Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

November 2, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. It is a good day. It's Election Day. Happy Election Day to everybody. This is a day when we strengthen our democracy and we make important decisions on the future. We'll talk about that in a moment. But first, some really good news – update for all New Yorkers. Our City workforce now at 92 percent vaccinated. We've seen continued movement in the right direction. In the last 24 hours, 2,000 more City workers who had been unvaccinated came forward, got vaccinated, did the right thing, did the right thing for all New Yorkers, as well as for everyone they work with, everyone they serve. So, this is really good news – 92 percent of our workforce vaccinated. That number is going to keep going up. It's proof that vaccine mandates work and this is how we move the city forward. This is the key to our recovery – vaccination.  

And I want to talk more now about recovery, because, every day, we're getting closer to that recovery for all of us. Every day, New Yorkers are doing the right thing, more and more folks getting vaccinated. And you can see the activity, the energy. You can see the city coming back. We know that to have a full recovery, truly a recovery for all of us, we got to keep working on public safety. Recovery equals safety, safety equals recovery. We’ve got to focus on some of the places where the need is greatest, that certainly includes public housing, and certainly includes NYCHA. And we have to be there for the 400,000 folks who live in public housing. Particularly, we need to focus on the young people in public housing. So, this summer, we made a variety of investments, things that young people care about, things they enjoy – new sports facilities, a new NYCHA basketball league that got a great response from families, great response from kids. Today, another important initiative to reach young people, help them on the right path, support them, nurture them. This is an effort put together by the New York City Housing Authority, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, and the NYPD. And we're launching an important pilot program called Heal the Violence. And healing is the idea – teaching, supporting, healing. A localized anti-violence curriculum for young people, teens and early twenties, at more than 20 NYCHA developments around the city. And this is the kind of investment we need more of, teaching young people, supporting them on the right path, stopping violence before it occurs.  

I want you to hear from one of the architects of this great approach. She's been doing extraordinary work for the whole city as the Executive Director of the Task Force for Racial Inclusion and Equity for the entire City government – real, specific, meaningful acts of equity being done every single day by the task force. But she's also the Executive Vice President for Community Engagement and Partnership at NYCHA, played a key role in this new program to reach our young people. My pleasure introduced to Sideya Sherman. 

Executive Director Sideya Sherman, Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Every New Yorker deserves to live in a community where they feel safe and affirmed. Yet many young people live in communities where they experienced the devastating impacts of violence and the collective trauma that comes along with it. The Heal the Violence initiative recognizes violence as a public health issue, which, similar to COVID, disproportionately impacts low-income communities, and communities of color, and requires a comprehensive response. Young people are experts in addressing safety and inequity in their communities. They know where the issues lay, what resources are needed, and how to best engage their peers. The Heal the Violence program will focus on reducing acts of violence within NYCHA communities by empowering young people who live there and know the community best to help shape solutions.  

The program will serve 360 young people ages 14 to 24, targeting over 20 of our developments. Youth will receive a stipend and be trained in strategies for curbing violence through techniques such as healing circles and asset mapping, conflict mediation, as well as other prevention strategies. Over eight weeks, they will build transformative relationships and learn to address public safety through education and activism. They will also gain the valuable skills that can be carried into any education or career path that they choose. Violence is not inevitable. It's something we all have the power to address. Through this program, young people will be setting an example for us all.  

This initiative is part of a $2 million investment made by the Mayor to provide educational and athletic programming to address violence in some of our hardest-hit NYCHA communities. This investment is on top of $4 million to renovate NYCHA basketball courts that were in disrepair. When we spoke with young people about how they felt about the courts prior to renovation, they expressed disappointment and frustration. One young person shared that it made them feel forgotten, like nobody cared. Flash forward to just two weeks ago when we ramped up our citywide NYCHA Junior Knicks Basketball League with the championship game at Johnson Houses. Teams who were across the city competed after practicing for weeks and winning local games on those very same renovated courts. I had the pleasure of being there myself and experienced firsthand the enthusiasm from kids, from their parents, from the coaches, the referees, and from their families. It was powerful. So, that's why I was so thrilled to be part of today's announcement and to really launch this Heal the Violence initiative. With these investments, we're letting young people know we see you, we're investing in your future, and we believe that your future will be bright.  

I want to thank our partners at MOCJ and the NYPD for their ongoing partnership with collaborating with us on preventative strategies for public safety. And I want to thank you, again, Mr. Mayor, for your investment in this program. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Sideya. Thank you for your great leadership. I can hear in your voice how happy you are that we’re reaching these young people. And I’ve got to tell you, community-based solutions to violence, this is the future, everyone. This is how we stop problems before they start, we reach young people, help them on a positive path. I’ve got to tell you, for years, our Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams, has been saying this, and I give him a lot of credit for it. He and I have had this conversation, re-imagining some of how we approach public safety. Here's a great example of it, a different way to define public safety in a different way to have an impact. I want you to hear from him, because I think he believes that this is the kind of thing, what we're talking about today, that will make a real big difference in this city. Our Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams. 

[…] 

Mayor: Public Advocate, I want to tell you, I think you're exactly right. Because of you, we made the investments in the Advanced Peace Model. That's been really promising. Obviously, more and more investments in Cure Violence Movement and the Crisis Management System. I’ve got to say it clearly, every time we've invested money, we've seen a huge, positive result. You're right, we’ve got to go a lot deeper, because it works and it's going to make a profound impact at the grassroots. I want to thank you for your strong advocacy. And I have to ask you, where is that very picturesque background you got there? Where are you now? 

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams: Harlem. I'm actually in Harlem, doing some things I can't talk about here. But it is Election Day, so I am trying to get folks to do their civic duty. So, we're out here, as you mentioned, on Election Day, making sure people go out and vote. 

Mayor: Well, thank you for that. And thank you for your support for all these efforts to help communities move forward. Have fun out there. 

Public Advocate Williams: Thank you very much.  

Mayor: Everybody, we think about safety – again, rethinking safety, a lot of different ways we can approach it, a lot of better ways we can approach it. And, of course, safety means every-day safety and security in communities. But it's not just about fighting violence, it's also about thinking about our streets. It's about our pedestrians, our bicyclists, even what our motorists experience – the safety that they need, everyone needs. That takes us back to Vision Zero and everything we've learned from Vision Zero, and we have to go a lot farther there. Just like we said, we’ve got to go a lot farther with community-based solutions to violence. We’ve got to go a lot farther with Vision Zero. What we've learned – and, again, evidence-based – is some of the Vision Zero strategies have made a profound impact. One of the things we realized was this is the time of year when crashes went up because it got dark earlier. And the City, the government had to make adjustments in our strategy to address that. And the NYPD helped lead the way on that, recognizing we could do something different to educate, to enforce, to help keep people safe.  

Now, this time of year is when this really becomes an issue. And a reminder, daylight savings time is coming up on Sunday. So, drivers, literally, are dealing with a whole different environment from one day to the next and we’ve got to get ahead of that. We’ve got to protect everyone out there. So, we're bringing back the Dusk and Darkness Campaign. It's worked really well in the past, NYPD and Department of Transportation together. NYPD will do a lot more enforcement, stopping speeding, stopping failure to yield by vehicles. Department of – education – will be out in-force, educating, informing people. There'll be a major media campaign around it, reminding people slow down, be safe. It's a different reality this time of year. You’ve got to take it slow and keep people safe at all times. One of the great leaders of this effort, I want to thank her and the whole team. They're doing great, great work, and they're continuing to deepen Vision Zero. I want to thank her for that leadership. The Chief of Transportation for the NYPD, Chief Kim Royster. 

Chief of Transportation Kim Royster, NYPD: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. It is an honor to be here today. Thank you for inviting me. As we move into the fall and winter months, motorist must remain alert while driving on our local streets and highways. Historical data trends indicate that pedestrians and cyclists are more frequently struck by vehicles in early evening hours during months with fewer daylight hours – that's November, December, and January, and February. The data is based on a year-over-year collision trend, which has shown that the earlier onset of darkness was correlated to increase in traffic injuries and fatalities. Our Dusk and Darkness campaign is a layered traffic initiative that promotes road safety in New York City. The NYPD will be conducting outreach to all road users. Stepped up enforcement will take place at locations where pedestrians and cyclists are more likely to be injured or a fatality. Officers on both our highways and local streets will have an increased focus on driving behavior that endangers our vulnerable road users. 

Our officers will be deployed at sunset and will focus on drivers that failed to yield to pedestrians and cyclists, speed with their vehicles, and drive recklessly. Our precinct traffic safety teams, which are in all of our 77 precincts, will focus on addressing hazardous driving violations that put pedestrians, cyclists, older adults, and, more importantly, our children at risk. Police officers will focus on drivers that failed to yield, text, and use their cell phones. Our traffic agents, who are eyes and ears in the department, will be addressing vehicles that block bus lanes, bike lanes, and vehicles that are double parked.  

Education will be a key component to this seasonal initiative. The NYPD will be conducting outreach to drivers to remind them of their choices behind the wheel. While it is true that you'll see increased enforcement and educational personnel focusing on traffic safety over the next few months, we want to remind drivers that they need to understand the powerful responsibility they have when they get behind the wheel. Making the right choices will prevent tragedies on our roadways.  

Here are some important facts. One, during hours of darkness, it is more difficult to see objects in the roadway and it is no different when it comes to seeing pedestrians and cyclists as they cross the street. 44 pedestrian fatalities occurred during November of last year to March of this year. Two, pedestrians, our family members, struck at 30 miles per hour are twice as likely to die than if they are struck at 25 miles per hour. This year, 58 percent of our pedestrian fatalities occurred at intersections. And three, left turns are more dangerous than right turns. Left turns conducted – they're conducted at faster speeds. And drivers, their visions can be obstructed by the A-pillar in the vehicle. The A-pillar is what is attached to the windshield of the vehicle and can obstruct the view of a driver who was not focused on the task at hand. This year, 37 percent of our [inaudible] fatalities occurred when the driver was making a left-hand turn.  

So, it is important that the only acceptable number of traffic deaths is zero. One fatality is too many. And with the assistance of our Vision Zero partners, the NYPD will continue to conduct operations to keep our streets safe, during the fall and winter months. We say traffic safety is public safety. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chief. And that's exactly right. So, everyone, please pay attention to this really important information that Chief Royster is providing. We can keep each other safe. I know NYPD and DOT will be out there in-force to help make sure that people in this city are safe even this time of year.  

Now, I want you to hear it from someone else. And she's been an extraordinary leader in the effort to make sure that we have laws that actually help us to deal with the challenges around us. This was what Vision Zero is all about. But, a lot of times, Vision Zero could only go so far. We needed a lot more help from Albany on things like speed cameras. And for years, one of the great, powerful voices – way ahead of the curve on this – has been Assembly Member Deborah Glick. I want you to hear this, that she's been in the Assembly now for several decades fighting for safety in a variety of ways, but she helped lead the charge for the first speed camera bill in 2013, and has kept coming back and helping us go farther and farther and continuing the fight to allow us to use speed cameras nights, weekends, to pass the new legislation pending in Albany that could really save a huge number of lives in the city. I want to thank her for that effort. My pleasure to introduce from Manhattan, Assembly Member Deborah Glick. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Assembly Member. Listen, thank you. You have been just absolutely stalwart. We need you. I'm saying this on behalf of all New Yorkers, we need you up there winning that next battle. You're right, we know how to keep ourselves safe, but we need help from Albany. Thank you. I have great confidence we're to take a big step forward in the months ahead. And thank you for your leadership.  

Okay. Everyone, it is Election Day. And I want to give you another update and a reminder to all New Yorkers, the good news that polls are open till 9:00 PM. A lot of people have very busy lives. If you haven't voted already, up to 9:00 PM today. I'll be myself voting at my poll site in Brooklyn around noon. I am looking forward to voting for New York City's next mayor, Eric Adams, my fellow Brooklynite, who I think is going to do a fantastic job. I'm also encouraging all New Yorkers to vote yes on the five ballot initiatives that will do so much to help us fight the climate crisis and to improve and strengthen our democracy. So, I urge a yes vote on all of those. If you're not sure where to vote, go to vote.nyc to get your poll site. And I want you to hear from two people who have really worked hard on one of the most essential issues of our time, which is making sure that people participate, making sure our democracy is strong. It has been tried and tested in recent years in a way we haven't seen in many decades. We depend on leaders who really focus on making sure that people vote and, particularly, of making sure that voting is representative of the whole community.  

First, I want to hear from someone she's put so much of her life into encouraging voters to come out, educating voters. She's a member of the New York City Elections Consortium, a key initiative in which DemocracyNYC co-founded. She's also the president of the NAACP of Brooklyn. My pleasure introduced L. Joy Williams. 

[…] 

Mayor: L. Joy, I wish I had talked to you in advance, because that would have been cool. We've missed – we missed your creative genius. I would – I would have dressed up as a ballot. That's cool. I would have done that. But, hey, listen, thank you for your, as always, infectious enthusiasm. Anyone who wasn't sure about voting before and they've heard voice, I know they'll get out there and make an impact. So, thank you so much. Thank you for all you do.  

Hey, everyone, I want you to hear from one other great leader. And she has focused on one of the most crucial elements of democracy, which is ensuring that the next generation truly becomes invested in the electoral process and becomes constant voters. And there's been a real issue over the years, but we have seen in a number of elections – of course, we remember 2008, the huge impact young people had in that election. We're seeing more and more creative efforts to get young people engaged and keep them engaged in electoral process. One of the leaders in that effort, she is the Executive Director of Rock the Vote, an organization that has done so much good. My pleasure to introduce Carolyn Dewitt. 

[...]  

Mayor: Thank you so much, Carolyn. Happy Election Day to you. And I like the good news you're sharing with us. And there is a lot to be very hopeful about. It really is striking that people last year in the worst of the pandemic came out to vote in such huge numbers. What a statement about democracy, we still have the pandemic, we're still fighting it back and people are still coming out to vote. So, a lot to be hopeful about, thank you for your great efforts.  

All right, let's go to our indicators as we do every day. And number one, doses administered to date, continues to grow, 12,083,793 doses. And in just a few days, you're going to see a big uptick with our youngest New Yorkers being eligible. We'll have more to say on that later in the week, we're really looking forward to that. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 73 patients – confirmed positivity level, 20.0 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 0.55. And then number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report is 714 cases. So, we're seeing good trends because people are getting vaccinated. A few words in Spanish. And of course, today being Election Day, let's talk about the election. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

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

Moderator: Good morning. We'll now begin our Q-and-A as a reminder, we're joined today by Kim Royster, our Chief of Transportation; Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals; Dr. Torian Easterling, Chief Equity Officer; Laura Wood, Chief Democracy Officer of DemocracyNYC; Hank Gutman, DOT Commissioner; Dermot Shea, NYPD Commissioner; Ed Grayson, DSNY Commissioner; Dan Nigro, FDNY Commissioner; and Sideya Sherman, our Executive Vice President for Community Engagement at NYCHA and our Executive Director of TRIEE. Our first question today goes to Andrew from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. On the mandate and the 12,000 people that applied for an accommodation, how quickly do you anticipate whittling that number down and did that number of people, in a sense, do you a favor because it kept the workforce higher on day one of the mandate? Might you see an uptick pretty quickly if you whittle that number down and suddenly you have thousands more on unpaid leave? 

Mayor: Well, Andrew, it's a great question. I mean, I think the big story is clear. 92 percent of the workforce is now vaccinated. Folks, when they get to that moment of decision, overwhelmingly, are choosing to get vaccinated. So, going through those accommodation requests, you know, people putting in the requests, they have to be reviewed. There's an opportunity then given for any additional information to be offered. There's an appeal process. It'll play out over days, even several weeks. But what we do know is for those who get that accommodation, okay. For those who don't, it's a decision point. And in the past with Health + Hospitals, with the Department of Education, the vast majority of people who were told no, actually your application isn't approved, they then chose to get vaccinated. And I expect that to happen again here. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: On the children, five to 11, it's possible that it will be approved by the CDC as soon as tomorrow afternoon, possibly even I've heard some scenarios where they could jump it and do it tonight. But let's assume that it's tomorrow, the City now we understand has some supply in place already. Is it possible that some children start getting vaccinated as soon as tomorrow afternoon or evening? And if so, where do they go? Are they supposed to go to their neighborhood pharmacy? Are they supposed to go to their neighborhood school? What's your advice to the first batch of parents? 

Mayor: I think there's going to be a lot of energy and enthusiasm among parents to get our youngest New Yorkers vaccinated. I really do. And what I'll tell you is the basic game plan we laid out that once we get full and final approval, within 24 hours of that we'll be able to have vaccination at City sites. And then 48 hours after that full and final approval at a number of other sites. To give you more details, I'll turn to Dr. Katz first and then Dr. Easterling. Dr. Katz, can you hear us? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes. Can you hear me? Sir, we hope very much that tomorrow we have full approval on November 3rd. And if we do on November 4th, we are looking forward to at Health + Hospitals, at all our pediatric practices to be vaccinating our youngest New Yorkers. This is incredibly exciting. We've been preparing for it, and we are ready to do it as soon as we have full approval. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Easterling, tell us about also the other types of sites in that timeline. 

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and totally agree with the remarks from Dr. Katz. We are certainly prepared. We have received some doses and we will continue to message out to our providers. I think it's important to just remember how robust our infrastructure is. In addition to our City sites we continue to engage [inaudible] our pediatricians and our family physicians. I'm a family doc, and I know how important it is that our providers are resourced well, so that they can engage their own patients, as well as any patients that do show up for our vaccine. In addition, we're going to be engaging our independent pharmacies as well to make sure that they're ready to also dole out our vaccines. But it's going to be [inaudible]. We continue to communicate through all our means. In addition to all of the messaging we continue to provide all of this information on our vaccine finder page. So, I will say to any parent that is looking for any information, in addition to our website to call 3-1-1 or vaccine finder, and they can identify a site, both our COVID vaccines and our booster vaccines are listed on the vaccine finder site. 

Mayor: Yeah. And Andrew, just to follow up on Dr. Easterling, we have 231,000 doses for kids that either have arrived or are coming in quickly. So, I really want to encourage parents that we will tell you the moment it's fully approved and that's going to start that 24-hour clock to be able to be vaccinated the next day at our City sites, the day after at other sites. So, the second we have that information, we'll put it out, but we're really, really excited to start reaching the youngest New Yorkers. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth with WNYC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, having just gotten my two kids the flu shot, it was quite a traumatic experience. I was wondering whether the doctors could talk a little bit about, is there a different kind of protocol that's going to be at these City vaccination sites for kids who are afraid of needles? What do they recommend? Do they recommend maybe not going to a City site and waiting on line, and maybe just waiting for, you know, trying to see a pediatrician? 

Mayor: It's a great question. Elizabeth, I'll turn to Dr. Easterling first, and if Dr. Katz has anything to add. But I'll say this, as a parent, I know what you're talking about. And I think it really obviously depends on the parent and the child. Some kids, it might be something more sensitive than for others, but it's every parent's choice. I would argue, get to the first best available site, most importantly, because it's so important to get our kids vaccinated, but certainly if a parent prefers to work with their own pediatrician, that's going to be online real quickly and parents should actually start reaching out right now and arranging for that. Dr. Easterling first. 

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, this is a really good question. We want to make sure that, again, our pediatricians and our providers are prepared. And so, I would encourage any parent to reach out to their provider to confirm if they're going to have vaccines available. But we're going to have our City sites that are going to be ready for administering the vaccine, COVID vaccine, for five- to 11-year-olds. We're really excited to be able to do this because we know that vaccines are safe and effective. And we're going to continue to create different ways. And you saw this over the summer, offering music, offering different resources, and we're going to continue to engage and make the site more conducive, even more for our young folks. And I think this is the way that we continue to push back on the [inaudible] spread of the disease. But also, just making it accessible. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, do you want to add?  

President Katz: Yeah. All our Health + Hospital sites are going to have little goody bags that are age appropriate for our children. And let's remember that childhood vaccination is a common experience. All of us as parents, you know, have gone through it. And it's – sometimes I think it's a little bit more traumatic for us than it is for our children. But we know how to do this. We give many vaccinations. That's why there's been a tremendous decrease in childhood illnesses, childhood deaths because of the success of our vaccinations. And so, I think going to sites that are familiar to your child is a good step. And I think that we will be able to get all our kids vaccinated and after perhaps a few tears, there'll be many more smiles. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Well said, Doctor, thank you. Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: Follow up, as a follow-up, are you planning to provide resources for doctors’ offices that lack ultra-cold storage? I'm thinking in particular of, like, smaller community clinics that serve, you know, a lot of low-income families. 

Mayor: It's a great question. Dr. Easterling, how are we handling that? 

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: A really great question. This has been part of our work from day one. And I think you heard the Mayor say this, and certainly many of our health leaders, that equity has been front and center from the beginning of our mass vaccination campaign. And so, you know, sort of thinking about the universe of providers, our federally qualified health centers we continue to resource them. As we know, the Pfizer vaccine was the first vaccine to receive the emergency use authorization. And so, providing cold storage to ensure proper storage and handling of the vaccine was paramount to making sure that the vaccines were available specifically in the neighborhoods that were hardest hit. And so, now that we have continued to resource many of the centers and our providers, now we are engaging them, going out, talking to them about how to do [inaudible], ensuring that they're providing the right messaging for their patient, for their patient and any additional resources that they may need. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Dana with the New York Times. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. My first question regards to your gubernatorial aspirations. I'm curious how you balance your job responsibilities over the next two months with your desire to run for governor. Do you wait until the mayoralty ends before formally jumping in? How are you thinking about that issue? 

Mayor: Dana, look, every day I'm focused on keeping people safe in this city. And I'm really proud that this vaccination mandate has had such an incredibly positive impact. 92 percent of our workforce now vaccinated. And we have proven that the mandates work, whether it was indoor dining or the schools. I'm proud of having taken a strong stance to get things done to fight back COVID and it's working. That’s where I’m going to keep my focus. I do want to continue in public service. I do want to do more for the people of this city and this state. There'll be plenty of time to talk about that. And I think you've got a situation where people want to have a really robust debate on the future because we know a lot of things have gone wrong in Albany and we know a lot has to be different. So, I look forward to being a part of that discussion, but job one is real clear, because we're still fighting this battle against COVID. We've got more to do to bring the city back. And that will be my first focus, always. Go ahead, Dana. 

Question: All right. Thank you. And then on another topic, the Daily News had a very interesting story this weekend about a deposition from Karl Rugg, a former member of your security detail, that said that Inspector Redmond was assigned to the same hotel room as a female City Hall staff or several times, and another officer on your detail pocketed frequent flyer miles accrued through official travel, is the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau examining these allegations?  

Mayor: Dana, that story was extraordinarily irresponsible and inaccurate. Just wrong on so many levels, including when the woman involved was asked if there's any truth in it, she said outright no, and there didn't seem to be any interest on the part of the reporters in acknowledging that the people most effected said it's just not true. So no, that's – I've heard nothing worth following up on because it's so blatantly inaccurate. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Kevin with AM New York. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Good, Kevin, how are you doing? 

Question: Doing well myself. I wanted to kind of drill down a bit on your perspective gubernatorial run. You know, with Tish James in the field, possibly Jumaane Williams, you'll have to contend for votes in your own backyard in New York City, in places like Brooklyn and Queens. What do you think would set you apart from these two candidates? One that is already declared and one that is highly likely to declare?  

Mayor: Kevin, look, there is going to be a lot of time ahead for people to look at different leaders. Again, I've got this job to do now. I have started a committee that's going to be a vehicle to talk about the issues that are facing this state and this city, I care about deeply. My focus has been, and you've seen it over the years, addressing inequality, improving our schools, creating more affordable housing, creating a safer city that’s also a fairer city. There's a lot we've got to do to continue that work and deepen that work, but there's going to be plenty of time to look at all the issues, look at the contrast. We don't know what the future brings in terms of who's going to be a candidate for which office, but I think when people get a chance to hear all different perspectives, that's what really decides elections in the end. That's why we have a discussion. That's why we have a debate. People compare and contrast different experiences, different viewpoints, different visions, and that's where the real impact is made. Go ahead, Kevin. 

Question: All right, thank you. I guess my second question probably goes to Commissioner Gutman if he's still here. I want to ask about the project that Mayor announced at the State of the City at the beginning of where [inaudible] you know, to open the Queensboro Bridge bike lane. I know DOT plans to start work on it this year, which we've only got a couple of weeks left in this year. I was wondering if the Commissioner could detail what the work's going to be that starts this year, and, you know, what's the deadline you want to have this project finished? It seems to be going into the next administration probably in 2022. 

Mayor: Yeah. Kevin, I want to thank you for the question before we turn to Commissioner Gutman. I really appreciate you raising it because what we're doing with the Brooklyn Bridge, what we're doing with the Queensboro Bridge is really a big step forward for ensuring the safety of bicyclists, for ensuring that people have better alternatives, and that's also a really important statement in terms of a greener New York City. So, I'm very excited about it. Incredible progress so far on the Brooklyn Bridge, the Commissioner could speak to that as well. We knew Queensboro Bridge was going to take some time, but it's very much on schedule last I heard. Commissioner, give us the update. 

Commissioner Hank Gutman, Department of Transportation: Yeah, thank you. Thank you for the question. First of all, as the Mayor said, we got the Brooklyn Bridge bike lane done and opened. I had the privilege of cutting the ribbon and taking the first ride across and we're very excited about that, and we're committed to get in Queensboro Bridge done too. The construction is proceeding and we will get as far as the weather permits us this year before winter weather slows us down, and as you know, in the construction work we do, that's always an issue, but we're looking to have it done early next year. Again, much of this will depend on the weather and the construction schedule, and I'm happy to follow up with you if you need more details with some of the people are actually doing the work. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Katie with The City. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio, how are you?  

Mayor: Good, Katie. How have you been? 

Question: Good, thanks. So, I want to ask you a question. I read a story about your son, Dante, working on some videos for the city and he brought along, you know, there's a filmmaker working with him and your office had first told me that this person was hired through a temp agency, but it turns out they seem to be friends. They went to Yale, they worked on films together, actually thought maybe they were suitemates, but I didn't have to have enough proof to put that in print. But I'm curious, I know that the city works often, I was told, with filmmakers and knowing how many out of work filmmakers are in New York City who would love to get perhaps some work. Do you know the process of how people get to work with your office on these types of videos? If they don't happen to know Dante de Blasio and went to Yale?  

Mayor: Katie, I'm not familiar with those details. Obviously, that's not something I deal with. I think the bottom line is, it has been a time where we have on an unprecedented level needed to communicate a lot to the people of this city. All the information, even what we're just talking about today, is a great example. Constantly communicating in every form, including video, what can be done to fight COVID, what can be done to help people with the recovery of this city, our small businesses, you name it. There's so many different elements that we're trying to get across to people, and each element of the city puts together the team they need to get it done. So, I'm sure our team will follow up with you on any other details. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks, and speaking – I know you've been asked a lot of questions about your possible run for Governor. I'm curious, I know, you know, people associate you obviously with the City of New York, but how much time have you spent in the rest of New York? You know, I don't know if you have a favorite town, if you go hiking, if you've been to the Finger Lakes, you have a favorite taste of New York rest stops? Anything you want to share about your experience in the rest of New York and how that could perhaps inform you as you run to control the whole thing. 

Mayor: Well, listen, again my focus right now is on the work at hand, which we're talking about today, and thank God we have the good news about the impact of the vaccine mandate, the good news about the vaccinations coming up for our kids. That will be my first focus, but I can tell you the answer to your question. I've had a very rich experience around this state and it started actually many years ago in my experience as the regional director for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. I covered the whole State of New York, went all over the State of New York, also work, obviously I did a couple of campaigns in 1996 and the year 2000 where I traveled all around the state. Montauk to Niagara falls. I've been all over the state. I love the Finger Lakes, love a lot of parts of this state. And look, I think this is a state with tremendous potential, but also a lot of unrealized potential. There's tremendous talent, tremendous beauty in the State of New York, but we're not where we need to be. So, we'll see what the future brings, but if my future involves traveling around the state, then that will be a lovely thing because there's a lot to like in this state. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Bob with Chief Leader. 

Question: Yes. Mr. Mayor, I just have a question for you, but also Commissioner Nigro, we want to make sure that it was worth his time to be on the call. We know that on Friday, six firefighters, I guess from engine - Ladder 13, went over to State Senator Myrie Zellnor’s office, and then said some things that were, I guess, to the effect that there would be blood on the hands of the State Senator to if the mandate went through. And so I’m just wondering if you could [inaudible] discipline process for the police department since the George Floyd protest, if you could give us a sense of what happens? Now we do know that there was an immediate, I guess, a penalty, but is there a trial room? I know it's a paramilitary organization, how does that work? 

Mayor: Yeah, and let me just say at the outset, as we turn to Commissioner Nigro, Bob, that that just disgusted me. These were members of the fire department in uniform who accosted fellow public servants who worked for the State Senator. They mistreated them, from everything we've heard, in uniform, on duty, acting on their own political beliefs. That's unacceptable on so many levels, it's almost impossible to cover all the ground. It's so bad. I want to thank Commissioner Nigro for very aggressively acting with those suspensions. And I – look, that's a major, major offense in my book, a major crossing the line. I think, you know, further discipline absolutely is called for. But what is most important was the message was sent literally instantly by the Commissioner and the department that that was unacceptable. I think a lot of people who are deeply troubled by that appreciated the swiftness of the Commissioner's action. Go ahead, Commissioner. 

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Thank you. And I'm always happy to be on the call, Bob, thanks for the question. As Mayor said, we immediately suspended these members for the maximum allowed to us under the city rules, 28 days. This case is then – we have a very robust investigative group here at the fire department. It'll be investigated as all of our cases of our people will have a chance to tell their side of the story and we'll move on from there, and of course the penalties can be anywhere from what they've already received up to and including termination, but I wouldn't try to speculate on where this will lead them until we investigate the whole thing. But initially, as the Mayor said, we were very, very troubled by this and took very swift action. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: So, as a practical matter, are there occasions where behavior is so outrageous that it crosses over and requires an independent review by a law enforcement agency? Because behavior is beyond just an internal, you know, the way that people are doing their job. 

Mayor: Well, I'll start and I'll turn to the Commissioner. I mean, look, Bob, to me, we're constantly working with each agency to make sure that all city employees treat the public properly, and anytime we see someone cross the line, I want to see real, clear discipline. This was a rarity for sure. I don't remember a specific incident like this for quite a while, but – excuse me – but it's really unacceptable and we're never going to let something like that grow in any way. So, what I'd say is, if it's isolated incidents handle them as individual disciplinary matters, if we saw any kind of pattern developing, then I think it's a fair question, what are the bigger structural things we need to do if we ever need to bring in independent eyes on it, that's something I'd certainly be open to doing. But I think this case, thank God, appears to be from my knowledge a rarity. Commissioner, you want to add? 

Commissioner Nigro: Sure. I think the most common cases that are maybe extreme go to DOI, the City's Department of Investigation for their investigation, and in some cases, if criminal behavior is involved, of course, it's reported to law enforcement as a criminal act. So, we'll see where this investigation leads, but it will certainly be thoroughly investigated. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions for today. Our next question goes to Nolan with The Post. 

Question: Hey, good morning, everybody. 

Mayor: Hey, Nolan, how are you doing? 

Question: I'm well, Mr. Mayor. How are you?  

Mayor: Good, thank you. 

Question: You guys rolled out a plan to up traffic enforcement. I want to know why anyone should take this measure seriously when the NYPD has basically abandoned streets enforcement. The Mayor's Management Report revealed that enforcement is down by half. Enforcement plummeted as we saw the deadliest year on city streets in a good long while. And as a slew of newspaper investigations revealed that the NYTD has a habit of closing all sorts of complaints of illegal street behavior, from illegal parking in bike lanes, to illegal parking in bus lanes to illegal parking on sidewalks even in under five minutes, which everyone describes as basically a fictional case closure. So, why should anyone believe the PD is finally taking this seriously?

Mayor: I appreciate the question because I think there have been areas where the PD needs to do better. And I certainly, when I heard the notion that any valid complaint was being ignored, that's very troubling to me. And we need that fully investigated and acted on and fixed. But I want to put things in perspective. And, obviously, let the Chief speak to this as well. You can go to the Mayor's Management Report in the middle of a global pandemic and act like that's a trend line. That's just not accurate. Look, at the six years before. NYPD has done extraordinary work promoting Vision Zero, extraordinary enforcement efforts on speeding, on failure to yield. More than any time in its history, the NYPD refocused itself on stopping crashes, on protecting pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists. So, that's fact. We know this. And then we know the pandemic threw everything off. There are oftentimes when there are many fewer officers available because of COVID. There were times where there were many urgent needs that had to be attended to. We see now, things as with everything else in the city, coming back together, normalizing and more and more energy is going into what it went into for the previous six years. That kind of enforcement. And you're going to see that in the coming months go up and up and up. The very fact that the Chief is here talking about going back to the kind of enforcement we did pre pandemic is exactly what I want to see more of. So, Chief, all yours.

Chief Royster: So, thank you, Mr. Mayor. You are absolutely right. That data was based upon a moment in time. And we saw a trend throughout the city, as well as throughout the country, where there were people speeding throughout our streets. But also recognizing that COVID came in 2020, it affected a lot of what we were doing. It affected our staffing, which decreased our funding. But as the Mayor said, we are starting to increase our enforcement. Let me just say that this is a data driven process. And we focus on education, engineering, and also enforcement because enforcement changes the behavior of drivers. One of the things that we do every week is have a traffic safety forum. And at that forum, we have our Vision Zero partners that are there. The Department of Transportation, we have our district attorneys, and we also have TLC. So, we're there talking to the executives in the precincts, all of us, 77 precincts, to make sure that they're deploying officers at areas where we see an increase in fatalities or an increase in injuries. Let me just also say that this is a layer effect. And what we've been doing is we deploy since 2019, at high visibility corridors, which are actually throughout the city, where we see an increase in fatalities or injuries. Now these high visibility corridors are officers that are specifically addressing hazardous violations throughout the city. There's a two week process in which we do education because we think it is very important to educate our drivers as well as our pedestrians and every other – every person that uses our roadways. But then we follow it up with enforcement. And that enforcement is the officers getting out of the car, having the emergency lights on, being visible. And yes, making sure that people are following the rules of the road. So, we will continue to do this. And not only will we continue to do this, but we will continue to focus on our safe passage. We will continue to focus on our cyclists, making sure they're safe, as well as the people in our community. As I mentioned before, this is a layering effect. We cannot, our hearts are heavy every day for the fatalities that happen in this city. And one of the things that we've definitely focused on, is we partnered with our advocates to come up with a bereavement resource folder for those families that have lost their loved ones due to fatalities that have occurred in the city. And we've handed out about 30 – 71 of these folders, where we go personally to the family and speak with them about what's occurred and letting them know that this is going to be investigated. And it is going to be investigated by our Collision Investigation Squad. This particular bereavement resource folder actually has information that will help the families move forward. Help them move forward if they have questions about surrogate court, about the accident report that's completed, the investigation. So, we are working together with families, but we are definitely doubling down on outreach to make sure that we use our social media platforms. We touch our young people and we touch businesses around the city so that everyone is aware of keeping New York City safe.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Nolan.

Question: Yeah. Doesn't it speak to a catastrophic failure of City policy that the city police departments had to develop a bereavement folder to help people deal with death on city streets? I mean, this is a department that is repeatedly, thousands of times, year after year, closed reports of illegal parking and failures to enforce street rules in under five minutes. The Council said that these closures are highly improbable. Streetsblog affirmed those findings. We at the Post did an investigation that highlighted three sets of precincts in Harlem, in Midtown, and in Cobble Hill where these closures make up more than a quarter of the illegal parking in the bike lane. Illegal parking in bike lanes forces bikes in the traffic, which is how bikers get killed. So, why isn't this being worked on? Why is this being allowed to continue? What's being done with these precincts? And why on Earth is it acceptable that the police department’s answer is there’s a bereavement folder?

Mayor: Nolan, look, first of all, the whole idea here of Vision Zero is that it constantly grows. And again, even with a global pandemic, you've seen a commitment to continuing to build Vision Zero. More speed cameras, more enforcement, more traffic redesign, huge amounts of money being put into redesign. I want Commissioner Gutman to speak about that for a moment. The whole idea here is to use every tool. We've got more bike lanes than ever, more protected bike lanes than ever. Constant investments, we are going to keep setting records for adding to all of those needs. Now the bottom line is, and I share frustration, any time a complaint is not followed up on properly. That's unacceptable. There will be consequences. Anytime that we miss an opportunity, I don't accept that and we have to do better. And every agency involved knows that. The NYPD knows that, the Department of Transportation knows that. But I also want to say the notion that God forbid, someone's lost there's an attempt to help that family. I think that's humane and decent. But we have put years and years and years and billions of dollars into protecting lives on our streets. And there's a lot more to come. Commissioner Gutman, just give a quick sense of the kinds of investments you are making to redesign streets and create bike lanes around the city and the pace at which you're doing it.

Commissioner Gutman: Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Look, we've been setting records in terms of street redesigns to improve safety. And as the Chief said, it's a data-driven process and we follow the data. We have also set records in terms of bike lanes, bus ways, all of the safety devices and alternatives to the private car that the Mayor has been pushing. All of those have been part of the agenda. And we've been setting records on that this year. And we've continued to, and we'll through the end of the year. But we have also found that we've had a very good partnership with Chief Royster and the police department. I've attended her traffic safety forum. I have seen the extent to which she pushes the officers and pushes the precinct leadership, including some of the incidents you're talking about or areas you're talking about, to do better. So, I mean, we are all working together. We are using all available tools. We are all horrified anytime there's a death or serious injury on our streets. These aren't statistics, these aren't numbers, these are people's lives. And we take that responsibility very seriously. And we're working together with our Vision Zero partners to make that situation better.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Juliane with Streetsblog.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Can you hear me?

Mayor; Yeah, Juliane. How are you?

Question: Hi, good. How are you? So, my first question, one of the very first Vision Zero projects was the Atlantic Avenue Great Streets project, which ended up costing $50 million about, but did not make the roadway safer. Because it kept all three lanes. And the number of injuries has been steady. But you set the priority with DOT to make the roadway safer, but the agency didn't. And earlier this month, Jose Ramos died in a hit and run crash earlier this month. So who failed there? You or the bureaucrats?

Mayor: Juliane, first of all, anytime we lose anyone, it's just, it's horrible, it's painful. And it means we just got to keep doing more and more. In that case, I want to hear Commissioner Gutman’s view. We’ve been clear from Queens Boulevard all over the city that we needed to find the places where there's greatest need and do profound redesign traffic calming. We've also had plenty of places where we've reduced the amount of traffic profoundly with the actions we've taken. And that's before we even talk about, of course, speed cameras and enforcement and a variety of other tools. So, we're going to do whatever it takes. But I would say Juliane, sometimes you think you have the right plan and sometimes you learn that you have to do something different or more. Commissioner Gutman, you want to speak to this specific situation?

Commissioner Gutman: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we have a variety of plans that we've worked on for Atlantic Avenue. We have work underway on Atlantic Avenue. We recognize that that's a street, which based on both the data and on what people observed, presents some very important challenges. And we are committed to addressing them. It is a work in progress and again, happy to, happy to follow up on further details. I appreciate the question. But we are working hard on that one. It is a challenging area and it's one of the areas we know needs more.

Mayor: Yeah. And just one more point before we go back to Juliane. I really think if we find Juliane, that a plan didn't work, then it's our job to go out there and change it, add to it, invest more, whatever it takes. That's the bottom line. Go ahead.

Question: Okay. Thanks. Second question is on Meeker Ave, where back in June DOT announced that they would start making safety improvements from Apollo to Metropolitan Ave under the BQE there. But it seems we've heard that that project has stalled. Do you know what's happening with that? Why has work seemed to stop? Is it again, pandering to people who don't want to lose parking there, what's going on with that project?

Mayor: Well, I want to caution you Juliane again, I understand and respect advocacy journalism, but I want to call out that last piece. We have time and time again done what was right for safety. And that has been installing a huge number of bike lanes around the city, including protected bike lanes, and traffic redesigns. And many times there's been less parking as a result, but there's been a lot more safety. And different voices have been raised and it hasn't changed our plan. We listen to people and then we do what's right for people and what's safe. So, I'd just be careful on that assumption, but in terms of a lot of major capital projects, we had holds because of COVID because of both the physical reality and the financial reality. We've been increasingly starting up projects again, aggressively over the last few months. So, in this case with Meeker, do you happen to know the update Commissioner? Otherwise, you can get it back to Juliane after.

Commissioner Gutman: Yeah, no, I will. I am unaware of any delay or slow down on Meeker and I will inquire as soon as I get off. And we'll be back in. But as the Mayor said, you know, we take away parking in the pursuit of safety every day, that's not an issue. And we do listen to the communities and we do try and react, but safety is the top priority, always.

Mayor: And as we conclude today, I think it wraps together a lot of what we've been talking about. Safety on our streets, safety in our public housing developments, safety from COVID. This is how we move forward. And again, I want to thank all the New Yorkers who have gone out and gotten vaccinated. I want to thank the 92 percent of our workforce that has done the right thing, gone out and gotten vaccinated. I want to thank the 2,000 City workers who got vaccinated in the last 24 hours. Every single New Yorker gets vaccinated. It makes us safer, moves us forward, and this is how we create a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

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