Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on 1010 WINS to Discuss the Rent Guidelines Board Vote

June 28, 2016

Brigitte Quinn: Joining us now on the news line is Mayor Bill de Blasio. Good morning, sir.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning.

Quinn: It is the morning after yet another contentious Rent Guidelines Board meeting, and you’ve made affordable housing one of the key issues for your administration. Basically, nobody who was at that meeting came out happy. What’s your take on it?

Mayor: Well, look, I think this is a very important day for this city. The Rent Guidelines Board made a decision to freeze rent for rent-stabilized tenants who have their leases coming up in the next year. They also said, for two-year leases – so, for a one-year lease, a rent-freeze; for two-year leases – a two percent increase.

And I want to tell your listeners right away who are rent-stabilized that – you know, both of those are good options, but that two-year lease, in particular, gives you two years of security and knowing that your rent will go up very little.

But this really came down to the Board looking at the economic realities. The landlords had experienced, in fact, very little in the way of cost-increases because the cost of fuel stayed so low, and tenants have been struggling. People are struggling to make ends meet in New York City, and no one – no one is surprised by the fact that the number-one expense in most New Yorkers’ lives is the rent.

So, here was an opportunity for the Rent Guidelines Board to go by the numbers, come up with a fair decision, and give tenants a break – and they often didn’t get that break in the past, even when they deserved it, according to the numbers.

Quinn: In the face of that, though, a lot of people at the meeting wanted a rollback. Do you think the Board went far enough last night?

Mayor: I do. I think the Board did the right thing. Look, they looked at all the factors. They looked at all the economic factors and also where things are going because one of the things the Board has to do is think about the increase they’re giving [inaudible] decision they’re making for the time up ahead.

But we had very low energy prices, fuel prices for the last couple of years – that’s why there have been rent freezes two years in a row. But we do see that starting to change. The fuel prices are starting to go up. There’s other factors that certainly lead the Rent Guidelines Board to believe that things could change. So they – I think they did the balanced thing. They said, based on what we know right now, the rent-freeze is right – but going farther than that did not make sense.

Quinn: Thank you for that. I want to ask you about an early report this morning from NY-1 on a different topic. A Queens judge apparently has ruled part of the Vision Zero plan unconstitutional. Do you have any comment on that at this point?

Mayor: I haven’t seen that decision. I believe very strongly in Vision Zero, and I think the people of this city believe in it because it’s saving lives – particularly lives of children and senior citizens. So, I haven’t seen the decision. Obviously, if we think it’s something that will undermine public safety we will aggressively pursue remedies. But until I get a better look at it, I can’t give you more than that.

Quinn: Thank you very much. Joining us in the news line this morning – Mayor Bill de Blasio. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Take care, now.