Transcript From Wednesday, September 13, 2023: Mayor Adams Hosts Community Conversation

September 14, 2023

Commissioner Fred Kreizman, Mayor's Community Affairs Unit: Welcome to the Adams Administration Community Conversation with Eric. We're excited to be here in Jamaica, Queens. We appreciate everyone coming out here tonight, the forum tonight was 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, we had roundtable conversations with members of the Mayor’s Office to ensure we take diligent notes to listen to the concerns of all the community residents here in Jamaica. We are joined by NYPD community affairs at each table, we have note cards at every single table in case your question is not asked to the dais within two weeks you get a return phone call that tracks the Mayor’s Office to ensure you get a phone call back. So please fill out those cards and hand it to a member of the Mayor’s Office at your table when this is done. Every table has an opportunity to ask a question to the dais, the format for this evening, I’m going to go through the dais quickly, then we’ll give it over to the speaker, Speaker Adrienne Adams, and then the mayor will speak. 

So just to go through the dais quickly, on the left of the mayor, of course we have the mayor, the mayor of the City of New York, to the left of the mayor we have our first deputy mayor, Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar; Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer; NYPD Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart; HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrión; DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez; ACS Commissioner Jess Dannhauser; New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol; DEP Deputy Commissioner Beth DeFalco; DOP, Probation Commissioner; Juanita Holmes, Department City Planning Commission Chair Dan Garodnick; DOE Deputy Chancellor Danika Rux; DSS First Deputy Commissioner Jill Berry; NYCHA EVP Daniel Greene; EDC EVP Jennifer Sun; DOB First Deputy Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik; New York City Parks Borough Commissioner Jackie Langsam; FDNY Chief Joseph Ferrante; Director of the Deputy Mayor's Office of Operations for Strategic Initiatives Brady Hamed; OTI Executive Director Brett Sikoff, and the Mayor’s Office of People with Disabilities Commissioner Christina Curry. 

To the right of the mayor we have the chief of staff to the Office of the Mayor, Camille Joseph Varlack, we have to my right, the speaker of City Council, Adrienne Adams, our esteemed senator, Senator Sanders   our esteemed assemblymember, Vivian Cook. We have the Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch; DYCD Commissioner Keith Howard; Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Manuel Castro; Human Rights Deputy Commissioner Kajori Chaudhuri; SBS Deputy Commissioner Calvin Brown; Consumer Affairs Worker Protection Assistant Commissioner Carlos Ortiz; Health and Hospital Chief Executive Officer Neil Moore; Department of Health Executive Deputy Commissioner Deepa Avula; Mayor's Office Community Health Executive Director Eva Wong; MOCJ First Deputy Director Carolina Chavez; CEC Executive Director Sarah Sayeed; Executive Deputy Commissioner Ryan Murray; Finance Director Kieran Mahoney; Gender-Based Violence Deputy Commissioner Anne Patterson. Also we have here Chief Kevin Williams, Commanding Officer Patrol Borough Queens South; Inspector Jenkins from the 113; Captain Lubin from the 103; Captain Deras, 106; Inspector Pinkhasov, from the 105. At this time I want to hand it over to our speaker, Adrienne Adams.

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams: Wow. Thanks, Fred. I feel so at home here. I wonder why. You know, it is absolutely great to have us all in this setting tonight. It's great to see you all here in our district, District 28, which we call what? The great 28.

So, we're going to have a very, very good meeting this evening. I have the honor of not only leading the first women majority and the most diversity council in our city's history, but also representing this district, District 28. So, on behalf of District 28, I'd like to thank Mayor Adams. All of the commissioners and every city agency that is represented here with us this evening. I also want to acknowledge the presence of my state colleague, Senator James Sanders. And of course, we all want to thank the faculty and staff of August Martin High School for hosting us here tonight. Thank you so much.

In Southeast Queens we are so proud to be a part of a diverse community made up of people from all walks of life, from multi-generational families with deep roots in our neighborhoods to young people who will carry on the rich legacy of Queens. Opportunities for the community to directly address the mayor and his commissioners this evening with questions and concerns, like the one we're having this evening, are very, very important to all of us. They bring us together to reflect on the successes and challenges and ensure that government leaders can hear directly from you, the residents.

By coming together we can tackle the work needed to help strengthen our communities. Thank you all, my wonderful community members, the residents and constituents of Southeast Queens and District 28. Thank you for being here today, those of you who showed up to make sure that your voice is heard, [inaudible], and make sure that you are on record. Thank you for showing up to participate today. We do not take your presence for granted. Community boards, civic leaders, residents, all of you, it is your civic engagement and passion that facilitates the changes that are needed in our communities. Thank you so much.

Commissioner Kreizman: Thank you. Senator Sanders?

State Senator James Sanders Jr.: To my friend the mayor, to the deputy mayors, to the commissioners, to all who are gathered here tonight, I say welcome back to our district, which is your home also. Welcome home. As we are family in here, you're going to hear comments and statements that are warm, and just as you would hear around a kitchen table. They're going to be warm, but they're going to be family.

They're going to be the type of things that we say that how we need to build a community. And at the end of all of this, we're going to express our love for this great city and our love for its representative, the mayor. So, I look forward to having the conversation with everyone. I look forward to having my neighbors speak and your neighbors speak also. We will be warm. We will be real. We will be Southeast Queens. Welcome home.

Commissioner Kreizman: I’ll hand it over to the mayor now.

Mayor Eric Adams: I grew up in this community. I was a paperboy. I used to deliver the "Long Island Press." Mommy moved from Brownsville and bought a little house on 167th Street and 111th Avenue, still our family house. My brother Bernard, who was a sergeant in the Police Department, attended August Martin High School.

Any community should be in a celebratory state, it should be Southeast Queens. The speaker of the City of New York is Adrienne Adams, who grew up in this community, from Bayside High School, where we were classmates. I went to P.S. 140, ISA, and then to Bayside. I had to be bussed to Bayside High School because they saw that they were not invested in our schools, in our community, and we had to go outside our community to get the services that we needed.

You look on this dais, Mark Stewart, who is my deputy commissioner of Community Affairs that has redefined community affairs, he grew up in Southeast Queens. And I want you to get a full understanding why I'm under constant criticism and attack, look at this dais. Look at them. First African American woman to be first deputy mayor. First Dominican woman to be a deputy mayor in the City of New York. First East Indian woman to be a deputy mayor in the City of New York. First Korean to be a commissioner in the City of New York. First African American woman to be a police commissioner, now the first Spanish speaker to be police commissioner. First Spanish speaker to be a correction commissioner. First Trinidadian that came from Queens to be a deputy mayor. First Filipino to be the deputy mayor.

You look at my administration, you're going to see people who have gone through a lot and now they're representing a city that is going through a lot. We are pushing the envelope. And our victories are unbelievable. I inherited this city January 1st, 2022. This city was in a mess. A mess. Crime was surging. I was getting calls as the Brooklyn Borough president from people who lived in this community talking about crime, going over to 40 projects, mobilizing with those who are part of the crisis team trying to bring down crime. Our schools were failing, where 30 to 40 percent of the people at Rikers Island are dyslexic. 80 percent don't have a high school diploma or equivalency diploma. Everybody is talking about closing Rikers Island, the building. I say let's close the pipeline that feeds Rikers Island.

So, what are we doing? Dyslexia screening for every child so they don't go through what I went through at P.S. 140, being bullied because I was dyslexic and no one told me that. What else are we doing? People were fighting to get summer youth jobs. 100,000 summer youth jobs, never before in history, because of the partnership with the speaker of the City Council. 110,000 Summer Rising programs. We were able to do full education throughout the year. Decreasing crime. Decreasing shooters. Removing almost 11,000 guns off the street before we took office. Having agencies respond to your concerns.

This city was humming. 56 million tourists returned in the city in 2022. 65 million are believed to be predicted coming this year. 99 percent of the jobs we lost from pre-pandemic came back. No one wanted to be on our subway system when we started. Now you see we're capping out at 3.6, 3.8 million riders. Tourism is back. Restaurants are back. All the things we fought for and we committed to we delivered on.

And then what happened? In April of 2022, Governor Abbott decided he wanted to play a political game and use human beings as pawns and started sending people to the City of New York. Busloads. Busloads. We had to come up with a plan right away. April, May, June. June I stood up and stated: New York, this is going to be a crisis that's unsustainable, and it's going to hit every one of our neighborhoods. We were able to hold this crisis down as we called for the federal government to come in and do its job. This is a federal job. And it didn't stop. We had 110,000 people went through our system, and 10,000 are coming every month. And we're getting no help. No help. Opened over 200 emergency facilities, humanitarian relief centers.

And let me tell you what's really despicable about this the most. You have the controller of the City of New York running around taking our concerns of saying we should not be weighing this whole battle, he's saying we're anti immigrant. We are made up of immigrants in this city. Calling on the federal government to do its job is not anti-immigrant and it's saying we should be funded. What we're doing to the migrant and asylum seekers is despicable to put them in the conditions to live on, and its despicable that New York City's taxpayers are having to deal with this issue every day. And how dare anyone say New York City is not going through a crisis. And here's the sad part about it, folks. When you get 10,000 a month, there's no relief in sight. And so I'm not going to search through a thesaurus and find the proper way to be politically correct to tell you that this could destroy our city, this crisis.

I'm going to be honest with you. That's what you elected me to do. I'm going to have real talk, real conversation with you. This is not sustainable in our city. $5 billion, we've got to go back and do our November planning. We've got to find $5 billion. Where do you think those $5 billion are going to come from? It's going to come from what we fought for. We invested in these after school programs. We invested in mental health care. We invested in improving our school buildings. We invested in housing. We've got $5 billion we have to find because by law we have to balance the budget. So, in November we have to go find $5 billion.

And then it doesn't stop there. We have to find more, and for the next two budgets we have to balance and find $12 billion. $12 billion. So, let me just give you an analogy, and then we're going to turn it over to you. All of us have to budget our household. You own a home, you budget your household for the year to pay your rent, your mortgage, your insurance, your food, electricity, water bill, everything. You have a budget down to the dollar. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere, the roof caves in. You have to find money out of those necessities that you budget for.

Our roof caved in. And instead of getting the help we're supposed to get, we're left on our own. We're left on our own. And so I want you to ask the questions so we can answer them on all of these issues that we are facing. But we have to do it in a manner in which Southeast Queens operate. I'm going to listen to you when you ask a question, and I ask you to listen to me when I answer. I'm not going to talk over you. I'm not going to be disrespectful to you. I'm going to have my commissioners follow the same rules of engagement.

But I love every one of these people up here. I call them 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 a.m. in the morning to respond to the needs of this city. No mayor has ever been to more crime scenes, more power outages, more floods, more hospitals with parents who lost loved ones, been on more missing children report. I'm on the ground. I'm on the ground. I know what this city can become, folks. I know what we deserve. And we don't deserve this. And I'm going to fight like hell for the city I wore that bulletproof vest for for 22 years and protected and served. I'm going to defend this city to the best of my ability. And I don't care who gets upset over me doing that. But we need to ask our citywide leaders: Don't send out tweets. Get your ass on the streets and start fighting this issue that we're facing.

Commissioner Kreizman: Excellent. Let's get started at Table No. 1. We're just asking everyone to be cognizant of the whole community. We want to make sure to get through every table. So, if we could just be brief, and thank you.

Question: Good evening. Welcome back.

Mayor Adams: Thank you, brother.

Question: Welcome back home.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: So, the question that we have here is regarding the drug problems that we're having around our schools, specifically Marconi Park, and that the parks department has not been doing their part in maintaining those parks because that drug problem is specific to heroin and fentanyl, and that's leaving a lot of needles and dangerous substances around for the children.

And also the support for the 103rd, given that Commanding Officer Robinson was promoted, has not been provided. So, they don't have the leadership structure. And so what we're asking is when can we find the help in those services?

Mayor Adams: Parks? See what I got from parks. Who here...

Commissioner Kreizman: The borough commissioner.

Mayor Adams: Who is it? 

Commissioner Kreizman: The borough commissioner.

Mayor Adams: Yes. You have the mic down there?

Jackie Langsam, Chief of Operations, Department of Parks and Recreation: Hi. So, want me to stand up?

Commissioner Kreizman: Ask all our speakers, when they answer questions, to please stand up.

Langsam: Sure, sure. We're aware that there are some… That there is activity, negative activity, in Marconi. We have, in fact, been working with the Police Department. There are some things that are... that we really shouldn't mention, but there are activities, and there is an investigation going on at Marconi for the things that are taking place at Marconi.

As far as our own PEP officers, we have only 50 PEP officers for the entire borough. And we do have a good number that are assigned to this district. We actually just this year opened a new substation at Rufus King Park to address a lot of the issues that we have in Board 12, and we also have new PEP officers at Roy Wilkins.

And they travel and they respond to conditions as needed. We have them on both shifts till midnight. And we do work collectively with the Police Department, and very closely at that.

Mayor Adams: Tell me something, 103rd, where's the chief? Talk to me. What's happening over there in that park? Who's the CO or XO over there? You're the XO? Huh? Okay. Talk to me about that park. What are you seeing over? What are you seeing over there?

Question: So, we are seeing a lot of both. Not too long ago there was a shooting in Marconi Park, and we're seeing a lot of needles, a lot of drug activity, a lot of homelessness, and that presence is heavy.

I will say that that presence is specific to Marconi Park but also in the adjacent areas of public schools, like [40 Park] and even [ISA], right? This is a continuing issue. I believe that it has a lot of do with the homelessness in our restricted areas in public housing. That's where it's coming from. It's being pumped out into these adjacent areas.

Mayor Adams: Got it. Is this in the 103rd?

Captain Ronald Lubin, Police Department: Yes, sir.

Mayor Adams: Okay, talk to me.

Captain Lubin: Like he was saying with ISA Park, we did take the complaints for the homeless people hanging out in the park close to the school. I have my overnight lieutenant. She sends out her people there every morning to clear that park out so people going to school do not see them, so on, so on.

In regard to Marconi Park, we're well aware. We patrol the park. We have our people out there. We patrol, we make sure they're out there. So, every complaint we take, we take seriously. And we entertain every complaint.

We have our YCOs, our community officers, for the sectors. The sergeant, he's out there. He gets the guys out there. So, my guys are out there. They're visible. We do our part. 

Mayor Adams: So let me do this. D.J., could you just get his information. Let me meet you over there, and let me meet you over there with the CO and the chief, and let's do an analysis. Because we have to have a plan of action. Our parks have to be safe. So, we have to have a plan of action. So, I'm going to meet you over there, and let's do a walkthrough. Coordinate with D.J. to find out the best time for me to come over and meet you over there. All right? Okay.

[Applause] 

Commissioner Kreizman: Next table.

Question: Okay, okay.

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry.

Question: That's okay. So, one of the things that I definitely concur with you on is if you go down there to the migrant where these individuals are living at, it is deplorable. I go down there on a regular basis. I live in Southeast Queens right there by the Crowne Plaza.

I went down there, and I go down there and I talk to the individuals. We communicate through Google Translate. One of the problems is we're trying to get a good neighbor policy with the HERRC center. Councilwoman Adams, Senator Sanders and I have been going back and forward to address these issues.

We have a plan, what we want to do, but we know right now that these individuals can't go anywhere. All we're saying is that right here in Southeast Queens, we had more than 29 transitional shelters, including sanctuaries.

At this point we really want and we really do not need anyone else coming in until we get control over that situation. And if you go down there to the Crowne Plaza, I would love to do that, you will see how it's depreciating the values of the community, how there's garbage along there. We did have the sanitation to come to do work there, but it's only been going to another level.

Also, you see individuals sitting out there smoking marijuana, drinking beers, hanging out in front of neighbors' homes. And that's not a good neighbor policy. So, that's why we as a civic association went down there to say, hey, what we can do to make this work so that you understand the community needs.

Now, when we think about that, when we think about... so, we're empathetic toward their plight. The other thing is that, when we think about our New Yorkers who are homeless right here, we have more than 5,000 units of homeless units in NYCHA.

Why can't those units, those available units, be used for those who are in city shelters, right, so that that will alleviate a lot of what's going on within the city and then we're taking care of our own, and then that way we can turn our attention more so to the migrant situation.

Mayor Adams: So, who's going to talk to me about the specific site that's there?

Commissioner Kreizman: We have DSS first deputy commissioner...

Mayor Adams: DSS? Tell me about that site, the site that we're talking about. And it should be a combination with Department of Sanitation because it's one thing to put people in the community, but those services of cleanliness, we've got to be clean, we've got to... whatever needs to be done. So, that specific site that we're talking about, what's happening there?

First Deputy Commissioner Jill Berry, Department of Social Services: Yes, if you're talking about a HERRC, we can coordinate with our partners to make sure that we keep it nice and clean.

Mayor Adams: Which location are you talking about?

Question: It's the Crowne Plaza. I have been down there on numerous occasions. I know Mr. Mike. I know Mr. Christian. I know them there. So, they keep saying, We're going to get back in touch with you. No one gets back in touch with you. Even Senator Sanders don't.

We have gone down there because we want to see how we can be good neighbors. We have already had a bookbag giveaway here, the 149th Street Civic Association with other entities. We had a bookbag giveaway over there in Baisely Park.

We gave clothing, we gave bookbags, we had food to show that we are good neighbors. We're not blaming them. But at the same time we all deserve to have decency within our community.

And also the bus routes. That was another thing because at that stop it's the first stop off the Q40. Once individuals from the... the asylum seekers get on, the second and third bus stop, people cannot get on. 

Commissioner Manuel Castro, Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs: Mr. Mayor? It's Commissioner Castro.

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes, go ahead.

Commissioner Castro: I believe this is a Health + Hospitals managed site, one of our HERRCs, and maybe, Zach, I don't know if you want to weigh in, but Laura Atlas would be the person to connect with. She manages coordination with communities. And she'd love to probably work with you.

Eileen Reyes from my team is right here, so she can connect with you and put you in touch with Laura Atlas. Also wanted to shout out Senator Sanders for a polling rally yesterday to call on more federal support for our communities to deal with the crisis. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Okay, so I want to drill specifically down with what they're saying here because if we have... You know, team, if I have a block of South Ozone Park Civic Association, if I have a civic association that's saying, We want to work with you, we want to help, I don't want to come to a meeting and hear somebody say they didn't get a call back, folks.

So, we need to immediately sit down with this civic association, find out their input. Because, you know, the crisis is here, so we need this partnership. And they're saying they want to help. So, we've got to rectify this. This cannot happen.

If you have some ideas, share them with us, because we're going to need some ideas as we navigate this. This is the chief of staff here. Can we give her your information, and she's going to make sure that we coordinate all these pieces. Okay? And thanks a lot.

Commissioner Kreizman: Thank you. Next table.

Question: Good evening, everyone. 

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Great. Our concerns with such a large influx of migrants being placed in our communities, how can we address the health and safety of our communities? Example, immunizations, immigrant students entering schools, and those who are living in the shelters.

For instance, we had to get vaccinated when we was younger. What's happening with the children that's coming in that can possibly get our children sick or we can possibly get them sick, our elders, and other people who have other health concerns?

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Is H + H? Who's going to take that?  

Commissioner Kreizman: H + H, we have Chief Executive Officer Neil Moore.

Neil Moore, CEO, NYC Health + Hospitals: Good evening. Thank you for the question. Health + Hospitals remains steadfast with its mission in providing healthcare services to everyone that comes through the doors, including the migrants.

We accept everyone irrespective of their ability to pay. And we have been receiving migrants in the hospital for primary care service and other services that they so desire. 

Mayor Adams: No, he had a specific question. Vaccines, all the aspects of the precautionary things we have for children, what are we doing with that?

Moore: All healthcare services, including vaccination and other health issues, are addressed at our hospitals. Whether they come through the emergency rooms or through our clinic, we have been receiving them and providing those primary care services, including vaccinations.

Mayor Adams: Okay. So, we at our intake, at our intake...  Immunizations in schools, there's a 30 day window that's permitted for schools' immunization. But for the vaccine, what do we do at the intake centers? When people come in in the intake centers, what's the procedures we're doing? Because we're doing screening checks. So, what are we doing there?

Commissioner Castro: Mayor, I can weigh in. This is Commissioner Castro over here. 

Mayor Adams: Okay.

Commissioner Castro: At our arrival center, which we set up at the Roosevelt Hotel, again, also managed by Health + Hospitals Corporation, every asylum seeker that arrives gets a screening. And we especially check children's immunization records to make sure that they have everything they need to enroll in schools.

One important thing everyone should know, we have a program called NYC Cares, where everyone is eligible regardless of immigration status, and they get access to our city hospitals and programs from day one because we want to make sure that any health conditions are addressed and communicable diseases are also taken very seriously.

Mayor Adams: So, just go through so you know. Everyone that comes in, they go to the Roosevelt Hotel, and there's a whole screening process that takes place. Because I want to address your concern that are we just recklessly allowing people to come in without a screening.

So, can we go through what that screening process is, what happens during that screening process? And who runs the Roosevelt? We want to know what the screening process is. Do we have the exact screening process that takes place at the Roosevelt?

Commissioner Castro: Well, Health + Hospitals runs the process. The executive director is not here. But, yes, upon arrival, asylum seekers are checked in. Whether they arrive here Port Authority or other means, they get a comprehensive screening there, you know, when did they arrive in the country, who put them on a bus here, and what are their needs.

We asked screening questions to know exactly, you know, whether they need shelter, whether they need other services. And there is where we identify any medical needs.

Early on you may have noticed a lot of people came in with medical conditions that needed to be addressed because they had just either crossed the border and been put on a bus for three days without any type of support, and so our teams in Health + Hospitals and other agencies responded to support those asylum seekers.

But know that the arrival center has a tremendous system in place to make sure people's needs are addressed but also to make sure that everyone in New York is safe. 

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry? 

Question: [Inaudible] that question.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: 86, 92 and 96. 

Mayor Adams: Who's 96?

Love it, love it, love it.

Commissioner Kreizman: Next table.

Question: My name is Maxine, and I have a tough question here for you.

Mayor Adams: None of them are tough questions.

Question: Okay. This is a tough question. Southeast Queens, we want to talk about flooding, mental health services that's going to increase in availability, and homelessness for the people who already live here in Southeast Queens. 

Mayor Adams: The DEP, who's the DEP?

Commissioner Kreizman: Beth, Deputy Commissioner DeFalco.

Mayor Adams: How are you? Talked about flooding, and then we talk about the shelters, and the third thing was mental health. Mental health. Okay.

Deputy Commissioner Beth DeFalco, Department of Environmental Protection: Hi, how are you doing? What specific area are you thinking about in general? I can tell you that overall in Southeast Queens, in Jamaica... 

Question: Hollis, Jamaica, and around the JFK area. 

Deputy Commissioner DeFalco: Okay, terrific. After this I'll actually come and sit with you, and I've got a whole project list of everything that we're doing here in Jamaica because we're spending over the next two... Over the next 10 years we're spending about $221 billion in Jamaica and in Southeast Queens to install and upsize sewers. I mean, we've got a lot of issues of flooding in Southeast Queens. Got a lot of groundwater, coastal and tidal flooding. So, we literally are getting it from every direction.

But there's also a lot of work and a lot of money we're spending to try and improve the situation, not just waiting for the Army Corps to build the wall, but doing what we can in the meantime to move as aggressively as we can. But I'll sit and take a look at Hollis Avenue with you.

Question: Thank you. This table is very interested. Table 4. 

Mayor Adams: Tell her that dollar amount again.

Deputy Commissioner DeFalco: 221 billion in the next 10 years. 

Mayor Adams: 221 billion. You know, as long as I can remember, and I'm pretty sure you know at the same time speak, as long as I can remember, Springfield was dealing with flooding, you know, and other parts. Whomever believes that climate change is not real, they need to come out here when you see these floods take place.

[Applause]

So, there's a great deal of investment. Some of it is going to take a while. We've got to re retrofit our sewer system. It's not made to handle this level of rainwater. We're going to use other ways of how to mitigate it.

But there's things we can do as a community, such as the gutter, cleaning the gutters, making sure they're not clogged. So, there's some small things we're doing.

But with the help of the speaker, the senator, that's a lot of money that's going to be invested in this community to try to mitigate this real flooding issue that we have.

There was a mental health... Department of Mental Health and Hygiene?

Commissioner Kreizman: Deputy Commissioner Avula.

Executive Deputy Commissioner Deepa Avula, Mental Hygiene, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you for the question. Mental health is a big part of our entire system of what we're trying to do here and as articulated in the mayor's [Community, Care, and Action Plan.]

One of the things we're also really trying to do is intersect that, address the intersection between mental health and homelessness. One of the ways in which we're doing this is increasing support of housing slots so not only are we housing individuals who are unstably housed but also addressing serious mental illness.

We know that serious mental illness really contributes to people living on the street, people living without stable housing. So, we want to take these two issues and try to address them together.

We have a commitment to increase support of housing slots by over 1,000 by the end of this year. We are on our way to meeting that commitment. We've invested a lot of significant dollars, over $60 million to increase the support of housing rates to ensure that those services are of high quality too.

Mayor Adams: And lastly DSS, let's talk about... the question was on housing people from the community. What are we doing housing people from the community that are homeless, correct? 

First Deputy Commissioner Berry: Yes, absolutely. So, for non asylum seekers who are experiencing homelessness, DHS is still maintaining all of our intake sites for people to come in to shelter. We have beds available. We are keeping people in shelter.

We have our street outreach teams that are out to encourage those who are unsheltered on the street to come into the DHS shelter system. And the minute you come into the shelter system, we are actively working with every homeless person to encourage them and help them in their journey to find permanent housing.

Mayor Adams: And that's one of the first things that we heard back last year, people were saying, okay, you are giving more to the asylum seekers than long term New Yorkers. That is just not true.

We built the first tent on Randall's Island. I went over because I was visiting shelters where long term New Yorkers were. And I went over there, and some of the brothers stepped to me and said, Listen, you are giving them the tents, you're giving them everything over there.

I said, Listen, you could go live in the tent if you want to. You have the right to do so. They said, Wait a minute. We don't want to do that. We want to stay where we are.

No one is getting anything more than anyone else. Everyone that comes through the system, they're getting the same thing. We're not elevating anyone over anyone. I'm consistent about we're not going to treat people differently if they're within our care. So, there was a lot of rumors going out there, but that is not the reality. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Adams: How are you? Good seeing you. 

Question: I'm fine. Roslin Spigner, district leader, representing Table 5. Four really quick quality of life questions. First, lack of affordable housing; the dumping of illegal cars, which have fake plates beyond seven days or more; excessive loud noise from parties till over 5 a.m.; and speeding and the need for speed bumps, stop signs, traffic lights.

Mayor Adams: You know, I love when I come to community meetings and everyday New Yorkers raise these quality of life issues. Because whenever I'm cracking down on them, everyone says, okay, there go Mayor Po Po again trying to be heavy handed on everyone. You don't want music playing all times at night in your community. You don't want people speeding through your community. You don't want motorcycles doing spinning and wheelies. You don't want paper plates running in your community. People want to pitch it as this is what I want. No, I'm hearing this all the time.

So, what we have done? When we got into office January 1st, 2022, no one was dealing with paper plate issues. We drilled down on it, removed almost 11,000 illegal bikes off our streets. We zoomed in on the paper plates. And know what we found? We found that people who had the paper plate, the out of town plate, the forged plates, they had guns in their cars. They were doing stickups. Many of them were just creating crimes.

We... Police Commissioner Sewell at first, now Police Commissioner Caban, Chief of Department Maddrey, we're zeroing in on those quality of life issues, particularly how vehicles are being used to commit crimes. And many of these folks have gotten so used to committing series of crimes, and no one has been going after them to do so.

That's all that pushback where you're hearing that, okay, why are you all doing chases to go after people. We're having plates where people are doing six, seven robberies. We're not going to let them get away anymore. You're not going to just do whatever you want in this city anymore. Those days are over.

It's a small number of people who have made up their mind that they're going to do whatever they want in this city because no one was going after them and telling them that's not acceptable. Well, you know what? I'm telling them now it's not acceptable. We did a nice initiative. 

I just came down the block to do another check. All of these darn trucks that are parked over here on Springfield, we went and told the lot of them we're going to come back with DOT, we're going to do another initiative.

A lot of these guys are parking on the streets in the Bronx, they're parking over here. They should not be parking on your streets. If they know they can't park in front of Gracie Mansion, they should not be parked in front of your mansion.

We're going to come back out here, and we're going to do another initiative to do towing to those trucks over there. We're going to give them a warning: You can't park here, it's illegal. And if they don't move, we're going to tow those cars from over there. Quality of life is everything. You deserve the quality of life. The amount of taxes you pay, you need to get your quality of life.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: Okay, housing, housing. No, we need to do a housing 101 because a lot of people, when people think housing, they automatically think the mayor, they automatically think the speaker. You know, our numbers, and I want us to give the numbers of how many people we put in housing. Who has that? You have. Okay, okay.

We have the amazing Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. She's going to give you our numbers. And, Dan, can you go over what our plan is for housing? We're going to go over the mission for housing.

But housing is... You know, when you're the mayor, people blame you for everything. You get in an argument with your wife? That damn Eric Adams. You know, housing is the city and state. We put in place a plan. The governor and I put in place a plan of we need to build more housing.

We have an inventory problem. That's what we have. There's not enough units of housing. So, if you don't have a lot of units of housing, then the demand allows people to raise the prices. We need to be building more. We're not building more.

So, we put a plan in place to renew 421a so we can incentivize housing. That did not pass. We put a plan in place so that we could turn office spaces — we have about 138 million square feet of office spaces — into housing. That did not pass. We put a plan in place to raise the FAR. That did not pass. We need the state to give us the help in building more houses.

But Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer will tell you what we have done. And, Dan, you can give us a quick overview what we're going to do. We want to partner with the speaker and the senator so we can build more. We're both in line with this. We've got to build more housing.

Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce: Thank you, mayor. Good evening, everyone. So, I want to talk about the number of units that are in construction in this district right now and then highlight the initiatives that we're all working on together because, as the mayor mentioned, we need to do more for New Yorkers and for Jamaica residents to make sure that everyone has access to a safe, decent, and affordable home.

So, in this district, there are close to 7,000 units of housing that are under construction and another 600 or so that are in the pipeline. So, that is a good start. But the mayor charged us with doing more and doing it faster. And so in the last fiscal year, thanks to the great work of our Commissioner Aldolfo Carrión and the entire team at HPD, the last fiscal year we financed more than 24,000 units of affordable housing. And that's...

Thank you, ma'am. This is a... It's a good start given the challenges that many New Yorkers face. We had the second highest in history number of new construction units, the highest in history in terms of homes for the formerly homeless, and supportive units, and we have to do more.

So, Chair Garodnick will tell everyone about the work that we're doing together with the speaker, together with many leaders here on a neighborhood plan. And there is... I don't want to steal your thunder, but there is a community meeting and open house at the end of the month that we want to make sure everyone knows about.

But the final thing that I'll say is, of course, we are a city of renters. But in this district, there are many homeowners as well. And so I want to make sure that we are connecting all of you who are homeowners or aspiring homeowners to programs that we have for first time down payment assistance, programs that we have to help you make repairs in your homes.

And so if anyone has questions about that, we have a lot of team members here. But we have to do more both for renters and for homeowners, and the mayor has charged us with doing just that. So, Chair Garodnick.

Mayor Adams: So, I don't know if you heard those three areas. It's worth repeating again. History. First time in history. What are those three areas that we produce more?

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: The new construction units, the second most in history. 

Mayor Adams: Second most in history. New construction. Got to build it.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer:  The largest in history of units for the formerly homeless into permanent housing.

Mayor Adams: Largest in history for formerly homeless.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer:  And supportive units as well, supportive housing units.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. 

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: In history.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. So, Dan, just a quick, what are we planning on doing in the future as we build faster, partnering with our city council members.

Dan Garodnick, Director, Department of Citywide Planning: Yes. Thank you very much, mayor. Dan Garodnick, director of the Department of City Planning. It is correct to note that we have a real inventory problem in the city and that we did not see any progress in the state of New York.

We are taking action on our own here in New York City to be able to try to alleviate that burden, to try to create more housing, more affordable housing here in Jamaica and also throughout the entire city.

50 percent of New Yorkers are rent burdened, which means that they pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent. That number is 61 percent in Jamaica. We know that there's real economic insecurity, and the challenges of finding an affordable home in New York City is a real issue.

So, we have a proposal that we will be working on and announcing this fall which is animated by a desire to create more housing across all neighborhoods in New York City, more affordable housing, finding ways to prioritize housing over parking, finding ways to enable office conversions, and much, much more.

And here in Jamaica, specifically, with the speaker of the city council, Adrienne Adams, and council member Natasha Williams, the borough president, Donovan Richards, we are working on focusing on a real neighborhood plan for Jamaica itself.

Finding ways to enhance job opportunities, finding ways to lean into the real advantages that this neighborhood has as it relates to transit access should also mean real access to jobs and housing. And that is what we're looking to work on.

The deputy mayor did not entirely steal my thunder, so I'm going to give you the info. September 30th at York College at 10 o'clock in the morning, we're going to be having a community conversation to start our planning for Jamaica and to think about what this neighborhood needs, what we can do to activate housing, job creation, right here.

We're incredibly excited about it, particularly with our partnership with the city council. We look forward to working with all of you to make that come true. Thank you. 

Mayor Adams: So, we're with you. Housing, housing, housing. We've got to build, build more housing. 

Question: Hello. [Linette Townsley,] Community Board 12 Youth Committee chair. Welcome back. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you, thank you.

Question: And we are amongst family, so I will say humbly that I think there's a little bit of miscommunication because from what they said down there, when it came to the homelessness and prostitution and things that's not supposed to be around our children in our parks, over here with our community relations officer, he said that's not his job. That was DHS.

So, we're a little confused when it comes to... and I think our question is the reason why it's so important. Because we have challenges when it comes to... and this is before the immigrants, you know, before all of these other issues, our community is dirty.

We should not have to tell the city agency that it needs to be sweeped. You know, when it comes to the tree trimming and stuff like that, we should not have to continuously tell the city agencies.

So, our question is what is the process to hold the city agencies accountable and also to see if they need some support for making sure that we have, again, quality of life in all of our communities?

First of all, thank you for that. And if ever...I'm sorry? Yes, no. If ever a community affairs officer tells you something is not his job, he's getting out of community affairs. Mark, you need to find out who said that.

We work as a team. Every job is our job. If you come to me and say, Eric, I'm having a homeless issue, am I going to tell you it's not my job? That's not acceptable. It's not acceptable. And they will not be in community affairs.

Their job is to make sure they connect you with the agency that can address them. They're on the front line. That's their responsibility. That's why they're out there.

They should have access to every agency. If you have any problem at all, anyone that's on this table that works in city government should be able to help you find the agency that's going to help them. It's all our job. And we sat down on the other end of the table, if there's a condition that needs to be corrected, you should be given the information on how to correct that condition.

If there's a homeless person, that homeless person should be given the services they need, pointed in the right direction. We have outreach workers that will come out. As you notice, you don't even see encampments all over your streets anymore because we coordinated with Deputy Mayor Williams Isom, with police, sanitation, all the housing entities to rectify those situations.

So, I want them... Jessica, the commissioner of Department of Sanitation, there's one thing she hates, is somebody saying the streets are not clean. And you may not know it, but I hate rats. And so I like to clean our streets. And we have an ambitious, ambitious plan to do so. Jessica, can we talk about the cleanliness of the community?

Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Sanitation: Yes, so a few things on it. First, I hear the feedback that this community is not as clean as you want it to be and it's not as clean as you deserve for it to be. And you do have my commitment that we will put the resources, the Department of Sanitation, at your disposal to address the conditions that you are seeing.

I also want to make clear, though, that this administration is spending an unprecedented amount of resources on cleaning citywide. So, we are doing the most street sweeping that New York City has ever done. We are doing the most litter basket service that New York City has ever done. We are doing the most highway cleaning that New York City has ever done.

We are cleaning for the first time in 50 years underpasses, overpasses, greenways, parts of the city that had not been cleaned before. And if you are not seeing that, then that is my problem, and it is something that I am committed to fixing because the mayor has put the resources that we need at our disposal to make you happy. Thank you. 

Mayor Adams: Highways. Under the commissioner, highways were not being clean regularly. Illegal dumping was not being addressed. We did the first round of all food service businesses now have to put their garbage in containers. We're seeing a decrease in rats reports. I think this was a 30... is my rat czar here? What are the numbers, the decrease in rats?

Commissioner Tisch: Citywide the rat complaints are down 20 percent since we changed the trash rules. And in our rat mitigation zones, they're down 45 percent.

And one thing to know here is rat numbers in New York City never go down. So, the fact that they went down and went down so consistently and so universally is a really good indication that the policies that we're putting in place in containerizing our waste and collecting it earlier are really beginning to show some real results.

Mayor Adams: So, we're putting garbage... first time this city is going to be containerizing their garbage. Garbage are going to be in containers. We're putting it in for food service. We did it already. We're going to be rolling out more announcements.

If you want to deal with a rodent and cleanliness issue, you can't have those darn garbage bags all over the street. It is just not healthy to do so, and we're cycling out of that. Make sure you see the commissioner, okay?

Commissioner Kreizman: Next table.

Question: Hello. Good afternoon. Hi. My name is...

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Hi, Mayor Adams. My name is [Tricia Elliott]. I am active member in this community. I currently live on 111 and [inaudible] Avenue right down the block from August Martin.

My main question is what are we doing to help this school be more funded so that we can help the kids and help the community be more active and more supportive as well as have more... like a soccer team or football team, a track and field, all the good stuff we need to help this community as well as the kids.

They are cutting schools, and I see a lot more and more. I see them cutting school, smoking, not going to school, and they're not motivated.

As a community, I want to see more changes. I want to see more academics, I want to see more sports, more everything going on with the school. But we need... we honestly need this funding for the high school because all of our students go here, all of our kids go here with their community.

Mayor Adams: Thank you, thank you. And so, you know, first of all, your question is an important question because when we start talking about where $5 billion is going to come from, this is what I'm talking about.

All these investments we have made in our children, 100,000 summer youth jobs, 110,000 children going to Summer Rising all school year long, opened our schools after school hours for summer nights basketball, dyslexia screening, investing in our foster care children, we now pay the college tuition to foster care children, we invested in Fair Futures so our foster care children can have life coaches longer so they won't drop out and they get the support that they need, all of these programs we're talking about is now coming under real threats.

But we have done under this administration more investment in our children than anyone else has ever done. We've dropped down child care. What was the child care cost that we dropped down? Give that microphone to the deputy mayor. Child care?

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: From about paying about $1,400 a year to $100 a year for families.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Significant. 

Mayor Adams: So, we know if we don't invest in a child, they're going to be a broken child and they're going to turn into broken adults. We must invest in our children. That has been our north star. And we want to list all the investments that we have done because you're right.

Now, without investment, nothing stops us from starting a crochet club, a football club, an accounting club, a financial literacy club. We can open our churches, our schools, our basements. This is how we used to do it in southeast Queens. We need to go back to doing that again. We can save these children together.

[Applause] 

Commissioner Kreizman: Commissioner Howard? 

Mayor Adams: See? Love it, love it. Great, commissioner. This is Commissioner Howard from DYCD.

Commissioner Keith Howard, Department of Youth and Community Development: How is everybody? Good, good, good. In this school alone we have two magnificent programs. We have a Saturday Night Lights program, and we have a career program with high school students alone.

Queens, and specifically this district area, we have over... we had over 4,000 young people involved in SYEP. In this district alone, we had over 4,000 slots for Summer Rising. 

Yes, please, clap that up. That's the investment that the mayor is talking about.

So, 28 of your schools have after school programs in this district. And I can tell you, and I hope I'm getting it correct, but there is a football program called Rosedale Jets. We fund Rosedale Jets, okay. So, they have an amazing program, with young people playing football out there. I was out there at least two months ago watching that program.

We have basketball programs in Roy Wilkins with SQPA. We have art programs with the Black Spectrum Theatre. We have sports programs in the PAL over at Baisley. So, we have a significant amount of investment in young people and young people's growth and workforce development in this school district and in the borough of Queens. 

Mayor Adams: And we don't do it alone. We don't do it alone. We can't do any of that without the speaker. She has made it clear, her investment in young people and the support we get from the speaker, the other councilmembers out here and the senators and the assembly person, we don't do it by ourselves. They are the partners in getting those resources here. 

Question: Okay. I pulled the short stick. Okay. I'm sorry, my name is Michelle Mosley. I am a member of [UNCA,] which has been in existence since 1954, and we cover this whole area.

Okay, the question is enforcement. We have been asked to call 311 with our complaints about quality of life issues, and we've done that, and yet and still the enforcement is not coming. Okay. We have abandoned vehicles in our neighborhood that's been there for months, even years. And yet and still, when we get our 311 numbers back, it says condition corrected or whatever they say.

Then we have an issue with loud parties, where people are renting out their homes for a party. They're selling food. They're selling liquor. They have security guards. And the music is loud. And yet and still, when police are called or 311 is called about the loud music, it just never gets handled. So that was one of the questions.

And I also have another question about abandoned homes in our community. How can city council or the mayor's office or the state try to get these homes and renovate them for people to move into them instead of keeping them abandoned? Because I'd rather have a person living in a house than a building and have a yard instead of a courtyard to play in. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. We found out... we found out with the 311 system, we found a major glitch where the caller that calls in, the 311 operator... which, believe it or not, they handle millions of calls. They're doing an unbelievable job. When they refer the call to an agency, they were marking it as closed as it was resolved. We're going to change that policy. The resolution is not when you refer it; the resolution is when the actual agency corrected the condition and it comes back as being corrected. 

Because when we looked at all those 311s, and Deputy Mayor Banks, his team has been calling citizens and saying was your issue corrected, because we wanted to spot check, people were coming back saying it's not corrected, but we were seeing it as condition corrected.

So, we dug in deeper just to learn that that's where the problem was. We're rectifying that policy. Now condition corrected is going to mean when our agency corrects that condition. I'm not 100 percent. 311 was a great invention by Mayor Bloomberg, but it's not where it ought to be. We want to do a better job. That could be a great tool for us, and we want to focus on that. Someone talked to me about these abandoned vehicles. What street are we talking about?

Question: There's several abandoned vehicles on... between 137th Avenue and 134th Avenue. And they all parked in the street, because there's somebody working on vehicles, so he switches them out. He's put paper plates. He's got Ohio. He's got Texas. He's got all of this. And then we have them on 132nd Avenue near the Northeast Towers where people even covered their car, and it's been there for years, and nothing's done.

Mayor Adams: Got it. So, I know you're doing something around there. Okay. So, let's make sure we look at those spots. Can we share what we're doing?

Commissioner Tisch: Yes. So, the reason that you never got a response to 311 calls about abandoned vehicles is because for far too long it was a game of finger pointing between two agencies. So, historically there's two flavors of abandoned vehicles. There are derelict vehicles, which are vehicles valueless, and then there are abandoned vehicles which have more value. And sanitation historically has done one type of vehicle and the NYPD has done another.

So, when people enter a vehicle into 311, they don't think deeply about whether it's derelict or abandoned. And oftentimes it got bounced back and forth between the agencies and no cars came off the street. We changed all of that. We have paired a team of NYPD officers with a team of sanitation supervisors, and this group's only job is to go around the city and take abandoned vehicles, derelict vehicles, whatever vehicles shouldn't be on the streets, to take them off the street.

This team started two months ago. There was a tremendous backlog in 311 because vehicles hadn't come off the streets in so long, and they're working their way through it. What I can promise you is that tomorrow that group will be here with you addressing the vehicles that you just outlined. 

Mayor Adams: We call it GSD: Get stuff done. How are you?

Question: Good evening, Mayor Adams. How are you?

Mayor Adams: Good to see you.

Question: Good to see you. I'm Vera Anderson, representing Table No. 9, and we are still touching on quality of life. So, the quality of life has been going down over the years: derelict vehicles, illegal dumping, illegal weed shops, posters for parties, rats showing up from construction sites. And not enough workers in any agency to keep up. If you enter into other neighborhoods, it's like night and day. We pay our taxes. What will Sanitation and NYPD do to address this as a priority?

Mayor Adams: So, we touched on some of them. Commissioner Tisch talked about the whole initiative around going after abandoned vehicles, that entire team. Now, remember, these vehicles were on the street, as was just mentioned, for God knows how long. You're going to see that backlog clear up, and that task force that's working together, we're zeroing in on these cars. Canarsie was having the same problem as well.

Same thing with cleanliness, the number of times we're doing street sweeping. We know we have to catch up to how dirty this city has been, and we basically... we have thrown up our hands historically. We don't believe that.

And that is what the commissioner is really zeroing in on, the cleanliness of the city, of the communities and of the neighborhoods. You're going to see a drastic increase in the cleanliness that this community expects and deserves. You act surprised.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Thank you so much. I'm a little bit nervous right now. My name is... I'm Dr. Natalie Ferguson, and I'm a nurse. And more importantly, I am the parent of a special needs child. My son is autistic with intellectual disability. And I'm here fighting for him, for the rights of all mental health individuals and individuals with special needs.

My life, my passion, everything is involved in fighting for my son and for all the other special needs individuals. My question to you is, are there any incentives or funding available for adults and children with special needs to get to the ground running? The only reason that my son, that I was able to get services for my son, was because I had to work, go to school, get these degrees and move out from the poorer neighborhood, to come to Queens to find out about information that would help my son.

It wasn't made available to me at all in the other neighborhoods. Why did I have to go through all of that to find help for my son? Why is it that you hear all about the funding and information, but people, they don't know about this, services out there. There's no information. I have been reaching out, talking to anyone, knocking on doors because I'm not too proud to beg for help for my child.

Malcolm, Mr. McDaniel was telling me some information about a registry and different things like that. Because the bottom line is working in the hospital, parents are coming in with their special needs children, and they have no clue. They have no idea. So, you can have all the funding and the money, but it's not getting down to the grassroots, to the families that need this information.

And then if the parents don't know, they're not able to help their children. And then what happens when the parents are no longer there? What happens when I'm gone if I don't put stuff in place for my son?

Hopelessness with mental health issues is what happens. Incarceration is what happens because there's a high percentage of mental health Black men incarcerated. That's why they need the screening.

I will ready to roll up my sleeves and talk to every one of these people here if it will help to get the information out to the people for my son and for all the other children that need the support. Thank you. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. There's a couple of layers to that. Number one, what we found is that in the New York City public schools, the services that our young people needed was not in our school system itself. Chancellor Banks has made a real commitment to bring those services within New York City public schools.

And you're right, access to information is crucial because many people stay home and suffer without getting the access to information that they need.

We've had a summit at Gracie Mansion with Lucina Clarke from My Time Inc incorporation where she helps people get that information. We want to continue to do so. If you have ideas on how we can better get that information out, we would love for you to partner with that. I don't know if, Dan, if you... who is the best to handle that?

Commissioner Jess Dannhauser, Administration for Children's Services: You're exactly right, Mr. Mayor, about the Department of Education. It gets worse. There's times where folks call us at ACS, I’m the commissioner for Children's Services because parents are really struggling.

So, we've created a special needs unit. Our job is to advocate for parents, not bring children into foster care, but to advocate for parents with state systems, the Office of People With Developmental Disabilities, the Office of Mental Health, to make sure that they are being responsive to your needs.

So, I can talk to you after about ways in which we can support more of that. We created this unit because parents were actually getting punished for trying to take care of their special needs kids, and we're trying to move upstream to take care of them.

Most of the services are within the DOE, but we also have to push on our state partners who are responsible at the Office of People With Developmental Disabilities and the Office of Mental Health, and I can work with you on that. 

Commissioner Kreizman: And we have Deputy Chancellor Danika Rux from DOE. 

Deputy Chancellor Danika Rux,  School Leadership, Department of Education: Thank you. That is an issue that we're working really hard on, access for families with information. So, every school has a parent coordinator, and their job really is to help parents to navigate the various systems. 

Additionally, every school, they have a school based support team, and there's someone on the school based support team, the school psychologist, who connects them with parent advocates. And not too many families take advantage of the advocate.

So, we have a great job in ensuring that families know who the advocates are and that they're utilizing the advocates to help them to support. Because it is a massive system, and our priority is always to ensure that families are being connected, families and children are being connected to the right resources and the right support.

So, please see me. I will come find you and we can talk, because I hear that you have a lot more ideas, and I would love to hear what your thoughts are on this issue as well. 

Mayor Adams: And it's unbelievable how unfriendly government can be in navigating. It's intimidating to get... My mother used to dread going into a governmental agency. And so what we want to be, we want to be customer sensitive and friendly. In order for you to get access to the services that are available, someone needs to be willing to take the time out and walk you through.

Now, we've got a couple of initiatives we're doing. We did the... what is the computer program we did registering the children? MyCity. MyCity. We did the MyCity. We eventually will have a system called MyCity. We did it for child care registration, which has been a home run.

We eventually are going to build this out that every New Yorker is going to have a number so you will be told of all the services that are available for you based on your profile. Because you shouldn't have to guess if you are eligible for WIC, if you are eligible for SNAP, if you're eligible for DRIE and SCRIE.

If we have your information, we should be able to tell you, Ms. Jones, this is your income, this is your status. Here are all the items that are available. And we want to evolve to the point of even signing you up for that. That is how we want to use technology to get resources to you. We leave too much on the table where people are not aware of what's available for them. 

Commissioner Kreizman: Next table.

Question: Hello. I am Aliana Soto from South Jamaica Infinity Garden. Many of us are plant based; we'd love to have you there. So, this wasn't brought up. So, we want to know if the Office of Cannabis Management    are they here? Hmmm    if the Office of Cannabis Management has come to a conclusion or any new regulations regarding the smoke shops.

They did meet with us at the 113th Community Council and gave a wonderful presentation, and they talked about all the industries that would benefit from the dispensaries. But the smoke shops were not on that list, so now they're this unregulated thing. They're on every single corner, two or three on a block, more than bodegas.

We know the issues that it causes. This is not whether you're pro or con, it's more about the type of traffic and the issues that they cause, because we do know that there are issues. And one of the challenges that was shared was that you have to catch them in action. You have to catch them.

That's not going to work. And so right around from the garden there is a rehab center, and there's a smoke shop right across the street. I mean, like that's just... it's a mess. Additionally, the regulation and registration of motorized bikes and what's happening.

And lastly, Mr. Howard from the DYCD, thank you, but we do have a transportation issue getting our young kids throughout Southeast Queens. So, if you live on Rockaway and the Van Wyck, you can't get to Roy Wilkins or Baisley or Rosedale. So, I would like to also see some transportation for our young kids to get to these programs safely. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. So, let's deal with the smoke shops first. We can clean up all the illegal smoke shops in this city in three months if I'm given the authority to do so. If the New York City Police Department and the Sheriff's Department, if we're given the authority to do the enforcement, within three months, I guarantee you, we wouldn't have no more illegal smoke shops in this city. We don't have that power. The state has the power.

I asked them last year in Albany, Can you give us the power and let us local enforce the laws? Because it was a smart decision to do the financial benefits of cannabis and allow those legacy owners, allow those who are doing it legally... We are undermining the legal entity of cannabis because we are allowing all of these smoke shops to open. They're laughing at us. They are selling to our children. They're breaking all sorts of laws. I need the power. I want to be held responsible. I don't have that authority to close them down the way I want to close them down.

I'm hoping this year, in Albany, that there will be the desire to say let's give the local municipalities the authority to do so. And within three months of getting that power, we will have all these smoke shops closed down. 

Illegal bikes. No matter where I go, people talk about these illegal scooters. We learned at the town hall last week up in Manhattan that there's a law on the book where people are part of delivery workers, et cetera, they're supposed to wear vests with a number on the back of it. I spoke to the police commissioner. We are going to dig into that law to make sure that people have to enforce the rules.

Our streets have changed over the last few years. It's a different street. We must make sure that everyone is operating within the rules on that street. We've zeroed in on illegal mopeds. We've zeroed in on unlicensed ones. We have been doing real enforcement to make sure these streets are not dangerous.

I hear it everywhere. It's a real issue that we have to combat. I'm going to sit down with the speaker and put our heads together, how do we do it in a humane way. But there's a real issue with illegal mopeds and scooters on our street.

We've done a great job on the dirt bikes and the three wheel motorcycles. We took a ton off the streets. But we've got to zero in, and I'm looking forward, speaker, you and I figuring out how do we deal with these illegal mopeds and bikes on the streets. 

Question: Over here, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Good evening. First let me thank you. You came out for the street renaming for Bill McCreary. Thanks for coming out that day. 

My question is, piggybacking on the young lady's question here, with regards to the illegal smoke shops. As far as my opinion is, NYPD has told us they can't go in, the sheriff has to go in. And from my numbers, what I've researched, there's only about 200 sheriffs in New York City, maybe less, for the five boroughs. 

So, we're like rats spinning the wheel. If you only have about 200 sheriffs for the five boroughs, this issue will not be addressed until you or the administration hires more sheriffs. That's the only way I can see it being solved. What's your answer for that, sir?

Mayor Adams: And, see, that's why it's so important to be able to bring all this stuff back. We had to announce a hiring freeze. We have about 13,000 jobs that are open. We have to now tell New York City agencies that we have to have a hiring freeze. We can't hire anymore.

Why can't we hire anymore? We're pulling $5 billion out of our budget. So, now all of those jobs that we were filling by doing... The speaker and I were doing hiring halls all over the city, bringing in new employees, we have to now stop hiring. But in addition to that, I am willing to do the closing of these shops with what we have. I need the authority to do so. So, if the police department walks in, they can't take the action without the sheriff. So, we put tasks together with Police, Department of Buildings and others to go in. But that manpower is stretched.

I would rather say to my precinct commander that you tell your sector patrol, you identify a smoke shop, they're in there, they're possessing it, go in there, you take action. We've confiscated a substantial number by using that task force model. But that's a lot of manpower, as you just mentioned.

We want to go in and do the enforcement ourselves. I need the state to give me that authority to do so. Thank you.

But you see the dots? You see the dots that I'm talking about, that we can't hire? We just announced this hiring freeze because we can't bring more people on because we've got to figure out in November where that $5 billion is going to come from. 

Question: Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity of your ear. Housing prices in our community have increased to over a million dollars, yet the boulevards, Sutphin and Rockaway, reflect despondent poverty. What offices can work with our community to incentivize businesses to come to the community and work on the beautification and stabilization of our boulevards? For example, there are uniform store awnings at the beginnings of Sutphin Boulevard across from the courthouse. Can that look come further down Sutphin?

Mayor Adams: Who do I have from SBS?

Commissioner Kreizman: We have Deputy Commissioner Calvin Brown.

Mayor Adams: You've got an amazing commissioner over there, Commissioner Kim. SBS is working hard as hell now. 

Deputy Commissioner Calvin Brown, Neighborhood Development, Small Business Services: Yes, did you mention Sutphin Boulevard?

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Deputy Commissioner Brown: Sutphin Boulevard is in one of our business improvement districts, and we support all of our business improvements districts. We have 70 plus throughout New York City. We have three that consolidated in downtown Jamaica Queens, which was Sutphin, 165th Street and downtown Jamaica.

We have been supporting them with resources that we received from the city council. They just received one of our lighting grants, which is a new Strategic Impact Grant that we're giving to these commercial corridors to light them up so we can make sure that they're more secure but also to bring foot traffic to those commercial corridors to support those small businesses.

But if there's anything specific, please reach out to my division specifically. I'm in a division of neighborhood development, and we provide support to the business improvement districts throughout the city.

Mayor Adams: Going to just overall what you guys did with the partnership we did with... Was that JPMorgan Chase? JPMorgan Chase. And what's it, 750 million? How much we did?

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: The mayor is mentioning a fund that we put together with Goldman Sachs, $75 million, which is really the largest of its kind in the country. And this is a fund specifically to provide capital for small businesses, specifically small businesses and minority owned businesses.

And it was a big success. So many businesses over the course of a short period of time this year were able to apply and access awards. But it's the type of public private partnership that is really needed, has always been critical, even more so now given the budgetary constraints that the mayor mentioned.

And so business improvement districts are, I agree, a really great opportunity to harness the energy and ideas of business owners, small business owners, government, and civic associations. And so we're all ears in terms of ways we can take those partnerships further, whether it's on capital access or beautification, as you mentioned.

Mayor Adams: And the deputy mayor did something else when she first came into office. Talk about what you did on how we were over penalizing businesses.

Deputy Mayor Torre-Springer: That's right. So, on day three of the administration, the mayor, Small Business Commissioner Kevin Kim and I announced an executive order, and the executive order was focused on asking all of the major agencies that interact with small businesses    regulatory agencies, Department of Health, the fire department, DOT, DOB. I mean, it's a very, very long list.

And for too long, and I think if you're a small business owner in this room, it probably felt like government wasn't there to help you and it was there to issue violations. And so the mayor said we have to end that.

So, we looked at the top 25 violations of every single agency, the top 25 they place on small businesses, and we said how do we change the dynamic, change it so that there are warnings, there are cure periods, the fines are more reasonable. And we ended up with over 100 different violations that we have reformed, are in the process of reforming, together with the speaker of the city council.

So, that's the start of the work. That was day three. Hopefully we have many, many more days to go to keep advancing the work to help small businesses across the five boroughs.

Deputy Commissioner Brown: Excuse me, mayor. Thank you to the speaker. She clarified the question that was asked. And to extend the work beyond the BID, we do... in my division, once again, we do have grants to support community based groups that are doing commercial revitalization work so that they can support those small businesses, especially if they extend outside of the boundaries of the district.

So, I gave the speaker my card. We need to identify a community group that we can work with, that we can fund so they can do that work so that that beautification and that support to those small businesses outside of the boundaries of the BID, we can support them.

Mayor Adams: Okay. So, you should connect. Make sure you connect. Our goal is to... We have an amazing, amazing team over at SBS. 

Question: Good evening, mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: I'm okay. I'm Miss Marion. Nice to see you again. My daughter, Claudia, was shot on May 10th. After you were at her funeral, which I appreciate. After that, the DA's office sent me to a couple of places to help us with funeral expenses. I was sent to two different agencies. We were denied. Finally, I was told, okay, go to HRA, maybe they can give you some help, since I haven't been to work since May 10th.

I went through that system. The HRA system, honestly... I'm from Ghana. I've been in this country since '83. I've been working since '91. I have not been in that agency ever. Those people make you feel like the crap under your feet. Honestly, I do not want to go back to work because the type of work I do, I don't want to give anybody's blood. I don't want to make any mistakes. So I've been in my own little shelter, and I haven't been anywhere.

But when I went to the HRA system, oh, my goodness. It's... I can't even explain. I went through the interview. The lady was like, Oh, my goodness, this happened to you, I'm going to get you help right away. She said, Okay, wait until Friday, go to the agency. This was a Tuesday. I went Friday. They were like, Oh, you were told to come and get a card; your case is not done yet. Okay. I waited Wednesday. I went back. They said, Oh, no, your case, you have to wait till you see something online. If you see something online, come, and then you'll get a card.

In two days I saw something online. I went back. She was like, Oh, no, no, I can't give you a card    now, mind you, this is my third time going    because your case, even though you see money, we still can't give you a card because so and so, blah, blah, blah. I said okay.

I came back, called another person on the phone. It's like, No, no, no, go back, they're supposed to give you a card. Now, this is my fourth time going there. So, I gave up. That was like two weeks ago. Monday, somebody called me from the director... she said she was a director or something because the DA's Office had told her my complaint of what I was going through. She said, Oh, my God, I don't know what's going on because I see in one end you have money in that's supposed to help you out, but I see on the other hand the case is closed.

I said, Yeah, the last person I spoke to told me the case was closed so I haven't been there. I said, Please do not send me back to that place to get the card. I am not    if it wasn't for this issue, trust me, look and see if you see my name in your books. She said, All right, I'm so sorry, I apologize. Told me she'll call me back in one hour. Nothing.

As far as your burial expenses go, how does that work? Because I've applied for everything, and nothing. Claudia Quaatey, I've been... Claudia was born here. We've lived in this community for... since 2011. Everyone in this community knows either one or two or three of my kids. Claudia is my only daughter. I have four boys. Everyone at Roy Wilkins knows my family. Senator... a couple of senators know my kids because we're very active in the community.

My son is part of the 100 Black Men group. I honestly feel that the way my daughter was murdered, and we're trying to be decent people, but where does the help come from? That HRA office needs to be... Jesus, it's ridiculous. 

Mayor Adams: Listen, first of all, Pastor Monrose, connect and navigate that. But it's not only about helping your case. I can't have a feeling that we're not responding. That's not acceptable. And we're going to look into, use your case as a case study and find out where we could have done better. But Pastor Monrose will communicate with you. That was such a horrific, horrific shooting. I remember being there with you and your family. We will look in to see exactly what happened.

But when people push back on me and getting guns off our streets, this is what it's about. My first few days in office I had two officers shot, Officer Mora and Rivera. I had others, a family, I went and sat in the hospital with the mother of an 11 month old child that was shot and killed. Those first few months we saw gun violence like you never witnessed, and more and more young people are possessing guns and using them. I mean, we're losing babies. And that is why this level of urgency you see when I talk about this gun violence that we're seeing.

This is a real story. This is a mother who lost her child due to senseless gun violence. This was a beautiful young lady who was volunteering, giving back. Now she's no longer here because someone decided to use a gun in our streets. That's why I'm so dogmatic on this gun violence, because these are real stories that families are going through. But Pastor Monrose will coordinate with you. Let us see exactly what went wrong there, but we'll also use it as a case study to make sure we communicate better. We have to have good customer service interactions. 

Commissioner Kreizman: With regards to funeral expenses, we'll follow up as well. Especially if it was a murder, we'll help and assist in that case.

Question: Good evening, everyone. 

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: And good evening, Mayor Adams. Thank you for coming. Welcome to my district. I'm Reverend Thorbs. I'm the chairperson for Community Board 12, and I've lived here all my life. I think the first thing on our agenda would be, could you please work out getting air conditioning in this school? This is crazy. That's at the top of the list. 

Mayor Adams: You said list, list. You've got a question?

Question: Yes, I do.

Mayor Adams: Okay.

Question: Not even a question. Your agencies are here. And I'm glad to see them. But we have a number of issues in this community that we should not have.

We have people that are coming into our community and not doing their work. Sanitation is deplorable. And my conversation has been with sanitation, with the superintendent, has been that when your trucks are on the street and you see in their route that there's sanitation, trash that's been left, pick it up. Pick it up. When you are picking up trash through our blocks, don't create more trash. Clean it up. 

Sanitation rolled out a system where they began to give out summonses, and right away Southeast Queens was hit with summonses at 8 a.m. in the morning for trash outside of their homes. This is not fair. Every time something is rolled out, we're hit with it. I have a property, 164-13 109th Avenue. This property is bank owned, and this woman has called me, Ms. Rosa, they're squatting, the weeds, the rats. This lady is paying a mortgage. This should not be. Like the commissioner said here, the agencies do the pointing game and kicking the can down the road.

I worked out of the 113th Precinct. I was trained there. And then I went to Brooklyn, and now I'm retired, and this is what I do. I love my community, but these agencies have to come up. They know who you are, and they know what your love is for this community, then they need to act like it. Merrick Boulevard, we have a red lane that we told them we did not want.

Jamaica Avenue, when MTA came to us, we said to them to put that red lane on Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue at the same time is a bad idea. Why don't you do Jamaica Avenue first or do Archer first and then let the community become accustomed to what they're dealing with. No, they thought it was a better idea to do it their way. And so what is happening? Jamaica Avenue is dying because people don't know how to drive on Jamaica Avenue. They can't get to the stores. It's insanity.

The migrant situation, as it was already stated by my constituent and by my other board members, and there are plenty of them still here in the room, we already had 29 shelters, 29 plus shelters. Where have all those people disappeared to? We had those children in our schools. Where have those families disappeared to? Because now no one in the shelters look like them. They're not there any longer.

I'm hearing about prostitution on Sutphin Boulevard. I'm hearing about drug sales from the immigrant community. Tuskegee Airmen Way, I was just there on Saturday sitting with a community of people. It's just going back to '80s. And I have to fight tooth and nail to find out who is going to clean the medians on Guy Brewer Boulevard and on Merrick Boulevard from Liberty to Farmers in Springfield.

I have car dealerships that are parking their cars on the sidewalks, doing repairs, and nobody can help us. Nobody can tell us what needs to be done. I understand DEP plays a part in that. Well, they need to step up and get something done for us. There's too many things that are going on in our community.

We're talking about housing. Jamaica Avenue... And this is the last one because, again, I'm the chair, and all these agencies should have been talking to us. Jamaica Avenue with all the building, the apartments, the third party people are blocking people from getting in those apartments. People who do qualify, people who have done their paperwork.

People are trying to apply for jobs for crossing guards because we need over 200 crossing guards. Their paperwork is done, and they're being ignored because they're place holding for another group of people. We see what's going on, but we have to have somebody fighting for us, and I think you are the person to do that. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You know, I know it is extremely challenging for people to really understand. I've been mayor for 20 months. I know it's hard to absorb that because it seems like I'm everywhere all the time, but I've been mayor for 20 months.

And that list that sister just gave, that list didn't start January 1st, 2022. Let's be very clear. What did I say when I started out? I inherited a city that was a mess. A mess. And now we're putting in place real systems to turn around that mess. And if we believe in 20 months systems that have failed for so long... we've had the greatest civil servants in this city, but we had bad systems.

So, I'm saying to you, don't get consumed by the enormity of the problem. I'm saying let's break them down, identify what they are, hear my agency people here, and sit down and let's come to real solutions and timetables how to get it done. We have never had a commissioner at Department of Sanitation like we do with Jessica Tisch. That is just never before. What she has done in a small period of time is remarkable. We've never had a commissioner like Commissioner Kim in SBS. I have a team of committed people to work to get this city from where it was to where it ought to be. 

Remember what we were doing January 1st, 2022? Did everybody forget Covid? Do you remember what the beginning of my administration was like and what I was under? And in spite of that, we're walking away with success after success after success.

We never threw up our hands and said because this city was going through a difficult time that we're not going to move the city forward. We did so. Even in the face of all of this migrant crises, we're still moving the city forward. We're not going to give you any excuses why we can't move this city forward. But what I am saying, give us a chance to do it. Give us a chance to do it. And that's what we're doing.  And so you have a good list here. Each item on your list, you need to go up to that table and speak to each commissioner and have them be part of your plan of moving it forward, those items that you have on your list. 

Commissioner Kreizman: The last table.

Question: Hi, good evening.

Mayor Adams: This is the last table? I have one more?

Question: Yes. We are the last, but we are certainly not least. So, on behalf of my table, the very first question we wanted to pose was, when do you think that Far Rockaway might get a public Level 1 trauma center?

Mayor Adams: Somebody from H + H, where are we with that? Staten Island. Staten Island is also a problem. Staten Island also doesn't even have an H + H. 

What's the whole concept of a Level 1 trauma center on Rockaway? What's the doability of it? If we can't do it, I want to be honest and say we can't. What is the whole mindset of a Level 1 trauma center?

Moore: Good evening once again. Our healthcare system, New York City Health + Hospital/Queens, is actually working with the borough president, Donovan Richards, to explore the possibility of a community health center.

And also there is a blue ribbon panel right now that is exploring whether or not we can have such a facility within the Rockaways. So that is being looked at right now.

Mayor Adams: I know Selvena Brooks-Powers, right, I know Selvena did something. 

State Senator Sanders, Jr.: She is leading a task force on this issue. It does need some state approval, but it would go a long way if the city agreed that there's a need for a trauma center in the Rockaways. I absolutely agree that there is.

Mayor Adams: So what's the process? Because I've heard this before. I know that Councilwoman Brooks Powers has been really on it. Like what are the steps to do something like that?

State Senator Sanders, Jr.: She has started out by doing a survey, working with the local community. Ultimately the State Board of Health is going to have to say, yes, we agree to this and help pay for it. Paying for it is the difficulty.

It's around 70 percent a state issue, but 30 percent would move it far if the city said we need a trauma center here. The Rockaways have none. If you get... a police who is shot in the Rockaways is taken to Jamaica Hospital. Drownings are taken to Jamaica Hospital. It's ridiculous. You'll never make it. We don't even have a helicopter pad to take them. We need it desperately.

Mayor Adams: Can the process take place at the same time, like the state application process and the city application process, or do we have to wait until this task force is done?

State Senator Sanders, Jr.:You don't have to wait. If the city would say that this is something that we would like or need or just... it is justified, it would go a long way in our battle.

Mayor Adams: So, listen, we have... listen, you have a senator that I don't know who fights harder up in Albany than the senator. We're going to get... hold on, brother, let me get... let me speak with her. Let me speak with her. I don't know if you're over there rapping or what.

Listen, I'm going to sit down with the senator. I'm going to sit down with the councilwoman because she raised this. That was part of why she wanted to put this task force in place. I'm going to sit down with them, and I'm going to sit down with H + H, Dr. Katz, and we're going to see what our part is.

You should partner with your state lawmakers. As the senator just said, 70 percent of this is going to come from the state. We're going to do our part because it deserves... Far Rockaway, they don't call it Far Rockaway for no reason. It is far, and they should get the services they deserve.

I know during Covid, I went out there because there was one of the hospitals that was giving out PPEs and other items. So, let us dig into this, and then we'll circle back. Let's get the contact information. Let me speak to our team and find out what the steps that are needed.

Question: Sure. Thank you. One more question for you, Mr. Mayor, and it's actually totally unrelated to healthcare. It's in reference to job readiness programs, et cetera, for the youth, maybe kids who dropped out of high school or otherwise are unemployed, but they're sort of just loafing about. And we want to find out what types of programs can the city offer? What kind of support services can they offer to this particular population?

Mayor Adams: Sheena, you or DOE, who wants to touch that? Workforce development, that whole initiative. 

Commissioner Howard: Yes, we do have, Mr. Mayor, we have Precision Employment Initiative program that also deals with out of school, out of work youth. We also have had an increase this year in the budget to also expand our Advance & Earn that also deals with out of school, out of work youth in the training program.

But I'm so happy to meet with you afterwards. And we can exchange information, and I can tell you exactly the provider that actually provides services for those programs.

Mayor Adams: There's a lot of... That's the population that we're concerned about, 18, 24, not in school, not working, may have a previous interaction, negative interaction with law enforcement.

So, what we want to hear from organizations that are here, what's the better way that we can show the product that we have so that you can reach out to those young people, those seniors, those communities. A lot of things stay on the table because people are not aware of them, and we want to continue to foster better communication and do it so.

So, again, listen. Thank you for coming out. Thank you for being here tonight. 

We need your voices as we go through these troubled times, but we want your partnership. We want to make sure we work together. Thank you. Appreciate you all.