Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on 1010 WINS

December 23, 2015

Brigitte Quinn: Joining us live on 1010 WINS this morning – good morning, Mr. Mayor, happy holidays. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Happy holidays and a Merry Christmas, Brigitte. 

Quinn: Six weeks paid parental leave – an early Christmas gift for non-union city employees, but when will it start?

Mayor: Well, we’re going to start this right away and, Brigitte, the important point is we’re reaching 20,000 city employees who are not in unions, but we look forward to talking with our union leaders immediately about how we can have a negotiation to get this to be a benefit for all city workers potentially. Six weeks paid parental leave – it’s such a crucial moment, of course, when there’s a new child in a family. For parents to have that opportunity to bond with that child and recover, of course, from the whole experience of a new child coming into their lives – six weeks that will be paid and, as you indicated in the lead-in, another six weeks available if parents want to take their vacation time or their paid sick leave. They have an opportunity to take up to 12 weeks total if they combine those pieces. 

Quinn: And this isn’t coming out of anybody’s taxes – this was paid for by taking a couple of vacation days away?

Mayor: That’s right. So these – the managers and non-labor union employees that are covered here who have very extensive benefits – we reprogrammed some of the benefits that we could reach so there’s no additional cost to taxpayers. And we’ve talked to the labor unions who will have to look if they want this benefit for their workers, which we’d love to see them take advantage of it. We’ll have to find some savings to cover it. So, none of this involves a cost to the taxpayers, but what it means for new parents is inestimable. I mean, I know from my own experience, particularly when our first child, Chiara, was born, Chirlane had to go right back to work. It’s not a great feeling, you know, especially for the mom – the mom’s exhausted – and it’s missing a really priceless life moment. Most countries around the world provide paid parental leave. The United States is one of the few that doesn’t. We really need a national policy on this, but here’s an opportunity for New York to provide some leadership to start with these 20,000 workers, and we hope to go much farther. 

Quinn: I’m sure those new parents and newborns will be happy for a little extra sleep. Mayor de Blasio, I have to ask you about this – Ray Kelly was asked during a radio interview about crime being at record lows, and he laughed, and he suggested crime numbers are being massaged – your response? 

Mayor: I find that surprising. Here’s what I think – our police commissioner, Bill Bratton, is the finest police leader in the country, and I don’t think anyone’s done more to drive down crime not only in New York, but around the country – in L.A. and Boston. Over the last 30 years, you know, Bill Bratton is the gold standard. He certifies – 100 percent – we’re using the exact same standard to track crime that Ray Kelly used. It was an inherited from Ray Kelly. It’s the exact same set of metrics. And so, I’m surprised to see Commissioner Kelly raising those questions. We’re very proud of the fact that we’ve driven down crime two years running. Bill Bratton has done an amazing job. The men and women of the NYPD have done an amazing job. And I don’t want to see anyone cast [inaudible] the men and women of the NYPD who have successfully pushed down crime. We had the record low last year – the fewest murders in 50 years. This year, we’re going to have the lowest number of overall crimes that we’ve seen in a long time, you know, and we’ve had – gun arrests are up seven percent, shootings are down. I mean, there’s a lot of very impressive achievements by the NYPD, and I think those achievements should not be undermined, they should be respected. 

Quinn: Right. We did have some Comp-Stat figures from the NYPD though showing shootings down, but murder up this year. Is that correct?

Mayor: So, as of yesterday, murders were up 15 compared to last year, total. Now, I don’t take that lightly. If we had 15 more murders across the city this year than last, that’s 15 more than I find acceptable. But the good news, going forward – we have 1,300 new cops coming on the force next year as a result of the budget action we took last spring. We have 700 more cops going from desk jobs to patrolling our streets, that’s a grand total of over 2,000 more cops on patrol – the first time that’s happened in more than a decade. You know, we have better training, we have better technology. The NYPD over the last two years has continued to show they can drive down crime. Now, they’re going to have a lot more resources to drive down crime with. So, I actually think next year is going to be a very good year for us. 

Quinn: You also of course have the terror worries to contend with, Mr. Mayor. Some people have said, including Ray Kelly, that more San Bernardino attacks are inevitable. Do you agree with that?

Mayor: I would say it differently. I would say that NYPD has done – for 14 straight years since 9/11 – has done an amazing job preventing attacks. We know a number of attacks were thwarted over those years. And now, I would say, we have better intelligence-gathering capacity than we’ve ever had. We have definitely the closest working relationship between NYPD, and the FBI, and Homeland Security. That relationship – there used to be some distance – it’s now very, very tight, very close, which means information is being shared better – better joint efforts. We also added 500-plus cops to a specific and specialized anti-terror command – we call it the Critical Response Command. That was done in the last city budget – 500-plus cops who focus entirely on preventing terrorism and, God forbid, if there were an incident, responding to it immediately. So, I think our capacity is stronger than ever. I think the NYPD has proven its ability to prevent such attacks. Now, if anyone says, could there ever be a lone-wolf attack? Yeah, you have to always be aware of that potential, but I think the track record speaks for itself. We are the best prepared city in this country to prevent terror and to address anything that might occur. 

Quinn: Mayor de Blasio, thanks so much for speaking with us this morning – a happy New Year to you. 

Mayor: And to you and all your listeners. 

Quinn: Thank you.