Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

November 18, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We are live again from Brooklyn Borough Hall. City Hall in Your Borough week in Brooklyn, we are having just really a great time this week. Getting around different parts of Brooklyn and telling people things that we're doing to improve the lives of Brooklynites and all New Yorkers, hearing from people. And of course, topic on everybody's mind is how we keep fighting back COVID, especially as we're going into the colder months. How we win this battle against COVID once and for all. The answer is always vaccinations. And here's some great news today. Breaking news, our City workforce, the mandate we put in place, it is working. It's working more than ever. As of this morning, 94 percent, 94 percent of City employees are vaccinated. So, thank you to all the men and women who serve us for stepping up, getting vaccinated, helping everyone be safe.  

Here are some facts. The NYPD, amazing progress in each of these agencies. Since the mandate was announced October 20th, NYPD has gone from 70 percent up to 87 percent now. The Fire Department, the firefighting side of Fire Department from 58 percent to 88 percent. EMS from 61 percent to 92 percent. And Sanitation from 62 percent to 87 percent. Mandates work, they get people vaccinated. They keep everyone healthy. I'm calling upon all governors, mayors, CEOs in New York City, around the country, please, everyone get those mandates in place to help us defeat COVID once and for all. It's the right thing to do. And it works. We have proof positive right here. Since the deadline at 5:00 pm on October 29th, that deadline, since the deadline, there have been 10,000 more vaccinations. So, the deadlines work, but even after the deadlines, mandates have a powerful effect. People keep coming in to get vaccinated. This is good news for this city.

Now, today, we want to focus on another really innovative approach that has helped to keep New Yorkers safe. That has helped to fight COVID. Helped to reach people in a whole new way. You know, a great comment Dr. Chokshi made yesterday. He said we have to be more relentless than the virus. Well, New York City has been relentless. Every conceivable approach to getting people vaccinated, we'll do it. This week, last week, school vaccination sites, we have pop-up vaccine events all over the five boroughs, mobile vaccine units, testing units. You name it. Today we're focused on one of the most powerful innovations that's been created in this whole effort, at home vaccination. It started for folks who are homebound. It's now grown into something that anyone has access to. If it works for you and your family, vaccinators will come to your home. Now, listen, vaccinators can provide you with a first dose, second dose, a booster for as many family members as needed. And remember folks getting that first dose, get that $100 incentive regardless of age. So far 30,000 New Yorkers have gotten vaccinated through the at home initiative. And that's 46,000 doses that have been given. Obviously, some folks got their second dose at home as well. We get hundreds of people every day coming forward who want at-home vaccination. We could handle a lot more. So, today I'm here to promote this idea and say, if this is what works best for you and your family, all you got to do is ask for it. You can sign up at nyc.gov/homevaccine nyc.gov/homevaccine. Or you can call 8-7-7-VAX-4NYC, number 4. 8-7- 7-VAX-4NYC. Once you sign up, you'll get – a provider will call you, make an appointment, send a vaccinator to your home. Any family members can get vaccinated right there in the comfort of your home. It's a great way to stay safe. Please, everyone, if you haven't done it yet, this is a great way to protect your family. I want you to hear from someone who is really, really understands over a years and years, how important it is to bring health care to the people. He’s been a strong supporter of aggressive efforts to vaccinate our communities. My pleasure to introduce the Chair of the Health Committee in the State Assembly, Assembly Member Richard Gottfried.

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Mayor: Thank you so much Assembly Member. And we want to really let people know this is something that's there for them. It's there for them for free. I probably need to say that more often. All of these services are for free. Thank you so much for supporting them and promoting them in your district and beyond. And we have a lot more people we can reach and especially important to do ahead of the holidays and the colder weather. So, thank you, Assembly Member. And I want you to hear everyone, from another member of the Assembly. She's the Chair of the Subcommittee on Workplace Safety. She's also a member of the Health Committee. She's also a health care professional herself. She’s really been a powerful voice out in communities telling people despite fears, despite all the misinformation, helping people understand the facts and get them vaccinated. My pleasure to introduce Assembly Member Karines Reyes.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you so much Assembly Member. I know you do an amazing job of communicating to your district. So, spread the word about in-home vaccination and thank you for everything you're doing to keep people safe.

All right, everyone. So, this week as we've been here in Brooklyn seeing a lot of great stuff happening around Brooklyn, seeing a lot of recovery happening. We had a great moment yesterday. The Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an amazing organization that has done so much to help create jobs and give a bright future to so many immigrants in Brooklyn and around the city. Just opened a new headquarters in Flatbush. A sign of strength and rebirth. A really, really powerful moment yesterday. We're seeing great things happening. It all depends on having a strong recovery for everyone. So of course, vaccination, talked about it already – key, that's the foundation.

But when we talk about that strong recovery, public safety, absolutely crucial. Now the recovery itself is helping to make us safer, but continuing to enhance public safety of course helps build a recovery. They go together. Now what's actually quite amazing is during the year 2021, a major story has been developing in Brooklyn. And it's a powerful story. It's a good news story. It's an encouraging story. Because Brooklyn, historically, some of the neighbors in Brooklyn have had some of the hardest problems with crime of anywhere in New York City. There are parts of Brooklyn, sadly, historically known to be challenged by serious, serious crime and violence issues. But in the year 2021, even while we were fighting back this pandemic, all over Brooklyn, we saw a real turnaround when it came to safety. The men and women of the NYPD should be very proud of this. So, many community organizations and community leaders who are out there working to stop violence before it happened, should be very proud of this. All the violence interrupters, all the community groups that were involved, all the folks who in whatever way, help support our young people. There's a lot of reasons this came together in Brooklyn. But it's an important story and it's an indicator of the future and where we need to go. So, let's talk about the overview. Two borough commands in Brooklyn, Brooklyn North, Brooklyn South. Brooklyn South has now, when it comes to the crucial indicator of shootings, has returned to 2019 levels. This is really important. 2020, incredibly tough year for the city and for the whole country. Cities all over America saw huge upticks. In 2021, unfortunately in a lot of America that's continued, but in Brooklyn South, the shooting levels have gone back to 2019 pre pandemic.

Brooklyn North, we've seen a lot of progress. Historically, one of the most challenged borough commands in the whole city. Real progress, numbers substantially better than in 2020. Right on the path we want them to be towards someplace better. Across the borough, index crime is down compared to 2020 and now reaching 2019 levels. Murders down in the borough by 21 percent, shootings down by 20 percent. Murder, rape, robbery, burglary all down compared to last year in Brooklyn. Something really important is happening in Brooklyn. I want you to hear from some of the people who have helped to make it happen and to understand the amazing efforts against really tough odds. And I want to start with an example from one of the neighborhoods that's gotten the least investment over generations and has had some of the toughest problems, Brownsville. In Brownsville, we've seen extraordinary innovation, extraordinary creativity, understanding and respect, and a sense of partnership between police and community that is becoming a model for the whole city. And this effort continuing in the month of November, continuing to deepen. For a week, you're going to see something powerful, churches, community groups, non-profit organizations, Cure Violence, Crisis Management System, working together in areas historically plagued by crime. Front and center, civilian presence, solving problems. Police playing their crucial role, but a really smart division of labor to make sure that we reduce violence in the right ways and the effective ways, in the lasting ways. I want you to see a video that's very brief, but it really tells a story. A tree is growing in Brooklyn. Something is happening in Brownsville. I think it's going to become a model for this city and even beyond. Let's show you this video.

[Video plays]

Inspector Terrell Anderson, NYPD: So, as a youth, when the NYPD would arrive, I attributed that to calming down the situation that was occurring. So, I developed an admiration of cops at that time, and it helped guide me to where I am now. It's common sense to work and to listen to them, to hear what the people who we served and want within their communities.

Mayor: I got to tell you that is very, very moving to me. I want to thank Inspector Terrell Anderson for what he's doing in the 7-3 Precinct. Thank all the men and women of the 7-3 Precinct. All the members of the NYPD doing great work, working with the community. This is a powerful model. It's going to make a big difference, but the good news is it's not just Brownsville. This idea is now being modified, adapted for each neighborhood in different ways, different precinct commanders, different approaches with different community groups, but the idea of entirely different approach to how police and community can work together, this is powerful. I want you to hear now from the leader who is bringing this idea all over the city and making it work in a really high-impact way, in a very fast way to her great credit. She took this idea and ran with it and she likes to get things done. It's my pleasure to introduce our Chief of Patrol for the NYPD, Chief Juanita Holmes.

Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes, NYPD: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And good morning to New York City. So, Mayor, you're absolutely right. Inspector Terrell Anderson, he epitomizes not criminalizing social conditions, which is something we never want to do. I had the pleasure of working in Brownsville 12 years ago, and just seeing that the same social conditions with it just seems systemic never-ending. So, something had to be done and I love what he's doing over there. Tremendous asset to Brownsville and the community loves him, but I'll speak about citywide. When you look at all 77 precincts soon to be 78, this is going on all over New York City. Everyone has a different priority, different issues that they're being met with. But more importantly, we realize you have to bring the community that you serve to the table. That's the only way that we're going to be able to resolve some of the issues that are challenging to the community throughout the city.

And that's what we're doing. The community is at the table. It's not like NYPD has the lead. They're allowed to prioritize, whatever issues or challenges they're met with. And we work with them. But like you said, it's a team effort. Clergy, CMS teams, not-for-profit, government agencies, sanitation, ACS connecting families to, whatever needs they may have. So, I am definitely at the helm of that. And it's a pleasure to be, and it's the new way of policing, but more importantly, it's the only way of policing. So, my hat goes off to all the men and women in executive positions throughout the city that's pushing this message to our boots on the ground. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, Chief. Well, you are being a little modest. It wouldn't be happening without you. And you're telling people how important it is to try this new approach, to engage the community a new way. This is taking neighborhood policing to the next level. And it depends on leaders who feel it, understand it, want to take us farther. Thank you for that leadership, Chief.

Now, when you think about what's happened in Brooklyn, there's a big piece of it, a different approach, a powerful engagement between police and community, but there's also another important piece of this equation, which has taken painstaking work by the NYPD. And the NYPD puts immense resources into going to the root causes of violence. And so often that means gangs. But to take down a gang, to end the violence of gang brings to the community, takes immense, careful work, extremely well-coordinated, extremely professional work to make a huge difference. We're putting out this report today on violence reduction in Brooklyn 2021. And this is a very powerful document because it talks about a systematic effort. I want to give a praise to everyone in NYPD, Commissioner Shea, Chief Harrison, Chief Holmes, everyone who has been leading this effort to create a different approach. The evidence is here.

Now, these gang takedowns along with a number of other strategies have made a huge difference. They are intelligence driven. It's really important to say this. It is based on getting the right information and following through to create the right prosecutions. We've been seeing the impact when the gang takedowns happen in a neighborhood. We've seen this consistently where there is a gang takedown, and there has been a shooting problem. We see a fast decrease in shootings, 30, 40 percent or more decrease in shootings because those shooters are now out of circulation because the effort systematically focused on who was creating the problem. We've had gang takedowns all over the city, four of them, four major gang takedowns in Brooklyn. It's made a big difference. I want you to hear from one of the architects of this effort, a leading creative, innovative, forceful anti-violence efforts that are really proving on the ground that we can make a change. My pleasure to introduce, Deputy Chief Jason Savino.

Deputy Chief Jason Savino, NYPD: And thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's an absolute honor. And thank you, also, Chief Holmes, fellow Brooklynite, always admired the way you fought crime in the Bed Stuy area. And certainly, you'll always set – you're an innovator and set an example for us all. We appreciate it. So, good morning to beautiful Brooklyn. I'm Deputy Chief Jason Savino, commanding officer of the Gun Violence Suppression Division. Our team ultimately builds cases against gang members that are more than willing to carry a gun, and readily use them. The small percentage that the Mayor alluded to earlier, that willingly endanger the great people of our communities. Now, our team consists of over 200 investigators that pride themselves in building pristine cases. And I'm so thankful and really blessed with the team that consider the members of our community, much like family to take its soul tremendously personal protecting our public. It's a personal mission of every investigator we have, and I'm just so proud to be a part of it. And I'd also want to note that the members of our team kept them maintained boots on the ground, not only through a pandemic, but through so many other challenges, it shows that NYPD always performs at the highest level.

Mayor: Chief – go ahead, I’m sorry.

Deputy Chief Savino: I apologize, Mr. Mayor. I missed that.

Mayor: No, I want you to – I want to draw out one more thing from you. And again, praise to all the detectives who do this work. A special thanks to Chief Jimmy Essig, the Chief of Detectives, but I think the people of the city need to understand a little bit more, the painstaking work it takes to get to these successful take-downs, successful prosecutions and why that's been working in Brooklyn. Give us more of a flavor of that.

Deputy Chief SavinoAbsolutely. And our mission, I think the best way really to describe it, Mr. Mayor is we have the best of the best looking at the worst of the worst. We utilize really next level precision policing policies and address geography and the right subjects. You have to consider even amongst gangs, there's very few individuals that will pull the trigger. They're really the so-called alphas of the gangs. This is who we build cases around. Now, the crews that we investigate include those few individuals that make it uncomfortable and downright dangerous for all the great people in the communities, those who really, without remorse, carry firearms and create just an uncomfortable quality of life. All our great people, you know, the type of quality of life that only the worst of the worst can create. We actually see on video and surveillance, you know, every-day residents doing everything they can to avoid these individuals, everybody in the community knows exactly who these people are.
I know our audience does as well. These are the bad guys that truly create adverse living conditions. You know, not to mention, all these subjects are more than willing to pull the trigger exclusively to benefit their gang. Now, they even go so far to ultimately take a life. Some –

Mayor: Go, ahead, Chief. I'm sorry.

Deputy Chief Savino: I apologize. Sometimes even bragging about it thereafter, you know, and we have cases where they even keep score. You know, these are the individuals we know that bullets have no name. A theme we've certainly seen so tragically so many times.

Mayor: Chief, tell us one example, one that you find particularly powerful of an example in Brooklyn, of the difference this kind of operation made in terms of making the neighborhood safer.

Deputy Chief Savino: Well, I’ll go right to our [inaudible] case. So, June – June 1st, we’ve ultimate – I'm sorry, July 1st, we ultimately take down that case. When you look at violence, prior, there was a 20 percent increase of shootings –

Mayor: Tell us the neighborhood.

Deputy Chief Savino: It was really East Flatbush area, Crown Heights. But that's one of many neighborhoods we've touched, but all the other cases parallel this trend, if you will. We measure our success by 56 days after a takedown. When you look at the 56 days after July 1st in the heat of the summer, 16 shooting incidents, verse 34. So, we’ve actually swung from a 20 percent increase to upwards of 40, 50 percent decrease. And that's what we're seeing throughout the city with our takedowns.

Mayor: That's amazing, Chief. I commend you. I commend all the men and women under your command. And I want to just draw this back to what we've seen in Brooklyn, to the commanders of Brooklyn, South Brooklyn, North, congratulations. Something really important by the way, in the middle of all this, at Labor Day, another absolutely astounding moment. And Chief, you remember this well with the J'Ouvert celebration. And so many other moments that unfortunately the past had been marked by some real challenges, including gun violence, amazing efforts being made for months in advance. Again, clergy, community groups, cure violence movement, crisis management system, NYPD, elected officials, all working together. This was the safest J'Ouvert we've seen, I think in many, many years. Something's happening in Brooklyn and everyone here has been a part of it. And so many other good men and women in the community and in the NYPD. This is going to be more and more a model for our future. And I wanted to celebrate here as we do City Hall in Your Borough Week in Brooklyn. A lot of Brooklyn pride here. Thank you, both very much.

And speaking of some Brooklyn pride, one more thing before we go to our indicators, we're going to be doing something very beautiful, very special in East New York later on today, our baby bonds initiative. This came out of our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity, leaders of color throughout the City government agencies that came together to create new real impact, real change, through new initiatives in light of all the disparities we saw coming out of COVID. Well, that amazing Task Force said, let's do baby bonds. Let's do it right now. And we announced, and we implemented for every single kindergarten student in New York City. This year, every single one of them, almost 70,000 kids are going to get a college savings account opened up for them, paid for, supported by the City of New York. And then that's going to spark a lot of other private and philanthropic contributions, family contributions. It's going to start with our contribution, but it's going to grow and grow and grow. And those kids are going to know from the point they're at kindergarten, that a lot of people are looking out for them to help them get to college. This is how we create generational wealth in all communities, and, particularly, in communities of color that have been deprived of generational wealth by structural racism. This is a powerful initiative. So, where better than an East New York today, we'll be at Brooklyn Gardens Elementary School and 53 kindergarten kids among literally every kindergarten in New York City. And these 53, we're going to use to have a moment to really celebrate these kids are going to be together with their families. It's going to be a beautiful moment. They're going to get their baby bonds, and they're going to start on their pathway to their bright futures. So, come join us in East New York later on today for something very, very special. And by the way, first in the nation to have the baby bonds initiative on this kind of scale. And we're starting it right here in Brooklyn.

Okay. Our indicators for today. Number one, this number keeps growing, growing, growing – doses administered to-date 12,283,368 doses. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 107 patients. Confirmed positivity, 16.38 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers, 0.55. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report is 1,057 cases.

Now, a few words in Spanish. Going back to where we began, the importance of the vaccination effort and the fact that you can get vaccinated in your own home. You just have to ask for it. It's free. It's available to all.

[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 will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chief Juanita Holmes; Deputy Chief Jason Savino; Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor on Public Health; Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of Test & Trace; and Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. Our first question for today goes to Andrew Siff from NBC.

Question: Hey. Good morning, everybody. First question on the booster eligibility. We're getting reports that at the chain pharmacies, CVS, Walgreens, etcetera, despite Commissioner Chokshi’s advisory earlier this week, people are being asked, are they 65? Are they an essential worker? And there are barriers to that booster. Is there anything you'll be able to do about that? Or do pharmacies simply have to wait until they get official federal guidance?

Mayor: Very helpful question, Andrew. I appreciate it. First of all, we’ve got to get the message out to the pharmacies better. And if there's any examples, by the way, Andrew, that you're hearing specifically, if you could share them with our teams so we can follow up – our health team can follow up with them directly, that's great. I'll turn to Dr. Varma, Dr. Long. I think that the bottom line here is, the Health Department of New York City is the organization that has to interpret the guidance. And the Health Department of New York City has sent a formal advisory out, saying we want to see everyone get a booster. We're in a high-need area. Everyone qualifies, go get the booster. We have to make sure every provider understands that. That's our responsibility to make sure that's clear. Dr. Varma, Dr. Long, you want to add?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. Thank you very much for the question, Andrew. And this is an ongoing challenge that we faced every time that we've had to issue guidance. And we're in partnership with private centers – you know, the same issues, you know, regarding testing and for other issues as well. So, really what this is going to depend upon is engaging with all of these institutions to basically make sure that their processes are aligned with ours. As you know, we didn't directly contradict the federal guidelines. Essentially what we're saying is, you know, don't require people to attest to their medical condition, just simply accept that they're interested in getting a booster as appropriate. You know, we wanted to make sure that we were in line with the federal guidance as well. And, of course, this may all change very soon. As we know, CDC’s ACIP is meeting very soon. And so, these issues may get resolved that way as well.

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

Executive Director Long: Sir, you covered everything. Nothing to add.

Mayor: Thank you so much. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Okay. So, Mayor, this morning, you were on MSNBC on Morning Joe. And anyone watching it, it certainly looked like you had led Joe and Mika and the others on the show to believe that you were going to be announcing for Governor, and then you didn't do it. So, can you explain to folks, was that intentional on your part? Did you pull a bait and switch with them? Or was the agreement with MSNBC all along that you would have something to say about education?

Mayor: Again, I’ll let them speak for themselves. But it's quite clear to me, we communicated we have a major plan to announce and I thought it was a good dialogue this morning. And I'm very proud of this plan. The bottom line here is, we're talking about a very different vision for education in the state, obviously will affect every child in this city as well. We've got to do something different. So, we have learned here what can be done – 3-K for All, Pre-K for All. We want to see afterschool and extended hours for every child. We want to see kids who want summer opportunities to have it. If they want year-long education, they should get it. All-day education, they should get it for free. This plan would do that for the entire state and anyone who wants to see it, go to BilldeBlasio.com. But I thought it was a very good dialogue and I appreciated in the end when Joe said this is the kind of thing that we need to see not just for the state, but for this country.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good. How are you doing, Michael?

Question: I'm doing okay. I wanted to ask you about this story we did today on the proposed $100 million tax break that the developer Longfellow would get for – as part of this proposed rezoning, construction on the Upper East Side.
Mayor: Which one are you talking about, Michael? I haven't seen your story. Which are you talking about? Which site?

Question: What’s that?

Mayor: What's that which site, Michael.

Question: The Blood Center.

Mayor: The Blood Center, go ahead.

Question: Yeah. So – sorry about that. So, you know, my understanding is that not all of the space in that is going to be used for life sciences. I might be mistaken in that, which is why there's some pushback on this. Can you explain, justify why this is needed here and where things are in the process of coming to an agreement on that?

Mayor: In terms of any of the details of coming to agreement or how automatic incentives work, things that are available to anybody, I can't give you that chapter and verse. Our team will follow up. But let me tell you why this is important. I said in the State of the City, beginning of this year, you know, my vision for the entire year and for the comeback in New York City, that life science is going to be absolutely crucial, that we needed to be the life sciences capital. And we are actually making incredible progress. There's a huge amount of resources now coming into New York City to lead us to the day where I hope we can be, literally, the public health capital of the world. But we should be a life sciences capital. We've invested a lot publicly to set up that reality, to make sure the foundation was there. But the private sector is now coming in in a very big way. This is going to lead to thousands, ultimately tens of thousands of jobs, cures for major diseases, and other things that will improve the quality of life. This is a lot of New York City's future. So, this site is crucial to our efforts to create New York City as a life sciences capital. And it's also, the Blood Center – the Blood Center we depend on. We need it to be sustainable. We need it to be viable for the long-term, because, for the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, we need the Blood Center to work. So, this is a really important project. Go ahead, Michael.

Question: Thank you. The next question I wanted to ask has to do with the news from the Manhattan DA's office. They're planning to announce the exoneration of the two men who were in prison for the killing of Malcolm X. What do you think of the DA's decision? Do you agree with it? And do you think it's possible after all these years to get to the bottom of, you know, what went wrong back then? Why it went wrong? Your thoughts on that?

Mayor: My thoughts are less about the DA's decision and the, sort of, legal procedural issues. I didn't get to see exactly how the DA did the work and, and how they came to the conclusion. My thoughts are with Malcolm X’s family. You know, for a lot of us, Malcolm X was one of the leaders that changed our minds and helped us to see that we could have a different kind of society and a better society. And everyone who knows his personal journey, he went through tremendous transformation and, by the end of his life, you know, had a vision of an inclusive society that was very, very powerful. I think there's a lot of people in this city and beyond who still want to know who killed him and want that person or those people brought to justice, whoever it was and whoever instigated it. That what goes through my mind.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Anna Sterling from NY1.

Question: Hi, Mayor. How's it going?

Mayor: Good, Anna. How are you?

Question: Good. Thank you. So, regarding the education proposal this morning, the State legislator increased taxes earlier this year to make New York City residents the highest taxed people in the country. So, can you really raise taxes on people again to pay for the proposal? And, you know, if so, by how much?

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely. Because we are also the state in this country that has the worst income inequality. We’re the state in this country that has the most billionaires. The last count I saw 118 billionaires who during the COVID crisis intensified their wealth to the tune of about $87 billion. So, what I'm focused on is asking those who have done very, very well to give a little bit more for our children and our families. By the way, a lot of folks I've talked to, millionaires and billionaires, really care about education. They actually, in their hearts, want to see a better educated society. They want to see opportunity. One of the places a lot of them do put their own personal contributions is into education. Here's a way to do something that would have a profound impact. But if we don't do this, then what we're essentially leaving many families to do is fend for themselves. A lot of families, if they don't get some help, middle-class families, working class families, if they don't get some help their kids are not going to get the education they deserve. Should be year-round for anyone who wants it. Should be all day to the end of the afternoon for any child that wants it. And this should be a universal right. So, absolutely. We estimate initially the vision is about $5.4 billion. And, obviously, some of that may be resolved by federal funding, which would be great. But yes, this can be done and it needs to be done. We're 19th in America in our educational performance – 19th. You know, that's just not acceptable. We have to do something different. Go ahead, Anna.

Question: Okay. Thank you for that. And now, pivoting over to [inaudible] of Hurricane Ida. You know, the families that were moved to new hotels in Brooklyn, I've been hearing that – you know, they're telling me that the conditions at the new hotel is pretty on uninhabitable, just some, like, filthy conditions, issues with doors locking, and it just – it sounds pretty terrible. So, I'm wondering, you know, if you've heard of that and if anything is being done to address this?

Mayor: Anna, I appreciate you raising it. And it was raised by one of your colleagues yesterday, a different – different part of the issue was raised. But what you're raising, I've said a lot, I appreciate any member of the media who helps us see something that needs to be addressed. So, please give the details of who you've been talking to, where they are to our team. We'll address that immediately. That's not acceptable. In fact, the effort has been made to get the families close to home in Queens, I think, primarily where the families are from – close to home while we're trying to help them either get back into their original homes or to affordable housing. But no, I don't accept any situation where a family is living as you described and we have to fix that right away.

Moderator: Next we have Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times.

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mayor. So, with a month left in office, where do you [inaudible] stand on the Gowanus and SoHo rezonings? Do you think they will get the Council’s support by the end of the year? And how important is that for your legacy?

Mayor: Great question, Emma. Yes, they will both pass. I feel very confident about that. Tremendous support in the Council. A lot of support in both communities. Where I think the meaning of this is, besides the fact that we're going to create a lot of affordable housing. The Gowanus rezoning, the single biggest we've done, 3,000 units of affordable housing. SoHo, NoHo, creating affordable housing in a community that really hasn't had hardly any and establishing the notion that affordable housing needs to be created in every kind of community of whatever income. These are big deals. This is a big moment. And what it says is, this is a city committed to the right kind of development. I want to give a shout out to Council Member Brad Lander for a very, very long, meticulous process in his community around Gowanus. And, again, biggest rezoning we've done. It required a lot of that dialogue. But this says that, yes, this is a city that can do development the right way, a progressive vision of development, community-centered development, lots of affordable housing, jobs for the community, the kinds of things that make a difference, a way of addressing real needs the right way. So, we're finishing strong with these two rezonings and I think it sends a powerful message about what the city needs to do in the future. Go ahead, Emma.

Question: Thank you. And then a question from my colleague, Ashley. She reported the news yesterday of the two men convicted of killing Malcolm X will be exonerated. Do you or the NYPD have anything to say to Muhammad Aziz and the family of Kalil Islam after the DA found that the NYPD was among the agencies that withheld evidence that could have led to them being acquitted?

Mayor: Well, I'll start and I'll turn to Chief Holmes. Look, although I have not seen the details of what the DA did, any time that that kind of injustice has done is unacceptable. And any member of the NYPD who withheld evidence didn't fulfill their oath. And if any individuals suffered, that's wrong, and all we can do is say that doesn't represent the city, it's not acceptable and offer, you know, to the families any way we can support them, going forward. Again, I'm deeply troubled whenever I hear of any wrongful conviction. But I want to emphasize, again, I hope this doesn't end the discussion. For millions and millions of Americans, we still need to know who killed Malcolm X and who ordered it. Go ahead, Chief Holmes.

Chief Holmes: So, I echo the Mayor's sentiments, you know, truly, truly just heartfelt for Malcolm X's family, as well as the two gentlemen that are being exonerated if we are responsible for withholding information. But, more importantly, it is a new police department. We had a new discovery law assigned into place May 3rd, 2020, which requires us to turn over anything that's related to a particular case within 14 days. So, that's a tremendous move forward. And, again, I hope – I hope that we never revisit a scenario like this again.

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin Durkin from Politico.

Question: Mr. Mayor, so with regards to your education announcement this morning, do you intend – I know the city already has, you know, Universal Pre-K, but as far as the aspects that aren't in place [inaudible] year-round stuff, are you intending to do anything to implement it in your remaining months as Mayor? I know – I know it's late, but you are attempting to implement, for instance, Gifted & Talented. So, are you going to do anything to implement it here? And, if not, and you're not currently running for Governor, then, sort of, what is this proposal for?

Mayor: The proposal is a vision for the changes we need in this state, and I intend to work hard to make these changes happen. I have a track record of making changes like this happen, and we proved it first with pre-K and then with 3-K. We proved it with providing after school to every middle school child who wanted it. We proved it this summer with a Summer Rising Initiative, reaching 200,000 kids. Obviously, I'd like to see all of those things continue into the future and we have built the framework for all of that to continue, but to make sure it goes even farther, that every child can have that extended day to five o'clock or six o'clock everywhere, to make sure it's fully funded, to make sure that something like Summer Rising could continue to grow. It was 200,000 kids. It could be hundreds of thousands of more if we had the funding, that really requires state support. So we've built the foundation here in New York City. We've proved the point, but what I'm going to do is fight for this to become the larger reality for the entire state. And Erin, I want to emphasize this will be first in the nation, and I want to restore the leadership that we should have. Look, in New York City when we created Pre-K for All, that was emulated in a lot of the country. I hope it had a positive impact on the national discourse. I hope it contributed to the decision that President Biden very boldly made to pursue that as a national objective. But this state is still too far behind, 19th in education, not acceptable. We need an entirely different vision. So, I'm going to fight for that vision. I want to see us be the first in the nation to do this, and I think it can be done, and that's going to be a very proud day for New York State. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay, thanks. So, just to clarify that to no one implementing it at the city level while you're still in office? 

Mayor: Well, again, I will clarify if I wasn't clear enough, major pieces of this, pre-K, 3-K, middle school after school, and Summer Rising, we have already implemented, they already exist, sustaining them into the future, and building them out. I want that longer school day not just for middle school, but for elementary school, high school students, the city doesn't have those resources. What we need is a State initiative to fund all of this on a sustainable basis. That's why I'm going to fight for. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I also had a question about your plan for year-round school. I was wondering that since you're modeling it on Summer Rising, do you have some statistics or outcomes on that program? You know, I guess going forward we can know that the children who participated in there, in that program, and how they're doing in school now, and whether that had an impact on, you know, any kind of learning loss they experienced during the pandemic? I'm also interested in whether there've been any surveys of those families that participated in that program?

Mayor: Very good questions. I appreciate them, Elizabeth, I'm going to turn to the Chancellor in a moment on this to talk about Summer Rising because Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter deserves tremendous credit for seeing this possibility and bringing it to life. This is something that a lot of people did pieces of previously, but no one had the kind of boldness to put it together into a whole before this Chancellor. It's quite amazing. And it's new, so the Chancellor can talk about what's been studied so far, or surveys, or even just anecdotal information. I would note we did it in part because, of course, trying to bring back kids after COVID, but I think there's a much more powerful permanent reality if we do this, that any child who is at any level academically, would be guaranteed the summer to have a place that's safe and positive, sports, recreation, arts culture, as well as academics and tutoring. There's no question that's going to change the lives of kids. There's been a discussion in this country for years and years about the potential for year-round education. It's never been done. It has to be done if we're really going to keep up with the 21st century, we now have a model that really works and was fun, it was engaging, we got great response from parents, it was so convenient, it went till six in the evening. This is the shape of things to come. So, in terms of what we've learned so far from it, Chancellor, you want to add? 

Chancellor Porter: Sure, first of all, it was so successful. We had 200,000 students participate. One of the great things was that 50 percent of those students who participated in Summer Rising have been fully remote the year before, and so we talked a lot about building a bridge back to school as a part of Summer Rising, and we absolutely did that. We also got feedback from families and students that spoke to, one, they felt they were more prepared for the school year as a result of participating in Summer Rising. Teachers felt like they got a head start with students. And I think most importantly – and this is why we did it – we did it because we knew that this year back to school had to be different. We had to blend academics, enrichment, social, emotional support, all together to bring our students back to school, and we built a foundation that we're already starting to think forward to what our summers going from this point on needs to look like and be like for young people across the city. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: I have a second question from our health team. They've been working on a story about schools that primarily rely on windows and air purifiers for ventilation. They’ve found that those schools are recording higher COVID case rates compared to schools with better ventilation. They've also found that the company that's sold the air purifiers to the city launched a lobbying campaign targeting city officials. Was there a competitive bidding process undertaken in purchasing those air purifiers? 

Mayor: Elizabeth, I'll have the team follow up on the procurement process. I don't know the details of that. I don't know the companies involved. Obviously during COVID we moved quickly to get what we needed to keep kids safe, but I want to turn to the underlying concern you're raising. The history that we've seen over this school year, especially, but even last school year and the worst of COVID, New York City public schools have been incredibly safe, real tribute to everyone involved, our health care leaders, our school leaders, it's been a stunning achievement and it came from layering on all those health and safety measures. I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma because he was one of the architects of this. We literally said, let's look at every country in the world and we've had conference calls and meetings where we went over every country's protocols, every city has protocols, we said, how can we take from each of them and create kind of super protocol gold standard to keep kids safe. It has worked in an astounding way. So, Dr. Varma, to the concern being raised by Elizabeth about ventilation and health outcomes, could you speak to that? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yes, no, absolutely. Thank you very much for the question. You know, we've been looking very actively at our data throughout this period to make sure that all of the health and safety measures that we put in place are in fact working the way they should. And everything we see in monitoring the most important epidemiologic indicators we can find, indicates that our schools are doing a highly effective job at preventing transmission in them. As we all know, there are many ways that adults or children can get infected outside of the school system. So, what we have control over is what goes on actually in those buildings. And so to the point that you’re raising, you know, we did see this inquiry you know, in the past 24 hours, and unfortunately we have only seen a summary of the analysis that was done, and we have a number of methodologic concerns with how it was done. You know, trying to assess the ability of ventilation to have a direct real-world impact in COVID-19 is actually an incredibly difficult scientific question to answer. It's one of the reasons you actually see very few studies about this topic. So, what we are relying right now is really on a real-world experience in the real world data which indicates that our transmission prevention measures are working very effectively in the school system. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. Our next question goes to Bob Hennely from Chief Leader. 

Question: Yes, Mr. Mayor, thanks for taking the call. As you probably heard at MSNBC, there's a steady drum beat that progresses have overreached in general and the Democrats need to be much less ambitious and President Biden's Build Back Better plan for working families. I guess that Senator Manchin and Wall Street had been mentioning this question of inflation. How would you counter that argument that the current moment with inflation requires either a reduction or shelving of Build Back Better altogether? 

Mayor: Oh, I think the inflation issue is a real challenge. Everyday people are experiencing it, but I go the other way and say, it is in fact, these investments are going to help get us out of this inflationary moment. So, I think a lot of the critique has been, you know, we need to talk about it in a way that's more coherent, and I agree with that, we need to acknowledge a lot of people going through challenges, right? Anytime people's costs go up, it's going to affect every one of us, but the way out of it, I believe, is to set the economy right after the, one of the biggest shocks in our history. I mean, remember the worst of COVID in terms of not just a horrible human loss and pain that families went through, but the economic impact, the only comparison is the Great Depression of the 1930s. Coming out of that, we know from that historical example, took a massive investment to reset the equation. So, I think that's the right way to go. I think the President's on the right track. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: So, as I'm sure you're aware, you're a student of history, the disclosures regarding the NYPD and the FBI coming in the context of COINTELPRO and the findings of the Church Committee decades ago, are you confident that the NYPD still doesn't have in its possession documents that might be relevant to a period of time? Moreover general surveillance may have overreached in what we're seeing there is evidence of in the Malcolm X case? 

Mayor: Bob, there have been times in the past where the NYPD did the wrong thing when it came to surveillance, and even in more recent history one of the things I felt adamantly when I became Mayor and my then Commissioner Bill Bratton felt the same thing is that the surveillance that was undertaken in the previous administration towards Muslim communities was inappropriate, and we changed that immediately. There is a painful history, and if there's any documents still out there that haven't been released from that period in the 60s and 70s, they should be. I don't know of anything like that, but if there is, of course it should be addressed and they should be released. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Oh, hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor on everybody here on the call. So, are you going to be putting out a separate day schedule now with the campaign announcement or appearances given that your Morning Joe appearance wasn't on your public schedule? 

Mayor: Yeah, I think that was a mistake, Juliet. I want to apologize for that. I don't – I think there's a little bit of a lack of communication and coordination there. Anytime I'm appearing publicly in a setting like that, of course it deserves public notice, and we'll figure out the right way to do that going forward. Go ahead. 

Question: So, which is it then? Was this a campaign appearance, or is this an MSNBC, you know, appearance for MSNBC? 

Mayor: To me, as you saw from the subject matter, it ranged across a number of areas and the discussion of New York City's come back, the discussion of New Year's Eve and how we're handling a vaccination only approach to it. There were plenty of topics that were very much about what I do every day as the Mayor of this city. So we'll – again, we'll get everyone coordinated. We'll make sure the notice goes out. Pretty much anytime that I speak with the media, there's going to be a mix of topics and certainly the work we're doing to help the city recover, it always comes up, even if there's other topics beyond that. So we'll get that fixed going forward.  

Everyone listen, as we conclude today, for Brooklyn week, this wonderful week, City Hall in Your Borough in Brooklyn, it's the last press conference, but I want to tell you a lot more good stuff happening, including this beautiful event we're going to have later on in East New York for the baby bonds, but a lot is happening here in Brooklyn to be proud of, a lot in this city, to the amazing progress making the borough safer. Again, thanks to the NYPD, thanks to all the men and women who do this work, thanks to all the community members who do this work. A lot of good happening in Brooklyn and another example of New York coming back strong, and this is something we should be very, very proud of. Thank you, everybody. 

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