Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on Good Day With Rosanna Scotto

November 25, 2015

Rosanna Scotto: One day before Thanksgiving, most of us have turkey and stuffing on our mind, but it’s not a holiday for New York City police and Mayor de Blasio. The city, as you know, is in a heightened state of alert after the attacks in Paris, and keeping the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and, of course, shopping all weekend safe is, of course, a priority here for the city. Joining us this morning to discuss the measures being put in place – Mayor Bill de Blasio, nice to have you back on Good Day New York.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: It is my great pleasure.

Scotto: As you could tell, the studio is erupting in applause. It’s been a while.

Mayor: Well, you’ve got a great group here. I want to tell you, you’ve got a great group here to work with. 

Scotto: Thank you. Alright, let’s get down to business. Let’s talk about tomorrow. 

Mayor: Yes.

Scotto: What do we need to know about safety going to the Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Mayor: You need to know the NYPD is taking the situation very seriously and, as usual, is highly prepared. I mean, this parade we’ve been doing for years. It’s one of the biggest events in the country all year. And look, you saw what the NYPD did with the Pope’s visit, and the UN General Assembly, and so many other big moments. The preparation is outstanding. But now, we’ve added even more capacity. Since the budget we passed in June, we’ve added 500 officers to our anti-terror efforts through our Critical Response Command. Those are officers who do only anti-terror activities. They’re well trained, highly armed, ready for any situation. So, you’re going to see a lot of presence. As you said earlier, you’re going to see a lot of police presence, but that should be something that is very reassuring to people. 

Scotto: Yeah, I mean, you know, after the Paris attacks, I think it made everybody here in this city a little anxious, a little antsy because of the soft targets – you just never know, right?

Mayor: Right. Look, the lone-wolf dynamic is out there. We know that. And we know that we’ve seen it around the world, even in different parts of this country. We also know for 14 years the NYPD has successfully protected us against a terror attack. And now, there’s greater collaboration with our federal partners than ever. FBI and Homeland Security – all these agencies are working – they’re sharing information more effectively than ever before. And, on top of that, we’ve added a lot of anti-terror capacity here. So, I understand people’s anxiety, of course, but we should recognize the NYPD has done this work very, very well, and is actually doing it even better. And – this is very important – the terrorists are using psychological warfare – that’s what this is. When they go and kill innocent people, they’re not doing it just to kill those people. They’re doing it to change us. They’re doing it to change our democracy, to change our way of life. We can’t let them do it. The terrorists can’t succeed if we refuse to be terrorized. 

Scotto: So, some people are criticizing the Demographics Unit being disbanded. They really surveilled the Muslim community, and, as Congressman Peter King put it, 90 percent of the terrorists crimes come from the Muslim community. Do you think that we’re, kind of, fighting this battle with our hands now tied behind our back –

Mayor: Not at all.

Scotto: – because we don’t have the Demographics Unit? 

Mayor: No. Commissioner Bratton – look, let’s start at the beginning – Commissioner Bratton is the foremost police leader in this country. He’s done more to fight crime and fight terror than any police leader ever, in my view. And he has made clear that unit wasn’t achieving its goal, in the sense that we had other ways we could get the intelligence, other ways we could protect people. But on top of that, unfortunately, we were alienating people in the Muslim-American community we should have had as friends and allies in this fight against terror, because we were giving people a message that, unfortunately, there was a suspicion about them – law-abiding, decent people who we need to be the very same people to give us information, to give us leads, to give us insights into where there may be someone on the wrong track. So, one of the things you’re seeing all over the country, all over the world now is that law enforcement is recognizing one of the best ways to stop terror is to deepen the relationships with all communities to get the information that allows us to find out where someone is well before they ever mount an attack.

Scotto: So, what is it like – keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer?

Mayor: No, because the Muslim-American community is a loyal community in this country – we know this for generations and generations, and in this city too – overwhelmingly, like all other communities – overwhelmingly law-abiding people. We need to draw them closer, in fact, and show respect for the community because we want that respect and that information to be a two-way street always.

Scotto: Okay, let’s talk about crime. I know that you’ve put more police officers out on the streets of New York, but crime is up. Crime is up five percent this year. 

Mayor: No, crime is down. Let’s get our facts straight.

Scotto: Wait, no, I thought crime is up for –

Mayor: No.

Scotto: – you know, the last year.

Mayor: Okay, let’s go over the numbers overall, and these are from the NYPD.

Scotto: Okay.

Mayor: Crime is down about 3 percent overall from the major crime categories. Shootings are down compared to last year. In fact, Commissioner Bratton has said publicly, he expects at the end of this year to have the lowest number of total major crimes that we’ve had in 50 years. Last year, we had the lowest number of murders in 50 years. This year, we’re on track to have the second-lowest number of murders in 50 years. So, there are folks – not you – but some folks in the media and elsewhere peddling this notion that crime is up. Chris Christie has done it. He’s been shot down many times by Bill Bratton who knows a lot more about crime than Chris Christie. 

Scotto: I know Governor Christie has, you know, even suggested why don’t you become the mayor of Damascus at one point. 

Mayor: Governor Christie really – as Bill Bratton said very poignantly, Governor Christie should worry about crime in Trenton, in Camden, in Newark, and other places, and actually do his job, and not snipe at the NYPD, because every time he says crime is up in New York City, he is in effect saying the NYPD isn’t doing its job. The statistics show quite the opposite. NYPD continues to drive down crime. 

Scotto: I know serious crime is down, but shootings and murders are up. 

Mayor: No, shootings are down. Murders are up – as of yesterday, I think it was by 18 compared to last year. Look, that’s 18 too many, but I want to put it in perspective. 

Scotto: Right.

Mayor: We had last year the lowest number of murders in half-a-century. You know, nowadays we talk about 300-plus murders a year. Back 20 years ago, it was 2,000 murders in a year. The NYPD over the last 20-plus years has achieved something extraordinary, and they continue to drive crime down. Few more murders than we want – obviously, this year we want to keep driving that number down. But the overall success of the NYPD is extraordinary. And, in the last budget, we added 1,300 new officers, who you’ll see on our streets in the next year. On top of that, Commissioner Bratton’s done an extraordinary job through our civilianization effort and other means. He’s going to find the means to put almost another 1,000 new officers on the street, on top of that. So, you’re going to see more police presence. But it’s a winning team already – this is a point I really want to get across. Despite what some of the pundits and politicians try and peddle, it is a winning team. They’re driving down crime, and now they’re going to have additional reinforcements to keep that going.

Scotto: Let’s talk about homelessness, because I know you apologized for not recognizing it sooner. We see it. I mean, last night I was walking somewhere – I saw four people, like, just in a half-a-block, and two of them – it looked like young people, like, in their 20s. I know that you have a three-year plan. What can we do right now?

Mayor: Well, we are doing a lot right now. What I said – look, I had recognized the reality of homelessness for a long time. I was in the City Council when I served there for eight years – the chairperson on the committee that worked on homelessness issues. What I said the other day – and I mean it sincerely – is, I should have said to the people of New York City, here’s what’s going on, and here’s all the things we’re doing about it because the numbers – the numbers in our shelter system had stabilized, but that’s not what people were feeling on the streets. And I understand why – exactly what you said –

Scotto: Why – because we see them more. 

Mayor: Because they see them more. And the fact is that we – more and more because of the economic reality we’re in – we see people on the streets – not permanently on the streets, meaning they go to shelter at night, but, during the day, you see them on the streets – who are homeless because of economics. Not because of mental health, not because of substance abuse – because they lost their job, because they can’t afford the price of housing. Homelessness used to be about, you know, the deinstitutionalization from mental institutions and other things like that. It was primarily about mental health and substance abuse problems. It was primarily single men. What is it now? More and more families and folks who are economically dislocated, and folks who are working or have been recently working – who are perfectly able to work, but working a minimum wage job in today’s housing market, they can’t get by. So, we’re addressing this in the sense that we have found new tools to get tens of thousands of people out of shelter and into housing, rental subsidies, ways of keeping people from being evicted to being with – anti-eviction legal services. We just announced a huge plan for 15,000 supportive housing apartments. This is the kind of housing that helps people who do have those mental health and substance abuse problems – biggest investment the city’s ever made in that supportive housing. But still, the problem is so many people are becoming dislocated economically. So, that constant flow of people into our shelter means we have to work every day with new tools all the time to keep getting each of them out to a better situation, out to some form of better housing. 

Scotto: So, Governor Cuomo today is quoted in the paper as saying, basically, that he thinks that the homeless situation doesn’t need any more money. He says it needs better management by the de Blasio administration. Do you think the homelessness situation needs better management? Or do you think we really do need some more dollars here to attack the problem?

Mayor: I think it’s time for the governor to step up. The City of New York just did something extraordinary – you know, $2.6 billion-dollar supportive housing plan. This is what experts and advocates have been calling for for years and years. To really finally address the fact that if we’re going to take folks who are struggling – and, by the way, Cardinal Dolan has spoken about this so powerfully – the folks on our streets who are struggling – mental health, substance abuse – who have really – their lives have fallen apart – if we’re going to help them get back on their feet – in many cases, turn around entirely – we need that supportive housing. The City of New York stepped up and said we will make this a priority. We need to hear from the state of New York. Yes, money matters. You cannot create supportive housing with the services to get people right again. You can’t do that without money. As for management, as I said, we’ve had tens of thousands of people come into shelter, and we’ve gotten them to real housing and out of shelter. We’ve stopped thousands and thousands of people from being evicted and ending up in shelter. That is managing a very complex, challenging reality, effectively. But that’s not enough – I’m the first to say it’s not enough. We need to invest if we’re going to change this.

Scotto: It just seems like we want it now, we need it now. You know, when you hear about these three-year plans, it’s like – what do you do right now? The weather’s getting cold – it’s heartbreaking to see these people –

Mayor: Well – so, let’s talk about some of the things right now. We’re working with the archdiocese and houses of worship all over the city of all denominations on what we call Safe Havens. This is a new approach that’s proven to be very effective. It is not a big shelter. It is a much smaller facility, often part of a church or another house of worship – maybe it’s five – ten beds. And what it means for some of the homeless who are on the street is it’s a safer – from their point of view, safer, more nurturing, more supportive environment, especially if it’s connected to a house of worship. When folks come off the street into those safe havens, they are much more willing to accept mental health services and drug treatment services, if that’s what they need. We’re getting tremendous response. We said we wanted 500 beds immediately. We have had such a great response from houses of worship around this city. Those are up and running already, a number of them, and more coming on quickly.

And on top of that, NYPD and Department of Homeless Services are doing something they didn’t do in the past – they are teaming up. If you see a homeless person on the street – and I say this to all your viewers – call 3-1-1. And literally, between NYPD and Homeless Services, a team is dispatched to go up to that homeless person, to figure what’s going on with them, to see if we can get them into a safe haven or a shelter – to get them to someplace better, to not just leave them  there. In the past, you know, sometimes they were pushed from one place to another – that didn’t solve anything. We actually want to get people off the streets, first to these safe havens, and then permanently. So, a lot of investment in that approach, and again, if we were not making the investments we were making, you would see more people, because of the economic reality.

So, this is going to be a day to day fight to improve this situation. I take it very, very seriously. And again, you know, in this work I do – I have to be honest when I say, I’m not satisfied that – I should have explained it to people better. But I am very satisfied we are making the investments. Before the supportive housing plan, we had already added a billion dollars to fight homelessness over the next four years – now, a new $2.6 billion dollar supportive housing plan. Now it’s time for the state to step up and join us.

Scotto: What’s going on with you and Governor Cuomo? Why can’t you two get along? What’s going on?

Mayor: Well, we –

Scotto: I feel like you – you know, you tweak him, he tweaks you.

Mayor: We’ve known each other for 20 years. And it’s very simple – I’m going to borrow something Ed Koch said that I think is right. And mayors and governors, you have had to work together, and often have had agreements and often have had disagreements – this is nothing new. But Ed Koch said, when the governor of New York is doing something good for New York City, I’ll praise him, I’ll support him; when he does something that doesn’t help New York City, I’m going to say it, and I’m going to defend the interests of New York City.

Scotto: And you’ve said it, I guess, a few times.

Mayor: Well, it’s been necessary – and here is a great example. The State of New York and the City of New York in 2011 made a horrible mistake – ended the best rental subsidy program we had ever seen, that was helping to keep the level of homelessness down. After 2011, well before I was in office, you started to see the homeless numbers go up and up and up, because that program was gone. Now we said, great, you know what? The City of New York is going to step up, do all these new initiatives – time for the state to do it. That’s my job, is to say to the people of New York City and the people in Albany, it’s time for the state to help the 43 percent of the state’s population that lives right here in New York City.

Scotto: But let me ask you something – does your relationship with the governor hurt New York City? I mean, I feel like it’s a little cantankerous.

Mayor: You have to defend the interests of this place. If – and we know there’s plenty of challenges in Albany, right? We’ve watched over the years what’s gone on in Albany. We’ve seen plenty of times when Albany did not serve New York City. Silence about that doesn’t get us anywhere. The only way to get things done for New York City is to call it out when the people of New York City are not being treated fairly. It’s the only way to get results.

Scotto: Alright, let’s talk about the – the horse carriage industry – reports today that you have abandoned the ban on carriage horses in New York City, and now you’re thinking about just scaling them back – moving the stable to Central Park. Where does that stand and – there’s talk that you’re kind of lobbying behind the scenes some of the City Council members.

Mayor: Well, I talked to some of the media about this yesterday, and of course they were asking, do we have a definitive situation? And I said, I have to be honest. In the legislative process – this is between City Hall and the – and, you know, the Mayor’s Office and the City Council. The back and forth is part of the legislative process, and we’re not there yet. I’ve said for a long time, I look to the day when we don’t have any horse carriages in this city. I don’t think they fit in New York City.

Scotto: But the people love them! And the polls –

Mayor: Well, it’s true that some people love them. It’s true.

Scotto:  But the polls show that the people love them, that it’s part of, you know –

Mayor: But at the same time – and I’ve said this very clearly – it’s not fair, not only to the animals, it’s not safe to have these animals on our streets – and we’ve seen any number of accidents and a lot of animals lost. But also, for the people of New York City driving on the streets, does it make sense to have horses in the middle of Midtown traffic? So there are ideas on the table now, but until we see if there’s some kind of plan that comes out of that, some kind of actual resolution, I’m not going to speak to the hypotheticals. It’s part of the back and forth of the legislative process.

Scotto: In the New York Times, they brought up that NYCLASS, who is one of the people pushing for this ban of the carriage industry, has very – been very supportive of your nonprofit organization and has given $100,000 dollars, I guess, to this nonprofit in the last two years. So what I’m asking is, I mean, can you fairly, like, step back when you’re getting, kind of, money from this group who wants you to limit or ban the carriage horse industry?

Mayor: Yeah, I can fairly step back in all situations, because I have to start by what I believe. And this is what I believe. I said it a long time ago. I think that horses don’t belong on the streets of New York City. But I’m also working with the City Council, that has a range of views on this issue – meaning there’s 51 members, a lot of different opinions. And part of the give and take of democracy is trying figure out if we can come to something we agree with.

Scotto: Can we talk – take a quick break? I want to talk about mental health.

Mayor: Please.

Scotto: Can we do that? Quick break?

Mayor: Yes, we can.

Scotto: Coming back with Mayor Bill de Blasio. We’re going to talk about a new initiative for mental health here in New York City and, of course, his Thanksgiving Day plans, when we come right back with Good Day New York.

[Commercial break]

Scotto: Welcome back to Good Day New York – sunny, temp near 50 today. We are sitting down with Mayor Bill de Blasio. It is an extended conversation.

[Laughter]

Mayor: Is it!

Scotto: Nothing is off the table.

Mayor: Extended engagement.

[Laughter]

Scotto: Well, we’re happy that you’re back here on Good Day New York. Let’s talk about mental health, because –

Mayor: Yes.

Scotto: … I know the other day you got very emotional –

Mayor: Yeah.

Scotto: … talking about this new initiative here in New York City.

Mayor: Well, I’m going to show you ThriveNYC. This is an incredible plan. My wife Chirlane led this effort over the last year. She went all over New York City listening to what people have gone through, the mental health challenges of families – listening to professionals about what we need. And any New Yorker who wants to see this report – it is eye opening, it is extraordinary – at www.nyc.gov/thrivenyc. This will tell you a lot about what’s really happening in our city and what we have to do about it.

So what we announced this week is something we have never seen before – the beginnings of an actual mental health system for New York City. When this is in place – and part of it begins next year – you will be able to call, or anyone will be able to call, and say either, I have a challenge, or someone in my family or someone at my work has a challenge – can I get them an appointment with some kind of mental health professional? And not only will you get a live human being who will get you to that appointment, they will then keep following up to make sure that you get the treatment you need on a regular basis.

Scotto: What happens if this person doesn’t want the treatment?

Mayor: That’s always a challenge in mental health. And this gets to a lot of what Chirlane is trying to achieve, which is a different kind of conversation about mental health – to destigmatize it, because – I got emotional the other day because I talked about my dad, and Chirlane has talked about her parents, and we have both talked about the challenges our daughter, Chiara, has faced. The difference was, in the previous generation with our parents, no one would talk about it and no one would seek help. When Chiara found that she was struggling, she came to us; we talked about it. We – it took us time to figure out what to do, but because the issues were out in the open, we could get her to the help she needed. That was two years ago. Today, Chiara is thriving. Today, she’s –

Scotto: She looks good.

Mayor: She’s doing amazing things.

Scotto: She looks good. Why did she shave her head? I was like, she has such gorgeous hair!

Mayor: I loved her hair, but – but what about those cheekbones?

Scotto: She looks fantastic. Okay. Do we like being Mayor of New York City?

Mayor: It’s amazing. It’s amazing. It comes with hassles, don’t get me wrong, but it’s amazing.

Scotto: And criticism.

Mayor: Yeah, that’s part of it.

Scotto: How do you, like, brush that off?

Mayor: You know, you’ve got to have a thick skin to do this job, and you’ve got to understand that a lot of it isn’t ultimately personal – some of it is, but a lot of it would be directed at any mayor. People are really frustrated right now, at this moment in history. They’re frustrated because, you know, the economy has left so many people behind. They are obviously worried by what they see around the world. And the job of leaders now is to produce results. So, you know, you talk about this – mental health services for people who aren’t getting it now on a really huge scale. If we do this right, not only is it going to help families stay together – because I have seen what had happened in my family. When my dad started going downhill and became an alcoholic, our family got ripped apart. If we can help families stay together, not only is that what we’re here to do – to help people – but on top of that, that’s going to mean fewer people end up in jail. That’s going to mean fewer people end up in shelter. That’s going to be incredibly important in terms of the human cost, but also, it’s going to mean for – I have to be really straight forward about this – for taxpayers, the investments we make in mental health to get people’s problems addressed early will pay off many times over later on, as well – because we won’t be paying for things that are already now out of control.

Scotto: What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Mayor: So every year, we get together at my cousin’s house and we have a great, great dinner, and then we do some sports. We have a very aggressive version of whiffle ball we do every year. It’s very intense. We do some football. We do a lot of things.

Scotto: Didn’t Chirlane get hurt playing whiffle ball last year?

Mayor: Chirlane? Yeah. Chirlane – Chirlane is a gamer. You know, she was an athlete in high school, and she has not stopped. So she got a little aggressive, and you pay the price for that sometimes.

Scotto: Well, Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for coming on Good Day New York.

Mayor: Thank you.

Scotto: I know Greg wishes that he was here to talk to you as well.

Mayor: Well, Greg is someplace having a nice time right now, as you indicated.

Scotto: I – I hope so. I – so –

Mayor: And I hope you’re going to divulge where. The public wants to know.

[Laughter]

Scotto: I will shortly. And I hope you’ll come back when Greg’s here.

Mayor:  Thank you very much.

Scotto: Alright.

Mayor: So good to see you.

Scotto: Have a very happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for keeping our city safe.

Mayor: Thank you.