Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks At Congregation Beth Elohim

April 5, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Shabbat Shalom.

Congregation: Shabbat Shalom.

Mayor: I thought the Rabbi was going to say I was mishbuka, in terms of my relationship to the congregation.

It is so wonderful to be here. I have to tell you, it is wonderful in particular to be honored by the most important possible audience, which is the audience to my right, the children of this great congregation to whom we devote ourselves in so many ways. So, to me, Rabbi, you've given me an added blessing today, to be able to look to the people I am here to serve and the children who will be the future of this city. I want to thank Rabbi Bachman. I'm going to something to say about him in a moment – my own editorial comments, particularly on your choices of baseball teams.

I want to thank Cantor Josh Breitzer, and I want to say the band was really rocking it out over there, very impressive. I'm impressed. I didn't know you had that in you, Josh – very good. Executive Director Shelly Klein, thank you for your leadership. Bar Mitzvah,  Henry Clapper and his family, congratulations. As we say in my ancestral Italian language, mazel tov. All of the wonderful people who make up this congregation – Rabbi Bachman is right, I've been really – not just honored – it's been a source of warmth and encouragement to me over the years to come here and be a part of so many things you do. And it's particularly wonderful to be here on the eve of Passover, and wish everyone a happy Passover this wonderful time of year.

And it is the first Saturday morning in April. As Rabbi, you know, indicates one thing, that baseball season is here. I am leaving – yes, I like that enthusiasm, very good – I am leaving this sanctuary and going to another place of holy worship – the bandshell for the Prospect Park Little League opening day. I have had some of my most inspiring and most trying moments when I was a Little League coach in the 78th Precinct. You really learn a lot about leadership trying to get eight-year-olds to follow a vision of how to play baseball. I'm still working on that. But, at this community, there's so many extraordinary things about the neighborhoods we all come from.

And one of them is this wonderful vibrant Little League and the set of Little Leagues we all particular in. It's a beautiful thing. In honor of this important occasion – the beginning of baseball season – you may notice I am wearing a Mets themed yarmulke– looking to each side. We think of everything at the mayor's office. Now, I'm not taking sides. I'm just saying the Mets gave the opportunity to throw out the first pitch on opening day, so I'm, you know, providing a little support back to them. Rabbi, we have a strong belief in helping the underdog and the oppressed, and I think that means we should be there for the New York Mets, don't you think?

My opening pitch was not a thing of beauty, but it did get somewhere in the vicinity of the strike zone and actually elicited a positive cover on the New York Post. So I thought that must – that is certainly an act of divine intervention right there. Now, Rabbi Bachman is a man with a past that haunts him. Yes, he is a Milwaukee Brewers fan. And nonetheless, he has risen up to a position of respect and authority in our community. I hope it's built character for you, Rabbi.

Rabbi: Yes, indeed.

Mayor: I want to thank everyone, because here I have, so many times, met wonderful, extraordinary people from this congregation who care deeply about this neighborhood, who care deeply about this city. Yes, it is true this congregation has nurtured my own family, as Chiara and Dante went to the summer camp, which was extraordinary for both of them. And then both ended up working for the summer camp. So they have actually been employees of Beth Elohim, and have benefited from this extraordinary community. And the dialogue that you foster – and I've seen this time and time again – the dialogue you foster, the depth of thinking that emanates from this congregation is something to be very proud of.  And at the same time, there is a warmth – it’s not abstract, it’s not desiccated. It is direct and connected to the world around us. Witness the presence of children walking about and the familial dynamic, and that is part of the magic of this place. The thoughts on the highest and most profound issues we face, mixed with a deep sense of humanism and connection to our fellow man and woman, and I deeply honor you for that. The ideas from this faith that we all benefit from, all of us in this city benefit, and Rabbi, you'll help me if I get my pronunciation right, [inaudible]?

Rabbi: [inaudible].

Mayor: Thank you. And [inaudible].

Rabbi: [inaudible].

Mayor: [inaudible]. Thank you. – animate this place, and they remind us all of what we're here to do on this earth. And, in my administration, we try and be guided by such principles, and what we've tried to do is say that in time we have – each of us – we have to make the biggest impact we can. In the time we have, we have to reach the most people. We have to reach them most deeply. We don't come here to any of the things we do to leave things the way they were. In our first three months, we have felt a sense of urgency that begins with the now restless children. They are restless for better educational opportunities.

[Applause]

A number of them have said to me when do I get full-day pre-K? I've read about it. When will it happen?

Well, the good news is, thanks to so many people in this congregation and beyond who stood up and demanded it, a positive, encouraging lesson in democracy for us all. The reason Albany moved was the people of this city demanded it. Now, starting this September, we will go from 20,000 full-day seats in pre-K in New York City to over 50,000 this September. The following year, the following school year, we will go to over 70,000 full-day pre-K seats in New York city.

[Applause]

And that means that every pre-K child in New York City will have a full-day seat guaranteed to them, which is what city government is supposed to do for its people – guarantee them things! I won't preach for long, Rabbi.

Rabbi: It's your pulpit.

Mayor: Thank you. If you say that. I will say that this is how we change the world by starting at the foundations. Starting with our children, making sure they're truly ready for this world ahead, an ever more complex world, an ever more demanding world. By the way, everyone in this congregation knows all of us as parents are dealing with challenges and stresses that would have been unimaginable a generation or two. Our schedules alone – something our grandparents could not even imagine the lives we lead, the inherent business, the pressure. And we need – as a community – we need to address that.

One of the ways we address that is to lighten the burden on families, families of every single kind. We lighten the burden by providing greater guarantee, greater reliability. There's something that they can know will be there for them. I know we value community. We value family. We value love and connection among people. Yet, in so many ways, government has not lived up to that ideal. There's been a contradiction between the words and the ideas and then the actions of governments on all levels. It's time to bring those strands together. And providing full-day pre-k is the kind of thing that a parent can depend on. They can know a child will grow and be ready. And by the way, this congregation cares so deeply about fighting inequality. This congregation cares so deeply about a more just society. Nothing creates a more just society than making sure everyone has equal opportunity to education, especially those who have been deprived before, those who have greater burdens. That's what animates our vision. It's the same vision we have for providing afterschool for every middle school student.

Because our children – particularly in neighborhoods that face certain challenges, our children deserve a safe place to be after school, a nurturing place, a place where they build on their education. They deepen their love of learning. They deepen their love of arts and culture. They have a place that animates them and gives them hope that they can make it, and that they are also on a path to be full stakeholders in this society. Starting this September, we're on the pathway to doubling the number of afterschool seats for our middle school students so that every single middle school student will have an afterschool seat, guaranteed.

[Applause]

I'll finish just noting a continuity in what we try to do. And again, I take heart from the fact that I've been here in this building, and at forums held on a set of issues by this congregation, and I think I've now discovered the pathway to success. When you go to a forum on an issue at Congregation Beth Elohim and present a progressive vision for the world, that will actually take place and come to pass. Something about your forums leads to inevitable victory.

And so, there was a forum where we talked about paid sick leave. And now I'm proud to say that just this week, we are now reaching over half a million more New Yorkers with paid sick leave coverage so they will be safe and sound when they're sick. They can take of their children.

[Applause]

They can take of their children. They can take of their parents when they need to without losing a day's pay, two days' pay, a week's pay. You know, in this city – and I think it pains us all to recognize, we learned this last year in a city government study – we learned that 46 percent of our fellow New Yorkers are at or near the poverty level.

It was a lightning bolt to so many of us. We have felt the strain of a bad economy for years. And then we came to realize just how deeply it had affected all of our communities. In an atmosphere where people are that close to the economic edge, not losing a day's pay is a very big deal. Not losing a week's pay is a huge issue. And equally knowing – because we believe in a compassionate society – knowing that if someone is truly sick, they can get well. They're not forced to choose between their economic needs and their health. And I've talked to so many employers who get it, by the way, who believe that the just thing to do, the humane thing to do, is actually help people get well for the good of all. And that builds a loyalty and devotion to work when people know they are cared for too.

And we've had a forum here, not long ago, on the question of stop and frisk, and where we go to heal, since this congregation thinks so often about healing wounds in our society. We set upon the path of healing the wounds, healing the disconnect, and the division between police and community in some of the neighborhoods of this city. And we have a ways to go, but I can tell you this much – the number of stops is down. The relationship between police and community is getting better all the time. The court cases that kept us devoted to a broken policy – they have been settled, they are gone, they are a thing of the past, and the broken stop and frisk policy is now over.

Finally, in this neighborhood – we know it so well and the surrounding neighborhoods we know it so well, and I think I can speak for a lot of people in this congregation – we love a New York City open to all. We love New York City as it's been for generations – a place for everyone, a place of welcome, a place of possibility, a place of opportunity. There's a lot we have to do to reopen that door. There's a lot we have to do to create a true sense of equality and fairness again. We've seen things go in the wrong direction – the worst income inequality since the Great Depression, the highest housing prices we've ever seen, things that are making it less possible to have a truly diverse, vibrant community – the New York we love, the New York we know, the New York we believe in – the New York we know that actually works.

And yet, there's time to protect that precious reality, which is why we are embarking as we speak on a plan, as we speak, to create 200,000 units of affordable housing for this city over the next ten years.

[Applause]

Because it has to be a place for everyone, because so many people even in neighborhoods right around this wonderful congregation are feeling like they may just be able to hold on a little longer, and they want to be a part of this neighborhood, a part of this borough, a part of this city. And we've got to lighten that burden. We must ensure our city is a place for everyone. That's part of who we are. We won't let that slip away. And if it takes strong and focused and aggressive actions by the city government to protect who we are as New Yorkers, then that is what we'll do.

Thank you kindly for this chance to be with you. I'm so appreciative of the opportunity. I feel always such warmth and encouragement when I'm at Beth Elohim. I thank you again for giving me a chance to be with the VIPs, and the people to whom we devote ourselves. And I say to everyone on this wonderful day, Shalom.