Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks and Announces Plans for the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center

November 16, 2021

Video available at: https://youtu.be/WusSafAvwS4

Mayor Bill de Blasio: It is City Hall in Your Borough week for Brooklyn. And, for me, this is a beautiful homecoming. In just a few weeks, I'll be moving back to Brooklyn. And let me tell you, I am ready to move back to Brooklyn. I miss Brooklyn.

Unknown: [Inaudible]

Mayor: No, I'm going back to my home. I love Crown Heights, but I’m going back to my little old home. And I love deeply anytime we can do something right for Brooklyn. So, I want to ask something, as we begin here, because we're in Brooklyn, there's a certain attitude, there's a certain swagger. I want to hear, is there anybody here from Brooklyn?

[Cheers]

Just want to make sure I was in the right place. Now, everybody, to our brothers and sisters in the Cure Violence Movement, the Crisis Management System, I just want to take a moment before we talk about everything else just to appreciate you. If you're a part of Cure Violence or Crisis Management, raise your hand, please. Raise your hand. I want to say, God bless you all. Thank you, on behalf of the 8.8 million New Yorkers for everything you do – profoundly important work. And I want to recognize, every time I see one of the good people in this work, I want to say thank you. I want to recognize you. I want the world to learn about you. We're all going to have some really wonderful videos coming out, portraying the amazing work that you do. And it's something I want to show not only the whole city, I want to show the whole country, because this is the way forward, community-based solutions, stopping violence before it starts, creating peace on the ground. Let's thank them all. God bless you all.

[Applause]

Okay. I'm going to thank some people real quick and then I'm going to just tell you why I think this is so important. First, to my colleagues in government, Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff, thank you. Thank you to your team. Margaret, thank you for leading this effort. Marty, I go back with to my little league days as a very – my scary experiences at a little league coach, my authority was not recognized by the eight-year-olds – I’m still scarred by that. Thank you –

Unknown: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Right, I got the support from the adults. But I want to give credit where credit is due. Gabrielle Fialkoff and I have been working together now over 20 years. She's one of the people that made this administration possible from the beginning. So, I want to just give her, her due. The things we've able to do is because good people made it possible along the way. Thank you. Thank you for everything.

[Applause]

To my colleagues in elective office – yes, he is Assembly Member Nick Perry. And I want you to know, you know, his district goes to right over there. and, I just want to say, Rodneyse was very generous. She only charged him a modest amount to come across into her district. I thought that was very kind, very kind. There's Venmo, whatever you want to use to pay, it's okay.

[Laughter]

But he is Assembly Member Nick Perry. He has done amazing things for Brooklyn, but he's about to do amazing things for the United States of America. Even though he keeps telling us not until he's confirmed by the Congress, but I can still say he's going to be our ambassador to Jamaica, and we are so proud of that. Congratulations.

[Applause]

Ambassador Perry invites you all to a giant party in Montego Bay. He hasn't worked out the details, but, you know, it's going to be great. We all need to be there, okay? Alright. Now, Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn is someone I just cherish. She also is one of the reasons I'm here as your mayor, going back a long way. She believed in me when a lot of others wouldn't give me the time of day and I always appreciate that. But we have partnered from the beginning and we've able to change a lot, including in Albany. The Assembly Member mentioned we want to see this project benefit minority- and women-owned businesses. We want to see this project get money back in the community. We love what's going to be built. We love even more that the jobs and the wealth creation will be of, and by, and for the community. We're able to do that, because of the laws she got passed in Albany. Let's thank the Assembly Member for all she has done.

[Applause]

And then, the woman of the hour who very persistently fought for this and reminded me wherever I went, even when I did not want to talk about this topic, she made sure that we did talk about this topic. We were talking about other topics, she would bring it around to this topic. Council Member Farah Louis, a picture of persistence. Thank you. Thank you for your incredible leadership. Thank you for believing this could be done, because when you believe it can be done, that's the way it actually does get done.

[Applause]

And I want to tell you all, we're going to have another announcement coming up. I’ll only say this much so far, we lost an incredible New Yorker earlier this year, someone I had the honor of getting to know, literally one of the great actors of our time in what was, to me – he did many things, but he also participated to me in the greatest television show in the history of television, The Wire, on HBO. We're going to find a way before I leave office to properly honor Michael K. Williams for all he has done for this community, for all the people he mentored, for all the people he loved and supported. We want his name to be up there as an inspiration to all. And the Council Member has also persistently reminded me of the need to do this. We're going to find a way in these next weeks to get it to happen.

Now, Shirley Chisholm, you can – this is like the ultimate – when you name something, and you're trying to think who to name something after that could represent good, and can represent the values of this community, you cannot do better than the Shirley Chisholm. She represents so much. Yes, trailblazer, visionary, someone who could not be talked down. When she was right, she stuck to it and she made things happen. She changed the world single-handedly. She a great phrase, I love this phrase – she said, really school people and how to know your own power and not be backed off what you need. And she said, speaking about power, speaking about how decisions were made. She said, if they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair. I think that's a beautiful, simple – that's news you can use right there.

So, everybody, Shirley Chisholm believed that people could and must be empowered and that some of it was self-empowerment. Here's an example right here. We're about to tell you just how much in the way of resources are flowing into this community, this deserving community, this good community of hardworking people, the children in this community who deserve to see their future, who deserve to know the best is reserved for them, but who haven't seen that so often in the past. They deserve a world-class facility. The seat at the table, which Farah Louis exercises to say, for East Flatbush, as good as for even the most privileged community, as good a facility as you will find anywhere in New York City, something for everyone to be proud of, because that communicates to our young people when you invest, people can feel it. When our young people see that their city loves them and cares about them and is giving them everything, it says to them they're valued. We believe in them. They are truly our hope. They are precious. They feel when the opposite happens, too. They feel when they're ignored. It's up to us to show them we love them by investing in them, by being there for them, by showing we see their greatness. We see their greatness and we're going to do something about it.

So, everyone, you've heard what's going to be in this center. It's going to be amazing. It’s going to be transcendent. It's going to be something you can use when the weather's cold, which I appreciate right now at this exact hour. It's going to be something for everyone and we're going to see lives changed. So, those are my words, but I'd prefer to now end the words and talk about the deeds. I think we have a representation out here – turn around, turn around – other way, other way, other way – like this, so we can – I'm going to teach you about this – so we can have our dramatic moment. It's not too late. You can always have a dramatic moment.

Okay, here we go. Everybody ready? Because we love the children in our community, we love the seniors, we love the community – on behalf of the people of New York City, I present $141 million. $141 million – this means bringing money to the people, to the community, making sure every child is respected and gets what they deserve. $141 million for the people of this good community. Congratulations to all. Congratulations.

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