact. And I will speak to the Commissioner directly about how to make sure that happens quickly so we can improve the quality of life there. So tell -

Question: [Inaudible] that in Spanish as well?

Mayor: I wish I could. But, we will certainly get you a statement in Spanish. Yes.

Question: Mr. Mayor, can you briefly talk about Care NYC and when that will come to other parts of New York City? Principally Brooklyn? But I do have another question about your presidential campaign.

Mayor: Let's do the first and I'll come to you - Rico. So Rico, I've seen, and I compliment everyone for the work you do. I'm going to give Rico a particular compliment because I've seen the impact of your broadcast on how much it informs people and they take action based on it. And we've known each other a long time. So this is an example that NYC Care - so, the target audience is 600,000 people. You know, 600,000 people is as many people as in Miami or Boston. I mean you have to remember the magnitude of our place. So we have 600,000 people with no insurance. Some of them legally have the right to insurance but can't afford it or can't find a plan that works. Some of them do not have the legal right who are undocumented, but NYC Care can help them. So I'll turn to Marielle but the reality is it's very important to inform people as this develops that there's no reason in the world not to have someplace to turn for health care any longer. There's now - we have something that has never happened in America before. We're guaranteeing health care, it's phasing in over the next few years as you said. But either people who want more traditional insurance can get it through MetroPlus or the NYC Care card for others so they can get a primary care doctor, only paying that which they can afford. So Marielle would you talk about the phase in? And yes, Rico, I know people listen to you in more than just Brooklyn, but the number one constituency for your station is Brooklyn. So let's talk about that.

Executive Director Marielle Kress, NYC Care: Sure. So, as you know, we're in the Bronx. We announced that we had enrolled 2,000 enrollees in just the first two weeks. And we expect to make another announcement about the popularity of the program very soon. Those folks came from every single zip code in the Bronx. So we're - our reach is very far and wide. And I think that is a lot because of the community based organization relationships that we've had with five CBOs in the Bronx, who are doing a lot of the similar work that we're talking about here today with the census - outreaching to communities in their languages. So we're looking to do that all across the city in the next year or so, by the end of 2020 in all the boroughs. And we expect to make an announcement about the next boroughs relatively soon as well.

Mayor: But you can tell your listeners for sure it will be everywhere by the end of 2020, so soon. Marielle, on a MetroPlus, that's the other piece of the equation, I think helping everyone to understand what's available right now and why that can work for a lot of people who have not found the other insurance to work.

Executive Director Kress: Absolutely. We're stepping up our outreach to folks. The way to get into NYC Care is to go through the insurance application. We want people to enroll without fear in health insurance and if that's not available to them, NYC Care and, our access programs all across the city at New York City Health + Hospitals. So we are here for you. Our doors are open and encourage folks to come in.

Mayor: And Ricot, I like to ask questions I don't know the answer to. I'm not a lawyer. The lawyers are told not to do that, but I don't have that problem. So I'm going to ask Marielle if someone wants to talk to a human being, and not just to go on a website, to understand if right now MetroPlus would work for them - because obviously NYC Care is not everywhere yet, but if they want to get that understanding and talk it through with someone, what can they do?

Executive Director Kress: Sure. So, well Health + Hospitals has a number of financial counselors that work there that can sign people up for insurance. You can call 8-4-4-NYC-4-NYC to get an appointment.

Mayor: Wait a minute. Do that again.

Executive Director Kress: 8-4-4-NYC, the number 4, NYC to get an appointment at a New York City Health + Hospitals facility. We will help you sign up for insurance. We'll get you a care appointment. If you're in the Bronx, you can call 6-4-6-NYC-CARE and we can do the same there. We can help you get enrolled in insurance if you're eligible. We can help you get enrolled in NYC Care if you're not based on affordability or ineligibility for health insurance and we can get you a care appointment.

Mayor: So let's separate those two again. In the Bronx, for NYC Care, do the number again?

Executive Director Kress: 6-4-6-NYC-CARE.

Mayor: Okay, that one's nice and easy. Now this more complicated number. So this is for anyone in the city who wants to find out about MetroPlus and how they can get a health insurance that might be more usable, more affordable for them. Now the area code is 8-4-4, that threw me for a moment, never heard 8-4-4 before. 8-4-4-NYC-4-NYC.

Executive Director Kress: Yeah. And that's the number to get an appointment at a New York City Health + Hospitals facility in which we can help you get connected to health insurance as well.

Question: [Inaudible] last time I saw you at a press conference talking about NYC Care, we talked about how you were working out the details for people who were undocumented. Has that been settled? And the other question is, we see so many stories, Mr. Mayor of people who are undocumented who are not, they can't get access to the transplants because they are not allowed to be on the wait list.

Mayor: Okay, let's do the first one first. We'll come to the second. Then Ricot still has his second question. We won't forget you. So okay. First one first.

Executive Director Kress: Sure. So we - our doors are open to anybody regardless of their immigration status or their ability to pay. And so we are providing services for people in NYC Care regardless of those two issues. It is on a fee scale. We are promising a two-week appointment and we are keeping that promise. We've offered everybody new to our system who's called in the Bronx, an appointment within two weeks with a primary care provider.

Commissioner Mostofi: Yeah, can I just add to that which is really critical – you know, many communities know that if they need emergency care, the incredible H + H system is available to them. But what is remarkable about NYC Care and what we're seeing as really key to making sure we're engaging everybody is recognizing that primary care is really the most important thing, right. It's preventing an illness from taking form and creating difficult problems for your family or your inability to work, making sure you're getting that regular care to be able to care for your loved ones or, you know, just address important issues for yourself and your well-being.

And so what we know with the rollout of NYC Care in the Bronx is working the community-based partners on the ground. My team has been working with Marielle and her team on this and training the partners and being regularly in the community and doing the engagement is that people are excited, they are recognizing how critical this is and they're engaging and they're calling and they're getting the screenings, and some are eligible for health coverage they didn't know they were eligible for and those who aren't are given the option of enrollment in NYC Care.

Mayor: Yeah. I want to emphasize to everyone, this is why it's so important to explain this to people. It's very liberating to not have to go to the emergency room. You know, and I talked about this all over the city, I've talked about this all over the country. It's something people immediately relate to. Right now there are huge numbers of people in this city, and millions and millions of people in this country, who really literally think the only doctor they can turn to is the emergency room. It is the most backwards inhumane approach in the world because if you go to the emergency room, we all know you are guaranteeing yourself many hours of waiting and in not a very conducive atmosphere. And probably what that means for most people is they've already gotten a lot sicker than they needed to be and then it's costing everyone more money. But if you have a primary care doctor and you feel comfortable using a primary care doctor, your chances of getting healthy quicker and not ending up in emergency room are much, much greater. So that's the beautiful logic here. Now to the transplant question.

Commissioner Mostofi: This is an issue. This is true –

Mayor: Voice of truth. This is an issue. I like that.

Question: [Inaudible] provide, say in the long run, [inaudible] to keep up with the [inaudible] and everything that entails. And that's basically the problem.

Commissioner Mostofi: Yeah. And it is something that we've been talking about and looking at and trying to see how best that we can address it. But we acknowledge that it is an issue and it's something that we, the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and with our partners at Health and Hospitals have been looking at.

Mayor: I got debt I have to pay here. He's got one more question then I'm going to finish this side and then we'll do wrap up. If there's anything –

Question: If there's one community that would – that would have wanted you to reproduce what you've done at the City level, to the national level, it's the Haitian community. I hear that every day on air. The sense that I get is that you stepped in too late. What's your view on that?

Mayor: Look, I had no illusions that I was entering the race later than ideal. I think I found out by doing it, it was, you know, even later than I thought. I think one thing that's happening right now in the American political life is everything is getting earlier and earlier in the election cycles, meaning they're stretching out in ways that, you know, I don't think we even could have imagined a few years ago. So – but the – it's a little bit, as we say, chicken-and-egg. I didn't feel I could get into the race until some essential things were achieved here. Most importantly, the State budget where we achieved mayoral accountability for education for the next three years and other important things we had to get done. So I think there was a certain organic-ness as to when I felt I could engage the presidential race.

It was not an optimal timeline, but I will still tell you that, with that said, I – the reason I feel positive about the experience was I think it was an opportunity to raise very important issues that had some impact, and I intend to keep working on these issues, and to talk about some of these very same things we're talking about here. I mean, I have to tell you in the – let's agree that probably, you know, number one, two, or three on the minds of Americans is health care. And that debate over universal health care – I was very proud to participate in that debate in two of the televised national debates. And it was crucial, from my point of view, to not only represent the value of universal health care, but to talk about it coming to life here in the nation's largest city.

It had an impact on people's thinking that this was no longer abstraction. This was actually starting to happen. And everyone who is a part of it should be very proud of the fact that they're making it come alive. And I do believe the way the world changes is by ideas being promoted that start to gain some currency and momentum, and then some proof being created. So I'm proud of that contribution. You know, if you had a crystal ball and you could have told me to get in earlier, I would have loved to have done it, but I'm still proud of what was achieved. Let's see if there's anything else over here. A few more questions.

Question: [Inaudible] with Staten Island being the borough of parks and so many residents getting out into the parks, how has the City protecting Staten Island residents as there are increasing concerns of Lyme disease?

Mayor: Yeah, those concerns are very real. It's a really tough disease. you know, and I did the last borough week in Staten Island last summer. We did an announcement on the – or was it spring, I'm sorry – we did an announcement on new initiatives to protect people from Lyme disease, which are now starting to be implemented. So the Health Department is very actively involved, the Parks Department. There's a lot that we are doing now to try and inhibit the growth of Lyme disease. It's also public education – really important. This – the only way to truly fight it effectively is that people have to know the signs, they have to know the right clothing to wear, all that.

And then, you know, even though it's a process that takes some time, we do see the deer population steadily coming down. That's going to start accelerating by the very nature of the strategy. So there are some really important pieces, but I also would say, and I've talked to Borough President Oddo about this, there's a lot more to do. We don't take this one lightly. There's going to be more that we have to do to keep fighting it. Yes, go ahead.

Question: I'm from the Bronx and I will as a regular citizen and I go to the park and I'll – you know, I'll take the train and I see that we, in the city, generates a lot of trash. So I really – I understand and I know that there are some street cleanings is taking place in the city, but it seems like it's not enough. So my question is about is there any plans to improve sanitation efforts in the city?

Mayor: Yeah, and it's, you know – what we've tried to do more and more is identify where the need is greatest and act on it. We've done more trash pickups in public trash cans in recent years than we used to and that's helped. And we'll keep adding and adjusting as we go along. I will be honest with you, it's a very tough problem because it's – it kind of constantly is evolving and we're constantly trying to keep up with it and there is not a perfect solution. Like, if you have a public trash can picked up once a day, you know, in between there can still be a lot of trash building up and flying around and all. So, you know, we're trying to do better all the time, trying to find solutions. Better trash cans in some places has helped.
So I would say it is like a constant evolution approach. It's something I hear about from New Yorkers a lot, and it's something we're going to keep trying to come up with new solutions for. Okay. I see there's a few more before we have to wrap up. Marco, you've been quiet. I don't know if you have anything to add on that last one or anything else –

Commissioner Marco A. Carrión, Mayor's Community Affairs Unit: [Inaudible]

Mayor: You said you're supposed to – I think it was perfect.

Commissioner Carrión: [Inaudible] perfect.

Mayor: You said it was absolutely perfect.

[Laughter]

Question:  Alright, I have a question –

Mayor: Yes.

Question: It's clear that you're aware of the impact that community media has on our city.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: One thing that we're hyper aware of at BRIC TV where I am in Brooklyn is the fact that the FCC is about 24 hours away from reversing 30-plus years of practice by re-interpreting the 1984 Cable Act. So as you have traveled the nation and seen real news deserts, I wonder how the administration is prepared to secure the future of community media access right here in New York.

Mayor: Well, look, it's a deep concern and I have to be honest with you, we try to keep up with all the negative policy changes in Washington and make adjustments for them. And sometimes it takes up, you know, a lot of time and energy to try and keep up with this kind of unpredictable dynamic. Now I'm an optimist by nature. So having traveled the country, I truly believe that we're going to see a very different dynamic in the next two years. I believe that there's going to be a big change in this country and a lot of the very same things will be rolled back the other way. It will take time. But for us, as we have seen each policy, I think this is a simple template, and Bitta has been in the frontline of this, you know, when we see a policy that we can come back legally or in any other way, we will if it's hurting our people.

And in other cases we try to compensate in ways that we can to help those affected. So this one, you know, I want to have a sense of what we can do on both those fronts. If they take this action, what we can do legally and if that is not a solution, what we can do with any of our means to help any of the media affected. And we want to keep a vibrant community. I think a vibrant community media is more important now than ever. There's way too much concentration of media in the hands of a relatively few corporations. So we need as much independent media, community media as we possibly can have.

The good news is, you know, Julie and Bitta will know better because of their legal background, but I think if you look across a lot of the actions and how many have been stopped or suspended or turned around by the court system in the last two years-plus it's pretty extraordinary to me.
I don't think at the outset of the Trump administration I would have said that so many of their actions would have been, you know, suspended. I think the truth is that a lot of the Trump agenda has not been realized because so much of it's been illegal. So, I can't comment on this one. I don't know if anyone else is more expert on this action that's about to happen. But if it's like a lot of the other things, I would not rule out a legal attempt to stop it.

Question: I have one.

Mayor: Okay. We've got you and then you and –

Question: [Inaudible] so much [inaudible] I didn't introduce myself earlier. I just want to thank you also for this opportunity.

Mayor: Thank you.

Question: It's amazing. My question is about education. Many of our viewers are from immigrant communities, education is the first step into middle class [inaudible] very important thing. But my question is around the high school graduation rates. They are kind of low in the Bronx and is there anything being done to help those and also the latest on the specialized schools?

Mayor: Sure. On the graduation rate, look, we're at the highest we've ever had as the city. We are starting to get close to the national average. I have a reality – education has been the issue I've been most engaged on starting from being on the local school board and being a public school parent myself. If you had said when I was on the school board starting in 1999 that we would be approaching the national graduation rate, I would have told you that marijuana is not legal yet and stop smoking it. So it's like – it would have been inconceivable, inconceivable. So the fact that New York City public schools have advanced so much that we are actually close to the point of meeting the standard of our country is amazing to me and I'm very confident we're going to keep going farther. The level of the kids going to institutions of higher learning is the highest we've ever had. There's so many examples of clear, consistent improvement.

The Bronx has been a place that deserves a lot better. And what we did in the last teacher contract combined with the Equity and Excellence agenda is, to me, the way forward. So Equity and Excellence because it meant pre-K, 3-K, Computer Science for All, college access for all, AP Courses for All – absolutely disproportionately helped the Bronx because the Bronx had the toughest conditions, the least investment, a lot less opportunity for kids. I mean AP for All, meaning every high school in the Bronx has to have at least five AP courses. That would have been inconceivable just a few years ago. So there's, that's a very good foundation.

But this newest effort through the teacher contract, what we literally call the Bronx Plan, because it was first and foremost focused on the Bronx, it fills a missing link. We couldn't get, in many cases, schools, all the teachers they needed. They literally could not fill their roster, and we knew that was particularly when it came to math, sciences, foreign languages in some of the schools in the Bronx with the biggest problems. We needed the very best educators to go to where the need was greatest, but that was not going to work without incentive. That attempt to figure out incentives alluded previous administrations for years. No one could figure out a plan. I want to give Richard Carranza credit because he worked with the UFT on a whole different approach where we could actually get everyone on the same page. Now those incentives are in effect.

I've spoken – I spoke to a principal in the South Bronx on the first day of school who said it has changed everything, that teachers are now coming into the Bronx, teachers are staying in the Bronx, and it's going to give the schools the foundation for real change. So, I look forward to major improvement in the graduation rate in the Bronx because now finally, the building blocks are there.

On the specialized schools we have to do better in both senses. We have to do better because our current reality is not acceptable. Our specialized schools did not reflect our people. And this is a city that is over 50 percent people of African descent and Latino people. And the representation of specialized schools is absolutely unfair and disproportionate. That can't go on. That being said, and I believe the single test is the fundamental problem, and I've said that consistently. I just don't believe there's a place for a single test anymore as the methodology for deciding anything.

But the attempt we made to address it was not – it just was not effective. And we have to come to grips with that. And I have to take responsibility for that. We tried something that we thought would be fair and we thought would work and obviously it didn't. And we have to come up with a new approach and we're going to work with all stakeholders to do that. And we're going to do that humbly. Because when you try something that doesn't work, you know, you got to be honest about it and say, okay, well we need to listen to people and we need to figure out a better approach. So that's what we're going to do and hope to make progress on it.

Question: Are you talking about removing the test when you talk about that approach? I'm sorry –

Mayor: Well again, I would say I believe that removing the test is the single best way to solve the problem because, one, it has resulted in this disproportionate reality and that is just a fact. Everyone, look, every time we have the conversation and people raise very valid concerns, there's great passionate concern on this issue and then the admissions figures come out and across the city there is an outcry. People saw what happened at Stuyvesant, how few Latinos and African Americans, and there was tremendous anger all over this city that it does not reflect our values. I don't think you can truly change things by keeping the same test in place, but some would argue there's a way to do it while keeping the test and we have to have that dialogue too. We're going to listen to everything because our plan didn't work. I think it was a good plan, but it didn't get passed. So we're going to start over, listen to everyone, and listen for something that will get us progress. The one thing I can't live with is the status quo. I mean that's the simplest way to say this is. This is broken. There's got to be something better than this, but it has to be something we can reach enough consensus on.

Question: And I thank you for answering all the questions. I know I had a lot of questions, but you know,  my work also pressed me for a lot of questions and one of them is Rikers. They want you to talk about and elaborate on the fact that some people can't come to terms of closing it and then opening other locations in the city. Where's the plan? Are you happy with [inaudible] achieved?

Mayor: Yes. Happy is a bad word to use when we're talking about Corrections because obviously the whole idea of Corrections is to address a painful reality in our society and it is costly humanly and costly financially, and I wish we did not have to spend all this money on a human problem, but we do. So happy might not be the word I'd use. Am I satisfied this is the right plan? Yes. Am I convinced it's going to pass in the next few weeks? Yes. And why? Because Rikers Island is a thing of the past. It's been there for 85 years. It had become inhumane. It had become unworkable. It'd become arcane, incredibly costly. You know, it's like a penal colony, an island separated from the rest of it. It was not the right way to do things. And you could have spent a huge amount of money trying to replace the facilities there, but you still have a lot of the same problems including the isolation and the disconnect from the communities and from where the court proceedings were.

I think the great contribution of the Littman Commission and then the tremendous leadership of Speaker Mark-Viverito and Speaker Johnson both, I mean, it's been absolutely exemplary leadership and the four Council Members in the districts, is that everyone said we cannot keep the status quo, the community-based solution is right. It will come with a lot of challenges, but it will leave us with something that, for decades to come, will work much better and will actually help redeem people. And if you help redeem people, you're going to have a lot less crime and you'll have a much healthier society.

So I really think we're on the right route. I think it will be safer facilities for everyone and we're going to do a lot to help the communities surrounding because they deserve investment as part of this. So we will do that. So it's a tough challenge, but I am very confident when it's all done we're going to have a much smaller jail system and a much more redemption-oriented one and a much more community-based one.

And one last thing, I only got this fact the other day, but it's beautiful that we now have 50 percent fewer people going into our jail system than we did six years ago when we started. So literally you talk about anyone who's gone through the doors of any of our jails in 2018 compared to 2013, it's 50 percent fewer. And so mass incarceration is being ended here, you know, very, very quickly and we're getting safer. And that's something to celebrate.

So with that, that's a good note to end on. Thank you, everyone.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I did my good note to end on, so I'm going to – I will come around.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I've got – no, I'm going to let you do that because I have to go, but I want to come around and just say thank you to everyone. But the – Director Kress will speak to you in just a moment. But everyone, thank you so much for all you do. Appreciate it.

[Applause]