Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

September 1, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Usually, we start talking every morning about COVID, about the fight against COVID, and that's what we focus on. But right now, we've got something absolutely shocking to talk about, and troubling, really, really troubling. We have news just now from late last night from the Supreme Court, and this was literally done in the dead of night, and it reflects a Supreme Court profoundly out of touch with the American mainstream, and more and more a court dominated by right wing extremists. This Supreme Court refused to stop Texas Senate Bill 8, which is essentially almost a complete ban on abortions in the State of Texas. This is deeply troubling and the Supreme Court by not acting made a very, very troubling decision that has ramifications for us here in New York and for the entire country. It was a direct assault on the rights of women. Let's not mince words here. This will endanger lives of women in Texas, immediately. It will put women's lives in danger. It will certainly endanger the rights that women have had for decades in this country. It's an assault on the gains that women have made in our society. And it's an attempt to pull us backwards. We cannot let this stand. I just want to be very clear. This is going to require a national mobilization to fight against this because we can tell right now through this action where the Supreme Court wants to go and it's profoundly unacceptable. And on top of all that, it's what they've done, what this court has done. And the Supreme Court's inaction in every way appears to be unconstitutional because Roe V. Wade has clearly been the law of the land. 

So, this is a moment that we should all take seriously and see as a profound assault on women's rights. I want you to hear from two leaders who have been steadfast protecting the rights of women for decades. I want you to hear what they have to say about this very troubling moment and how we need to respond to it. First of all, she is a member of the New York City Commission on Gender Equity and the New York City President for the National Organization for Women. I want to introduce Sonia Ossorio. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Sonia. I really appreciate the power of what you're saying, and the seriousness and the fact that there are so many ramifications here, just fundamental rights endangered. This would be taking us back decades and decades in time. And think, as you said, of the marginalized women who are going to suffer right now in Texas, but think of the millions and millions more, who could be endangered by where this could be going. So, thank you for fighting back, and we're going to join you – all of us who share this view that we must protect women's rights. We need to be shoulder to shoulder with you, with the National Organization for Women, all the other groups are going to be leading this fight. Thank you very much for your leadership. 

[…] 

Mayor: And everyone, Sonia mentioned another really powerful group that's done such important work, the Center for Reproductive Rights. I want you to hear now from another leader who has been preparing for this fight. We all hoped it wouldn't come in this form, but I know one of the people who has been getting ready for this fight and will help us ultimately to prevail, the president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Nancy Northup. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you. Nancy, I’ve got to tell you, it is so troubling when you talk about the elements of this Texas law that, you know, you could have ripped right from the pages of 1984 by George Orwell, and the idea of, you know, report your neighbor, report your family member. I mean, deeply troubling, un-American in every sense. But also, whatever happened to the will of the majority? It's been clear for decades, the clear, clear majority of Americans believe in a woman's right to choose. And the notion that the Supreme Court is defying the popular will for its own ideological agenda is deeply troubling, but ultimately, we have to defeat by mobilizing the people, mobilizing that vast majority. So, thank you for your leadership. We're all going to be working together, shoulder to shoulder. There's no question the American people want to defend the rights of women, whatever it takes. We have to overcome a court that does not represent the people of this country on this matter, plain and simple. Thank you very, very much Nancy. 

Okay, everyone. So, as I said, at the beginning, we typically start talking about COVID today. It was so important to talk about this shocking development from the US Supreme Court, but let's go back to what we focus on every day, the fight against COVID. And we all know that this city – I always say a heroic city, the people of the city were heroic. We were the epicenter. We fought back, we made extraordinary progress. Then along came the Delta variant, and now we're fighting that back again because New Yorkers had done the right thing. And so many people have stepped up to help their fellow New Yorkers. I got to tell you there's some good news today and there's really beautiful numbers, amazing numbers, and a special thank you to everyone at Citi Field, everyone in the New York Mets organization, everyone at Health + Hospitals, that's been working at that site. Everyone who came together to create a vaccination site at Citi Field, it started modestly, well, guess what, there's been over 200,000 vaccinations at Citi Field, since the efforts started. I mean, that's an astounding number, 200,000. This – we just passed the 200,000-mark yesterday and Camila Ocampo was the 200,000th recipient. She was featured on the jumbotron. Great, great jersey there, expressing this triumphant moment. Here's what's amazing: this site has been the most popular city run site of all of them, all five boroughs. Average of 1,200 vaccinations a day, every single one of them saving lives, protecting a whole family and amazing the impact on Queens in particular, 94 percent of vaccine recipients from Queens at Citi Field, 27 percent of the first dose recipients walk-in. So, this is the place that we were able to show the power of just letting people walk in and what an impact that has made. 

There's also been – I again want to thank everyone who's been involved. I want to thank the Mets organization; they've been real believers in the focus on equity. Of the first dose recipients at this site. 41 percent have been Latino, 36 percent Asian. And of course, we know some of the most enthusiastic New York workers going to Citi Field to get a vaccination have been young people. And you can understand the excitement of being able to go someplace they love. Since May 10th, 25 percent of the doses have gone to 12 to 17-year-olds at Citi Field. And that is powerful. So, it means that that what they feel about the Mets, what they feel about Citi Field, encouraged kids and families to show up and to be safe. And that's getting kids ready for school. Fantastic effort.  

I want to turn to someone who gets a lot of credit in this, the entire Mets organization stepped up. I want to thank of course, Steve Cohen. He and I were there at Citi Field when we kicked this off, a real commitment to the city by him and this organization, and I want you to hear from the President of the New York Mets, who's really believed in this. The Mets have – every time we said, hey, we've got to do more, we've got to do more, the answer's always been, yes. I want to emphasize this. We've been at this since before the season began and even during the season, every time we've said we have to stick with it, the Mets always say, yes, we'll find a way we need to reach more people, we are your partners in keeping New York City safe. And I'm so appreciative for that. I want to introduce someone who is a baseball legend. He's been around for a while to say the least. He's made a great impact on the game of baseball. He's considered one of the great minds in – amongst the executives of baseball. And I'm really, really appreciative for his presence, the President of the New York Mets Sandy Alderson.

[…]

Mayor: Sandy, thank you. Again, you guys have been amazing partners. 200,000 vaccine doses, that's a staggering figure. I think if you talk to your colleagues around baseball, and some other stadiums have been used as well, but I think you could compete with anyone and beat most of them for sure. 200,000 doses, two thumbs up to you and the Mets organization and Citi Field for making that happen. And also, special thank you to Mr. And Mrs. Met, who have been there many times. They're very, very positive people, Mr. And Mrs. Met. I want you to know that.

Sandy Alderson: They are positive. They do it mostly with body language, but it's undeniable, they are great representatives of the Mets and we're happy that they as well have been vaccinated.

Mayor: There you go, leading by example. Thank you, my friend. Thank you for everything. Everybody, you talk about Queens and the huge impact that the Citi Field site has had on Queens. Well, I know someone who wants to talk about this, because he advocates for Queens every single day, and he understands what an impact it means that 200,000 folks have been reached. My pleasure to introduce, the Borough President of Queens Donovan Richards.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Borough President. You are a speaker of truth. And congratulations to you. I know you put a lot of effort into making sure JetBlue stayed right here in New York City in Queens, and also the Bartlett Dairy, and we were happy to work with you on both of those. Those are great victories for Queens, and, you know, you should – that's two feathers in your cap, because that's a lot of jobs you're keeping in the Queens community. Congratulations to you.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Take care. We're only just getting started.

Mayor: There you go. All right. So, we've talked about the Mets, but they are not the only New York City team stepping up to help in the effort to get more and more New Yorkers vaccinated. Let's talk about the Nets – the Brooklyn Nets. And they are leading the NBA in so many ways, including in promoting the vaccine. Today, we're debuting a new public service announcement for the fans and for the Barclays Center workers. For everyone who cares about the Nets, it's a message from the Nets of how important it is to get vaccinated, starring Blake Griffin, Bruce Brown, Coach Steve Nash, General Manager Sean Marks. This is a great and powerful statement. And look, people look up to athletes and to the folks who run the teams. When they speak up, it makes a real impact. So, I want to thank the Brooklyn Nets for really going the extra mile. Once again, let's show you this video so you can see for yourself.

[…]

Mayor: Really says it all. Although we need a like Australian-to-English translation there for Sean Marks, but a great, great message. Blake Griffin says it all, your health is worth a shot and he is a gamer. So, when you hear someone like him saying it, it means a lot. The Nets have been great. They're doing great things to get their employees vaccinated. They were right there from the very beginning, saying our customers need to be vaccinated. The players are getting involved. Tremendous thanks to the Brooklyn Nets. Every bit helps. Every bit helps. And every time someone sees someone from the Nets, and they care about the Nets, it's going to help us get more and more people vaccinated.

Okay. Now, back to school means vax to school, and this effort is going full steam right now. We're seeing a lot of success. We're at about 325,000 kids in that 12- to 17-year-old group who have now been vaccinated. That's amazing – a really, really healthy number. And we’ve still got a few more weeks until school begins, and we want to see more, and more, and more young people get vaccinated in time. We know if we make vaccination available in communities and we spread the word more and more, people will get vaccinated. We also know it's important for everyone who works in our schools. So, we've put that mandate in place. We want to make it easy. So, we're launching new sites for school staff – excuse me, new sites for school staff to get vaccinated in every borough, locations that school staff go to and that will be available to them, opening this week. And it'll make it easier for them to get vaccinated. We just want to keep saying to everyone, we're going to be everywhere, getting people vaccinated, even able to send people to your home to vaccinate you if that's what works for you best. But whatever it takes, we want to get as many kids vaccinated in that 12- to 17-range as possible by opening day of school. And, of course, really facilitate our school staff getting ready, and everyone is responding. That's the big news here. Everyone's responding, more and more people getting vaccinated every day. This is what's going to keep us safe.

Okay. Now, talking about keeping us safe, our number-one foe is COVID, but we work every day on all types of public health and public safety. And we have known for years and years that New York City proved after decades of challenges we became the safest big city in America. We will continue to play that role to show that this city can be the safest big city in America, no matter what. NYPD has done amazing work this summer, we're going to be talking about it tomorrow in detail, going over the facts for the whole summer, and for August in particular with Commissioner Dermot Shea. Right now, we want to talk about something that's very important, that every year NYPD has put a special effort into, which is all of the events around J’Ouvert every year. A powerful and important celebration, one in which, at times, a few people have done the wrong things, and it's been very, very important to make sure that we keep people safe. Now, this year, as we announced on Monday, the formal J’Ouvert celebrations are off. They are postponed until 2022. There is no J’Ouvert Parade. There is no Labor Day Parade on Eastern Parkway. All of that is off. There'll be virtual celebrations and some very small events. But, at the same time, we know it is a crucial moment for so many New Yorkers and for their heritage. So, we want to make sure the NYPD is out there, keeping people safe. NYPD has put together a really rigorous plan. And because we believe in neighborhood policing, this plan has been developed with community organizations, with clergy, with elected officials in close consultation with all the anti-violence efforts on the ground. This is how we keep people safe. Someone who's led the way not only in terms of J’Ouvert over the years, but in building neighborhood policing and building that communication and bond between police and community, our Chief of Department, Chief Rodney Harrison.

Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, NYPD: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, Thank you very much. And, you know, for many years, the NYPD has helped coordinate the Caribbean festivities, such as J’Ouvert and the West Indian Day Parade. I’ve got to make sure I acknowledge our relationships with organizations like WIADCA some of our elected officials, like Assemblywomen Rodneyse Bichotte, Assembly Member Nick Perry, Congress Member Yvette Clarke, and Council Member Farah Louis. We also work hand-in-hand with our clergy, like Pastor Monroe's, who's the 6-7 Precinct clergy liaison, as well as some of our stakeholders that have ownership in the Caribbean communities, like Pat Reddick, who is the 6-7 Community Council President. I’ve also got to give a shout out to Detective Roxanne Joseph, for always having a footprint with any events that we had with the Caribbean community in New York City. These relationships allow cultural traditions to remain safe. So, while J’Ourvet and the parade are officially canceled this year, there still will be tickets available for five official sanctioned musical concerts and events at the Brooklyn Museum, starting on Thursday, September 2nd, and going through September 6th, which is that Monday. Saturday is the traditional steel band jamboree, which is going to be at the rear of the museum. Tickets will not be sold at the gate. They must be purchased ahead of time on the website, which is www.wiadcacarnival.org. We encourage the community to support the concerts at the Brooklyn Museum.

We do anticipate several non-sanctioned cultural events throughout the weekend. We plan on deploying additional police officers and resources, which will include uniformed officers on foot posts, as well as putting them in response vehicles to provide security during the weekend-long celebration. Commands to be covered will include the 6-3 Precinct in Marine Park; 6-7, which is East Flatbush; 6-9 in Canarsie; 7-0; the 7-1 Precinct, which is Flatbush; 7-7, Crown Heights; and the 7-8, which is in Park Slope. We will have hundreds of light towers, which will aluminate the streets and increase visibility, as well as vehicular traffic on Eastern Parkway will remain open.

As a reminder to the public, officers will be out there to enforce quality-of-life conditions – under-age drinking, excessive noise, and hazardous crowd conditions. Also, sidewalk barbecues will not be prohibited. Any quality of life conditions that someone comes about, please utilize our 3-1-1 hotline, as well as understand we are going to have executive oversight to make sure that these jobs are handled correctly. I have to acknowledge some of the executives within the NYPD that are going to help make this a safe weekend. Chief Jeff Maddrey, from our Community Affairs; Chief Juanita Holmes; Chief Judy Harrison, the Commanding Officer of Brooklyn North; as well as our new commanding officer of Brooklyn, South Mike Kemper; and Ray Spinella, that oversees our operations. They have done a phenomenal job, making sure the Department is prepared for any situation that arises.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chief. And Chief, obviously you're going to extraordinary effort here. A lot of officers will be out, a lot of coordination with the community. Thank you for all the planning that's gone into this and the work with the community. I just want to have you clarify one thing, I thought I heard, and I may have misheard, on the sidewalk barbecues, I heard you say they will not be prohibited. I want to make sure it's clear if you're saying that or something different?

Chief Harrison: So, sidewalk barbecues will not be permitted due to the fact that unfortunately, they may start a large gathering that can result in traffic conditions, which could be a problem, which we've seen in the past, sir.

Mayor: Okay. So, the NYPD will be talking to the community members and saying that's not something that we can have given everything else that happened?

Chief Harrison: Yes, sir.

Mayor: Got it. Thank you very much, Chief. Thank you for the, again, it's been months of planning, months of collaboration with the community and a huge presence of officers to make sure everyone is safe this upcoming weekend into Labor Day. All right now, one more thing, keeping people safe also involves keeping an eye on the weather. We've had a lot of different challenges lately, but New Yorkers have handled them really, really well. I want to thank everyone, also at our Emergency Management team who has done a great job keeping people informed and responding to events and being out there. All our first responders whenever needed, have done a great job. We have now, we're feeling the remnants of Hurricane Ida, our poor friends down in Louisiana have gone through so much, but this storm packs such a punch we're even going to feel the remnants of it. So, hitting today over the next day or two, we're expecting three to six inches of rain, flash flooding – flash flooding, there's a warning in effect for flash flooding starting at 2:00 pm. I'm sorry. It’s in effect now going until Thursday at 2:00 pm. And look, the bottom line here is there's going to be a lot of rain. You're going to see those places that flood temporarily, be careful. As per usual, don't drive into a situation where there's heavy water, deep water. That can be very dangerous. Don't walk into that kind of situation. Be careful. If you're outside, be aware that you can suddenly end up in a situation where a lot of water has pooled up and that can be surprisingly dangerous. So, please be cautious, keep a close eye on the updates from Emergency Management and from the media. And we'll get through this one too. But we just, we feel so much for our neighbors down in Louisiana who had been through so much. And let's get this storm by us.

Okay everyone, let's go to indicators. Number one, again, we've seen incredible efforts by our vaccination team and New Yorkers responding. So as of today, 10,711,011 doses. This number has been climbing really steadily. The incentives are working. The mandates are working. Vax To School is working. You're going to see that number keep climbing. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 142 patients, confirmed positivity, 30.72 percent. Hospitalization rate, 1.26 per 100,000. And the number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today’s report 1,589 cases. I’m going to say a few words in Spanish. And this is going to the topic of Vax To School.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that. Let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, Dr. Andrew Wallach Ambulatory Care Chief Medical Officer for New York City Health + Hospitals, OEM Commissioner John Scrivani, and Chief of Department Rodney Harrison. Our first question for today goes to Lisa from CBS New York.

Question: Hi, Mayor. It's Lisa Rozner here from CBS. How are you?

Mayor: Hey, Lisa. I'm sorry, whenever we get the name wrong, my apology.

Question: No problem. So, Mayor, some people are saying Rikers is in a humanitarian crisis right now. Public Defenders of Manhattan say video conferences are constantly canceled because there's not enough staff to escort clients from cell to the video booth. The federal monitor’s reporting a steady increase in use of force incidents, a disturbing rise in the level of security lapses, inadequate supervision –

Mayor: You there, Lisa? Lost her signal there? I'll speak to the question, but let's see. Can you get her back or not? I'll speak to it. I got, certainly the flavor where Lisa was going. To Lisa, if she's there, but to everyone, look, we have, definitely have challenges we have to address on Rikers Island. We saw a perfect storm last year with COVID, the impact it had on our whole community. We're seeing a different kind of perfect storm now at Rikers that we have to address. Because what we're seeing is the impact of COVID still. And that's made people, for a lot of reasons, have gone through so much until recently there haven't been visits. There's been so many people out sick with COVID. There's been so many things that have disrupted the work at Rikers. And so many incarcerated people waiting for trial because the court system hasn't been operating. So, we've seen well into 2021, a different kind of perfect storm affecting our Correction system. We have to break through it. We've seen absenteeism at an unacceptable level. And in many cases, unfortunately it has not been real and justified absenteeism. We've taken very serious measures to address that, and those are working. So, we're going to have more officers available. We're also training new officers and bringing them in. We've got to get the court system going because one of the things that's happening is we don't see folks leaving jail, going off to prison terms, or if they're found innocent in a trial, they leave. But that whole reality of people moving on because the court system is functioning has been essentially stalled. So, we've got to break through this. The City absolutely bears responsibility. I bear responsibility for fixing some of these things, but we can't do it alone. We need the court system to fully function to get Rikers to fully function. They're all supposed to work together. And that's what we're working on right now. Is Lisa back? Lisa, can you hear us?

Question: Sorry about that. I don't know what happened.

Mayor: No worries. So, I gave an answer, I don't know if you could hear it, to the first part of your question. Were you able to hear it?

Question: Yeah, I heard a little bit of it. So, I heard enough. So, my follow-up is you know, I know you're hiring new officers, but I'm told that's going to take a couple months to get them in the system. This situation from what I'm hearing is very urgent. So, what can you do right now? I mean, I know the court system is slow, but if you can't even get the inmates to show up, nothing can happen there. So, what are you doing at the root at Rikers right now?

Mayor: Right. It's all interconnected, Lisa. And again, I'm saying the City and I'm ultimately responsible, we have to fix our part of the equation, but we can't do it alone. But the part we can fix is addressing the absenteeism. Which again has been really unfair to everyone when folks call in sick, who are not sick. And we have addressed that very, very aggressively and created real consequences for anyone who works at Rikers and is doing that. And we've reduced absenteeism radically through that process already and more to come. So, we're going to have more officers where we need them, when we need them. Any responsibilities that we can shift off officers to civilians or others, we will. A lot of work is happening right now. I know Commissioner Schiraldi, who has a long history of being an innovator and reformer, is working now to fix these things. We're going to make changes quickly. But again, what we ultimately need to solve this, besides putting COVID behind us, because COVID created so much of this disruption and so much of the frustration that's going on inside jails, is we've got to get the court system fully functioning. We'll do our part. We need the State to do their part too.

Moderator: Our next question goes Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Yes. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. This is for you and for Chief Harrison. I was wondering, you know, generally there's always this formal sort of parade as part of J’Ouvert and I know why there aren’t in any, you know, formal parade routes this year. Are you anticipating sort of that walk around? And if so, what are you doing about that?

Mayor: I'll turn to the Chief Juliet, and just say for years the formal parade was obviously a very big deal. And it had a huge amount of attendance and that was a positive, wonderful event, but came with real security challenges the NYPD had to address. Last year, the disruption of COVID, NYPD had to approach it very, very differently, but still with a huge amount of personnel. And they did so effectively. So, we certainly learned from last year's experience. Chief, can give you a sense of what we expect to see in those early morning hours on Monday.

Chief Harrison: Yeah, Juliet, good morning. And if I recall last year, there was a little bit of a March of some of the steel bands. We don't anticipate that this year. But I will say due to the fact that they're having five days of concerts at the Brooklyn Museum, I think, will somewhat take over the need or the demand to have a march throughout the streets. So, we're looking forward to protecting any of the events that's going on during the West Indian Day festivities.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay. Thank you. A separate topic, Mr. Mayor, how are you mobilizing for booster shots? Where would people go for that? You don't have a Javits Center open anymore, or some of the larger, you know, venues that were maybe State operated. So, what's happening with that?

Mayor: So, we'll certainly be coordinating with the State. And I think it's safe to say the coordination will be smoother this time. But the fact is the City's own capacity Juliet, as you know, is vast and very, very decentralized throughout the whole five boroughs. And that's where we've seen the real impact. The central sites have value, but what really drove vaccination was neighborhood sites, being able to go where people are, being able to work with community organizations, houses of worship, public housing resident associations, you name it. So that's, we're going to repeat all that. And we have the capacity obviously to go to homes of people who need it. So, we're building that out right now. We are still a few weeks away from being authorized by the federal government to act. But we know from experience over the last year and a half, that we have tremendous ability to get out there and vaccinate people quickly. And we have a really vast supply of vaccines in reserve and ready. So, starting next week, we'll give some updates to the public so they can get ready. But I can tell you we really, we have all the pieces we need right now to make this work.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how you been?

Question: I'm good. My colleague Brigid Bergin was at an event with State Senator Ramos and Majority Leader Schumer yesterday. And they were talking about the Excluded Workers Fund. The State Senator said that she thought the City could really expedite these worker applications by providing more IDNYC appointments? Have you heard about that and does the City plan to do this?

Mayor: Yeah Elizabeth. Great question. And I think very highly of Senator Ramos and she used to work right here at City Hall with us. We are so proud of IDNYC and it's reached well over a million New Yorkers. And we restarted a couple of months ago with very aggressive outreach to get people signing up again. So, that effort’s been underway. We have a lot of capacity as far as I've heard to sign people up. And I think it can be very helpful in making sure everyone gets all the benefits that are coming to them. So, we will be as aggressive as we need to be to get people signed up. IDNYC is a really valuable tool. I want to reach as many people as possible with it. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: And the second question is from our health team, they've looked at the ventilation assessments in public school classrooms and they found that for about 4,000 classrooms passing that, you know, assessment meant that they just had a functioning – one functioning window, which experts say don't provide a reliable source of ventilation. Will the City publish more informative assessments that include CO2 and airflow measurements? 

Mayor: Well, that’s exactly what the DOE does, Elizabeth. Those are the things they measure. With all due respect to the folks who put together that story, we think there were inaccuracies in that story. The fact is that we've said, and we said it last year and we acted on it, any classroom that doesn't have proper ventilation is held out. It's not utilized until proper ventilation is achieved. Windows do have an impact. That's a fact, our leaders have made that very clear. We also have air purifiers. We have multiple tools and when we need to use more than one tool at once we do. So, I'm very confident. And look, again, I always appreciate questions. I always think that examination is good, keep everyone focused, make sure there's accountability, but we have a track record from last year that was really, really clear. We layered the ventilation on top of cleaning on top of mask usage, you name it. All those health and safety measures, what I call a gold standard, and it really was. And they worked, we saw it work. And then this year on top of that, we have, citywide, 5.4 million people who have had at least one dose of the vaccine. We have 325,000 12- to 17-year-olds already. Several weeks until school opens. We have a vaccine mandate for all adults in school buildings. All of this is going to add up to keep kids safe. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Julia from the Post. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Dovetailing with the court slowdown you've been talking about this week, there's a kind of prosecutorial slowdown. DAs across the city have declined to prosecute last year at a rate of nearly double that from 2016 to 2019. I'm wondering if you think that also plays a role in the increased crime. 

Mayor: Well, Julia, I think there's a couple of different things happening at once, obviously. And there's so many things that we can analyze because of the impact of COVID and Chuck Wexler yesterday, really one of the most respected voices in American policing, he spoke about the massive dislocation that happened all over the country because of COVID. That's really the number one factor. But what I'd say is the fact that on the crimes that everyone agrees should be prosecuted, the most serious crimes, that there's not action. That's the most foundational problem. I believe that all crime is interconnected, and I believe that we need to have consequences across the board. But what I'm most profoundly worried about is crimes that prosecutors, NYPD, courts, all agree are important, need to be addressed, and then there's no trial, and there's no consequences. There's no plea bargaining. That's our most important problem right now. Go ahead, Julia.  

Question: But given that these are accused felons, and the decline-to-prosecute rate is now up to 17 percent compared to about 8.7 percent, don't you think you should also be pushing the DAs to act more in addition to the courts? 

Mayor: I have pushed DAs to speed up prosecutions, starting with gun offenses. And there was a while where I was very open about some of those frustrations I had, and I want to say the DAs have generally, you know, moved into a better position and sped things up. And I appreciate that. And I’ve said, even throughout this week, on gun prosecutions, some of the worst ones in particular, we have seen some progress from the courts. My central problem now, and I think the city’s central problem in terms of addressing public safety, is there's a wide variety of offenses, not the small number of offenses that there's a decline-to-prosecute, the ones where there's an agreement to prosecute and a commitment to prosecute, and we can't get movement. The lack of trials is shocking. We, again, first half of 2021, 18 completed verdicts versus the first half of 2019, 405 completed verdicts. This is not really – there's no good excuse for that. There's no good explanation. This is a failure by the court system that must be addressed. We will do anything and everything to help. I’ll say it again, we've offered whatever we possibly can do. And if the prosecutors need to do more, they should. But the number one problem we're facing right now is arrests are being made constantly. But then the next piece that has to happen, the consequences aren't happening because the court system isn't fully functioning. It's not even close. That's what needs to be fixed and it can be fixed. It's absolutely a fixable problem. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Jesse from Streetsblog.  

Question: Good morning, Mayor. 

Mayor: Good morning, Jesse. How you doing? 

Question: Good. I wanted to get your thoughts on a story we published Monday about a disparity in insurance requirements for Uber and Lyft taxis in the city versus the rest of the state. The TLC requires Ubers and Lyfts and other for-hire vehicles in the city to have only $100,000 in liability insurance per person, but everywhere else in the state, the requirement during trips is $1.25 million. We found that this disparity leaves less compensation for crash victims in the city, even though the risk of getting hit by a car while on foot or bike is much higher here. Do you view this as a problem? And if so, what do you think should be done about it? 

Mayor: Well, Jesse, I really appreciate you raising this. I have said, as we've gone through this entire year-and-a-half, I've expressed my appreciation to any journalist who brings to my attention something that I hadn't heard about before or something that needs to be considered again. This is a really good point you're raising, and I won't speak to it because I haven't been briefed on it, but it does raise a concern for me, and we will get you an answer on this. 

Question: Thank you, Mayor. Just following up on that same subject, that $100,000 figure is what the TLC requires for all for-hire vehicles in the city. But the agency hasn't raised that minimum requirement in more than two decades. And in that time medical costs have skyrocketed. Do you think the TLC should increase its minimum insurance requirements for for-hire vehicles? 

Mayor: Well, it’s the same point. I'm going to – again, I'm glad you're raising it. I really am. I think it's – there's a logic to what you're saying, I'm seeing right away. Obviously aligning to Vision Zero, which has been a foundational philosophy of this administration, we have to recognize all the things that we need to do to keep people safe and also create an awareness of the need for people to drive differently. And I do think these economic factors play into that. So, I'm going to look into this quickly. I'm glad you raised it and I will be getting you an answer soon. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika.  

Question: Hello, Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Good, Abu. How you been? 

Question: Good. Thank you so much. My question is, you know, the last few months there's a couple of food delivery people has been killed by accident and most of the accident happened when they're delivering the food. So, when they deliver the food, they use motorbike or cycle, and most of the time, you know, they’re hit by car or over speed by another vehicle. So, is there any [inaudible] any kind of rules the City is thinking to impose when someone is delivering the food or using the bike or any other way? 

Mayor: Well, Abu, I appreciate the question. Look, it's horrible when an everyday New Yorker, a hardworking person trying to make a living is killed in a crash, oftentimes because someone drove recklessly, or someone drove under the influence of alcohol. This is why we keep deepening Vision Zero. And I think it includes the enforcement efforts, the speed cameras, the changes we're making in the street design, all of that is needed. We also need tougher penalties. There's legislation in Albany right now which passed one house of the Legislature. We want to get it passed fully. We want Governor Hochul to support it as well, to support crash victims, to inhibit crashes with tougher penalties. This is the kind of thing we need to do more of if we're going to change this environment. So, we got to get at the root cause here. It's still too easy for people to get away with causing harm to others with a vehicle. And we've got to make it a much more rigorous set of consequences to change that. Go ahead, Abu. 

Question: And my second question is still, the school is going to be open and still there is an anxiety and uncertainty, you know, going on among some parents and they're thinking whether the school is safe fully. Is there any options the City have with the remote option, or if someone don't send their kids [inaudible] the decision of the City, what's the consequence they have to face? 

Mayor: Well, Abu, I want you to hear from Dr. Mitch Katz in a moment about everything we've done, and Mitch has been part of this process from the very beginning to keep schools safe, because I really think when you hear the fullness of it, and I want all parents to hear it, it will reassure you. But I want to be clear in answering your question, what Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter has said, what I've said, our kids need to be back in school. They have suffered. Too many of them have suffered a year-and-a-half without being in school. It is harming them physically, mentally in terms of social development, in terms of academic growth. We have to stop this now and we can do it safely. All our kids are coming back to school with extraordinary safety measures in place. So, again, to just amplify how much is being done to keep kids safe and why it's so important for them to be back in school. I'll turn to Dr. Katz. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And in line with what you've said, the American Academy of Pediatrics has said unequivocally, that children belong in school, that that is the best way to protect their social, physical, emotional health. We also saw last year that because of all the safety measures in place, school was the safest place for children to be. So, this year, in addition to all the other measures that we are taking, which include ventilation, sanitation, keeping people apart where there is sufficient room, mask wearing, which is universal, we have added vaccination for all of those adults who will be in the school. And together I'm quite positive that that will keep our kids safe. We will have open the war room for making sure that if there is a case of a child or an adult who has COVID, that we're able to quickly respond, that we're able to provide additional testing resources. That situation room we'll take care of everything that is needed. And I feel very confident that our children are going to have a great school year. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Amen. Thank you, doctor. And everyone, look, we're committed to our kids. We're committed to our families, the best thing everyone can do right now, every single person who's concerned, and they’re right to be concerned to make sure we get it right, help us. Go make sure every kid 12 years old and up is vaccinated. Go make sure their family members are vaccinated. Look, remember, if you want a vaccinator to come to your home and provide vaccinations for the whole family, we'll do that for free. And people can also gain the incentive, $100 per person. We will go the extra mile to make sure everyone's ready, everyone's safe. And parents are responding, kids are responding, staff is responding. Every single additional vaccination helps keep us safe. So, today's the day. Thank you, everybody.  

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