Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Older Adult Town Hall

August 6, 2025

Watch the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEmdtqIuUek

Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, Department for the Aging: Let me tell you where you are because you know where you are, but anyway, this is St. Gabriel's. I know this is one of your hoods, but what I want you to know is that they are the dance champions. They have won continuously, so one of them has to get up and show us what their moves are at some point. Right, and here he is, none other than our mayor in his 27th town hall.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much. Everybody, this is number 27. How many did we do? We're 27. How many? Who knows the number? You know, Mark? 38 other town halls, a number of youth town halls, [a] combination. Giving out two things before I chat. Did we give out, DJ, did we give out the magnets? So, first, the magnet. Can you hold up, Sister Sherry? The magnets. We're going to give out magnets to put on your refrigerator, and also, money in your pockets and more. We're going to talk about this a little later. 

First of all, it's good to be back here. You know, I knew you as a state senator. I knew you as the borough president, and in fact, even back when I was a police officer, this, not only this church, but this older adult center, I know so well. And it's been a long journey, folks, a long journey. And where's the councilmember? Oh, I didn't even see you there, you look like a staffer. Did you say hello to everyone? No, no, come on, come on. You got to give it up for your councilwoman. Every time I see her, all she talks about is children. Former teacher, bringing that experience in. So, let's say hello to everyone.

City Councilmember Rita Joseph: Good afternoon, St. Gabriel family. You know I had to brag how we are undefeated champion across the city for the dance contest. And we're going to show the mayor some moves. So, good afternoon, everyone. Always happy to be here. 

Mayor, welcome to District 40 with all of your colleagues in government. Thank you for being here. And St. Gabriel, you know where my heart is. I love you all to pieces. I have an older mom who's 90 years old, so working and protecting older adults in this city along with New York City kids is a passion for me. So, I got your back every day, all day. Love you all. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thanks so much for coming out. And so, when I left you as the borough president and became the second mayor of color in the city, I inherited a city in 2022 where crime was soaring, unemployment was real, we were losing jobs. We had something called COVID. 

We were knocking on doors, handing out face masks as the borough president to different residents. Our foster care children were not receiving the support they deserve. Six or seven hundred of them were aging out every year, slipping through the cracks. We were not identifying dyslexia early in our school system. Our tourism was decimated. 237,000 migrants and asylum seekers came to the city. When you looked at where we were, two and a half years later, and if you want to say three, we'll give you even three, what did we accomplish? 

More jobs are in New York in the city's history. More small businesses in the city's history. We're paying the college tuition of foster care children, giving them life coaches until they're 21 years old. We built more housing in individual years in the history of the city. Moved more people out of shelters into permanent housing in individual years in the history of the city. More people are participating in our voucher program for housing in the history of the city. We're paying off medical debt, putting $30 billion back into the pockets of working class people. Low income New Yorkers no longer pay income taxes now in this city. 

We removed income taxes. Increased the amount for individuals who are using MetroCards, what we call reduced fare MetroCard program. We have increased that. Built senior housing. Many people talk about it all the time. Passed the most comprehensive housing reform in the history of the city so we could have more housing in the city. Bond raters who do an analysis of how well you run cities looked at our city and raised our bond because of how we manage crisis after crisis after crisis. We took almost 23,000 illegal guns off the street. 

We have the lowest number of shootings and homicides in the first six months of this year in the history of the city. In the seventh month, the lowest number of shootings and victims of shootings in the history of the city. Transit this month has the lowest amount of crime in the recorded history of this city. 4.6 million rioters. 4.6 million. Only five felonies a day. We want to get rid of those five, but think about that number. 4.6 million. 

But the piece I want to talk to you the most about before I start listening to your question is immigration. Immigration. It is unbelievable how my entire record has been destroyed. Unbelievable. What I've done around the immigrant community as a police officer, as a state senator, and as the borough president, and as the mayor. There is no one who has embraced and understood the power of our immigrant population than I have. And because I've fought to tell Washington they were wrong for having a porous border and having 4,000 migrants in a silent secret come to our city a week. A week. 16,000 a month at the highest level. That we had to food, feed, house, and clothe. 

We couldn't stop the buses from coming in. We couldn't even allow people to work like many of you and my family did to provide for ourselves. The federal government said you can't even allow them to work. I couldn't even allow them to volunteer and give them a stipend. A group of them came to me and said, hey, we would like to remove graffiti and do other things to show that we're happy to be here in the country. The federal government said you cannot do that. And because I had the audacity to say this is wrong, this should not be happening to us, it's costing us $7.7 billion. $7.7 billion would it be? I got hit hard. And let me tell you something. 

These last 15 months has been the hardest 15 months of my life. Of my life. And I'm talking about as a police officer being shot at. I'm talking about living on the verge of homelessness. I'm talking about struggling with dyslexia. I'm talking about the struggles that I had. I never had a 15 months as hard as this. Because I saw all that I built up get destroyed. Get destroyed. And particularly around this issue. The immigrant issue. You know out of those 237,000 migrants and asylum seekers that came in the city, that not one child or family slept on the streets of the City of New York. And 90 percent of them are doing what you did. They're finding their way. 

They're finding their way, because that's what we do in this country. And so then while President Trump was on the campaign trail, I never met President Trump. Never met him. He was on the campaign trail when that indictment came down on me and he said that's wrong what they're doing to me. That's wrong. 

When he got elected, his Justice Department looked at the case and saw that it was wrong what they did. President Biden said the same thing. The Justice Department was politicized when he pardoned his son. Trump said it. I said it. Brian Benjamin. Many of you know who Brian Benjamin is. Brian Benjamin was the highest ranking African American in this state. They indicted him, destroyed his career. The same person who indicted me destroyed his career. The judge dismissed the charge. His career was destroyed and it was over. Over. And it's wrong and it was wrong to happen. 

But to all of a sudden start to claim Eric is anti-immigrant– those who have known me and know what I stand for know it's a lie. They know my history in this city of lifting up all people through my faith-based institutions, faith-based initiatives. They know who I am. And I served this city well, not only as a police officer, but as a state senator, as the first person of color to be borough president and now as your mayor. 

We turned this city around. It's going to take me five years. We did it in three and a half years. And the indicators are all there. And the same narrative. Go back and look when David Dinkins was mayor. Same narrative you hear now. And so I'm happy that the Justice Department looked at my case. I was facing 33 years in prison. And go read the indictment. I called the Fire Department and said, can you go do a building inspection? How many times have you called your council person, have called me and asked me to call [an] agency? That's what we do. And so if the Justice Department said this is wrong and dismissed the charges, people say, well, you should not have done it. 

Let me tell you something. I remember my mother back when I was a child. And I would say, mommy, you can't do that. She said, baby, be quiet. God uses who he uses. God uses who he uses. And I'm a child of God. And you don't know where your blessings come from. And all of you know that. Because at one time in your life, God used someone you didn't even expect where it came from. 

So I don't care who comes and gives me the blessing that God gave me. God uses when he uses. When I was losing my sight with diabetes, and a doctor came into my life and told me how to reverse it. God uses who he uses when someone shot out my car window as a sergeant. God uses who he uses when families came to put food on our back porches when we were children. 

God has always used who he used when he is taking care of one of his children of God. God uses who he uses. And I'm not going to curse God. I'm going to thank God for using everyone who has been in my life that allowed me to come on this journey to be the second mayor of color in the greatest city on the globe. And I'm happy to continue to do that job. So why don't we open up to some questions. It's good to be back here. And I know you, you are good and hard on your questions, so feel free. How are you?

Question: Good afternoon, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: Yes, good afternoon.

Question: I'm so glad that you came to St. Gabriel's. We welcome you. My name is Diane. And my question today is why is it so hard for us single seniors to get an apartment? And why is the cutoff level for the monies, the income is like for one person, why the cutoff is like not like in my category or I'm talking for the others. 

Because we are low income, especially when we are retired. And lately I noticed that the price is $70,000. You have to be working for like $80,000 a year. And it's too high, you know. And it's like 13 years now I have been, you know, I've applied for an apartment with New York Connect. And it's like before my salary was too high. Now it's too low, you know. No, it's very, really, really frustrating, you know. 

Since 2013 I've been trying to get an apartment. And it's really, really, really hurtful knowing you're in this country. And as a single person you pay all these taxes. And, you know, it's like the building, I see apartments going up, you know, all over the place. But because of the category, how they cut off the money level for that apartment. Don't care how much they build. It's not going to fall in my level. 

I will never get an apartment. And that is one of my deepest concerns for this state. Most of the people here are seniors. And you can see. We could skip, we could run. Not everybody needs to be helped, you know, like those. I think they have some apartments for senior apartments for people who need help, you know. 

I'm talking about people who, you know, they could do stuff for themselves, you know. And that's my question. The other thing is that this is the first time I've seen you up close and you look more handsome than when I see you on TV. Okay. So would you consider that? Would you go over that with your representative, please? Okay.

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes, yes. Let her talk more.

Question: And I do appreciate all the stuff that you're doing.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Because I was one of those people who, like, got a group of people who voted for you when you came into power a couple years ago. And I hope this time you would win, right? That is why I'm here today, to make sure a lot of people vote for you. But just remember us seniors.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: We are important, too. Okay? Thank you. 

Mayor Adams: Yes. And it's obvious you are single because you were hitting on me. You know, and that's such an important question. And so here's the dynamic. And I was using it the other day and someone said to me, when I said 1.4 percent vacancy rate, they said, okay, I don't quite understand what that means. So in our city right now, we have 1.4 percent vacancy rate. 

That means if you look at all of our apartments that we have in the city and you ask, well, how many of them are vacant that we can move into, it's only 1.4 percent. 1.4 percent. The demand for housing has reached such a level of crisis, but we were not building enough. We have an inventory problem. And so when we build, like we had an apartment in the Bronx, I think we had something like 500 units. You get 30, 40,000 applicants because there's just not enough units. 

So what we had to do, we had to say, we have to build more. And we did. That's what the City of Yes was about. We're now, for the first time in the history of this city, every community, every community board must build a little more housing because the stock has dropped so much. But while we're looking for the future, we're also moving at a fast pace right now. 

We developed 2,400 units out in Willets Point. We are announcing new builders and new apartments are coming online at a rapid pace. And then we're looking at how do we do what they call ADUs to build, I'm going to come back to you, to build more in the spaces that we're having. I had all the agencies look at every piece of land that we own and say, how do we build housing on that land? The Flushing Airport, it was vacant since 1984. We're now going to build thousands of units of houses. We're building a new community there. 

So we have to start building more. And then we have to look at senior housing, which is something that's huge for us, to make sure that our seniors can afford to live in the city that we're in. Now, remember, affordable is a terminology that people throw around, but it's for everyone. The seniors, it must be affordable for them. It can't be too high or too low. It must be affordable for my teachers and my accountants so they can be in the city. It must be affordable for my new families that are coming back to the city. It must be affordable for your college students. Some of you have children who graduated from college. They just started out in a job. It must be affordable for them. That's why there are different income levels and bands. And it gets frustrating. 

We fought to get affordable housing in the city through the state. But now if you're a husband and wife working full-time at McDonald's, do you know you'll move out of the low-income band? And it becomes challenging for you also. So it's a real challenge, but it starts with building more housing. We have to build more housing. Because supply and demand. If the supply is low, the demand is high, and the prices go high. But that's the problem we're facing. We don't have enough units. Thank you, ma'am. Do you want to say something else? Give her the microphone.

Question: Could there be another system whereby they could give out the houses? Because it's not everybody is lucky in passing or winning the lottery. Because you don't care how much houses you build. Some people will not be lucky to win the lottery housing. You know? So that's another thing, too. 

So that's my problem. And I've been blind since 2013. That's when my mother died, yes, 2013. And it's because of this lottery system. You know? And if you're a little like $500, a little extra on your income, you're being rejected because they're saying now that your income is over what they're asking for. You know, that's another problem. You know, you really need to look into this, you know, because it's really difficult. I see so much building going up, and, you know, it's like nothing, nothing, nothing. And I'm really, really, really frustrated. It's really hurting, you know, because I'm in this community and I see buildings going up right around. But I won't fall in that category.

Mayor Adams: Okay, two things. One, you said there should be a – what did you say about instead of the lottery, you said there should be something?

Question: Because I applied to the New York City – Connect. Connect, two. Housing Connect. I upgraded. That was a one, now I'm going to upgrade to two. But still, and before, like, they would say, like, you work for too much. Now I retired. I used to work in New York Presbyterian, had a good job there as a secretary. Now I retired with COVID. And my money level went down. So now I still can't, you know. And I didn't want to buy a house because I had other plans. But that plans didn't work out. But I've been in New York City so long. I've been living here over 30-something years. You know, so it's really hurtful, and I would like you to pay attention to that.

Mayor Adams: We are focused on that. First, we have to build more.

Question: I understand you're building more, but that doesn't mean you understand what I'm saying.

Mayor Adams: No, no, tell me, tell me, tell me. Okay, so this is important because this is an important question that is asked often. So I really want all of us to fully understand this because it's asked so much.

Question: And I really need to get something because my landlord died two months ago. I've been living here over 20 years. He has died. And up to now I have not heard from his son. I think he went to sell the building. 

I'm living in a building that has six different tenants. It was okay before, you know. But now the son is selling the building. He hasn't come for the rent for the past three months. So I know he's selling the building. So as an elderly person, I'm in jeopardy, you know. Because rent is so expensive now.

Mayor Adams: So this is important. I want all of us to understand this because if we don't, we'll fall for any fast-talking person. We have an inventory problem. When you don't have enough housing to address the need for housing, it does two things. It overtaxes our homeless system. And it drives the price up. 

Because it's just basic supply and demand. You don't have enough. If you don't have enough housing. So you raise it and you say, Eric, I want to be able to move into a place. I need places. I can't throw people out of places. I need places that we can put online, and that's what we have done at a very fast rate. Putting property online. Yes. 

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: She said give her a call if something comes up. You know what? If I jump the line and come after you, I'm going to have the FBI at my door again. That's what happens. You want to add to that? Okay. So you got a contact. Yes. How are you? Good to see you.

Question: Good afternoon, mayor. My question is older adults want to continue working. And they need to keep working. But so many job programs are under threat from the federal government. What can the city do to ensure these programs still exist to serve older adults looking for employment?

Mayor Adams: And we love that. We know that older adults are living more healthier lives, and they still want to use their experience. And I know we have a couple of programs. Who's going to tell me about it? Queen of older adults.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: The older adult. You're right. We're really concerned about these cuts. Right now what we're negotiating with the city is that the city continue the program. And we have three programs that this mayor runs for older adults. One of them has been a long-term program for low-income older adults, home-seeking employment program. 

We are working right now with OMB to make sure that we can continue that at least through the end of the year. We also have another program that was designed under this administration called Superstars, where we bring back retirees, city retirees, who want to come back. Talent, ability, still want to earn a little bit of money, but don't want to work full-time. So we bring them back. 

But look, we're again working with our city agency to make sure that that program continues as we move forward. It is really, I mean, one of his signature programs when he first came in was Jobs for All, and all included older adults. And so that is a commitment that we're seriously working on. We're addressing it as we speak. Someone there, back there, is looking at it so that we can make sure that they are continuing. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Love to keep you working, you know. And, you know, it's interesting, there's a lot of jobs now that are remote, remote jobs. And so you can actually work from home, carrying out the job and function. And many of you have those experiences, you know, so you should also look at that.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: The other thing I wanted to say is one of the things that we also do with our partners in technology is that we have older adult programs that teach technology so people can be up-skilled, but also so you can know about FaceTime and all of that stuff that I'm still learning, so you can be in touch with your family, so that there are opportunities to make sure that your skills are refreshed. And it's a program that we have in partnership, we do a lot with UICD, but also with our Office of Technology. So it's ever-present on your time and on this administration time about the need for skills and working jobs for older adults.

Mayor Adams: I see. How are you? How have you been?

Question: Oh, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Adams: Good to see you. 

Question: We worked together in the 90s.

Mayor Adams: You're on a perpetual construction site. Every time I see you, you have that hard hat.

Question: Well, because I've visited two sites so far and I have one more to go, Mr. Mayor. Anyway, I want to add a little bit to that affordable housing issue. One of the issues is that there are outside developers that are making harassing phone calls and engaging in a lot of fraudulent practices to steal housing from people, especially in Bedford-Stuyvesant, as well as in Brownsville area. 

I have a lot of clients that either have lost their properties or are about to lose their properties. When they do that, they renovate the properties without following all of the regulations. And then they raise the rent and rent it to other people from outside for some prices. So that housing part of the housing solution lies in zoning and planning as well as fraudulent practices by some of the outside developers. 

Some of them don't even live in this country. I know some of them because as a registered architect practicing in New York, I still practice in Stuyvesant. I am familiar with these issues. And also, when they want to do work, in the last week I walked six floors up in a building in the Bronx. Because the elevator has been out for like about three months. And the tenant, who is an elderly gentleman, I was told to tell them that I am from the insurance company. And that I was doing some asbestos inspection for them. To brief, you know, he was for it and how he saw it. 

These are some of the practices that are going on. People are faking accidents. Developers are faking accidents in front of people's properties. They are making rude phone calls, harassing phone calls. And they are paying existing tenants to stop paying rents. So the property owner will lose the property. And they will come, they will foreclose on the property. And then rent it out to somebody else. Without even meeting all of the executives that they have in this department. And there are many more I can talk about. So I will stop here. It's good to see you, sir. Thank you. I've been campaigning very hard for this election. And I'm campaigning hard for you now, too.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Good to see you. I'm going back to even the question that you raised. A lot of the buildings that we're seeing, if they need zoning changes, if they want to build more than what they are able to build, we're able to negotiate that through the council, your councilwoman, your councilperson. And if they want to build higher than they can, that's how we are able to get on private property. That's how we're able to get more housing units. 

But if they're building without any, if it's just as of right, we do not have any authorization to say what the rent costs could be or what they do inside their building when it comes down to apartment. But if they want to build higher, we're able to attach onto it how many units of affordable housing would be on those units. Some of the buildings you're seeing is just as of right. We can't tell a person who's not asking the city for anything what his rent costs would be. What we get to leverage is if they want to build higher than what they are allowed to do. 

So, but back to your question, we have been hearing complaints of deed fraud, of people harassing tenants, and so our units go in and they conduct investigations on that to make determination, and the fines are stiff. And the district attorney here, Eric Gonzalez, has been doing an amazing job of going after deed fraud, and when people attempt to take someone's property illegally. 

And that's something that Commissioner Stewart has been doing. Fraudulent practices, people focus on older adults in many of these schemes, and you have to really be careful. We're going to be going around, I don't know if you did it here, commissioner, next Thursday? So he's going to be doing a whole series around fraud, what to look for. Next Thursday, his team is going to be here to do that. Okay? Where am I going? How are you, ma'am?

Question: Good afternoon, [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: My name is [Waifley Griffiths.] My problem is many older adults, we would like to remain in our apartment because we've been living here for years. But our problem is we cannot afford to pay rent. So I'm just asking for assistance to pay our rent, to pay our National Grid, and to pay our Con Edison. Just a little assistance. 

We don't want to move to go in those Section 8 houses with too many people around us. We're living in a house that just has like four families. So we would like to remain there peacefully. Just a little rent. We don't want to move. We can cook. We can do everything. But we need more. We will ask for more. Please, please assist us with our rent. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: So who's going to talk about DRIE and SCRIE? All right. Here. Hold on, hold on, let's find out. Let's find out how it's not working. Go ahead.

John Mulvey, Director of Interagency Relations, Department of Finance: So the city has, in your case, the senior citizen rent increase exemption. There's also a disabled rent increase exemption where if you meet the qualifications, the income limit is $50,000 for the whole household. 

So your spouse, whoever lives in the apartment, $50,000. If you meet the requirements and if you join the program, the city pays any increased rent. It's frozen. It's rent freeze. So whatever your current level is will stay your level, will stay your rent for as long as you live in that unit. And the city will pay any increase in your rent. So it sets you, you're able to manage whatever your current situation is, but it means that your rent won't go up, your situation won't ever get harder. 

We don't have programs for ConEd, but covering part of your rent is for most people a huge burden. So the income limit, again, is $50,000, the age is 62. So if you, your spouse, or somebody in the household is going to be 62 by the end of the year, you apply for SCRIE, Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption. And exactly what you asked the mayor, the city does pay part of your rent, which hopefully makes other bills and the rest of life more manageable for you to go forward.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: This administration has been canvassing the city and getting people to apply for SCRIE through our regional union. The earlier you apply, the sooner your rent gets frozen and the better it is. 

So we have been, this administration has been going around, canvassing to get as many people enrolled in SCRIE. And even if you're a little bit over, enroll anyway, because we're looking at legislation to see if we can change some of those levels. So you gotta be in it, it's like the lotto. You gotta be in it to win it.

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes, yes. Who says [inaudible]?

Mulvey: As the commissioner said, and you can go to your councilmember also to apply, but I'm happy to help you while we're here. The longer you're in it, the more beneficial it is. Some people join and the Rent Guidelines Board raises rent by whatever, 2 percent, 3 percent. And it's, they say, why, this isn't worth it. Why am I a part of this? But if you're in it for 5, 10, 15 years, however long you're going to stay in that apartment, it compounds, it becomes more and more valuable, and the savings becomes more significant as time goes on.

Question: Yes, I've been on SCRIE since 2014. And I live in an apartment building. But my rent is $1,134, and my money comes from Social Security. How much am I taking into Social Security? You see, so I have to put some money in SCRIE. It's not working. 

Mayor Adams: [Inaudible.]

Question: Yes, it's frozen, but it's frozen much higher now.

Mayor Adams: So the example that was just given reinforced what you were saying. The earlier you get in it, the goal is to freeze your rent. You don't want it to keep going up. You wanted to add something?

Mulvey: Just if your financial situation changes, there is an opportunity to recalculate. So if perhaps someone passes away, or you lose a job, or you retire, and you're not going to work anymore, so your income limit is going to go down and stay down for the rest of the time in the apartment, there is an opportunity to recalculate based on your income.

Mayor Adams: Okay, there’s an opportunity to recalculate. So really the moral of this conversation and hearing what was just stated, find out what resources are available. We leave so much money on the table that resources are available from SNAP, cash assistance program, SCRIE, DRIE. 

There's just so many things that the city is doing, and it's important to find out what resources are available for me. And like your recalculation, you may be able to recalculate and bring down the cost of that SCRIE. You're in the program, your rent is frozen. You were in the program since how long? 

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: Since 2014. That's 20 years. Ten years, ten years, ten years. I'm bad at math like the other guy. That's ten years. So imagine if you were not in SCRIE. Every year, you're not increasing your rent. So you save by being in SCRIE. So find out all of these resources that are available, everything from reduced fare, MetroCard. Some of you may have medical debt, number one cause of bankruptcy. 

We are excusing medical debt. Some of you may be low income that you should not be paying income taxes. Some of you may live in NYCHA or Section 8, but we are paying for high speed broadband. In order to survive this, it's not a one act. It's the accumulation of all the resources that we have and that we are giving to you. That is how we are going to bring down the cost of living in this city.

Jose Rios Lua, Chief of Staff, Commission on Human Rights: Mr. Mayor, I want to give folks one more piece of information for this. So apply for the program, apply soon. Once you're in the program, I want to let you know another protection the city has for you, which is protection against source of income discrimination. 

So once you're in a rental assistance program, your landlord can't treat you differently. They can't stop making repairs. They can't try to kick you out of the apartment. If they do, you reach out to us, the Commission on Human Rights. We'll investigate and we'll open up a case.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: It's important for you to know, and I think the mayor has alluded to this earlier, because we know that the earlier you're in it, there's a lot of programs that we have left at the table. We have started, he has started, a whole campaign of Know Your Benefits. And so as we go to different neighborhoods at different times, I know last week we had one in Harlem. 

We go to different neighborhoods and we canvass that community with all of the benefits. So I don't know when the next one's going to be here. All right, we'll find out. But we're doing that throughout the city, and that's going to go on through the rest of this summer, so that people can know exactly what we have and what you're not availing yourself of.

Mayor Adams: And that's what this card that we just handed out. Everything from affordable healthcare, addiction prevention, childcare, discounted Omnicards, home emergency, home energy assistance, talking about Con Ed and others. Rental assistance. 

There's just so much more that is offered. I mean, you see this little box up here in the corner, QR Code? Do you know how to use this QR Code? Everybody knows how to use it? How you doing? Good to see you. So if you put your camera on top of this, put your camera on top of this, a little yellow box will open. You click on it and it will take you to a website. All right, good to see you. You know that? 

So this QR code will lead you to a website, and we should do a real training on QR codes. But all of these programs are available to you. Take advantage of it, because as you stated, it's your tax dollars. Your tax dollars are paying for these programs, and this is how you get your tax dollars back. Okay, where am I? I'll come to you. How are you, ma'am?

Question: Good afternoon, mayor. Good to see you. My name is [Magdalene Ellis.] The vote for you, I did vote for you last in the first election. 

Mayor Adams: It's all good, I'm going to earn your vote again.

Question: Oh, yes, you’ll get it again. No problem with that. My original question was already asked, but I have another one here for you.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: My mother is 90 years old. I want to know, why should the people in Brooklyn, I'm talking about sanitation now, why do people in Brooklyn have to buy the brown garbage can where other people get theirs for free? Do they have to pay for it? My other question is, she has the blue garbage can.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Not the one that they have now, but the original one. They have covers, they are good. And sanitation is telling her, she cannot use it. She has to get the garbage can that they have, the 55-gallon garbage can. And I need to know, is that possible?

Mayor Adams: She has the one with the lid on it. She has the one with the lid? 

Question: Yeah, it has a lid. It has covers. It's just that it's not like the new ones that they have now. The 55-gallon. They say that the one that she has is too small. She needs to get the 55-gallon garbage can.

Mayor Adams: Anybody from DSNY? Let me look at that. Two things, two things. The cost of the garbage cans, we're looking at, because they did a different style of them. So we're looking at that. We're going to try to get the money to pay for that. 

But it's not Brooklyn has to pay and Queens doesn't. That's not the way it was reported. But we're looking at the issues around, I think it's $14 million we have to find to make sure that the different sizes. But if I'm of the mindset, if you have a garbage can where it's the lid, it fits all the requirements, and it's doing a job, I don't see why you have to change it. But let me find out. Let me find out what the rule is. 

Question: She was told yesterday it's too small. She needs the 55 gallons.

Mayor Adams: Let me, let me, let me, where's DJ? DJ, can you just do a quick check on that for me? Yeah, hold on one moment, ma’am, hold on. Yeah, just find out, is it, she has a 55 gallon, they're saying it's too small.

Question: No, she don't have the 55, she has the regular one. They're telling her she needs to get the 55 gallon.

Mayor Adams: So find out, if it's a garbage can, they have a lid on it, and it's everything but it's just a smaller size, do they have to replace it? I don't know if I like that. Let me check that. First of all, she's 90, she should have whatever she wants. Let us look at that. Let us, let me look at that, okay? That's a very good point. Go ahead, ma'am, how are you?

Question: I'm fine, good afternoon, Mayor Adams. Our concern is about the use of the scooters and motorbikes being misused due to the driving, recklessness. Mr. Mayor, what can be done about this?

Mayor Adams: Yes, I got it. 

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes. Every commissioner, every town hall we go to, we hear that question. Every town hall we go to, we hear the questions about these darn scooters. Okay.

Question: Riders are riding on the sidewalks. They're riding the sidewalks and not using the bike lanes.

Mayor Adams: Yes. So, we agree 100 percent. After COVID, everyone started ordering their food inside. Many people didn't want to get on the subways. So, we had this whole scooter boom in the city, all over the city. You have these scooters all over the city. 

So, we took off the streets and destroyed over 130,000 of these illegal scooters, ghost cars, et cetera. But, you know, they like the gremlin, every time you take one, another one comes up, you know, so it's been constant. 

But we have changed the law on the speed limit for them. We also have an enforcement team that's now focusing on the scooters to make sure that they're operating not on the sidewalks, not being disruptive, because it has become extremely dangerous. 

If you're riding down the street or walking the street, or trying to cross the street. Now we've been looking at legislation that's going to require registration and insurance. Because if you're struck by one and it's not registered and no insurance, then you're left stuck with the bill. 

So, we are zero focused on that. I told the police commissioner, I told the DOT, I told our entire team, we need to focus on these scooters because we hear it at every town hall we do. And we are on top of it. Okay? Thank you. Where am I?

Question: Good afternoon, mayor. 

Mayor Adams: How are you doing? 

Question: Oh, my goodness. It's been years. Yes. Oh, my goodness. We go back, what, at least 20 years?

Mayor Adams: We go back as far as car seats. 

Question: Yes. My members have two questions. Yes. One of it is public safety. Can the NYPD start doing more patrolling in the area? [] And driving by making their presence known and felt.

Mayor Adams: Yes. Love that. Love that. Talk to me, Commissioner Stewart.

Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart, Community Affairs, Police Department: Yeah, definitely. I would say now that we do have cars that's patrolling. And all of us know there is a shortage of police officers. Nobody's taking the test. We just, the mayor and I went to a graduation today. We have over 960 new cops. 

But sometimes you might not see the cops when they're patrolling. There's an answer with different jobs. So, is there a certain location or a certain area that you talk about that you don't see cops? Or something's going on in your community? Let us know, please. Because we are here and the cops are out there and they're doing their best. So, who asked the question?

Yes. So, again, we do have cops out there. The cops are out there. They're working hard. These cops are working 12 hours a day. They're out there protecting us. You might not see them. And there's cops that you're not going to see either. Who are playing cards. So, we are out there. You maybe just don't even see them at different times.

Mayor Adams: And share what you're doing–

Question: So, you're telling us that we do have the service both walking and driving and making their presence felt in the community?

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: Yes, we do. So, now we're doing a mobile field force. Mobile field force is that we're taking a certain amount of cops and putting them in areas that crimes are happening. I'm telling you, there's almost 2,000 to 3,000 cops all over the city in areas where we get intel from that crimes are happening. So, cops are out there. 

Mayor Adams: He's doing something additional. Talk about your seniors and older adults.

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: Yeah, just to tap on that. So, the mayor and I go way back. 41 years of service to this city. And the mission has not changed. Public safety and community. So, the mayor tasked me about four years ago. And his first priority was older adults. His mother, she transitioned. My mother's still here. She's 87 years old. And my father was in a nursing home. And we used to go to a nursing home and watch these seniors, older adults, not get the attention that they deserved. 

So, my mother used to go to everyone, say hi. We used to make sure that they got the attention they needed. So, this is very personal to me. Commissioner Vázquez and I, we put together a plan in six months that there is a community affairs officer in every precinct. For older adults. Everybody should know who he is. 

[Crosstalk.]

That is so good to hear. But also, in housing, too. In nine PSAs, there is a community affairs cop assigned for older adults. And we also have a crime prevention unit. And I'm so proud of her. Captain Bodden who sits in the back, [inaudible]. She keeps me up to date on all our crime stats and all our older adults. And this year we did over 2,000 crime prevention stats for older adults. My mother was scammed twice. And I tell her every day what to watch out for. 

The problem is that once you are scammed, you're embarrassed to report it. And I didn't find out until my neighbor told me about what my mother went through. So we're going to do a scam prevention course here on August the 14th. Do you have a time? 12 to 1. So important. 

Because what happens, these people are preying on you. Just like we have jobs, that's their jobs. And our job is to make sure that you are not scammed out of your money. I think my mother lost like $2,500. Somebody got to hold that checkbook. But our job is to make sure that you feel safe and safe, too. So, Captain Bodden, thank you for the work that you do. I always leave you out of those older adults, but she's a treasure. 

Listen, and we also do a lot of things for our youth, too. Sometimes you turn on the TV and you see what our youth is doing in the street. Our youth are doing great things in the city. The mayor also tasked me to come up with different programs for our youth. We happen to be doing an aviation program. I would have thought that we would have programs for our neighborhoods. We have over 1,200 kids that signed up, and they work with our aviation program, with our cops. It's not even about aviation. It's about making a relationship with our youth. 

We also have a harbor unit with our youth. Over 1,500 youth signed up for a harbor unit. I also started a college tour. We signed up with CUNY, DOE, and DYCD to help us with these college tours. So far, we took 22 schools for over 500 kids to these colleges. And I have two daughters, and I remember when we spoke up in these colleges, they saw the campuses and their eyes opened wide. 

So what was missing with our kids? Transportation and opportunity, and we provided it. We also have a real estate program that we have with our kids, too. I'm glad to tell you our first kid, 18 years old, is self-housed. He has to be certified, and he has to test. So we have a lot going. We have sports, too, but sports is not everything. 

So make sure that our kids are not just gripping the basketball. There's so many things that our youth are doing. But just to tell you, we're doing great things in our communities. I hope you do, too. I know the mayor likes this. We also do baby showers. I don't know if you ever heard about it. We do baby showers throughout the whole city. For new mothers coming out, we have serviced over 40,000 new mothers. Bassinets, prenatal care, car seats, diapers. So it's been a blessing that we're able to do this. We have over 75 vendors who also assist us, too.

Mayor Adams: Real good programs. He redefined community affairs. Now, remember, he's in the police department, but he's being proactive on how we can do more for our children and families. Yes?

Question: Yes, I have another question from one of my seniors. He's handicapped. He's not handicapped, but a little bit disabled. What he's saying about Omni, the Omnicard. The Omnicard is not in every station. And for people who need to pop up the Omnicard, they have to go to at least four stations away for the machine. What can be done about that?

Mayor Adams: That's very interesting. How are you?

Question: Good evening, mayor. How are you doing? It's a pleasure to see you today. [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: The mayor, we do not control the MTA, but that's a legitimate question. And we're going to look into it and suggest to them to make the proper modification, because you should not be penalized because they didn't build out enough. And so let us look into that, that's a great suggestion, and we will make a recommendation, okay? We have someone on MTA board, make a recommendation. 

Hold on, I want to talk about the garbage cans, who asked me about the garbage cans? Okay, so your mother can have any size container with a lid until June 2026. After that, they will be required to purchase a New York City garbage pail, which comes in three different sizes. We're going to change that, that makes no sense. If you have a garbage pail with a lid, we need to allow you to keep having it. I'm going to talk to the commissioner, and we're going to see about modifying that. That's a great question that you raised. 

Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Hold on, I'm going to come to you. I've got to go to you, and I'm going to come to you, but let me just let them finish the flow. We're going to come back, okay? Okay, yes, ma'am.

Question: Good afternoon, sir. My name is [Ave Maria,] from the Senior Center and from the church. God uses whom he uses and your on holy space. That's right. So therefore, my question is, I've spoken to many seniors, and food insecurity, because of inflation and because of all the other factors, that is now becoming unreachable. What is it that you can do to assist seniors? 

Because thank God for senior centers, we can get reduced meals. But sometimes, we can't reach the senior center to get those meals. And some people, we have a purple pantry outside, we can't fill it enough, because the need is so great. I was very grateful when I heard you were coming, and when you said God uses whom he uses, and you know he feeds his people. 

So therefore, please, see what it is you can do for and in the interest of seniors, because inflation is going to kill them. We talk about housing, renting, and we have nothing left for food. So please, sir, could you see with your re-election, [inaudible], what you can do to save the seniors? I thank you and God bless you.

Mayor Adams: No, thank you. That's a great question. And trust me, food insecurity has been around a long time. I remember growing up as a child, eating that hard cheese. I didn't even know milk was liquid. I thought it was powder. And I didn't even know eggs came out of the shell. I thought it was in that brown box, where you mix it up with water. 

So trust me, mommy had to make ends meet. She worked in a daycare center, and she would bring those leftovers home. She was a food service worker, and it wouldn't stretch for the whole week. And we had to make do. That's why we're putting money into the food pantries, of making sure that the food pantries are doing an amazing job. 

Mayors don't control the price of bread. It's not within our scope. But like I like to say, we want to put bread back in your pockets. So we need to figure out ways, using the Mayor's Office, of being honest and saying, how do we put money back into your pocket, like programs like SCRIE, DRIE, SNAP? Like Free or Reduced Fare MetroCard, paying for high speed broadband. 

What our team did, we said, let's look over all the things that are within our span of control, to say, how do we bring down the cost for you? Reducing the cost of child care from $220 a month to less than $20 a month. Making free after school, universal after school program. All of these things we're doing, because we know we don't determine how much bread is going to cost. We don't determine how much orange juice is going to cost, or whatever else that you purchase. 

But we can do things to put money back in your pocket. And it's wrong to promise people that you're going to get all those things free, because you're not. No one is going to go to these supermarkets and say that, hey, you're going to get all of these things for free. 

No, government must find ways to use what's in their power to bring down the cost of living. And so it's huge what we did in Albany. For us to get rid of all income taxes for low income New Yorkers, that's a direct dollar back in their pockets. 

We raised the earned income tax credit. Each time we go to the table and say, how can we find more money instead of taking it out of your pocket, then put it in your pocket. And food is a major issue. And we don't want people to merely only have to wait on food pantry lines. We don't want that. And that is why the call is on the state and federal level to make sure that they too find ways to put money back into the pockets of working class people. Yes, yes ma'am. How are you?

Question: I'm fine. Good afternoon, mayor. My name is [Faye Hunt,] and I'm from Grenada.

Mayor Adams: Grenada Beach is one of my favorite locations. Okay, good to know. And Annandale Falls.

Question: Good to know. Okay, I remember St. Gabriel's Church and the center, and also I live in Canarsie. My question to you today is what sanitation and GP doing about the catch basins in the Canarsie area? Also, educating the hub owners and disposal of trash causing flooding issues in basements. That's my question today.

Mayor Adams: Yes, we mobilize during storms in particular. We go out and have a catch basin crew that goes out and clean. But we also did an initiative of, I think it was, I don't know if I was borough president or mayor, when we went out and did the whole adopt a basin where people who live on the block will play a role in going and declogging. Because the paper on the top really prevents the water from flowing and that causes some of the flooding that we are experiencing. 

But if we need to go out there and do a whole other block by block training, or go to some of the community boards, the PTAs, declogging your catch basins are crucial because that area is prone to flooding. And so we'll go out and do a whole other round of series of training, hand out flyers and leaflets, and get everyone engaged because it plays a major role during storms.

Question: Well needed. Thank you. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you very much. How are you, ma'am? I was actually talking behind you, but I do want to know how you are, so. 

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: Okay. We should get that. Okay, do we have the list? Okay, okay, great suggestion. Let's get the list. You go to Walgreens. Yes? 

Question: Good evening. We worked together.

Mayor Adams: Yes. 

Question: What are your plans to improve access to healthcare and mental health services for older adults in our community? Before we all go crazy.

Mayor Adams: Not going to happen. You really want to talk about that? We have our deputy mayor here as well. Which one, either one of you can.

Deputy Mayor Suzanne Miles-Gustave, Health and Human Services: Good evening. Thank you for that question. So, as you know, under Mayor Adams, mental health is a priority, right? And so, [DOHMH] is under our portfolio, so is [Department] for the Aging. [DOHMH] does both physical health and mental health. So we have, and also we have H&H, our biggest, best public hospital system ever. 

So I would say, if you have a concern, you don't know where to go, our H&H locations will take anyone, regardless of income, regardless of document status. So there really should be no access issues for older New Yorkers, but I know that the [Department for] the Aging is working with all the older adults to make sure that we have access for not only the big H&H systems, but our local clinics. So if you have a specific issue, I'm sure there's a listing that they have that we can get to you, because there should be no reason folks don't have access to health care, both physical and mental.

Mayor Adams: Before you do that, share some of what we're doing around mental health. We've taken, we have not ignored the mental health issue. We have been very aggressive about it, and what the Deputy Mayor and her team, what they are doing is really going out and meeting people where they are, in the subway system, on the streets. We have been extremely, extremely forward-thinking on mental health.

Deputy Mayor Miles-Gustave: And really, all credit to this mayor. Under this administration, when he came into office, he said, gone is the day, that we walk by our New Yorkers, our brother, our sister, who is clearly in need of support and help, and we're taking unsheltered homelessness very, very seriously. 

So we understand the importance of providing everyone with access to not only food and shelter, but physical and mental health care. So we have partnerships with DOHMH, H&H, and NYPD, and the MTA police, to make sure that we are going out into the subways, to make sure that folks who are clearly in need of support can get that health care, get that support, and we bring them in to get that support. 

And we're working very, very closely with our Division of Homeless Services, and we have outreach teams that go and make sure that folks who need shelter are coming in, who need health care, who need mental health care, are coming in to care to make sure they get that support. We do not want to see folks who are living on the street or unstably housed without access to care. There are many, many access points for folks to get that care and support.

Mayor Adams: What is the number for mental health now? 988 is the number for if you have a loved one or family member, or if you need mental health support, 988. And we also are doing something with our teenagers. We talk about older adults, but our teenagers are really experiencing mental health issues, high level of depression, suicidal ideations. 

So we're really looking at both ends of the spectrum. We're doing, what's a team talk, right? Teenspace, where they're able to use their devices and get a mental health professional to assist them. And it's really impressive how many young people are using the technology to communicate with a mental health professional. Thank you. 

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: What I want to get onto is that under this administration, we had mental health services in about 14 older adult clubs. Now we have it in 88 older adult clubs. We negotiated with the state so that we could bring them to older adult centers. 

So there's 88 mental health professionals who are available. I will look at which ones in this area have mental health services. Because mental health services, especially if you're an older adult, there's a lot of taboo around it. And our job is to also make it friendly for you and bring it home to one of the issues that you need to face.

Councilmember Joseph: I also remember wanting to add something to it. Of course, I'm always thinking of young people. We added 988 to schools, too. We passed legislation. So if you have any young people in your life that have suicide ideations or need mental health, we have 988 also on the school level for super young kids.

Mayor Adams: Good stuff. Good stuff. It's amazing how if we go seek medical attention for a pain we have in our side, our stomach, our back, it's okay. But when people say, listen, I have a pain in your brain, you should be comfortable enough. You need to be comfortable enough to go and talk about it. These are very stressful days for all of us in one way or another. And the support is there. The support is there. Where am I? How are you, ma'am?

Question: Good to see you. My name is Jennifer. I'm speaking about housing. What is affordable housing? Before you rent a place, would you suggest that they rent an apartment to know how much it should be? Would that make a difference? And a lot of people can't afford housing in the city. Yet, there are so many buildings going up. Why?

Mayor Adams: So, if you are in a rent-stabilized apartment, and a tenant moves out, that apartment can only go up a certain dollar amount. It cannot go up, if you're in a rent-stabilized apartment, a long-term tenant moves out, and the apartments in the area can go for $3,000 for, for example, a month for one bedroom. That landlord cannot raise the rent up to that level.

Question: Let me ask you another question. If they told you that they renovated the home, is there a fighting or a court order or whatever they can do?

Mayor Adams: There's only a certain amount they can attach to the rent on that renovation. So, if you have an apartment that you're trying to rent, because someone moved out, if the rent's stabilized, then you can find out what that rent is supposed to be, what you're supposed to be charged. They can't just do whatever the market can bear. They have to only increase it by a certain dollar amount. Okay?

Question: And my first question, what is affordable housing?

Mayor Adams: Think about that, because that's a good question, because I always hear that. When people say affordable, affordable for whom? Affordable for New Yorkers. You know, when you think about affordable, you want to know about low income, you want to know about middle income, and you want to know about market. You want to know about market. You want to know about all three of those different levels. And so, what's affordable for two people who are full-time in Burger King is different from what's affordable for the teacher and the accountant, or what's affordable for the stockbroker. 

So, what we must do, we must create an environment where everyone can live in the city. So, a certain number of houses are going to be apartments or units are going to be for low income, some are going to be for middle income, and some are going to be high income. I'll come to you, ma'am. 

Because we are losing working class people in this city. They're going to live in New Jersey. They're going to live in Pennsylvania. They're going to live in Connecticut, because we are not building housing on all the different levels. And so, I thought the good question that was raised when it was stated that, hey, I made a certain amount, now I made too much. 

So, we have to make sure those income bands are spread out, that we are holding on to all levels of New Yorkers. And those numbers are determined on what, based on the AMIs, based on what is the AMI for a particular area. That's how it's determined. Go ahead, ma'am. I saw somebody. Yes, ma'am. There's a mic right there. 

Question: What is the amount that you say is low income? How much you have to be making that is considered low income?

Mayor Adams: HPD, you have that number? We have that exact number. And it depends on where the- Go ahead. Hold on. We got HPD in the house. So, if y'all want to beat somebody else, don't do me.

Kevin Parris, Queens Director of Planning, Office of Neighborhood Strategies, Department of Housing Preservation and Development: That's correct, everyone. Kevin Parris, if you have housing questions, well, beat me up with words, not with fists. I'm sorry. Again, making jokes. Oh, so the area median income, which is what AMI is, if you're looking at about 30 to 40 percent of the area median income, it would be low income. And as you go up the tiers, you go from extremely low to low to moderate to middle. 

Question: [Inaudible.]

Parris: So, I don't have the dollar amount memorized in my head, but definitely when I put the mic down, I'll have those exact numbers to show folks.

Mayor Adams: You could do what is done is based on the area median income, and that may be a course to do that. Based on that, we do a percentage of the area median income. So, for example, let's say the area in this area, the area median income in this area, let's say is $80,000. No, that's the area median income. We would do a percentage of that. A percentage of that area median income would be the low income housing. A percentage of it. It won't be 80,000. It'll be a percentage. It could be 30 percent. It could be 40 percent. We have some people who are making $40,000. Hold on, brother. I'll come to you. 

We have some people that are making $40,000 are able to move into those low income units. So, it's a percentage of the area median income that we determine what is the low income. Now, here's the flip side of it. The flip side of it. Let's say, we say, the $100,000 is the area median income, which is high. And let's say that you could get an apartment if you make 30 percent of that. 30 percent of that. That would be low. 

But if you're making more than that, you're all of a sudden out of the band of the low income. So, if you make it too low, you are not eligible. But if you make too much, you are not eligible. So, that's why it has to be a balance. We need to do a cross section. We need to have low income and we need to have middle income. 

If we have all low income, many of you may not even be eligible for it. You may make too much for low income. And that's why we need those different income bands so that we're not denying working class people housing. Go ahead, sir. You want to ask a question?

Question: Yes, sir. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. I want to find out what is the poverty level in the city. I'm sorry, what? The poverty level. No, poverty.

Mayor Adams: The poverty. What's the poverty level in the city? The best way to do that, we can answer that right away. DJ, can you do ChatGPT? Just ask them what's the poverty level. Poverty, P-O-V. What's the poverty level? Did you have a follow up? I don't have that question right away.

Parris: Mayor, if I could just also, I wanted to piggyback on something that the mayor said earlier, because I'm hearing a lot of comments about people talking about the number of buildings coming up in the area. I just want to reiterate, those buildings on private sites, we don't have the ability to really program them. 

Our programs are good for public sites, as well as those developers who need some assistance from the city, whether it's rezoning or refinancing of their building. That's when we really have the ability to institute our programs to allow for affordable housing to happen.

Mayor Adams: What was just shared is so important, because people see buildings going up. And they say, there's a lot of buildings going up, so why can't we get in those buildings? Some of them are private-owned land. If they don't come to the city and say, hey, we want to build some affordable housing on the land, we want to build higher, or we need subsidies from the city to assist us in building higher, we have no control of it. 

Just like, how many of you are property owners? Who owns a house here? If you own a house, I can't come to you and say, this is how much you can charge in rent. Because you're a private homeowner, and particularly if it's not in our rent stabilization program. So that's what this country is about. Property ownership is the heart and soul of this country. And so this country is not about dictating to homeowners what are they doing to their property. 

Now, if she wanted to build higher than what the zoning allows, now we can negotiate and say, okay, you want to build more units on your property? You have to have a certain number of them are going to be in the affordable program. Or you may need money from us to subsidize what you're doing. We're saying, okay, you want to do that? 

Now you're going to do a certain number of affordable units. It could be 70-30. It could be 80-20. But in some cases, it's 100 percent affordable. What we're doing out in Shea Stadium, 2,400 units, all of them are affordable housing, all of them affordable housing. So that is what this whole housing madness is. So the gentleman who asked about the poverty level, we want to thank ChatGPT. $40,680 for single adult, $87,780 for couples with two children. This was taken in 2022. 

So $87,000, almost $88,000 for couples with two children, and $40,680 for single adults. That's the poverty level. Thanks a lot, DJ. So listen, so this magnet here, this magnet here is, put it on your table if you want to use it. I think it's very important. 

Oftentimes, when emergency first responders go to your home, these basic information can save a life. Just put it right on your fridge, fill out the basic information, your full name, your emergency contact number, your primary care doctor, any chronic condition, any allergies, any medication. This information is so powerful. 

For some reason, that if you're unable to remember this stuff when somebody comes, every first responder, or if you're unconscious, this simple information can save lives. I got to head up to Harlem to deal with this Legionnaire's disease situation that's happening up there. We don't have any cases here in Brooklyn. They seem to be concentrated in Central Harlem, and I want to go up there because people are really panicking over there. So I got to bounce.

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