Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Meets With Mayor Of Milan Giuliani Pisapia

October 15, 2014

Mayor de Blasio: [Mayor de Blasio speaks in Italian]

The mayor is someone I immediately feel a sense of brotherhood with, and I welcome him and his wonderful wife, Cinzia, to our city hall. And this is an important moment for us because when we find cities that are working on such important programs that are so similar to ours, there’s an immediate desire to be colleagues, to find ways to work together, whether it is on sustainable food policy or making our streets safer. And I commend the mayor for his efforts to make Milano a much safer city for pedestrians and drivers alike. Our efforts to fight income inequality and create affordable housing – there’s a common thread that’s very powerful here. These are two large cities that are doing very well for many, but still too many people are left out economically, and it’s our job to build the cities of the future that really are for everyone. My family looks forward to a visit to Milano next year. As I explained to the mayor, Foreign Minister Mogherini has asked me several times to attend the food expo next year, and I’ve told her it would be a great honor to participate because such important work will be done there on addressing the food needs of the world. But it will also be a great joy to see firsthand the progress that Mayor Pisapia has made and to learn from his example, and to bring back some of the ideas here to New York. I’ve tasked our director of food policy, Barbara Turk, to work closely with the City of Milan on common initiatives and to prepare for New York City to participate in whatever way is appropriate in the expo in Milano. And with that I say, before turning to the mayor –

[Mayor speaks in Italian]

[Mayor Giuliano Pisapia speaks]

Mayor de Blasio: Thank you