Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Marks Second Anniversary Of Sandy, Announces Major Progress On City’s Recovery And Resiliency Work

October 29, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Gather round, gather round. I want to talk about the experience we had this morning in Coney Island before I talk about what we're doing here, because it was – some of you were there, but others weren't – I think it's an important example of what the people of this city have done as a result of Sandy, what they've learned, how people found strength even the midst of crisis.

I want to thank Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who's hiding back here, okay, who was also there – the speaker and a number of other elected officials joined us helping a wonderful, wonderful lady, Margurie Batts – helping her get her home back in shape, painting, varnishing. And Margurie is a retired United States Postal Service worker. She's lived in her home in Coney Island for almost 40 years. And what was so powerful was to hear her spirit, her optimism. She had water in the first floor of her home, literally taller than my head. She literally showed me where the water went up to – it filled the first floor of her home, it started to go to the second floor. I'm not talking about the basement. I'm talking about the first floor, street level, filled to the top, and then water starting to move toward the second floor – thank god it stopped there.

She lost everything in terms of anything like normal life. She's been fighting and working to get it back. She's getting great help from Habitat for Humanity, that we were honored to work side-by-side with today, and they're doing amazing things all over this city to help families get back on their feet.

But the reason I want to tell you this story is that she saw a deeper meaning in all this. She's a very religious woman. She thinks a lot about what it means for her neighborhood, for her community, that this tragedy befell them. And she said that before Sandy hit in Coney Island, each man was an island, each woman was an island – each person was going about their business. When Sandy hit, people banded together in a way she had never seen before. I certainly know that happened here in Staten Island. I saw it with my own eyes, walking through neighborhoods with some of my colleagues here in the days after. People helped each other in a way that they had never done before. People reached out to neighbors – some neighbors they didn't even know – and helped them in a way they never did before.

This is not in any way to minimize the pain, the tragedy, the loss, of Sandy. It's said that somehow in the midst of all that, people got stronger. And then Margurie said something that really struck me. She said we're different after Sandy. We're different. And she didn't mean it to say that we were worse. She said we're different. In some ways, we've learned things we had to learn, and get ready for things we had to get ready for. In some ways, we're carrying something heavy in our hearts. But in some ways, we're better. We're more prepared. We understand what's happening around us in a way we didn't before. We know now better what we have to do for each other.

It was very interesting, a woman – a senior citizen who's seen a lot of life, a very spiritual woman – and she had a tranquility about her, talking about the fact that we're different. And in some ways, we're stronger. And it was powerful to her – hear her resolve with a home behind us that still wasn't fully inhabitable. It didn't dampen her spirit and her sense that we would get there. She's going to be back in her home fully, as early as Thanksgiving, with the great help of Habitat for Humanity. 

We were with the Galimi family in Broad Channel last week. They're going to be back in their home by Christmas, with the help of Build It Back. 

We are turning the corner, but we're also different. In some ways, we carry a sadness, but in other ways, we are stronger. And that's the spirit we have to bring forward from this point on. 

Two years today since Sandy hit – the worst natural disaster in the history of New York City. This borough, this island, in many ways bore the brunt of the 44 lives lost to due to Sandy. 23, fully half, were in Staten Island – a lot of pain, a lot of memory here in Staten Island of those 23 lives lost, including 11 in Midland Beach alone. 

We know that Sandy did something that no previous natural disaster had done. It damaged thousands and thousands of homes and businesses, it flooded large sections of the city, it knocked out power for long periods of time. But Sandy also created a new type of resolve, a new focus on resiliency, a new ability to make the changes that we had to make – that we had to make in a world that's turning. We, a couple weeks ago, had the U.N. Climate Summit. We know that the world is changing. Maybe before Sandy, we didn't feel it as personally as we should have as New Yorkers. There's no doubt we feel it now. We have to be leaders in this nation, in this world, in showing that we will respond to climate change. We're going to do that through resiliency efforts that will be extraordinary. We're also doing by showing that all of us need to get at the root cause, which is why we will cut emissions in this city by 80 percent by 2050. We've got to do both to really keep our people safe.

The good news is, because we're different, we've done a lot of things differently. We've invested where we didn't before. We've done things better. We are now safer than we were two years ago. That is a matter of fact. The people of New York City are safer than they were two years ago when it comes to resiliency and our ability to withstand storms and natural disasters. And we have a lot more to do. But I can tell you with assurance, when we gather a year from now, we will be safer still. When we gather in 2015 we will be safer than we were in 2014. When we gather in 2016, we will be safer than we were in 2015, because a $20 billion dollar investment is being made in resiliency – $20 billion dollars that will fundamentally change the shape of this city, and provide us with long-term resiliency. 

Before I go on, I want to recognize so many of the people who are working hard every day to make us safer. And you know, we've talked a lot in recent weeks about the different types of first responders – we've talked about our police, our fire, our EMTs – we talk about them a lot, and we should talk about them a lot, and they were all heroes during Sandy. There were a lot of other heroes during Sandy. Sanitation workers were heroes. Local community groups and faith groups were heroes. In this last week in New York City, we saw doctors and nurses and lab techs and security guards act as heroes. We know our men and women in the military are about to go overseas to protect us – not from a foe that carries weapons, but from a disease. 

There are a lot of different types of first responders. There are a lot of different heroes. But this effort to keep us safe for the long haul, this should be put in that same category – the people who are working every day to keep us safe and resilient. They're extraordinary teams. They are saving lives as we speak. The fact that we're safer than two years ago means lives will be saved when the next storm hits, and a lot of people here deserve credit for it.

I'd like to thank Bill Goldstein, my senior advisor for Recovery, Resiliency and Infrastructure. I'd like to thank Amy Peterson, the director of our Housing and Recovery Office; Dan Zarrilli, the director of our Office of Recovery and Resiliency; Feniosky Peña-Mora, our commissioner for the Department of Design and Construction; Vicki Been, our commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development; and Mitch Silver, our commissioner for the Department of Parks and Recreation. Every single one of them is a part of the effort to make us safer. 

Our elected officials have been exemplary in their efforts to help us move forward resiliency projects. They've helped in a variety of ways – working with the community, figuring out what's the best thing to do, helping us secure resources. It's been an extraordinary partnership. I'd like to mention some who are here, and then others will speak thereafter. We were joined earlier in Coney Island by State Senator Diane Savino, who does a great job with varnish. I want to thank you – and anyone fixing up your home, I would urge you to bring Diane over. [Laughter] She's a – she's going to be part of Melissa Mark-Viverito's new varnishing company. I want to thank my good friend and former colleague in the council, Senator Andy Lanza. I want to thank Assemblymember Mike Cusick, Councilmember Alan Maisel – all have been great teammates in this effort. 

Building back from Sandy and strengthening the city for the future have been top priorities of this administration. I'm proud to say now, as a result of Build It Back, over 750 construction starts since January 1, nearly 1,100 reimbursement checks have been sent out already under Build It Back. Both of those numbers, again, were at zero on January 1. We are on track for 1,000 construction starts and 1,500 reimbursement checks by December 31 of this year. 

[Applause] 

Thank you. Thank these guys for it. They did an incredible job. At the same time, as we've been able to help more and more families – we know we have a long way to go – a lot of attention is being paid to resiliency, and those efforts, again, will grow in intensity with every passing year. That's why we created, for the first time ever, the Office of Recovery and Resiliency. Again, they are implementing a $20 billion dollar plan – a $20 billion dollar plan with 257 individual resiliency initiatives. Three core components – one is strengthening the coastline. That starts with reinforcing dunes, like the ones we're standing in front of. 26,000 linear feet of dunes have been added and reinforced in Staten Island alone. So if I'm doing my count correctly – I'm looking to Mitch, where's Mitch –

Commissioner Mitchell Silver, Department of Parks and Recreation: Right here.

Mayor: There you are, sorry, went right by. That's five miles almost, if I'm counting my feet correctly.

We're also on the site of a future project – $400 million to build new armored levees, which will protect Midland Beach and Staten Island's east shore. We're restoring beaches with 4.15 million cubic yards of sand around this city. This is an effort that's being done with a variety of agencies, with great cooperation from the federal government and the state government – obviously, Army Corps of Engineers has been a crucial component – my colleagues can tell you more of the details, but 4.15 million cubic yards of sand being added. That's the first part, the coastline. 

Second, toughening critical infrastructure – we're elevating traffic signal controls from at-risk locations. We're planning upgrades to critical facilities – and some of this you've heard already – we're very proud of the investment we're making in Staten Island University Hospital, and additional investments were made in the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. We're pleased to say that Con Edison is investing $1 billion dollars to harden critical assets like substations and switches, and to avoid the kind of power outages we saw in Sandy. 

The third area is making our homes and our businesses and our neighborhoods more secure. We're paying particular attention to small and medium sized businesses, because they're the backbone of New York City life, the backbone of our economy – providing loans and grant assistance and helping them in a variety of ways. We're strengthening building codes so that what we build will be more resilient. We're giving special attention to the housing that this city runs, our Housing Authority. We are making those buildings more resilient, we're moving boilers – improving boilers, moving key facilities to higher floors. We're making investments so that we know we can withstand any flooding that comes – including emergency generators. 

So, before I call upon some of my colleagues, I just want to back to what I said about the changing world around us. We all know, as New Yorkers, the world changes. We get thrown some tough pitches. We have to figure out how to deal with them – New Yorkers always have, New Yorkers have always been amongst the very best in the world at strength and resiliency under fire. We know that we have to address climate change. If nothing were to change, at the current rate we're going, by mid-century, sea levels around the world are projected to rise over two feet. We understand what a threat that is to the city. Again, we're going to lead the way by showing people all over the world what it means to address the root cause by reducing emissions. We're also going to show them how a coastal city can prepare itself with the right resiliency measures.

There will be more storms. There'll be some very big storms in the future. But we'll be ready for them – we'll be ready in every way. We'll be ready to communicate with our people. We'll be ready to help protect people before. We'll be ready to evacuate when necessary. We'll be ready to help people in the immediate aftermath. But the thing we're focused on now is creating the resiliency to know, in so many other cases, when Mother Nature throws something at us, we will be able to withstand it at the point of contact. That means building not just strong enough to withstand the storm we saw last time, but building in a way that would withstand even bigger storms in the future. 

Just a few words in Spanish.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that I'd like to bring forward someone who's been a partner in all the work we've done. Everything we've had to do to improve Build It Back, to increase our resiliency efforts, to provide relief to homeowners in terms of property tax and water rates – so much of this work's been done with the City Council, and the speaker of the City Council has been urgent in her desire to help people affected by Sandy, and build upon our work on resiliency. I want to introduce Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. 

[Applause]

[…]

Mayor:  Okay, we want to take Sandy-related questions first.

Question: Mr. Mayor, when can New Yorkers expect to see a head of the Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability?

Mayor: Well, what we’re doing right now is that the work that that office does is being handled by Bill Goldstein and Dan Zarrilli. So, the fact is that that work is continuing intensely. A huge number of resiliency projects are underway, as you hear. The commitment we made in terms of reducing emissions will involve retrofitting all our city public buildings and a very aggressive effort to retrofit private buildings. The team we have now is already putting that underway. We’ll add additional personnel over time, but the team we have now has absolutely the ability to move those projects.

Question: Mayor, I was wondering, you’ve observed and been involved in government for a long time. Do you feel that the cooperation among all [inaudible] working as well as it should? And also, building these resiliency measures – they require a lot of regulations. And I’m wondering if you feel that any of those need to be [inaudible]? And then finally –

Mayor: Wait, wait – too many. Hold on, one at a time. Cooperation levels are unusually high on this one. I have been around a long time. I’ve seen some very good moments of cooperation on different issues. I’ve seen some very poor moments. This is way above average. I can just use my own examples of our dealings with FEMA, our dealings with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. There’s been a tremendous flexibility and willingness to actually find creative solutions. Certainly, the state has been a great partner as well. The Army Corps has been a great partner. So, I would say when it comes to both addressing the aftermath of Sandy and making us more resilient, we’re getting a lot of cooperation. To the second question, whether we need more flexibility – look, the original legislation passed in Washington, in my view, should have been made more flexible. That’s something that has created challenges for all of us. But I think everyone is working effectively within it. I think the work of government constantly is about reducing red tape and finding creative solutions, so we’ll keep doing that. But I think New Yorkers can feel great assurance that we actually have true partners at the federal and state level who have acted like partners throughout this crisis. What was your last part?

Question: I was just wondering, we in the press tend to sort of seize on optics sometimes –

Mayor: I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

[Laughter]

Question: Candid – I’m being candid. The governor is holding an event not too far from here, and I’m wondering if you could just speak to the cooperation – you say that it’s very good between the state and the city. Is, you know – is there anything to the fact that you guys are [inaudible]?

Mayor: No – as you know, we’ve done a number of events recently on the Ebola crisis and on many other issues. And in fact, we’ve done resiliency-related events, including one here on Staten Island a few months ago. No – what he is rightfully talking about today is the great effort the state made in terms of the buyout program. That’s a different thing than what the city does. We’re talking about Build it Back and the resiliency efforts that we’re coordinating. So, no, the cooperation levels are very very strong. On this topic. Sally.

Question:  I know Build it Back is elevating certain homes off the ground, but what are you doing about homes that are still near the water [inaudible]? [inaudible] and they could still get flooded if there’s another –

Mayor: Let me have Bill and Dan and Amy – whoever wants to speak to this.

Amy Peterson, Director, Housing Recovery Office: We’re elevating the homes that were substantially damaged and experienced the most flooding.  And we’re also looking at opportunities through the Acquisition for Redevelopment Program for the some of the bungalows.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: So, properties that were substantially damaged in the storm can be part of the Acquisition for Redevelopment Program, where we would acquire the homes and then be able to redevelop the properties.

Question: [inaudible] acquire them?

Amy Peterson: The city would acquire them.

Question: Can you give us any update on what might happen to those properties that might be acquired for redevelopment? You know, [inaudible] we have a somewhat controversial issue on Staten Island – you know, whether they [inaudible]?

Mayor: Well, I just want to say at the outset – and I’ll have Amy and others speak to it – that the – I want to thank the borough president because he has really pushed us to think about different options we had. And I remember, literally the first meeting we had, formally, he laid out some thoughts about how we could approach this that might make more sense. So he has not only been a partner but someone who has helped us to innovate new approaches. But let me have Amy and others speak to it.

Amy Peterson: The Acquisition for Development Program [inaudible] the homes that choose to be a part of the program – we’re working closely with the borough president and the council members to see what their interests are and the community – and also if the homes are in wetlands. So there’s different things that will happen based on who chooses to be part of the program.

Question: Mayor, a couple of weeks ago in Far Rockaway, you spoke about some long-term planning that you’re doing that seems to be both economic development and Sandy recovery.

Mayor: Correct.

Question: Can you give us any more about a breakdown or timeline of what [inaudible]?

Mayor: It’s going to be soon because a number of pieces that obviously are desperately needed in the Rockaways, so we’ll have more to say. But as is our typical approach, we don’t announce things until they’re ready. But I think in the coming weeks and months, you are going to be hearing a lot more about our efforts to help strengthen the Rockaways. On Sandy, yes.

Question: This is somewhat Sandy.

Mayor: Alright, we’ll take somewhat Sandy.

Question: The comptroller released a report today on the [inaudible] flood insurance [inaudible]. And I was wondering, if you could outline what the city and state do to help homeowners [inaudible]?

Mayor: Before I call up my colleagues, let me say – look, this is a real problem that’s been evident for months and months now. This is not news. We know that as the flood maps have been updated, there’s a real challenge around insurance. We’ve been working with our congressional delegation to find ways to lessen the burden on homeowners and business owners in the process. There’s still more work to be done on that front.

Dan Zarrilli, Director, Office of Recovery & Resiliency; Acting Director, Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability: So I’d like to at least first say that the most important thing we can do is to reduce risk, which is what we’re doing through the Build it Back program, through the resiliency efforts to make sure that we reduce risk of flooding all over the city. And we’re going to continue to take steps to do that. Specifically on the National Flood Insurance Program – the city was part of a national advocacy coalition that helped change the flood insurance programs to make sure the flood insurance continues to remain affordable and available in our coastal communities. And at the same time, we’re pushing forward a number of other fronts, where there’s still some areas we need to know more about what the impacts are going to be on affordability – we’re conducting some work to determine that. And we’re going to continue to advocate for things like partial credit for partial mitigation, where, in the FEMA world, you either have done everything or nothing and the premiums don’t reflect reduced risk. And we’ll continue to advocate for where we’re taking partial measures and in some buildings, that’s all that can be done. But that actually reflects itself in the price and continues to promote affordability. It’s a wide-ranging effort, but it starts first with reducing risk and also with ensuring the affordability that goes along with that reduced risk.

Mayor: One or two more on Sandy if you got them. Going once, on Sandy. Going twice. Okay, I want to go to another topic first. Hold on. I want to give you a couple of updates related to Ebola. First of all, more good news for this country – that Nurse Vinson, the second of the nurses in Dallas, has been found to be Ebola-free, is coming out of the hospital. That leaves one case and one case alone in the United States of America, right now, and that is Dr. Spencer. Dr. Spencer remains in serious but stable condition. We have said for several days that the prediction for these days of the week was it was going to get worse before it gets better – so far, so good. And again, he is getting extraordinary care at Bellevue, and care – literally – with daily consultation with leading experts all over the nation to keep making adjustments in his care. But those, at least, are two pieces of good news today in this ongoing effort. So if there’s anything related to Ebola, I’d like to just take those questions first. In the back?

Question: Is there any validity to a report that [inaudible] up front [inaudible] whereabouts after [inaudible]?

Mayor: No. You know, I just have to say – I’m sick of these attempts to belittle a man who is a hero. It’s got to end. This is a guy who went into danger to protect all of us. We don’t spend a lot of time – when someone comes back wearing a military uniform – questioning their desire to do good. The Ebola crisis is an international crisis. It has to be stopped at its root. That can only be done with health care professionals. And as you know, also – thank God – with the help of the United States military, which is going to play a very big role there. Dr. Spencer did exactly what we would ask of our fellow citizens. I see John Solazzo here, who was a firefighter – he would run into burning buildings to protect people. Dr. Spencer went into a disease-ravaged nation to protect not only people there, but us. He cooperated in every way. He followed every protocol of his organization. The minute he believed he had become symptomatic, he called in, he retraced all his steps with us. Everything was done properly, and people should start respecting what he contributed. I don't know a lot of people who have the bravery of Dr. Spencer. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, yesterday you said there have been no new passengers who've come through JFK who've met the quarantine order. Are there any updates to that? If not, then do you have any concern that people are avoiding JFK coming back to the city in other ways to avoid having to get one of these quarantine orders?

Mayor: No, I mean, I think what's been made clear before the quarantine orders was that the five airports that were designated to receive people returning from the three countries in question – so the federal government made that decision. They were controlling that dynamic, and obviously, given the nature of air travel, they had the ability to enforce that requirement. So, no, I do not think people are avoiding those airports who have been in the three countries, because I don't think they have a choice in that matter. But yes, to date, we have not seen – thank God – any new instance of anyone that required quarantine. We have a very aggressive monitoring program in place for people who have returned, but were not symptomatic. We've reached a very large number of people, and that's going back to those who arrived from October 11 to present. As of this minute, every single one of them has not shown any symptoms. We'll continue that monitoring, of course, until each of them hits the 21-day mark. Do you have a follow-up?

Question: [inaudible] the order that was issued by the state health department said anyone who's had direct contact with Ebola should be issued an order of quarantine by the city health department, and Commissioner Bassett has said that that should be two to three people a day through JFK –

Mayor: Commissioner Bassett was referring – no, but let's clarify – Commissioner Bassett was referring to the pattern that we had seen over weeks, of what we thought it would look like. That was not a guaranteed figure – that was an averaging. It's only been a few days since the order was put into effect, so every day is going to be different. But I think the fact of the matter is, if someone comes in, meets the criteria, then we'll proceed according to those criteria. If someone comes in – even worse – and is symptomatic, they will immediately be taken to an emergency facility. But what we're seeing since October 11 is – almost without exception – people have come in with no symptoms, having not had contact with anyone with Ebola, just happened to have been in one of three countries – and these are, you know, substantially-sized countries, so you could be in one part of the country where you're not in contact with anyone with Ebola. They have all been part of the active monitoring that was put in force by the CDC, and again, with everyone that came in that we have contacted – who came in from October 11 to present – no one has symptoms. 

Question: Mayor, do you have a number on how many people the city is actively monitoring? 

Mayor: I'll get you an exact number – [inaudible] it should be changing literally every day, as – and I want to clarify this, I think it's important – it will change – if you see daily variations, you should see daily variations. People are going to start coming off that list when they get to their 21 days, and that should be soon for the people, of course, who came in on the 11. People will be added as new arrivals come. So that will be a different number each day – we'll give you an update on that. 

Question: Are you denying the report in the New York Post this morning, about the whereabouts [inaudible]?

Mayor: We have looked at the situation consistently of what happened from the minute Dr. Spencer called in. Every report we've received has been consistent. By the way, I'm sick of unnamed sources. If you guys want to traffic in unnamed sources, God bless you – but it's not helping the people of this city in the middle of a crisis. Let's talk to actual doctors, actual EMTs. Let's talk to the commissioner of the fire department, the health commissioner, to find out what truth is. Dr. Spencer called in exactly when the protocols of Doctors Without Borders indicated. He relayed every possible fact he could – over not just the first day, over subsequent days. He gave answers to every single question asked of him. He cooperated fully. I said yesterday, I met some of the Haz-Tac and Haz-Mat members who literally received him at the apartment, were in the ambulance with him – the guys who decontaminated their colleagues upon arrival at Bellevue – I've been on the isolation floor at Bellevue talking to the doctors and nurses treating him, I've heard a lot from each and every one of them, and they all indicate very powerfully that everyone followed protocol, and Dr. Spencer was an extraordinarily cooperative and obviously informed patient. So, I'm done with character assassination of Dr. Spencer. I'm done with unnamed sources. It's a crisis – let's act like we're unified in a crisis, because that's the way we get through a crisis. 

Question: Are you denying –

Mayor: I think I've answered your question, my friend. Next. Anything else Ebola-related. Yes.

Question: It's not Ebola –

Mayor: Okay, Ebola-related, anything else? Please? Not – I don't know how many times I have to say Ebola-related. Let's try one last time, people. Read my lips – anything Ebola-related before we turn. Sally, did you raise your hand or not? Ebola or not?

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: I appreciate the question. Look, in the middle of a crisis, we're going to spend what it takes to keep people safe. That's what we're here to do. The first job of government is public safety. That's literally why government was created – to keep people safe. So, I'm not going to for a moment withhold any expenditure that's necessary to keep our people – and we've made that very clear to the health department, to FDNY, NYPD, HHC. Part of why we have Haz-Tac and Haz-Mat at the level we do is because after 9/11 we realized we needed extraordinary capacity. We did not scrimp on that. We did not try for the cheap way of having just a few units. We put in enough units to be able to handle a variety of scenarios. So we will spend the money we need to to keep people safe. If we can find any appropriate federal reimbursement, we'll certainly do that. But our job is to keep people safe. Last call – related to this topic. Hearing none, we will go to off-topic.

Question: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is kind of a two part question about the election that is happening in less than a week from today. Part one, you've got – some of your staffers in City Hall have taken a leave to work on various campaigns – Emma Wolfe working on behalf of State Senate candidates, Jon Paul Lupo on behalf of the Recchia campaign. There's been some criticism from Republicans about that. I was wondering if you could speak to that, and the [inaudible] and then also if you could just tell us –

Mayor: Why don't we do the first one first? The – on the first point – look, I'm no stranger to partisan attacks, and that's all it is. The fact is that everyone who is part of the efforts we're undertaking right now to serve our city and protect our city – everyone is present and accounted for in doing the job they need to do. There are – there's a handful of people who are off working on other work that, by the way, is very important to the future of this city. The kind of State Senate we have, the kind of congress we have will speak volumes as to whether we get additional aid after disasters or whether we have the support we need to build new housing and grow our economy. So I think those individuals are doing something important, but everyone we need for the efforts at hand is present and accounted for.

Question: Can you tell us  – there's been a lot of controversy over district party lines in this election, and I was wondering what party line you plan on voting?

Mayor: If you check my party registration, you will find I'm a Democrat – that's how I'll be voting.

Question: Mayor, you're responsible for appointing five members to the Veterans Advisory Board. Four of those members are operating under expired terms. Can you tell us [inaudible] – as a self-proclaimed supporter of veterans, can you explain why you would allow these positions designed to help veterans [inaudible]?

Mayor: Yeah, the Veterans Advisory Board is what it says – it's advisory, and we value it, and the people who have been serving previously are also very capable people, but we have named, of course, several months ago, the head of our Veterans Affairs Office, former Brigadier General Loree Sutton. We are working with every official of each office we name to update the various boards and commissions related to them, but Loree had a lot of very important work to do right away in terms of direct service needed for our veterans. We all know what's happened in the last months around this country – a lot of veterans were not getting the help they needed in federal facilities. We've tried to come up with ways to address that crisis. So that's where our energies have been, but you will see in the coming weeks and months – a number of boards and commissions will have new appointees that will reflect our values. 

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Well, I think [inaudible] right to what I said. You know – I think – that I am a son of a wounded veteran – may he rest in peace – and that I saw firsthand what it means to come back from war with both the physical and mental scars. We have so many of our fellow New Yorkers who return from war with, in fact, injuries that we never could’ve imagined anyone surviving in the past. Miracle of modern medicine, but it means a lot of our returning veterans have challenges that were literally unimaginable a generation ago – a lot of them dealing with mental health challenges, which is the area of particular expertise of General Sutton. So, we have a lot of work to do. What I want is people in all of the work we are doing [inaudible] you have to figure out how – in the absence of some of the federal support we’d like to see – how we can maximize our efforts. For example, how do we get more veterans out of homeless shelters into permanent housing? That’s one of our priorities right now. How do we help those who have mental health challenges to access services which are, sadly, hard for them to access? So, that’s what we have focused on.

Question: Can you give me your thoughts JPMorgan Chase dropping their plan for the Westside Tower [inaudible]?

Mayor: Well, I spoke to Jamie Dimon yesterday. And, you know, they came to the conclusion for their own business purposes that it was better to stay where they were. What’s clear is they’re an important presence in New York City, an important employer – we want to work with them. But I think – as Deputy Mayor Glen said earlier – we took an approach that was focused on respecting the role our employers play in this city, but moving away from the historic focus on government subsidies, which I think has been proven to be often ineffective. We tried to be helpful in other ways. They made their own business decision to stay where they are – and I hope that they will be a very substantial long-term presence in this city.

Question: [inaudible] janitor [inaudible]?

Mayor: Yes – as you know, the Department of Education investigations commissioner is looking into this situation. We obviously aren’t going to comment until the investigation is complete. If we find someone has committed an offense, there will certainly be consequences.

Question: [inaudible]?

Mayor: Well, let me start by saying we’re going to be doing a lot to change the Department of Corrections. The Department of Corrections that we received on January 1st was obviously in horrible shape – and that’s despite the good and noble efforts of a lot of people who work at the Department of Corrections. This is an agency that had not been approached properly for years. So, we’re fixing a lot – I think Commissioner Ponte is doing an extraordinary job. We added a lot of resources into the budget. We’re changing our approach to our youngest inmates – our 16- and 17-year-old inmates – and we’re changing the whole structure of the agency, updating it – and that restructuring has been going on very aggressively. Chief Clemons made the decision after a long career to retire. But I think the bottom line here is we have only just begun a series of restructurings and improvements. There’s going to be a whole focus on mental health services, which has been insufficient in the past and is one of the biggest problems at Rikers. So, you’re going to be hearing a series of additional changes at Department of Corrections.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: From media only, please. Let me see – is anyone else from the media? Yes –

Question: I was wondering if you had any comment about reports that the NYPD Staten Island borough commander – Assistant Chief Delatorre – allegedly told some officers to fix a burned out headlight for Eric Garner’s mother, thus avoiding a ticket?

Mayor: First, I want to say Chief Delatorre is an outstanding police leader. I have a lot of respect for him. As to the specific instance, all we have is allegations. Obviously, NYPD is doing an investigation and will have more to say when the investigation is done.

Phil: Last call, guys.

Question: What’s the update with the officer wounded – two officers wounded – by Zale Thompson last week? How are they doing? And any other updates from NYPD on that incident?

Mayor: Well, there were, again, four officers at the scene when this horrific incident occurred. A very disturbed individual comes out of nowhere – I’ve spoken to three of the four officers, I heard the account – literally split second. As you heard from Commissioner Bratton, the entire incident lasted fully seven seconds from beginning to end. Two officers, who – thank God – were not wounded, performed an exemplary role exactly as their training had instructed, these – all of them rookies, all of them just months out of the academy – and were able to stop the assailant dead in his tracks – and I commend those two officers. One of the other officers was wounded but – thank God – when I met him in the hospital, it was a wound that did not require him to remain hospitalized, and he’s doing well. The third – the fourth officer, I should say – Officer Healy – was very grievously wounded, but his treatment has continued successfully. It’ll be a long road back with challenges, but I spoke to his father both at the hospital and then a couple days ago – Officer Healy is doing well – tremendous spirit, tremendous energy to fight to get well – and we’re very hopeful. Obviously, he and his families are in our thoughts and prayers.

Question: What about the bystander who was accidentally – 

Mayor: The bystander was struck, was in critical condition. Again, the last report I got on her treatment – her treatment was going well. NYPD and my community assistance unit have been working with her and her family to see if we could assist them in anyway, but – thank God – she’s getting the care she needs. Thanks, everyone.