Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on WNYC

November 4, 2016

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC live from The Greene Space this morning. And now, our weekly Ask The Mayor segment with Mayor Bill de Blasio. I’m at The Greene Space where the Mayor joined us in person last week, for which we remain grateful. We have some New Yorkers ready to ask some questions from here again today. And our Ask The Mayor phone lines are open at 2-1-2-4-3-3-W-N-Y-C, 4-3-3-9-6-9-2. Or you can tweet a question – just use the #AskTheMayor. The Mayor is back – where, Mr. Mayor? At City Hall today?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Indeed – City Hall.

Lehrer: Thanks for joining us from there.

Mayor: My pleasure.

Lehrer: And thanks again for last week here at The Greene Space.

Can I ask you first to comment on this report that CBS News and others are carrying about a potential terror threat for Monday or Tuesday? Here’s the CBS version – CBS News has learned about a potential terror threat for the day before the election. Sources told CBS News Senior Investigative Producer Pat Milton that U.S. Intelligence has alerted joint terrorism task forces that Al Qaeda could be planning attacks in three states for Monday. It is believed New York, Texas, and Virginia are all possible targets, though no specific locations are mentioned. U.S. authorities – this says – are taking the threat seriously, though the sources stress the intelligence is still being assessed and its credibility hasn’t been confirmed.

Maybe that’s the story, Mr. Mayor – you can tell me – that the credibility hasn’t been confirmed. But counterterrorism officials were alerted to the threat out of abundant – the abundance of caution. And I guess that’s why they publicized it. Have you been informed officially about this?

Mayor: Yes, I’ve been aware of this for several days as part of the classified briefings that I receive. Let me say – you hit the nail on the head. We are still very much assessing the credibility. It’s not at all clear how credible this is. And it is not overly specific information so far. So, I – we are watching carefully. We’re certainly in a vigilant position. Everyone is working hard – the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the FBI, etcetera – to assess this information.

I think the simplest way for New Yorkers to understand this is – we are going to be in a high state of readiness anyway the next few days. We have the marathon on Sunday. We’re going to have a very strong police presence around the marathon. Obviously, that’s all five boroughs. We’re already planning an extraordinary police presence for Tuesday because for the first time in memory there will be two presidential campaigns having their victory celebrations in New York City on Tuesday night. So you’ll see very extensive police presence – 

Lehrer: Only one will have a victory celebration – let me say.

Mayor: You have caught me in a semantic error, Brian, well said – two having their gatherings. But you’ll see an extraordinary police presence around that, particularly obviously in Manhattan. But Monday as well, because it’s – Monday is sandwiched between these two huge events. You’re going to see extensive NYPD presence, particularly our – we have a new 500-member-plus counterterrorism force, the Critical Response Command. That is the biggest counter-terror force any city has in this country. You’ll see them out in force Monday as well as a precaution. I just think New Yorkers should assume – Sunday, Monday, Tuesday is going to be a continuum of a very high level of vigilance, high level of police presence.

Lehrer: Considering what’s been going on in the last week or so – could this terror talk be a political dirty trick of any kind?

Mayor: We have no reason to believe that or know that at this moment based on the briefings I’ve received. But in this rather confusing moment in history, anything is potentially possible. But it is so non-specific, and since we don’t have evidence of highest levels of credibility, it’s too soon to say what’s motivating it, how real it is. We do know – this time of year, basically as we move towards the holidays, there’s always an increased level of talk of threats around the world. There’s always an uptick, and we have to prepare for that. We don’t know, again, if this is anything more specific than that.

Lehrer: Now, yesterday’s batch of John Podesta emails released by WikiLeaks includes you, writing to the Clinton campaign chair – that’s Podesta – that the Clinton Wall Street speeches, now that the transcripts are out, are “hard to defend.” That was different from what you’ve said publicly which is that you don’t care what’s in the speeches, you care what’s in her platform. How do you square them?

Mayor: I think those two actually are consistent. The fact – and I’ve said publicly, I believe it in my heart – her platform, what she has committed to in the cool, light of day, this is what she will do and she will be held accountable to – the platform. That’s what matters. And the platform is the most progressive of any Democratic nominee in many decades.

That’s what matters and my absolute conviction is that Hillary will take on powerful interests to do things like tax wealthy and raise the minimum wage. At the same time – a statement of fact – it was hard to defend. Obviously, it was a controversial issue and it got a lot of attention but it – you know, the bottom line on all of this is –

Lehrer: What was in there – can I jump in and ask –

Mayor: Yeah.

Lehrer: What was in there that bothered you?

Mayor: No, it’s just, again, we understand in any political discussion, let’s take Donald Trump and his tax returns or any other permutation – it’s understandable why the media and the people demand that certain information come forward. I think nothing compares to Donald Trump not releasing his tax returns. I’ve seen – literally cannot remember any example of nondisclosure as profoundly troubling as that one. And somehow he’s gotten away with it.

But I understand these things are hard to talk about and that’s what I was referring to –

Lehrer: But what was hard to defend? Some people looked at those speeches and said, well, she wasn’t saying stuff that was all that supportive of Wall Street. It was pretty vague but you said it’s hard to defend. What was hard to defend?

Mayor: No, that was at a time – I’m sorry, Brian, there’s a sequential issue here. That was before the WikiLeaks came out – well before – and we didn’t have a specific sense of what was in those speeches –

Lehrer: I see.

Mayor: It was simply about the disclosure issue.

Lehrer: Okay. One other election thing before we take some audience questions for you. For all the attention on the presidential election, there’s also the New York State Senate. I’m curious what’s at stake in New York State as you see it and if you will be participating, or have been participating in any way, to make the New York State Senate Democratic in the majority as you tried to do in the past.

Mayor: I believe fundamentally we need a Democratic State Senate. I think it’s good for the entire State of New York. I think it’s good for New York City. I have not been participating because of the atmosphere that I’m dealing with right now and I regret that because I’d love to be able to help. But the bottom line is I think what’s happening organically on the ground around the state is that there’s a lot of support in districts that have been Republican – that we’ll flip some of them Democratic. And I think that has a lot to do, obviously, with what’s going on in the presidential election as well. It has a lot to do with the scandals in Nassau County where, you know, the County executive just got indicted on top of, previously, the State Senate Majority Leader having been indicted. So, the Nassau County Republican Party is under such a cloud right now, I think that will certainly affect the State Senate races there.

So, I think – look, why do we need a Democratic State Senate? Because we could get campaign finance reform, for example. We could get public financing of elections. We could get voter reform, same-day registration, early voting – all the things that New York State has resisted for decades. I mean, Brian, I talked about this a few weeks ago. New York State is one of the most regressive and backwards states in the country in terms of voting laws. We have some of the worst voter registration laws and we have a system that basically disenfranchises a lot of students and young people, a lot of people who work two jobs. It’s very hard to vote in this state compared to other states. That’s just one example of where a change from a Republican Senate to a Democratic Senate in Albany would lead to really substantially reform. And I think that’s good for the whole state.

Lehrer: We have some people here in the Greene Space who have questions ready for you. So, let’s go to the first gentleman over here. You want to just tell us your first name and where in the city you’re from?

Question: My name is David. I live in Washington Heights.

Lehrer: And your question for the Mayor.

Question: My question is about affordable housing. I’m just curious if you could take about the way forward for your affordable housing plan. Obviously, that’s a huge issue for New Yorkers. The city’s increasingly unaffordable for poor, working-class New Yorkers and even middle-class New Yorkers. Last summer, what I believe was the first development to be proposed under your affordable housing plan in Inwood, was defeated by the City Council and I’m just curious what this portends for your affordable housing plan in particular in affordable housing for the city in general.

Lehrer: Can I you ask you, sir, are you rooting one way or the other?

Question: Well, being a good liberal, I can [inaudible] to see both sides of the issue but I –

[Laughter]

But I think the way I came out at the time was I feel like more affordable housing is better than no affordable housing and basically, there are arguments on both sides, like, the people who are opposing it were saying it’s like a stalking horse for gentrification. It’s going to, like, open the flood gates to more development that’s just going to, you know, make the neighborhood unaffordable. The arguments – the people who are in favor of it were basically saying well now we’ve just a big development with no affordable housing so, that’s worse. I guess I would come down on that side if someone put a gun to my head.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, I assume you know the old line – the definition of a liberal is somebody who won’t take his own side in an argument.

[Laughter]

Mayor: Very good, Brian. I have had that experience with some individuals. But, Brian look – David, thank you for the question and thank you for your honesty about why you are torn on this issue. I think this is an issue that is very tough for a lot of New Yorkers to square because it’s – first of all, I think it’s the number one issue in the city. I think affordability and the fear of displacement is the number one issue. We talk about fighting income inequality – one of the most important ways to fight income inequality is to create affordable housing because it’s the number one expense in anyone’s life and particularly in the lives of New Yorkers. That’s the number one expense.

So, you hit the nail in the head in that last part of what you said. What are the options? There’s really – we’re at a fork in the road. You can let the market do its thing and not have rezonings and not have the opportunity to create affordable housing through rezoning. Remember, we got a law passed – I would remind you Brian the batting average here is quite clear. I went to the City Council, I said we need a law requiring developers to create affordable housing, that it had to 25 or 30 percent affordable housing if they were going to have a development that required a rezoning. It had to include affordable housing. The Council passed that law overwhelmingly.

We now have the most progressive and assertive affordable housing policy in the entire country in terms of what it demands of developers. And if they will not create affordable housing, they literally don’t get the authorization to build.

So, that worked – the East New York rezoning we achieved, we received a huge affordable development in the South Bronx just a few weeks ago under this new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law. So, the bottom line is, in fact, there’s a series of victories. There have been a few places – and you’re right. There was a vote in Washington Heights that we disagreed with but I think that’s the aberration not the norm. The bottom line to David’s point – a place like Washington Heights is a great example. Does anyone think right now that people are not being displaced in Washington Heights or in Bed Stuy or in Bushwick? All places that haven’t have rezonings. The displacement, because of the market, has been happening for years.

I say let the City government intervene to the maximum extent legally possible. Do a rezoning that allows us to create a lot of affordable housing in the package. And we also do other things. We build schools, we build parks, we do a lot of the things the community needs.

So, I think that particular example in Washington Heights was very stark because you know what happened? Because that got voted down – the affordable housing plan got voted down – it would have been 50 percent affordable housing. It got voted down. Now, that same developer can do 100 percent luxury condos.

That is not a victory for affordable housing –

Lehrer: But –

Mayor: So, we’re going to have a very strong stance fighting for our plan to be implemented everywhere.

Lehrer: I know that neighborhood. I live in that neighborhood. And the opponents would say he can’t without the zoning build as many non-affordable units, and therefore it won’t change the nature of the neighborhood and the things around it as much.

Mayor: But – here’s the bottom line – there’s only so much land in New York City. So again, why would a Washington Heights, a Bushwick, a Bed-Stuy – I could name other neighborhoods as well – go through constant gentrification, not just this year – it’s been going on in many cases 10, 15 years. That is affecting those neighborhoods profoundly. There’s no countervailing force if there isn’t a rezoning to create new affordable housing. So, you could say, well, does a rezoning in some way add more pressure? I don’t think it does. It does add more market-rate apartments around the neighborhood. But at least in the bargain, we get a very substantial number of affordable units. The government is in the game, creating jobs in the community, creating new things the community needs because every community we’re talking about has a need for better schools, better parks, etcetera. To me, the passive approach just doesn’t have a logic to it because the train has already left the station. Those development pressures are already increasing.

Lehrer: Let’s go to the next questioner down here. Hi there.

Question: Hi, Brian. Mr. Mayor, I know you – since I’m a founding member of Families for Safe Streets – as a compassionate man. And I know you die a little bit with each death on our city streets. Since the beginning of 2015, 204 pedestrians and cyclists have been killed on corridors designated by your administration for safety redesign. Only one-quarter of those have received redesign treatments. Will you pledge to speed up the Vision Zero funding for these identified corridors and intersections?

Mayor: I appreciate the question very much. And I appreciate the work that you do and your colleagues do because it’s been decisive to Vision Zero, particularly in terms of the fights you waged in Albany to get us things like the speed cameras around schools, and we want to do even more of that. And I’m very hopeful if there is a Democratic Senate, there will be a willingness to go farther with us in protecting kids and seniors and implementing Vision Zero. We are very aggressively moving those safety redesign efforts. There’s no lack of funding and there’s no lack of will. And you know Queens Boulevard is a huge example of this – a place we used to call the Boulevard of Death – thank God we have not had fatalities the last two years because we’re doing redesign, because of bike lanes, because of the reduction in speed limit, because we’re enforcing the speed limit with the NYPD. So we’re very, very adamant about moving these quickly as possible. I’ll talk to Commissioner Trottenberg to see if there’s anything else that she needs to continue to speed things up. But I know she’s gotten the order from me to move everything as quickly as humanly possible. We will also be doing more enforcement. The NYPD is continuing to ratchet up enforcement on speeding and on failure to yield. And you’re going to see more checkpoints as well to inhibit drunk driving. So, there’s a lot of Vision Zero pieces that are going to be growing, and the redesigns are absolutely a priority.

Lehrer: Sir, next question.

Question: This is Adam from the Upper West Side. It’s great to be able to be at the Brian Lehrer Show live. And it’s great to be able to meet you Mr. Mayor by radio and an honor to be able to pose you a question. My question is – regards the introduction of technology in our subways and is two-pronged. I believe that our city is the greatest and has no equal even if New York does not have the Cubs, who are to be congratulated.

[Laughter]

Mayor: You’re a magnanimous man.

Question: Very much. I’ve always felt that way.

Lehrer: Weren’t we in the World Series just last year?

Mayor: Just last year, Brian – exactly right.

Lehrer: How quickly they forget.

Mayor: They do.

Question: It’s so hard. It’s so hard. So first, why do we not have screens on all of our subway lines and in every station showing the wait time until the next train? When will that come? And second, why do we not have cell phone and data service throughout our subway tunnels? I deeply feel this is a huge productivity issue for the city. One’s crossing of the city by subway should not require dropping down a giant cell and data service blackout hole of darkness.

Mayor: That was quite dramatic.

Question: Thank you.

Lehrer: That was very dramatic.

Question: Well, that’s how I feel. There is drama in this matter. And if I can just say – I lived for two years in Hong Kong on the other side of the planet. And I can assure you that in every one of their subway lines and in every subway station, you have signs telling you the time until the next train comes along, and there is data service everywhere.

Lehrer: Let me ask you – this may be an MTA question that may actually not even be in the Mayor’s purview. But why is it so important that there be signs that tell you if the train is going to come in three minutes or in seven minutes?

Question: Because the mystery is unbearable.

[Laughter]

Mayor: Wow. Wow. I want to – I want to write a novel called The Mystery is Unbearable. It’s wonderful.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, do you have control over these aspects at all?

Mayor: No. We can push for them, and I believe you’re right that they both are fundamental reforms that are very good for the city. Now they are starting. Obviously the time updates on the arrival of subway trains is starting. But let’s amplify what Brian said – the MTA is run by the State of New York. It’s amazing. I understand why so many New Yorkers do not know this. But I want to help through the public discourse. The MTA is run by Governor Cuomo and the State of New York. The City has seats on the board – we do not have a majority. The City contributes to the MTA, but we do not get to make the decisions. And my central concern around the MTA is increasing mass transit options in all five boroughs. And that’s where we try and keep pressure to make sure there is fairness for New York City in MTA spending. But I think this is a very sensible and doable proposal. We’ve seen progress on the wait time clocks. There has been some progress on cell and data service. And I do believe – to be fair to the MTA – I do believe both of those are priorities. But I don’t know what timeline there are. I will certainly have my representatives on the MTA push for – because I think it’s a smart and doable thing – push for a clear timeline for when these things will get done.

Lehrer: Miss, next question.

Mayor: Hello, Mr. Mayor. It’s an honor to speak with you. My name is Beth from the Lower East Side. And my question is about Rivington House. I’m wondering if it’s at all possible that the deal with the real estate developer will be reversed and that that facility could be returned to the community. I want to add as a former AIDS doctor, I had many patients there. I visited them at Rivington House many times and was absolutely sickened when I heard this – what had happened. And I wonder if you could address it. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much for the question. You and I both were absolutely sickened. This just shouldn’t have happened. I’ve been cold about this point – it should not have happened. It was an absolute mistake. I wish – I wish I had been told about it. I would have vetoed it. There’s obviously been extensive reports outlining what happened. And we made a series of changes – we’ve frozen all deed restriction actions, and we’re putting a series of reforms in place, and the City Council is going to do their reforms as well to make sure it never happens again. What we’ve tried to do for the community, which was announced a few weeks back – is we’re going to put a new senior facility, a nursing home facility that will be built on public land, a new investment on the Lower East Side for low-income seniors who need public nursing home facility – as our way of trying to contribute back to the community in wake of this mistake. The specific transaction – we’ve looked very, very hard because we know the developers were bad actors and we know that they lied. The Attorney General’s report makes that very clear – they lied to the city. And that was one of the exacerbating features here. We have not been able to find a way to undo the transactions that were done. And I would love that if we could find it. But to-date, we have not been able to find a legal way to do that. But at least we have made a very, very substantial investment to try and give something if not perfectly equivalent, something important back to the community that will help seniors and people in need in the Lower East Side.

Lehrer: Thank you. We just have a few minutes left. I’m curious – what will you be doing on Election Day, Mr. Mayor, besides voting? Do you plan to check out any poll sites to see how things are running or what else might you be doing?

Mayor: I’ll be all over the city. I intend to go to all five boroughs and push people to vote. I think this is – look, Brian – I think there is a very cynical strategy being employed by the Trump campaign. And this is something we’ve seen for a long time – kind of the Fox News approach to the political discourse – creating a dynamic where people are so disgusted they don’t vote, where they feel disenfranchised, where they feel that democracy is not functioning for them. And I think it’s crucial that New York City come out to vote. I know we do not share Donald Trump’s values in this city. I think people in this city, even though we’re not a swing state, we have to stand and be counted. And my message to everyone over these next four days – I’ll be all over the city saying – not only do you need to get out to vote, you need to bring everyone in your life out to vote as if your life depends on it because it does. The whole future of this country is hanging in the balance. So my push will be – vote and get others to vote because even though we’re not a swing state, we can make a decisive impact on the popular vote margin being one of the biggest states in the country. And we have to do that. There has to be a real enthusiasm. And we have to overcome the forces that are trying to discourage people from being involved because the best way to reinforce the broken status quo in this country is if people don’t show up.

Lehrer: About people’s voices being heard here on Election Day. As you know, after the presidential primary day, disenfranchisement was revealed – people purged from the rolls in Brooklyn. You offered the Board of Elections $20 million to help improve their operations, and they didn’t take the money. And they face a tremendous stress test next week, I think, with high turnout expected. How’s the Board of Elections now as you see it?

Mayor: I think it needs fundamental reform. I would love to be given control of the Board of Elections. It’s another example where it’s in the control of the State of New York, and it’s broken. And I have suggested that not only should they put in place fundamental reforms to modernize and we will pay for them if they will agree to a strict set of reforms that we can enforce. But on top of that, I think we need a law in Albany that will give the Executive Director the ability to professionally manage that place separate from any partisan influence and separate from these bad histories and habits that have long since taken over the Board. And it will be a real interesting test of Albany of whether they’re willing to vote for reform in our Board of Elections, so we can modernize it. But right now, this is an example of why the State of New York is so backwards. We have some of the worst elections laws in the country. We do not have public financing of elections. And we have a State of New York that tolerates a broken Board of Elections. And I think people should make their voices heard in the next legislative session in Albany and demand changes on all three of those fronts.

Lehrer: I asked you about security at the New York Marathon before. How about the fun side? You’re famous for working out at the gym on a regular basis. Have you ever run a marathon?

Mayor: I have never run a marathon. I’ve had arthroscopic surgery on both knees, so that would probably not be a good idea. But look – the marathon is an amazing New York moment. It’s one of the greatest sort of affirmational moments of the year of everything great about New York. When I have a chance to participate in athletics, it is more likely going to be things like softball than marathoning. But I really – I’m looking forward to being there in Staten Island on Sunday morning to be there for the opening shot and see everyone go off. It’s going to be fantastic.

Lehrer: Softball – fun. Not to be confused with exercise.

Mayor: There’s a little bit.

[Laughter]

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, thanks very much for joining us. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian. Take care.

###