Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability Outside Staten Island University Hospital

October 6, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good afternoon, everyone. Well I just had a great honor of taking a tour here at Staten Island University Hospital and saw the extraordinary work that’s being done now, but even more so, the plan to make this hospital resilient for the long run. We’re here today to celebrate the fact that this work is going to get done – we’re providing the funding for it – and it’s going to make healthcare more reliable and more resilient for Staten Islanders for years and decades to come.

I want to thank everyone who gave me the tour, including Nicholas Caruselle, the deputy executive director, and Donna Proske, the executive director. I want to thank them for their leadership and for explaining to me so clearly what their vision is for a resilient hospital going forward. I want to thank all the leadership of Staten Island University Hospital – the executive board, especially the President and CEO Anthony Ferreri for his leadership, their great work. Everyone here at the hospital went through an extremely difficult experience as Sandy was approaching, as it was hitting, and in the weeks after, having to serve so many people in dire need. The team here did an extraordinary job and it’s clear from their efforts what they do every day for the people of this island, but also what was needed to make sure that those services would be available in the future.

I want to thank everyone who’s been part of making sure that this work for resiliency and recovery is being done, not only in the case of this hospital, but throughout Staten Island, throughout the five boroughs. I want to thank my Senior Advisor for Recovery and Resiliency Bill Goldstein, our Director of the Office of Recovery and Resiliency Dan Zarrilli, and the Director of our Housing Recovery Office Amy Peterson – they’ve all been doing an extraordinary job.

You’re going to hear from the elected officials who represent the people of Staten Island in just a few minutes. I want to thank them for their partnership in this effort. I also want to thank someone who was an elected official, escaped to the outside – Lou Tobacco, former New York State assembly member, now Director of Surgical Business Development at Staten Island University Hospital. Thank you for being a part of this.

So I can tell you this – it is very difficult to overstate the importance of Staten Island University Hospital for the people of this borough. It is the home of the largest emergency room on Staten Island. There’s more than one third of the borough’s in-patient beds. This is a truly decisive healthcare facility – even more so in times of crisis. Again, the staff here, so nobly – they knew Sandy was coming, they got ready – people came in to work knowing they would be here for the long haul, for days and days. The water is partly – it’s become legend I should say – it’s fact, but it’s become legend – the water rose and rose and rose literally to the front door of this hospital and stopped right there. And something powerful – maybe you could call it a miracle, you could call it luck, whatever you want to call it – something powerful happened and the hospital was able to avert disaster. But it was also a warning sign of the work that had to be done going forward – and we’ve heeded that warning sign. With the constant messages we’ve heard from the leadership here on Staten Island of how important this was as a priority, we’ve heeded it so that we can make sure the water never does get where these vital mechanical facilities are, that this hospital is preserved for the long-term and always available to help people, and that this tremendous staff – this incredibly hard-working staff – is able to come here and protect people.

Now, the fact is, $28 million was needed – $28 million was needed to make sure that this hospital could be resilient, that its power could be maintained no matter what. The plan that we just saw guarantees not only against a storm the size of Sandy, but a storm many times stronger. So this is a smart plan to get to a very very high level of readiness. This means that all the critical power and mechanical systems will be elevated to that particularly safe ground. There’ll be installation of sanitary holding tanks and back-flow prevention. There’ll be a major wind resiliency project as well.

This is a crucial investment in Staten Island. It’s one of many other investments being done to make Staten Island more resilient. We know it’s only a matter of time before there is another storm. We have to constantly do this work to make people safe and to make this borough resilient. Some of the things already underway – working with a variety of partners, with the Army Corps of Engineers, with the state, with FEMA, major major projects moving already. 26,000 feet of dunes installed to create a natural buffer in key areas of Staten Island. US Department of Agriculture additionally announced in August $33 million in federal funding for the blue belt, to improve the storm water management system that will affect a third of Staten Island. A lot of work is going on – it will continue. This is going to be ongoing work for as long as all of us are in public service, but the work is happening steadily and effectively.

We know, in an era of climate change, there’s so much we have to do. We’ve spoken in the last few weeks about the things that New York City has to do to reverse our path in terms of emissions and to help all other localities and countries around the world reverse the path of climate change for the good of our children and grandchildren. We’re going to keep doing that work too, but in the meantime, the resiliency work must happen. It must happen to protect us.

Let me say a few words in Spanish before I bring up some of my colleagues.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, I would like to welcome my tour guide Donna Proske, the Executive Director of Staten Island University Hospital – [inaudible] thank you for all of your leadership in crisis and in good times in making this such a great hospital.

[Applause]

[Staten Island University Hospital Executive Director Donna Proske speaks]

Mayor: Thank you very much. Thank you, Donna.

So, we had to make important decisions about where to put our resources and as we’ve gotten a better sense of the needs all over the city, certain priorities have come to the fore. That’s something we work on all the time, but it helps – it helps when elected officials mention the priority over and over and over again and make the case vehemently and passionately and with a lot of fact to back it up. One of those elected officials – a dear friend for many years – serves as the borough president of this great borough. I present Borough President Jimmy Oddo.

[Applause]

[Staten Island Borough President Jimmy Oddo Speaks]  

Mayor: Again, we all served together in the City Council – and in Steve’s case he was on the staff at the time – and we forged a working relationship long ago. And I also came to know, the focus and the passion of the leadership on Staten Island – and when Vinny Ignizio wants to tell me something, he too does it with passion and consistency and repetition. Repetition is a strong suit with this group. Repetition often gets results. The Minority Leader of the New York City Council, Vinny Ignizio.

[Applause]

[Minority Leader Vincent Ignizio Speaks]

Mayor: Thank you. Finally, Steve Matteo has made a real priority of focusing on the protection of this hospital – of both pieces of this hospital – for the good of the people of this island. I have a lot of respect for him, so much so that I was going to put aside my differences based on his outstanding performance in a recent softball game. I had asked the staff if it would be appropriate to not allow him to speak at any further press conferences. They thought –

Councilmember Steve Matteo: [Laughs]

Mayor: They thought that was inadvisable. So I go back to saying I have great respect for his work – and we welcome Councilmember Matteo.

[Applause]

[Councilmember Steve Matteo speaks]

[Applause]

Mayor: Okay. We are going to do on-topic questions followed by off-topic questions. On topic, yes –

Question: Mayor, can you or maybe one of your aides talk about what’s still needed in the hospital row, which is also certainly affected? First Avenue in Manhattan, is that –

Mayor: Semi-on-topic.

Question: Okay.

Mayor: Why don’t we – I’m going to pause that question for a moment. Let’s do about this site first and then we’ll definitely come to that before we go to off-topic. Let me see if there’s anything about this. Yes, Rich.

Question: What materially has been fixed here, and what remains to be fixed?

Mayor: Let me add Donna and Bill, Dan, whoever wants to come forward on the details. Nick?

Nicholas Caruselle: Hello, everybody. So the issue with Hurricane Sandy is the actual hospital was not damaged. The water came up and around us – no one could tell us why. But the buildings across the street, which are support buildings – we have HR over there, it’s administrative buildings – they were all wiped [inaudible] clinical offices across the street. So they were brought back online about six months, but the actual hospital itself was not damaged during Hurricane Sandy.

Mayor: Okay. On topic, on topic – yes –

Question: Do you think that Staten Island needs another hospital [inaudible]?

Mayor: Look, I’ll start, I imagine the borough president also may want to respond. I’m concerned about the healthcare needs of Staten Island. I’m concerned about fairness for Staten Island in terms of the resources it needs. Right now, we have some exceptional healthcare facilities that need to be protected and made resilient – that’s job one – so they can give people the service they need regardless of what’s happening. And as you heard, this is – we went the extra mile to add a layer of resiliency here that goes far beyond what another Sandy would mean, but – it would be ready to handle an even greater storm. But we’re going to be constantly in dialogue with the leadership of Staten Island about the ongoing health needs of this borough. This is the fastest growing borough – it has been for a long time. We want to make sure everyone is served. So I don’t want to comment in terms of one particular solution. We’re interested in what’s the best way to get the job done, but we certainly know it begins with making resilient that which we have already. Anyone want to add anything? Please.

Borough President Oddo: I actually – I know that argument – it’s a little bit outdated actually. That was something that the elected officials were arguing for years ago. I think actually it’s counterintuitive but it would hurt the two existing hospitals. But we are the only borough, as everyone knows, that does not have an acute care facility at HHC, which means SIU [inaudible] absorb all the under- and uninsured – different than our colleagues in the other four boroughs. The most important part of my answer though is the fact that the new HHC president, Dr. Raju, is a Staten Islander. That is the equivalent of making me the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox. An entity that has abused this borough for so long is now being run by a Staten Islander. And this is a moment in time – not only in the state, in the country, but right here in the borough – [inaudible] transformation of healthcare delivery. And Dr. Raju has pledged an unprecedented level of cooperation. I would refer you to his remarks in his speech at the Health Expo. It’s about collaboration, cooperation, not competition. And the other great thing that’s happening is the leadership of SIUH and the leadership of RUMC are at a different point, I think, than any time in their histories. So, more primary care, more help to cover the under- and uninsured. But the notion of the hospital is actually something that we are seeing healthcare shift across the country away from hospital buildings – and that’s a very long-winded answer and I’ll get out of your way.

Mayor: It was a fine answer – fine answer. And you’d be a great general manager.

Borough President Oddo: Thank you.

Mayor: On topic, on topic – yes –

Question: If you could just describe what you saw today on your tour of the [inaudible]?

Mayor: Well, it was very impressive to me because I saw a modern, substantial facility with all the mechanical infrastructure needed to run such a facility – and then the clear realization that all of that has to be moved to higher ground. So, you would look at the facilities here and say, what a marvel, this is great, everything’s great. Except now we’ve been taught a lesson about climate change and about rise of the sea levels and the kinds of storms that we have. So that great infrastructure needs to be put in a truly safe location – one that could withstand, again, a Sandy or even a much worse storm. And I think the – it was sobering to realize how much needs to be done and a reminder why there is a real priority on this project. On topic. On topic? Yes.

Question: Sort of like a general recovery question, but can you speak a little bit to how you think the Sandy recovery is going? I mean, it’s – 

Mayor: Okay. He gets to go – Josh gets to go first if you’re going general. We will entertain it. But I wanted to see if there’s anything more about this facility and what we’re doing today. [inaudible] I’m going to go to Josh and then we’ll go to you. Josh, Dan’s going to answer your question. Restate, please.

Question: Well, I was wondering – obviously a tremendous amount of improvements are going on here. How did the other hospitals that were impacted by Sandy and are threatened by rising sea levels through climate change – how are they – how is the city preparing and where do we stand as far as the improvements that are needed there?

Dan Zarrilli, Director of the Office of Recovery and Resiliency: Thanks. Hospital row, which you asked about in particular, on Manhattan’s East Side between 23rd and roughly 34th Street – there’s three great facilities there – the VA, Bellevue, which is an HHC facility, and NYU Langone. You’ve probably seen the news that NYU Langone received something like a $1 billion of FEMA reimbursement for its program to harden and elevate and make their facility more resilient. Through – with FEMA, the city is doing – looking at very similar types of awards, that we’re working through the final details with, for Bellevue. And we know that the VA is making major investments as well in their storm-hardening efforts.

Question: Can you just speak a little bit [inaudible] what you’ve seen [inaudible] in terms of the recovery? Obviously, you weren’t [inaudible] a lot of people on Staten Island. And also, they weren’t very pleased with the recovery, you know, even a few months ago. Can you just kind of speak to the progress you’re making and also some of the Staten Island lawmakers, if they want to weigh in?

Mayor: I – when I came into office, I think I made it quite clear, I was fundamentally displeased on the recovery efforts. I thought the resiliency plan was a very good one and I continue to think it’s a good one, and we’re certainly using it as the core of our work. And when you look at some of the resiliency efforts – you just heard about the hospitals, when you look at what the Army Corps is doing in Staten Island, in Coney Island, the Rockaways – I mean, I a lot of work is being done, and really large-scale work. So I think the resiliency scorecard is strong with the proviso that this is going to be ongoing work – years and years and years of work. On recovery, we came in, obviously in terms of Build It Back, at essentially a zero point. I want to give tremendous credit to Amy Peterson and the teamwork that she’s had with Bill Goldstein, Dan Zarrilli, everyone that’s worked as a unit and with all the different parts of the administration. Amy has done a particularly impressive job of pushing that whole apparatus into action and spending a lot of time out in communities listening to residents and elected officials. We set aggressive goals for Labor Day. We met those goals. We’ve built upon those goals since consistently. It’s working – we need it to work faster and better – and we’re going to have announcements in the coming days about ways that we intend to speed up the pace further. But what I can safely say is, it’s a high priority, a huge amount of time, energy, and resources, personnel being thrown at it – it’s working better all the time. And I feel confident that we’re, day by day, figuring out how to do it faster and better. So I feel good about the trajectory we’re on now.
I guess we’ve kind of crossed over into off-topic at this point. We’ve been in the nether – we’ve been in semi-on-topic. Let’s go to full off-topic.

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are confident are you in the city’s preparedness to deal with any possible Ebola outbreak?

Mayor: Very confident. We are blessed in New York City to have the strongest public health apparatus in the country. The New York City Department of Health is the exemplar for local departments of health all over the country and, in many cases, all over the world. Tom Friedan, who had been our commissioner here, now runs Centers for Disease Control. A lot of people who were part of his team as he was building out his work here in the city remain at our DOH – Mary Bassett was one of them, now our health commissioner. So we have a tremendously strong connection to the Centers for Disease Control. We have a tremendously sophisticated public health apparatus. Obviously, the Health and Hospitals Corporation, led very ably by Dr. Raju, is a strong piece of the puzzle. So we’ve all been in constant communication. There’s a clear game plan in place – god forbid we have any incidents here. But I can safely say – and I feel very bad for what, you know, happened in Texas – but I can safely say that we have a much more aggressive and coherent game plan. And we know that if we have even the possibility that someone may have Ebola that they’re going to be handled in a very careful and aggressive manner. So I feel very very confident. All New Yorkers should feel confident. If anyone is concerned that they may have symptoms or that someone they know may have symptoms, there’s two things to do – they both make sense – call 9-1-1 and/or go to your nearest emergency room – and then, from there, further decisions will be made. But certainly, the one thing I can say as a matter of public information, public health – if someone thinks they may be exposed, they need to speak up immediately – and that’s something that no one should hold back on. If you think someone else may be exposed, it’s very important to alert the authorities to it.

Question: [inaudible] undocumented immigrant communities who might be most at risk?

Mayor: I think it’s a good question. I think what we’ve tried to do is say to community leaders in a variety of communities that it is in everyone’s interest that we communicate and that we make sure people get the help they need. So we’re not leaving it to, you know, public service announcements or pronouncements by elected officials. We’ve actually reached out to community leaders throughout the city, with a particular focus on West African community leaders, to make sure they know that everyone will be treated appropriately, respectfully, but it is absolutely vital to report anything that might be a problem. And I think the response to that has been very good. I think there’s been an appreciation that that kind of respect and dialogue is happening. So I – it would be crazy not to be mindful of that reality, but I feel, so far, good that the communication is going well and that anyone who might be in a situation where they’re in danger will know that they can get help. Thank you.

Question: Mr. Mayor, we’re a few weeks before Election Day [inaudible] wondering if your Republican colleagues can talk about where they stand in the race. Are they doing anything to support Congressman Grimm?

Mayor: I’ll turn to them – I’ll give them a chance to compose their thoughts. I served with Domenic Recchia on the City Council for eight years. I think he’s an extraordinary public servant. I think he has a tremendous sense of what everyday people are going through and what their challenges and their struggles are and what we can do about it. I think he has a particular deep understanding of education, having been a school board member, and I think he will be a fantastic congressman. So I strongly encourage people to support Domenic Recchia – with that, Mr. Borough President?

Borough President Oddo: I have no comment about the Congressional race, but I am supporting Assemblyman Mike Cusick for reelection.

Mayor: Okay – curveball – anyone else?

Council Member Ignizio: I just want to say that this is a great day for Staten Island University Hospital and I’m not going to get into politics with the mayor here, or with anyone else for that matter, at this event, but I’m happy to talk to you at a later time about the congressional race or any other race.

Question: Just wanted to know if you have any specific examples of what [inaudible]

Mayor: Yeah, I think the – first of all, there’s tremendous coordination, again, between Centers for Disease Control and our Health Department and our Health and Hospitals Corporations. So that’s point one that there’s a real unity about how to handle anything that might happen. There’s a clear delineation, a clear protocol of what would happen if we had a report of a case – a clear understanding of how we’re going to communicate among the different hospitals. There are some places – someone may come into the emergency room with something that looks like it may be Ebola – we may want to get them to a different facility with additional specialized capacity. Those protocols are in place for how that communication and that action needs to take place. The particular equipment necessary – obviously we identify someone as a likely patient, there’s a certain protocol, there’s certain equipment and suits that are needed – those are ready. We know within the HAC system in Bellevue in particular is a – the strong location in terms of handling a crises like this. So, a lot is in place – there’s a real coordination going on with the airports as well through the Port Authority, through the TSA. So, I give a lot of credit to our public health officials – they have been on top of this from day one and they create a very strong protocol for how to handle this situation.

Question: So for people that have been [inaudible] call 9-1-1?

Mayor: Call 9-1-1 or go to the nearest emergency room. Those are the two – we do not – we want to be careful that people not delay – not try to go to a private doctor, who may or may not be available. Go to the emergency room or call 9-1-1. If you feel you have symptoms, go to the emergency room or call 9-1-1. If someone in your family, or a loved one, or a friend may have symptoms, call on their behalf. We have to take it seriously.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I wonder how you feel about the charges that are being brought against Sanford Rubenstein, the lawyer from the National Action Network. And I wonder also, if there’s anything [inaudible] given the fact that he’s represented a lot of people [inaudible] against the NYPD – Sean Bell, the Garner case [inaudible]

Mayor: I don’t want to characterize what his stance has been – I don’t know if I would say that. I think you have to look at what a lawyer does defending a client – it’s their job to defend a client regardless of their own personal views. But I think the allegations are very serious, and obviously troubling, but let’s be clear – there’s an investigation going on. To the best of my understanding, there are not formal charges yet. We have to treat everyone equally and they first have to see where the justice system goes with this and then there will, of course, be due process. So, I don’t think there’s a lot more we can conclude until the investigation takes its course.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I think we’ve covered this issue very clearly. You know, DOI did a review – there was no effort to deceive. I have absolute faith in Rachel, and her ability to serve the people of this city, and – case closed.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Again, DOI looked at the issue – found there was no intent to deceive.

Question: Given the fact that Rachel Noerdlinger’s son was playing football a year after an accident [inaudible] which is why she was granted a waiver to live in [inaudible]. Are you concerned with the way she [inaudible].

Mayor: No I’m not and I think this whole notion – with all due respect to all of you and the job you have to do – this notion of, let’s talk about people’s boyfriends, let’s talk about their children – it’s just going too far.

Question: She got the waiver because –

Mayor: She got the waiver for a variety of reasons and it was done appropriately. The point is – and let’s be honest about this – the way this public discourse is going, people are going more and more – and not just this case, in many other cases – into people’s boyfriends, girlfriends, children, aunts, uncles – this does not have to do a lot with public service. She’s a good public servant –

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: The waiver was given for an appropriate reason. She is a good public servant – you can get the information on that separately – but the point is, she’s a good public servant and that’s what I respect.

Question: If I could just, for a second, go back to Marcia’s question [inaudible] do you have any concern how [inaudible]

Mayor: I don’t, because we don’t know what happened. I mean, again, I want to really be careful here about the fact that there has to be an investigation and there has to be due process, and that’s true in every case. So, we don’t know what happened and we have to let that play out.

Question: I know your administration had its own very extensive vetting process of potential appointees modeled after the White House [inaudible]. But I was just curious [inaudible].

Mayor: DOI has a very extensive process itself and DOI obviously is based on a standard which has served the city very well. You know, the city of New York has very stringent rules across the board in terms of Department of Investigation vetting, in terms of conflict of interest, you know, campaign finance. We are the gold standard. We, in our administration, hold our own set of standards and we want to make sure that everyone is appropriate for public service. So, I think there are two distinct processes with different guide posts, but the DOI one is the formal one and that is obviously the one that we need to see before making any formal decisions about someone.

Question: I was just wondering if you could talk about your support for the [inaudible] Michael Grimm [inaudible].

Mayor: Well, first of all, I don’t know if he’s read the bill. I would urge him to do so. Let’s separate the question of how we handle these particular law enforcement dynamics, from the question of what we think of immigrants. When it comes to law enforcement, what this bill makes clear is, anyone with a violent crime, anyone accused of substantial drug trafficking, anyone accused of a terrorist act – all of those dynamics trigger a very different reality where we’re immediately trying to answer the requests from the federal government versus a very different type of allegation where someone has a very minor, low-level offense and, if we were to facilitate the approach that’s been taken in the past and the federal government were to step in, you would see families broken apart, you would see people who had done very little, or had done nothing, ending up being deported and their children left behind, their spouses left behind. We don’t believe that’s good public policy. We don’t believe that’s humane. So, we’ve drawn a real clear distinction between the kinds of crimes that merit the consistent response versus those that bluntly suggest that you might deport someone for very, very little reason. That is based on a notion that anyone who is here is a human being first. And that’s the same thing we’ve talked about with our municipal ID card. If you’re a New Yorker, you’re a New Yorker. This is a city of immigrants – everyone can ask each other in this group here, where your family came from and how long ago – we are a city of immigrants, and we are a nation of immigrants, and we have to respect immigrants, and we will do so. And I don’t agree with the voices that speak out against immigrants or try and create a divide. What we need is comprehensive immigration reform. Until we get it, New York City is going to treat our fellow New Yorkers with respect. We’re doing that with the municipal ID card and I think the new legislation suggests the same approach, and that’s why I think it will be a step forward for the city.

Thank you, everyone.