Transcript: Interview with Rich Lamb of WCBS Newsradio 880

November 10, 2015

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: We're here in the Mayor's Office here at City Hall in Lower Manhattan at the invitation of Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, thanks so much.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: My pleasure, Rich.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: So, let me just allow myself one softball at the top. How do you like being Mayor? Is the job bigger than you thought it would be, more complex, or is it exactly what you thought it would be?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: First of all, it's an amazing honor. We're sitting here in the office that mayors have used for generations. Right here, Fiorello La Guardia's desk, which is one of the things I really cherish. He was by far our greatest mayor. So, being able to do the same job that Fiorello did, I can't ask for more than that. It's amazing.
Now, it is 24/7. It is certainly sobering, and even faster and more intense than I imagined, and I had a pretty good grounding. I used to work in this building for Mayor Dinkins. I had a pretty good sense of the place. The modern age comes with ever more intensity, but it's a privilege. We get to get a lot done for people – and amazing things I experience with my fellow New Yorkers and some extraordinary people I meet along the way.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: You get recognized here and there, too. I know, I've been on the subway with you.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Yeah, I have to say, the subway's an amazing experience, because behind our rough exteriors, New Yorkers are very kind, warm people in many, many cases. And I have to say, on the subway, I get into great conversations with people. A lot of people like to take selfies – that's different from a few years ago. Instead of a handshake, people want to take a selfie. I have to say, I get into great conversations with people. A lot of supportive people out there, a lot of people want to see their leaders do well and be effective and are giving me a lot of encouragement. So I love being out in the subway. I love being out in the streets. That's part of the joy of the job.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: Mr. Mayor, this is our first sit-down with you, and it's part of a new communication strategy. And I want to give you a chance to beat up on the media.
[Laughter]
Do you think your coverage has been fair? Do you think people have adequately covered you, fairly covered you?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I don't want to get into a rating game. I want to say it this way. We have real serious challenges that we're trying to address here in this city, but we also have a lot of things that are working. Crime is going down. I give Commissioner Bratton and the NYPD tremendous credit. Affordable housing's being built. Vision Zero is saving lives. 65,000 kids in full-day pre-K.
I understand that for the media they have to focus on breaking news, and there's always been, historically, media focus on conflict and difference and personality. I get that. I want to make sure that I have a chance to have real conversations with journalists about the issues affecting everyday New Yorkers and what we're doing about it, because that's what people want to know. They want to know, "What are the solutions?" And I find that these one-on-one interviews are one of the best ways to actually get to the heart of the matter: What are we doing? What's working? What do we need to do better? Because I'll talk about that, too.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: What do you need to do better?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Clearly, I'm glad you asked. Vision Zero is working, but we need to go deeper, which means more enforcement by the NYPD. We've seen twice as many speeding tickets, three times as many tickets on failure to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk, but we're going to go deeper, because we have to change behavior even more.
On homelessness, we've got strategies that are working. 50,000 folks we managed to get out of shelter to better solutions. But the number of people whose economic reality is collapsing and end up on the verge of being in a shelter keeps growing, so we have to continually reach more people, keep them from being evicted if that's something we can achieve with legal support, help people get subsidies to stay in their apartment. We have some of the right game plan, but we've got to reach more people with it.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: I've read that you're spending another billion dollars on the homeless problem?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Over the next four years, additional investment of a billion dollars. Look, that's a lot of money, and it obviously shows how committed we are to addressing the challenge. The good news is we find these new approaches are working. Again, 50,000-plus people out of shelter just since July 2014, less than 18 months. We're getting tremendous support from faith communities, and this is a really important piece of the puzzle. We reached out to the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn, but also a host of other faith communities, and said, "We've got to help get homeless folks off the street."
And some of them don't want to go into the big shelters, and I can understand that. What we have is a smaller, more intimate model that perfectly works in a house of worship, because a lot of homeless people feel more comfortable in a house of worship, feel they can trust more. It's called Safe Havens. It's been tremendously effective at getting people off the streets, getting them to mental health services, substance abuse services. The outpouring of support we've gotten from the faith community in the city has been amazing. We're putting together 500 locations where homeless folks can go and get off the street, and we think that's going to be a difference maker.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: Just the other day, the Police Commissioner said something along the lines of, "Maybe people ought to stop giving money to the homeless." Mayor Bloomberg had kind of made it a policy, saying, "You know what? Maybe you shouldn't give money to the homeless. It only enables them to be out there, maybe they have some bad habits or whatever." What's your attitude about that?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: My attitude is that we can do a lot better than simply giving someone spare change. We can actually turn their lives around. And that's what our plan allows for. Again, 500 locations with houses of worship to get people off the streets and to the help they need. More homeless outreach workers than ever before. More NYPD focus on homeless. You know why NYPD is more focused on homeless? Because they've driven down violent crime. The fact is, and Commissioner Bratton explains this very clearly, as NYPD's been more and more successful addressing violent crime, they can now focus more and more on quality of life issues like homelessness.
So we've got a lot more presence out there focused on addressing homelessness. We've got the capacity in our shelters and our Safe Havens. We need people to call 311 when they see someone who needs help. That's the way to help them. Tell a homeless person, "We can get you help. We can get you the help you need to get off the street." That's where the focus should be.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: But you understand the impulse, people want to give them a dollar or whatever?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I understand it. I've done it myself, but the fact is that's not a solution. And we're all human beings and we feel compassion for our fellow human beings, but I think what Commissioner Bratton's saying hits the point on the head. The solution is these bigger efforts to actually help people get off the streets and get on the right track.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: So let's switch topics here for a second. Your relationship with Governor Cuomo. You may have come into the office thinking, "Here's an ally, here's somebody who's going to help me out." And sometimes it hasn't worked out that way. What's your relationship with him like? Can you tell us about is there a personal relationship? Is this a business relationship?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Look, we've had our ups and down, but we continue to talk throughout it. And what I've said is when we can get something done for the people of New York City, I'll be there every time. When there's a difference, and sometimes there's a real difference between mayors and governors, I'll say that out loud too when I think anything the Governor is doing is not in the interest of the people of New York City. My door is always open to get something done. That's the bottom line.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: Do you feel like his door's open?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I think we have shown, in some contexts recently, including on the issue of the MTA funding, a real give and take. I understand why the Governor was pushing for additional funds from the city. I was pushing for major reforms to make sure that city money and other money for the MTA was not taken out of the MTA budget and used by the state for other purposes. We wanted more say in how the money was used. We wanted a variety of things. We got those things. There was a good give and take. We got to a good solution.
It's always there, I'm always looking forward to the opportunity to get something done. Again, if I disagree, I'll also say when I disagree.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: Let's talk about pay scales for elected officials. You have appointed a commission, I think, to look into that. The mayor gets paid $225,000 a year. Do you feel like you deserve a raise?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: First of all, what I appointed is what's called a Quadrennial Commission. By the city law, it is something that's supposed to meet every four years. We just put it together a few weeks back. Fritz Schwarz is the Chair, who's a legendary civic figure in this city, used to be Corporation Counsel of New York City under Mayor Koch. They're charged with figuring out what makes sense. Since the last action on pay raise for elected officials, I think was eight years ago, the job of that Commission is to assess: Is one appropriate, how would it be approached, etc. Are there other changes and reforms that should be made? Then I'll look at their report and I'll judge from there how to proceed.
I've said that since I'm sitting in office right now and I named this Commission, in terms of the term I'm in now, I don't want to benefit if there is some suggestion of a change in compensation. I do not think it's appropriate for me to benefit from that while I'm in this term. Other elected officials, if there is that kind of proposal, will have to make their own choices. Look, I think a group of three really respected professionals, I want to hear what they have to say before I pass any judgment.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: Let me just ask you one number, though. The number that's being bandied about for the City Council would be to go from $112,500 to $155,000. I know there'd be some restrictions imposed on it, but does that sound like a reasonable number to you?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: First of all, I don't want to assume what this Commission's going to come back with. They're coming back soon with their report, and I think we should wait and see what they say. There have been real issues over the years in terms of the Council. Should there be outside income or not? Should there be stipends for chairs of committees? These are things that have been talked about for decades, in fact. I want to see what the Commission thinks about all these matters, and then we'll be in a position to judge what's fair.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: Mr. Mayor, you take criticism as a mayor. People take shots at you. Verbally, obviously. And you seem to be very comfortable about all of that. What is it, there's some sort of an internal stabilizing mechanism that keeps you from getting angry about it? Or do you get angry about it?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Of course. I'm a human being. And sometimes, I think every one of us is bothered by criticism, especially when you think it's unfair. But I'm at peace with it, because, first of all, every mayor has experienced a lot of criticism, whether they're right or wrong. It goes with the territory. Second of all, I don't have any illusions about the fact that in a democracy people are going to have strong, passionate views and they're going to differ. I really believe in what I believe in. I'm very comfortable with what I believe in. I'll mix it up with anyone anytime and defend what I believe in.
And I would say, sort of, on a human level, I think, like anyone who's been through challenges, you wish you hadn't gone through them, but a lot of what I saw in my childhood probably prepared me for adversity. And I guess I would feel really bad for someone who had not been prepared for the maelstrom, but in my own way, I got my own preparation.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: Thanksgiving plans?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: We, every year, get together, a lot of the family get together. And we have an annual very, very, very competitive Wiffle ball game, which I'm looking forward to. We make Wiffle ball, I don't want to say into a contact sport, but we make it much more intense than it was ever intended to be. So I'm looking forward to that.

Rich Lamb, WCBS Newsradio 880: Mr. Mayor, thanks very much.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you.