Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability at the City Hall Subway Station

July 25, 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good afternoon, everybody. So, I wanted to talk about the announcement we heard earlier today. And first, I want to put this in the human perspective of millions f New Yorkers who ride the subways every day and depend on them. Well, I've been hearing from New Yorkers all over the city, when the subway's late, they're late for work; when the subway's late, they miss a doctor's appointment; or when the subway's late, they don't get their kid from childcare in time. These are the real-world ramifications of what's going on, and this is why it really means to New Yorkers when the subway system isn't working. And what we've seen in the last few months is nothing short of a crisis. The MTA has not been performing the way New Yorkers need it to perform, and what it's doing it hurting the every-day life of New Yorkers.

So, the deal now is that we need change and we need it quickly. And I was encouraged by Chairman Joe Lhota's announcement today. We have to be clear that it's up to the MTA to right the ship and it's up to the MTA Chairman to show us a plan that will really work, and today was a step in the right direction.

I emphasize always – the State of New York controls the MTA and the State of New York needs to own up to its responsibilities because it controls the MTA. But again, Chairman Lhota's ideas today, his plan today, I think are a positive step and a step that can help us to address the problems that people are facing, real people are facing right now every day in our subways.

Now, as to the plan itself, I think it's an important first step. The fact is, we need relief and we need it now on a variety of levels. But here's the question about how we get it done – it takes on many forms. I believe Chairman Lhota's right to talk about the different ways that the City can work with the MTA. For example, we stand ready through the NYPD to provide assistance to the MTA in dealing with enforcement and the litter problem. We stand ready to provide support through the FDNY with help in emergencies, including when EMTs are needed. We stand ready to provide help addressing the challenges of the homeless in our subway system. These are all elements that Chairman Lhota raised today that I want to affirm are important areas and the City and City agencies are ready to start working with the MTA on right away.

It's also important to note in the plan the kind of transparency that I've been calling for from the MTA. I mentioned a few days ago the need for a CompStat-like system. This is exactly the kind of accountability we're going to need going forward to prove that the MTA can produce results for the people of this city. A CompStat-like accountability system, a transparent system, something that's available online so New Yorkers can see if real improvements are being made.

Now, look, another piece of the equation – the MTA has to spend the money is has effectively, efficiently, and on a real schedule – and Chairman Lhota was honest today about the fact that the MTA has not been effective at spending the money it has. I remind you, the City of New York two years ago gave the MTA $2.5 billion in capital funding, not because we were required to by law, we did it as an investment – $2.5 billion. To-date, only about $75 million of that capital commitment has been spent by the MTA. So, there's clearly a problem with spending money effectively. And, again, I'll commend Chairman Lhota for being open and honest about that problem.

As to the concerns the Chair raised about additional resources for some of the immediate initiatives that he's raised – on the question of capital spending, let's be clear, as I mentioned, our $2.5 billion commitment is already there. But the capital budget that the MTA's working on right now goes through 2019 – money can be forwarded from the budget right now to address the emergency needs that Chairman Lhota has raised. I want to emphasize that – the money is in the budget and can be forwarded right now. To the operating budget, Chairman Lhota's plan calls for $456 million in additional resources – it's quite an amazing coincidence, that is literally the amount of money that the State of New York has diverted from the MTA's budget since 2011. So, the answer is obvious – that money is available right now, it's in the State of New York's reserves. That money was originally slated for the MTA's needs. It's from tax revenue specifically for the MTA. That money – that $456 million – should be returned to the MTA immediately. That will fulfill the needs that Chairman Lhota has outlines as immediate concerns.

I talked the other night about other areas where resources could be found, including canceling the plan for the bridges – the lights on the bridge – the Kosciuszko Bridge – and obviously the billion-dollar commitment that the Governor made in new resources for he MTA on June 29th. Those are all immediate sources available to the MTA to address the needs that Chairman Lhota raised.

So, look, that's my immediate response to the plan. I have to say one more thing because it puts into perspective everything we're think about here about how we use our resources. Just a few hours ago, something very, very troubling happened – the vote in the U.S. Senate to proceed with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. How does it relate to the situation we're talking about now? Unfortunately, if the Senate succeeds in repealing the Affordable Care Act, or substantial portions of it, the cost to New York City taxpayers could be literally billions of dollars over the next few years. If we do not have the support available now through the Affordable Care Act to our healthcare system and to individual New Yorkers – up to 1.6 million people who depend on the Affordable Care Act for personal health insurance – if that's gone, the impact on the City government could literally be billions of dollars in the next few years, and that will be the responsibility of New York City taxpayers to address. We've prepared for that kind of eventuality by keeping reserves, but those reserves will be depleted very quickly in this type of scenario. All of these pieces go together. The actions we're seeing in Washington now could affect our public hospitals, our school system, our police, our public housing. Those threat we're facing right now and that's why we have to be very careful with City taxpayer dollars.

But, to conclude, the good news is Chairman Lhota has offered a good-faith plan, a very clear step in the right direction. The specific resources that he says he needs in the short term are available – the capital money in his existing capital budget can be forwarded. The operating money he needs can be acquired from the State – very straight forward – and that will allow this plan to proceed. And we look forward to working with Chairman Lhota to continue to address the challenge of the MTA. And, again, we will be very ready to work through the NYPD, FDNY, Department of Homeless Services – a number of ways our agencies can help him to achieve this plan – we stand ready to do that.

Happy to take your questions now –

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I'm not ready to do that because the State has the money right now that it has taken from the MTA budget. Again, literally – it's a stunning coincidence – go look it up – the request is $456 million in operating funds and the exact amount that the State has diverted from the MTA budget since 2011, and still holds, is $456 million. That's the way to solve that problem.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I'm not and I'll tell you why. New York City straphangers are smart people. They understand that the State runs the MTA, and if the State took money out of the MTA, they should put it back. They understand that we need money to go to the MTA more than we need lights on bridges. They understand if the Governor made a billion-dollar commitment on June 29th, that money should be forthcoming. I have a responsibility to make sure that so many elements of life in this City are working – our schools, our police, sanitation, public hospitals, public housing. I've got to deliver that every day for New Yorkers. But I'm here to speak up on their behalf because they need to see real change in the subways now. Again, I am heartened that there's a solid plan – a good start that's been put forward, but, let's be clear, the resources are in the hands of the State government right now. They need to apply those resources. And New York City taxpayers already are paying a disproportionate share. Remember, for every New York City subway rider, the MTA spends $4 per ride. For a suburban commuter-train rider, the MTA spends $19 per ride per individual. This is something we've known for a long time – there's an imbalance in how much New York City taxpayers and New York City residents pay towards the MTA than what we get back. So, this is a way to see some fairness. Let the State return to the MTA the money they took from it over the last few years and that will solve the immediate concerns.

Question: Mr. Mayor, Chairman Lhota says you're disingenuously distorting how they have money and spend money – that they're not sitting on it, that's it's been allocated, earmarked, it's working its way through the pipeline, it's not just collecting dust as you've sort of suggested in not so many words.

Mayor: Chairman Lhota I think has been honest about the fact there is an inefficiency problem at the MTA, and I give them credit for that. I think his comments today were very measured on that front. It's clear the MTA has a huge amount of capital funding that's not being used effectively and we should all demand that it be used effectively so these issues can be resolved. Again, we've given them $2.5 billion just two years ago – only $75 million has been used. So, I think if you think about an organization that has a lot of resources and needs to figure out how to use them better, the common-sense answer is, good, I'm glad they have a plan, now use the resources you have, get the resources the State owes you and let's move forward.

Question: Mayor, is this a hard line? The fact that you're saying no more money, or are you open to negotiations with the State or Joe Lhota?

Mayor: I think we have to separate the short-term and the long-term. The long-term, we all have to get together and figure out a bigger set of solutions. But this is about the plan that was put forward today to address this immediate crisis. My answer is simple – on the immediate crisis, again, capital-side, the money's there, they can move it forward from the existing capital plan. On the operating-side, the money owed by the State will solve their immediate problem. When you're talking up ahead five, 10 years, we're all going to have to put our heads together to figure out the kind of revenue sources that can actually sustain the MTA for the long-term.

Question: Did the Chairman speak to you personally before his presentation? Did you know specifically –

Mayor: I spoke to him a few days ago. He spoke to the First Deputy Mayor earlier today to give him a briefing. But, again, I've known Joe Lhota a long time. We have spoken several times since he became Chair, and he's talked to the First Deputy Mayor, the Budget Director numbers times each week since he became Chair. There's a lot communication going on.

Question: I just want to make sure I have it clear – are you saying you're going to commit – you're not open to spending any City money on any aspect of what Joe Lhota announced –

Mayor: No, I'm not saying that for a very specific reason I pointed out. If they need more help with police services – he mentioned fighting litter and law enforcement – we will do that. That will cost money, but we're happy to do that. If they need more help with FDNY and EMS to relieve the pressure when there are problems and breakdowns, I think that's natural that we should play a more intensive role in addressing it. That will cost money, but it's absolutely the right thing to do. If they need more help dealing with homelessness in the subways, we obviously have a massive outreach effort right now with HOME-STAT. We'd be happy to put more of that into the service of addressing the problem in the subways. So, we're ready to do that kind of investment, but, you know, I think it's in the interest of New York City taxpayers that before anything else be discussed that the State come clean with the money it owes the MTA.

Question: [Inaudible] capital money and operating –

Mayor: Again, the capital money is the $2.5 billion we gave them two years ago. And I want everyone to be careful about that. We gave them $2.5 billion not because there was a law requiring us, not because we had to, we made an investment. Very, very little of that money is used. We're going to not give more money obviously until we see that capital money used more effectively. But if you're talking the next five years, ten years ahead, again, we look forward to sitting down with Chairman Lhota to figure out what we all have to do to address the long-term sustainability of the MTA.

Question: [Inaudible] before that you spoke to Joe Lhota about the light shows and if so, what was his reaction to that –

Mayor: No, I didn't say I spoke him about the light shows. I said I've spoken to him. Not about the light shows.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: No.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: About $600 million or so has been provided, right? But the point is this – they've only used $75 million. So, there's something along the lines of $500 million more they haven't even touched that's literally there. So, the point is – again I want people to be mindful. I think if we were talking about anything the City was doing and you saw a lot of money going unspent, you would be asking tough questions about it. We've made clear, we're providing $2.5 billion – hundreds of millions have already been sent over and has not been acted on, and there's a slow pace. So, that has to be addressed.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: The $2.5 billion. We've –

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: It's for the remainder of this capital plan. I think it goes to the end of 2019. We're happy to make that money available when they need it. But right now they have not needed even close to what we've made available.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: You're missing my point entirely, here. The – right now, between the money we've put in and the money he has in his own capital plan, he could advance money to address his immediate needs easily. That's what we're trying to say. He can solve his immediate problem with the money that's in the capital plan.

Anybody else?

Question: [Inaudible] worried that if you were to give a little bit – a little in this plan, that [inaudible] slippery slope that they'd come back for more. [Inaudible] draw this line?

Mayor: Yes. Look, the fact is that right now – and a lot of you have written about, very fairly, the question of what is New York City doing to protect itself for the long haul knowing that we have a government in Washington that is very much committed to cutting money for affordable housing, for education, for mass transit, go down the list. We know those cuts are coming but the question is how much, how quickly.

We were hopeful that the Affordable Care Act could be preserved. There's still a chance but today was a very bad sign that this vote proceeded in the Senate. Again, the ramification for New York City and our taxpayers is billions of dollars of exposure.

So, I have to be a careful steward of taxpayer money and keeping the reserves we have is crucial. If there is a problem because of what happens in Washington, there will be no relief from Washington, there will be no relief in Albany.

Let's be clear about that – if there's a problem, we have to cover all of our own obligations. We don't want to end up in a situation where we can't provide enough policing or our schools can't do everything they have to do.

That obligation will fall only to the City of New York. There is no cavalry coming. The State is not going to be there to help us in that situation. The federal government is not going to be helpful.

So, that's why I'm very cautious about spending more money that we don't have to. We need to see the State spend everything it says it's going to spend or should spend on the MTA and then we can have a conversation about the future.

Unknown: Last question. Last question.

Question: [Inaudible] politically, the Governor – I mean I don't think it's a coincidence that that number was exactly number that you had been [inaudible] you on that –

Mayor: I don't if that's true, but it's a strange coincidence –

Question: It's in the Governor's interest to [inaudible] –

Mayor: I don't think the – again, I have no indication that there is an attempt to do something cute by putting forward that number. I'm assuming that's the number they thought they needed. But there has not been a good response from the State government on why they won't return the $456 million. I mean this is well documented. We're happy to give it you. It started in 2011. It's been done now in a bunch of steps. That is tax money meant for the MTA that was not given to the MTA.

There's a word for that, right?

[Laughter]

We need that money to get to the MTA to solve this immediately problem.

Question: [Inaudible] Governor hand by –

Mayor: I don't try and worry about what strategy someone else is using. I'm trying to be straightforward with the people in the city and the taxpayers in this city that we cannot put our resources in when we know the State still owes the MTA money. It's as simple as that.

Yeah.

Question: What is your assessment after today of whether Joe Lhota is approaching his job independent of the Governor? Do you have a sense of whether he is managing this 30-day review and putting things forward sort of as he sees best fit or do you think he has [inaudible] influence from the [inaudible]?

Mayor: I don't think we know enough just weeks into Joe Lhota's tenure to know all the nuances. You know, there's the irony that this is a guy who I ran against just a few years ago but I have a lot of respect for him. And I've said I think he was a good choice to run the MTA.

And I think this plan is a good step. It certainly includes a lot of the items we would have wanted to see and we've been asking to see in a plan.

So, I don't know how the influence structures work. I think the MTA is finally beginning to own up to its responsibilities. And let's face it, for the last months, we haven't seen that. We saw problem after problem with no answer, no plan, no solution, and a bunch of attempts to run away from responsibility.

I'm glad to see Joe Lhota step up. He said it very clearly today, he's in charge of the MTA, it's his responsibility to fix it. I think that's good. Now, the piece of the equation we're missing is the State to follow through on the obvious reality that the State controls the MTA and has made commitments of resources. The Governor made that commitment on the billion dollars. The $456 million was taken out and it's perfectly well documented – taken out from MTA revenue, should be given back.

I personally believe that the light show on the Kosciuszko Bridge should be cancelled and that money should be given to the MTA. When we see those actions, I think we'll see the kind of full step forward that we need to address the issue.

Unknown: Thank you guys –

Question: [Inaudible] on the subsidies, you mentioned the difference between per-ride subsidy for the subways and was it the LIRR?

Mayor: Yeah. So, LIRR, MetroNorth.

Question: Okay. You're putting heavy subsidies into per-ride on the ferry. Is that not a contradiction saying that –

Mayor: No, the ferry is for all New Yorkers. It's a plan that reaches all across the five boroughs and we subsidize them across the board. Equal opportunity. The difference here is the MTA spends $4 for a subway rider but $19 for a suburban commuter. There is an imbalance.

Let's face it, most of the revenue for the MTA comes from New York City. Most of the revenue from the State government comes from New York City. So, this is a [inaudible] point. And by the way I'm not the first person to have this idea. It's been talked about for decades that there's an unfairness in the MTA that has to be addressed.

So, here's a way to start doing it. The State can make this situation right and that's what would be fair to the vast majority of the MTA riders who are our straphangers.

I gotta get the train. Thank you.