Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Press Gaggle After Marching in the 2014 New York City Veterans Day Parade

November 11, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I've said this, and I think in front of some of you, but not all of you, that this day has a special meaning for me and my family. You know, and I don't even think I understood it until later in life – having a father who served our country, and I always admired that, but also came home with profound challenges, both physical and emotional.

You know, my dad fought in one of the bloodiest battles of all time, literally, at Okinawa, and lost half his leg. And when I was young, I just interpreted the physical problem I saw, you know, what he had to do to struggle just to walk around every day and try to lead a normal life. Later, I understood that it was a huge emotional toll that literally stayed with him his whole life, and it affected the whole family. And so, one of the things we're trying to do here at the city level is to address these issues for all veterans. They haven't been addressed efficiently federally. It's quite obvious. And it's not just about the recent scandals that have happened on the national level, it goes back much further than that. Particularly the mental health issues, for years and years didn’t get treated the way they deserve.

So, from my point of view, this is a day to think about veterans, think about all of their needs, their mental health needs, as well as their physical needs, their whole families' needs because these armed conflicts literally follow them home and then affect the whole family. And Loree Sutton, who is the director of our veterans' affairs office, former brigadier general in the Army, is a great expert – nationally renowned expert on mental health, and she's really going to make that one of the focuses of this office.

So, there's a celebratory dynamic today but there's also a need to think about the really substantial needs of veterans that are going unmet and we, on the city level, are going to do all we can to change that for the better. With that, welcome your questions.

Question: Mayor, a number of the city's lawyers apparently objected to such a large settlement for the Central Park Five. Can you explain why the decision was made to handle it in the way it was, to give such large settlements despite their opinions?

Mayor: I will always tell you guys when I don't agree with the premise of your questions, so I don't agree with the premise of your question based on everything I experienced. I never heard any such objection. I think this was an extraordinary case, obviously. And Zach Carter, former U.S. Attorney, former prosecutor – I think one of the most respected people in law enforcement in this whole city, handled that and my charge to him was to do what he thought was best and what he thought was right for the city, and he came to that settlement. So, I just dispute the history, because it's the first time ever hearing of any such disagreements. But ultimately, the Corp Counsel is the person who decides, and we have a very highly respected Corp Counsel and he decided what was the right amount.

Question: Mr. Mayor, some Democrats are calling on Governor Cuomo to hold a special session before the end of the year to advance some of the issues that you've been pushing, like minimum wage. Do you agree with that, and do you think there should be a special session?

Mayor: I certainly look forward to talking to the Governor about whether there will or will not be one. I don't know at this point whether there will be one. I think I would say it a little differently. I think minimum wage should be passed. I think it should be passed at the best available opportunity, whenever it can be passed. But I don't know if there is a plan to have a special session.

Question: My question is, do you think he should hold a special session?

Mayor: Again, I don't get in the business of the day-to-day work of the legislature. I respect that they have their own approach. I think we need to pass the minimum wage whenever it first can be done.

Question: Mr. Mayor, we saw you speaking with Commissioner Kelly out there – former Commissioner Kelly. I was wondering what you spoke about. And also, just related to your announcement yesterday, do you think – even though you’ve changed the operations policy here – do you think Albany, at the state level, ought to change what the law is?

Mayor: Sure. First, I have a lot of respect for Commissioner Kelly, both his service to the city and his service to this nation. And we talked about the fact that this was the year when Marines are being honored. My former boss, Mayor Dinkins, was a Marine. I've been around a lot of the culture of the Marines, and it's a very, very rich culture of loyalty and service. And so we were just talking about that. We were talking about the huge presence of Marines today. It meant a lot to him there were so many Marines, and that obviously it was an important moment for him to be honored as the grand marshal. So, I congratulated him and his wife for that. On the new policy, you know, we are confident that this is the right policy, in terms of both keeping crime low and allowing our officers to focus on more serious crime, and also, again, not saddling a lot of young people, in particular, with criminal records that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. And so we think it's the right policy. But I've said long ago, I think the state should take further action. I think legislation that was proposed that the governor supported a few years ago was absolutely the right thing to do, and I hope it will be passed.

Question: Mr. Mayor, [inaudible] from Bellevue, where you were having doctors [inaudible] having a private conversation. [Inaudible] about what you were talking about, one. Two, do you think the city still needs to have this mandatory quarantine? And three –

Mayor: Let’s do one at a time. I don't have enough comprehension to remember a three-fold question. First of all, on the private conversation, a lot of you saw publicly – he’s a very warm guy. He’s a very funny guy and just full of heart. And I just wanted to just congratulate him for the way he handled himself in the midst the crisis. You know, his life was in danger, not just when he served in West Africa, but obviously, for several days there, it was touch-and-go. And his spirit, his humor – I just had to congratulate him for that. It was a real honor to meet his parents and to just tell them how much I admired them, as a parent myself, for the kind of young man they brought up. And he was just cracking jokes. I mean, we were all joking around about – you know, he wanted his banjo at one point. You could tell he was getting better, because he demanded his banjo. He just had a great, great spirit about him. On the quarantine question, look, I'm so proud to say that New York City is now Ebola-free. This is the last case, and thank God, it ended so well. We're reviewing the situation with his fiancée right now. We have our senior Department of Health folks talking to her to see if there's any need for her to finish out the quarantine, which has a few more days to go. So we're going to make an evaluation based on the advice, obviously, of the medical professionals. She's the last person in quarantine at this point.  We continue the monitoring of folks who have traveled, and obviously, we continue the monitoring of the folks who had been quarantined until the 21-day period was hit. But this is a really good day for New York City. This is real tangible progress. What is the third question?

Question: Governor Cuomo was noticeably absent from that press conference. Was he invited?

Mayor: Absolutely, and I think his schedule didn't allow him to be there, to the best of my knowledge.

Question: Mr. Mayor, there is a bill being proposed in the City Council on Thursday that would ban phone use while biking. Just wondering if you have any opinion on whether it's a good bill.

Mayor: So let me separate the bill itself from the idea. I haven't seen the bill, so I've always – I’m careful not to comment specifically until I've seen the legislation. But on the notion of doing more to help people not be distracted while they drive – it's the same concept as with a car. You know, someone who's biking needs to be alert, needs to think of safety first. They can't do that if they're simultaneously looking at a device. So I think that the intent of the legislation is very good, but I have to see the specific thing.

Phil: Any more, guys?

Mayor: Anything else?

Phil: Thanks, guys.

Unknown: Thank you.

Question: Did your talk with Senator Klein [inaudible] while you saw him – when you saw him in Puerto Rico?

Mayor: Yes, and I spoke to this down there. We had a good conversation. Clearly, there's no determination – there certainly wasn't as of Saturday – as to what will happen with his conference. I believe all Democrats should vote Democrat. That's my simple view of the world. But the most important thing is to act on the issues. And Senator Klein has talked a lot, to his credit, about minimum wage, and the DREAM Act, and campaign finance reform, and Women's Equality Act. Those remain some of the crucial things we have to get done in Albany and that agenda is not going anywhere. That agenda is going to continue to be pursued. So, from my point of view, my belief is that he and his members will continue to focus on that agenda.

Question: Will you be disappointed if he conferences with Republicans?

Mayor: I don't like to speak in terms of joy or disappointment or personalities. I care about the product here. I care about the outcome. It's a very serious agenda that has to be achieved in Albany, and I think everyone should be judged on how they respond to that agenda. Look, I think the citizens of this state are watching carefully, and they'll make their judgments in the future based on how people handle this moment. But I've also said, I think you're going to see a real big change in the state in 2016, and we're going to get those things done either sooner or later, but we're going to get them done.

Phil: Thank you, guys.

Mayor: Thanks, everyone.