Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Community Conversation

January 22, 2024

Valerie Vasquez, First Deputy Commissioner, Mayor's Community Affairs Unit: Good evening Co-Op City, I'm Valerie Vasquez, the first deputy commissioner for the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit. It brings me great pleasure to be here, and especially that we're in Co-Op City, because as I said before, Co-Op City Section 4 is where my grandmother lives. 

So, thank you for having us. Special shout out to River Bay and General Manager Marvin Walton for opening your doors to us.

And thank you to every single one of you that are here today. Your presence tonight is a testament to your unwavering commitment to your community. We are here to hear from you. Our Talk with Eric Community Conversation is rooted in the principle of collaboration.

And we want to keep this conversation going, so we encourage you, if you have not already, please scan the QR code so that way you can continue the dialogue and hear from your mayor on a consistent basis.

As we transition to this next segment, I want to highlight that you have cards in front of you. If you do not have a moment or an ability to ask your question tonight, we want to ensure that we will answer your question within 14 days, a member of the Community Affairs Unit will give you a personalized response.

Now let me introduce our dedicated members of the Adams administration who are with us tonight. I will begin by introducing First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright.

Deputy Mayor Anne Williams‑Isom. If you can hold your applause to the end. Deputy Mayor of Operations Meera Joshi. Deputy Mayor of Strategic Initiatives Ana Almanzar. Deputy Mayor of Housing, Economic Development and Workforce Maria Torres‑Springer. NYPD Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart. DOE Chief of Staff Melissa Aviles‑Ramos.

MOIA, Immigration... Oh, can you each stand up as we introduce your name? Our MOIA Immigrant Affairs, our Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Manny Castro, Commissioner. DSS First Deputy Commissioner Jill Berry.

H + H President and CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz. Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Deputy Commissioner Maura Kennelly, Mayor's Office of Mental Health Executive Director Eva Wong, ACS First Deputy Commissioner Winette Saunders, Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Elijah Hutchinson, DEP Bronx Community Coordinator Effie Ardizzone, CCHR Deputy Commissioner Kajori Chaudhuri.

DCWP Assistant Commissioner Carlos Ortiz, Department of Finance Director of Outreach Kieran Mahoney. EDC SVP, Government Relations Mikelle Adgate. The Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender‑Based Violence Bronx Family Justice Center Denise Cortes, as well as the Mayor's Office of People for People with Disabilities Commissioner Christina Curry.

We are also joined by Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson. Bronx DA Darcel Clark. HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrión. DYCD Commissioner Keith Howard.

Department of Probations Commissioner Juanita Holmes. Department of Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo. DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch, DFTA Commissioner Lorraine Cortéz‑Vázquez, Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, First Deputy Director Carolina Chavez, the Office of Asylum Seeker Operations, Director Molly Schaeffer, New York City Emergency Management Chief of Staff Yokarina Duarte, Parks First Deputy Commissioner Iris Rodriguez, DCP, the Executive Director Edith Hsu‑Chen, FDNY Chief John Sarrocco, NYCHA Chief Operations Officer Eva Trimble, SBS Deputy Commissioner Kitty Chan. 

Not on the dais is Kaz Daughtry, the Assistant Commissioner and Chief of Staff for the Chief of the Department, Bronx Patrol Commanding Officer, Assistant Chief Gurley, XO Chief Keiyon Ramsey, and the 45th Precinct CO, Captain Johnny Orellana.

We are also joined by George Torres, he is the district manager for Community Board 12, and proud Co-Op City resident and former CAU Bronx Bureau Director, as well as Community Board 10 District Manager, Matt Cruz.

So, without further ado, I'll turn it over to the 110th mayor of the City of New York, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. I want to give it to my two borough‑wide electeds, an amazing district attorney, Darcel Clark. I like to say the hip‑hop DA. And our amazing borough presidents to greet your constituency.

Darcel Clark, Bronx County District Attorney: All right, she's letting me go first. You know I like going before her anyway. Greetings, Co-Op City. How's everybody?

It's always good to be here. I went by all the tables, said hello. I couldn't stop and talk long, but because we have all these great people here to answer the questions that you have. That's why we're here today. You know my number one priority is public safety, justice and fairness. That's what I've been doing in my office for the last eight years, and I'm going to continue to do that.

Members of my community engagement unit is here to talk to you about a number of things that we're doing in our office, and we're just here for you. They don't work for me, we work for you. So, I'm happy to be here, looking forward to talking to you all this evening. Thank you.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson: Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Co-Op City! So good to always be back. We were just here a couple of weeks ago where we had an amazing gospel concert. And we are just so excited about opportunities where we can always come to Co-Op City, because things are happening in our borough and we want to make sure that Co-Op City residents are a part of these conversations.

So, welcome, everyone. I am so excited to be here. I am Vanessa L. Gibson, your Bronx Borough President, and I thank each and every one of you for being here. Thank you to River Bay, to [Jossa], to Michelle and Marvin and everyone here at River Bay for always opening their doors to us.

I want to welcome our Mayor Eric Adams and the entire leadership team. This is the team assembled that works with our mayor at City Hall. And tonight is an opportunity for all of you to hear from the administration, to ask questions and to really engage. As we work, we are serving you and we look forward to working with you. And again, thank you everyone, to Community Board 10, Community Board 12, 45 Precinct patrol borough Bronx. These are the people that we work with each and every day.

So, we look forward to tonight's conversation. Once again, welcome Mr. Mayor. I'm so excited to see you in Co-Op City, because this is an amazing community and residents and families are active and we are engaged and we want to hear from you tonight, so thank you so much so much.

Mayor Adams: Thank you so much. And we really want to spend the time allowing you an opportunity to speak, but I want you to, as I say all the time, just look at this dais here. You know, Sheena, stand up for a moment. Second woman of color to be a first deputy...no, first woman of color to be the first deputy mayor in the City of New York.

Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom, she is the… We like to say the conscience of our administration. First Trinidadian to be a deputy mayor. Meera Joshi, first Indian to be a deputy mayor. DM Almanzar, first Dominican to be a deputy mayor. Maria Torres‑Springer, first Filipino to be a deputy mayor. When you go down the line, Mark Stewart, the first model to be an assistant commissioner. 

My brother Castro. We traveled to the border together. A Dreamer. A Dreamer, came here with his mother from Mexico, sought the American dream; now, he's responsible for those who are seeking the American dream. Commissioner Castro, a real pleasure.

And I can go down the line of showing who's here.

My administration looks like you. It looks like you. I was in the Bronx earlier today at a mosque, talking with them, we have a large number of Muslims here that are here trying to seek the American dream.

And what this administration has done. Remember what I ran on when I came up here, I was very clear: public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity. I stated that we have to be safe as a city.

Our jobs were free falling; I said we have to turn around the economy of the city. No one was coming here. Tourism was dismal. No one wanted to be in the City of New York. No one wanted to be on the subway system. Our young people were not having the opportunities that they deserved. Our older adults, no one was really getting the feedback from them.

Two years later — two years! Two years later, look at this city. More private sector jobs in the history of the city. More private sector jobs.

We left January with five of the seven major crime categories down, homicides down double digits, shooters down double digits. Tourism is back — 62 million tourists came to this city. Over four million riders are back on our subway system. I stated and I think it was February some time, that I said I'm going to get every encampment off our subway system within two months' period. People said it was not possible. We did it.

Go Google other cities, folks. People are living in camps in other cities, not in New York City. And we immediately respond to crises. Took thousands of illegal mopeds and bikes off our streets, illegal paper plates that were doing stick ups and robberies right here in the Bronx.

Turning around this city, navigating us through Covid. A lot of us don't remember when I inherited the city January 1st, 2022, with this team. Dr. Vasan and his team had to navigate us through the Covid crisis. Uncertainty if our schools were going to be open or not, and we said, we're not going to listen to the noise. Our children need to be in school. We knew they had a two‑year gap. We put our children back in school. Parents had the certainty and clarity that they deserved.

And then in the midst of all of this turnaround, what happened? 168,000 migrants and asylums— 168,000. No help from the federal government. We had to navigate this on our own, getting thousands a week, not a month. There's some weeks we got four to five thousand that Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom had to figure out how to house them.

Unlike other cities, not one child or family is sleeping on the streets of the City of New York. And we have the audacity to tell people within 30 days with intense support, you have to be self‑sustaining because we can't carry you forever.

And you had the loud noises of those who never navigated this process telling us we're inhumane for telling people 30 days you have to navigate out of the system. 80 percent of the single adults we told they had to navigate out in 30 days, 80 percent went and became self‑sufficient. Think about that.

We're doing the damned thing. We are doing what you wanted me to do and running this city and turning this city around. We have a lot of work to do. This is New York. And no matter how good it is, listen, you're the mayor. People didn't elect you to talk about the problem, they elected me to fix the problem. And trust me, you know, New Yorkers are opinionated. I tell people all the time, cat got divorced from his wife, he said, I blame you.

Doesn't matter. No matter what happens in the city we look at Eric. And you know what? I want the ball, because winners want the ball when the game is on the line. This is the city that I wore that bulletproof vest for 22 years and protect[ed] it. I'm supposed to be the mayor right now. This is an Esther moment: God made me for such a time like this.

And so I want to hear from you. But there's one thing I need to be very clear on, and you heard me talk about it these last few days. This How Many Stops bill. Listen, I like the bill. I want to work with the council. There's only one part of the bill I have a problem with, it's something called Level 1 stops.

We can't have police officers document millions of stops that has nothing to do with what I fought for. Remember who was the leading voice on ending stop and frisk in the city? People forgot this. When I was with 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, I testified in federal court about inappropriate police practices. This is what I cut my teeth on.

But they have a proposal that is not what they really wanted it to be and we need to fix it. We had a person who stabbed six people the other day. Police officers knocked on and interviewed a thousand people — a thousand — thank God we were able to catch him.

If that bill was in place, they would have to document each one of the people that they spoke with, they would have to document it. That's time, that's overtime, that's taxpayers' dollars. Police shouldn't be doing paperwork, they should be doing police work, and they should be on the streets doing that.

You have a missing person, that police officer walks around to everybody in this room and asks all of you in this room, have you seen this missing person? You know what they have to do? They have to document that they have each one of you. They have to guess your race. your gender, and they have to write down why they stopped them. That just doesn't make sense. They had the right intentions, but you have to operationalize the things you ask for.

And the solitary confinement bill, for Rikers. There is no solitary confinement in New York. But you can't have a bill that states a correction officer, which mind you, is almost 40 percent women, overwhelmingly Black and Brown, and you are saying, when you transport inmates on a bus you cannot handcuff them.

Yet, we won't tell a police officer if you transport an inmate or a prisoner in the back of your car, you cannot cuff them. So, why are we doing that to correction officers? We got to get it right. You don't play with public safety. You don't.

I have been on Rikers Island more than any mayor in history of this city speaking to inmates, correction officers and civilians there. We have to get this right, and we can't go backwards.

I want to work with the City Council. Adrienne Adams, who I think is an amazing speaker, we were high school mates. We went to high school together in South Jamaica Queens. Well, she went to school, I was probably… This is our south side.

So this is our moment to run this city correctly. That's my goal and that's why I'm here in the Bronx. This is the best part of my task as mayor, bringing my team up here, the full complement coming up here and hearing from you.

And so I will turn it over to you now and hear from you with the questions going through. Pastor Monrose, you're going to do the first? Thank you. 

Question: Good evening, dignitaries and Co-Op City. We are concerned with [disability] of the youth and family. We have a [solution] focus [inaudible] increased the parent coordinators in the school to support parents and children,

But here's the question. We need to know if the mayor's office can support adequate programming for the community, children and parents with mental health services, parenting resources and youth services.

Mayor Adams: So, you said two things. Number one, you said increase the PEP.

Question: The parent coordinators.

Mayor Adams: The parent coordinators.

Question: Coordinators.

Mayor Adams: Oh, not the PEP, I missed… 

Question: The parent coordinators.

Mayor Adams: Okay. Okay. Who's here from DOE? Melissa's here, Bronx Lady Melissa, but hold on, I want to get her second part, Commissioner Howard.

We had more children in summer youth employment in the history of the city, 100,000. We put 110,000 in our Summer Rising program that allowed children to go to school all year round. We also paid for the college tuition of foster care children so when they age out, they don't fall into the black hole; and, we gave them a stipend at the end of their graduation.

Then Dr. Vasan said, what do our children use the most? They use devices. So he said, we're going to give them free access to mental health using devices. Our children don't walk inside a psychiatrist's office like we did, they look at their devices. So, Dr. Vasan and the Department of Mental Health put in place a real program where our children can get access to mental health 24 hours a day, to focus on that.

And what Commissioner Howard has done around young people from our town halls to our career development to the millions of dollars we're doing. 30 percent of our inmates at Rikers Island are dyslexic. We're screening dyslexia at the beginning of their school experience. We changed the food in the cafeteria so we don't feed these health crises that our children are facing. Our anti‑violence measure.

There has never been a mayor that has done more for our young people than I have done and will continue to do, because I was one of those bay‑bay kids and I know if you give them the support they deserve, they won't slip through the cracks.

We're a downstream, upstream mindset. We could prevent these crises that we're facing. And I would love for DOE to talk about what you were saying with the parent coordinators, right?

Melissa's from the Bronx, you know?

Melissa Aviles‑Ramos, Chief of Staff, Office of the Chancellor, Department of Education: This is actually my home district, teacher, assistant principal, principal, all in this district, so it's great to be here. 45th, shout out to you for always supporting this neighborhood, thank you so much.

And so to your point about parent coordinators, we rely on our parent coordinators. It is the expectation that every single school have a parent coordinator. So, if it is a struggle to recruit a parent coordinator, I will make sure that I leave my card available so I can connect with anyone whose school is looking for a parent coordinator.

We will make sure that we connect you with our division of school leadership and with our human resources team to make sure that we are connecting qualified candidates to those principals. You have amazing superintendents here, your superintendent, Christine Vaughan, Superintendent Fia Davis. I see Superintendent Davis in the crowd. And so we want to make sure that we are connecting with them and their teams to support any vacancies for parent coordinators.

Mayor Adams: So, now, are you saying there's vacancies or you're saying there's a problem with recruitment? What are you saying is the issue?

Question: [The decrease] in the number...

Mayor Adams: The number of parents.

Question: Yes.

Mayor Adams: As in...?

Question: ...having one or two, we need one. Instead of having one or two, we need a lot more to assist. That's what we're asking for.

Mayor Adams: You should sit down with Melissa and give us a proposal on what you think the count should be and what's realistic, because we're dealing with a real financial crisis because we have been hit with a real crisis.

And part of what we need to do together, I keep saying over and over again, we need to let our federal lawmakers and the White House and Congress know this should not be put on the back of New Yorkers. But thank you for that. So, please share your information with Melissa.

How are you?

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: Only if you want to.

Question: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, the fellow constituents and shareholders of Co-Op City. My name is [Melvine Gilliard] and I'm a shareholder of Building Six and vice president of the tenants association.

When I moved here in the '80s, it was because of the security and the amenities that Co-Op City offered. We had lobby attendants and garage attendants in all the garages. Then in the last few years, they removed the lobby and garage attendants. First it was because of Covid and then it was because the board of directors removed the garage attendants.

Mr. Mayor, we need you to help us restore our garage and lobby attendants. It's about security. I don't know all the politics of it, but it's not fair that I moved here with these amenities and now they're all gone. So, could you please help us? 

Mayor Adams: I would love to. I don't know if you realized when they went down and did the introduction, I didn't have the deputy mayor of Co-Op City that was up there.

But what we will do with Kaz Daughtry we're going to come up and sit down with management and advocate on behalf. I would love to sit down with you and the president, because you're the VP, and let's find out, because you should be getting what you paid for and we don't want to bait and switch. You came up and got it.

So, let us find out what we could do to assist, because this has always been a beautiful community. Always. You know, you've held it down, and I'm sure the BP and the DA would tell you when no matter what was happening, you know, this was the country club for us.

You know, so we need to maintain that. So, let's please exchange information. One of our CAU folks, Valerie, okay? All right. And we got this amazing BP, she'll be part of the conversation. How are you?

Question: I'm fine.

Mayor Adams: Good to see you.

Question: Same here. Good evening, Mayor Eric Adams, and...

Mayor Adams: You're going to have to talk up.

Question: And everybody on the board.

Good evening, everybody.

I just want to say, my name is [Janine Thomas]. I'm a member of Community Board 10. I am a facilitator for the Building 610's Association with the Presidents. I work to facilitate with them. Takes a whole village to raise everybody. I'm at Church of God's Children downstairs and Dreiser Loop. I've been living in the Bronx all my life and I'm not going to tell my age.

I understand, first, I want to commend everyone. I think the holistic approach in the city is a new thing. I've worked for DC 37. I know that some of the agencies were not working together. I think it's a very good thing [inaudible] talking to each other so that we can get things done.

Okay. I understand your hands are tied by the consent to degree. I can speak English very well, I'm just a little nervous. I'm just a little nervous, just a little nervous.

That requires any homeless person to be provided shelter. Does the... This is our questions. Does the decree, [inaudible], only apply to New York City? How can you continue to provide city service while paying to house and feed all those asylum seekers? And then and let's get things done.

The final thing is we know we discussed how some coalitions when you go to court are against you and so that kind of holds up what we could do. And last thing we want to say that they didn't want me to say is we are humanitarians. We're not about folks not being here.

But you know, it's like, I did an example, if you will. It's like this bottle is filled up with water and you keep trying to press the top on and it's overflowing. So, we do have a crisis that affects everything we talk about from homelessness to education. How are we going to do this? Let's get things done. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Well said, and you sound like Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom. You know? 168,000, 1.5 the size of Albany was dropped in our city — 1.5 the size of Albany, New York, was dropped in our city. The difference is in Albany they were able to work, here in New York the federal government said you can't work.

New York City is responsible for your food, your clothing, your education, everything you'll do for a family we are responsible for that. It's unfair, and it's not right for the asylum seekers and it's not right for New Yorkers because we cycled out of Covid with some real issues that we had to address.

We are in court right now with the Right to Shelter. Right now, as it stands, someone can come from anywhere on the globe, come to New York, stay for free on taxpayers' dime as long as they want. That makes no sense.

And that's what we're in court right now of saying, when they created the Right to Shelter they did not create it with this crisis in mind. And we're looking to change that rule, because we believe it's wrong to New Yorkers.

Now, we had 168,000 people that have come through our system, right? Because of what Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom, her team, Chief of Staff, Camille Joseph Varlack, her team, over 60 percent of them, we have self‑sustaining. If we would have sat back and just said, let it happen, we would have had 168,000, but we were able to get over 60 percent to stabilize their lives.

The whole country is looking at what we're doing, and we're almost a victim of our success, because they figure, okay, you guys got it. No, we don't have it. This is decimating what we need to do to provide services to the people of this city that are struggling in a real way.

That's why we need the federal government to do its job. We've done our job, they need to do their job and we need the court to rule correctly that this is not the same concept of what Right to Shelter was supposed to be.

Lamona Knight was a cop with me.

Question: Good evening, Mayor Adams. 

Mayor Adams: How are you? 

Question: ...the Cabinet and Co-Op City. I am Carol Arthur. I came to Co-Op City when I was 17, I am in my 60s. We need more funding for senior programs in Co-Op City because we are the biggest NORC community here. Okay?

Mayor Adams: Mmm. Okay. Okay. First of all, you know, you say you're in the 60s, we should all, our hearts should go out, we lost 62 years old, Dr. King's son. You know, at 62. You know, health is so important. And I just had dinner with his brother a few weeks ago and little did I know that we were going to lose him.

But where is the amazing, amazing Commissioner Cortés‑Vázquez?

Commissioner Lorraine Cortés‑Vázquez, Department for the Aging: You're absolutely right. This is the largest NORC not only in New York City, but in New York State and I believe in the whole Northeast. This is the largest that we have had.

But I am really pleased to say that we have 11 programs that serve the Co-Op City community. And you know, we know, we always know that the needs for older adults, it's a growing population and the needs outpace the resources. So, it's something that we're constantly looking at.

If there is a particular area of Co-Op City that you would love for me to look at, I'd be more than happy to go over it. But we do have a lot of programs serving this entire community and the surrounding community.

And remember that older adults can go to any older adult club across the city. You're not just relegated to those in your neighborhood. So, if you want to go venture into Queens at any point, you can go to any older adult club. There is no income requirements and there's no geographic requirements. All right? So, I hope that answers you; and if not, then I'd be more than happy to take it offline with you.

Mayor Adams: And we've been doing older adults' town halls. We did how many?

Commissioner Cortés‑Vázquez: We've done nine, and I understand that we have many more to go.

Mayor Adams: Yes. So, going out here and hearing from our older adults. And so if you want us to come up here and hold one, we would love to do that because we bring some real information that's older adults specific, you know, extremely informative that we like to make sure we get out.

And matter of fact, tell me, do we have any cards, those emergency contact information, the magnets? Do we have it in the car? [Inaudible.] 

Okay, yes. So, why don't we pass them out. Let me get a stack while we go to the next table.

So, these are magnetic cards for emergencies that you should put on your fridge. And we're going to pass them out. If you have an older adult at home, it's just your emergency contact information, your name, your emergency contact, if you... Who's your primary doctor, any chronic condition, your allergies, medication, because when you're going through a healthcare crisis, it's amazing what you forget.

And if a police officer or EMT or EMS comes to the house, look on the fridge, gather all this information, it's very timely. So, we're going to pass them out to you. You know, here you're going to get the first one.

Go ahead, ma'am.

Question: Hi, and everyone. Welcome to Co-Op City.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: The place we love. Just quickly, I know you said there are a lot of programs for the senior citizens, and we're trying to also have a lot of programs for the youth. So, the question at my table was, when will New York City seriously allocate funding for after school programs that can provide a safe space for all students during the most dangerous hours, which are two to six.

And I'm an educator for 24 years, so this is a huge problem for our youth and for our teachers as well who want to stay after school and have programs, but there's just no funding for it.

Mayor Adams: Right. And listen, when I was borough president, I did something called Extended Use. What I believe that our schools are the focal point of our community. And you can't open at seven, then at two p.m. you say get out and don't come back until the next day.

My goal and what we're going to attempt to do, we had a lot of budgetary problems, a lot of people don't realize, you know, the dollar amount, but we want to expand the extended use so that our schools can stay open so they don't have to pay for the school security, the porters, the cleaning.

You shouldn't have to do that if you're a non‑profit. You should be able to use the school building and we pick up the tab. That's what we're attempting to expand there. Jacques Jiha, our budget director, we want to find the dollars to do that, because we're with you.

We believe our schools should remain open. People are familiar with it. Parents know the space, our children know the space. We have gymnasium, some places have swimming pools. So, we want to do everything that's possible. We are directly in line with you and we want to make sure we can make it happen.

Now we need to be really leaning on private corporations to say, can you sponsor a school, can you sponsor locations, can you sponsor a program? We've been doing some good stuff with Google and other corporations, but we need to expand that. I'm with you 100 percent. 

Question: And we need equity and access for all throughout, not just specific neighborhoods where they get more funding, supposedly get more funding, and they have all of these after school programs where the students can choose five or six different after school programs, as opposed to another school in a different area where they don't even have one, or it's an academic after school program strictly for fourth grade for the testing grades.

Mayor Adams: I agree. Listen, people mix up school resources with equality and not equity, as you said. Equality means that if someone is giving out suits, if I have a size 44 suit and you have a size 38 suit, if you give us all a 44 jacket, yes, that's equal, but I didn't deal with the equity.

And that is the key in our educational system. We talk about equal, everyone is getting the same funding, everybody's getting the same things. But we need to be focusing on equity. That is my key on equity. Give people what they need to make sure they can succeed. Thank you, thank you for being an educator. What school?

Question: [A school] in Yonkers.

Mayor Adams: Okay. I thought you were a high school student.

Commissioner Keith Howard, Department of Youth and Community Development: Hey, Mr. Mayor? I just want to add that we have over 23 programs in District 12 and District 10 throughout Co-Op City. And not only do we have programs, we have the Beacon program, we have the Compass and Sonic program, we have the Cornerstone programs and six of the community centers in this district all run by amazing providers.

So, if you want to know exactly where the programs at, I have my DYCD team here. Raise your raise hand. DYCD, these stand up, please. You can go to any of them and me and we can tell you exactly where the after school programs at.

Question: I'll be over there.

Commissioner Howard: Please do. [Laughter.]

I want to add one more other thing, Mr. Mayor. Today is the launch of the Summer Youth Employment Program application. All right? 

First day, okay? So, make sure we go online. Make sure that your young person applies for summer youth.

Mayor Adams: Love it. Love it. Love it. And commissioners and others and reps, if there's something you want to add, feel free to do so. Commissioner, talk about, go back to the question from here. Talk about what you're doing with reps and precincts.

Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart, Community Affairs, Police Department: Okay. How you doing? Commissioner Stewart. For the first time, we have a community affairs officer for older aging adults in every precinct and every housing [with] precinct.

That means that when you go to the precinct, it's because people feel intimidated when they walk into a precinct, these blue shirts, police officers? They are there to assist you. If you want to make a complaint, if you're not feeling well, any problems that you have in that precinct, you can go there, it is open to them.

Another thing I want to tell you, too, about our older adults. We do scam alerts with our crime prevention. We do self‑defense classes. We do karaoke classes.

No, we do it. We do sip and paint with the older adults, too. There's a booklet on everybody's table that this is all community affairs. I wish I could sit here and go over every program, but it's a lot of programs that we do, too. And with the older adults, too. We also do biking.

So, when I came and took over community affairs, it was basic, like a youth program. And my vision was, what about the parents, what about the grandparents and the older aging adults? And now, our disability, our communities, too, they're like, they're involved.

So, go through that pamphlet, and you know what? And for our youth, parents, don't take this the wrong way. Listen. We can't sit back and say there's nothing to do. with the kids. There's plenty to do. Commissioner Howard and I, we work together. We have an option program. We have an explorer program.

We're have, we're bringing to the Bronx the Bronx Giants, which that means that we're going to be with DOE into the schools and the Giants, the football players, actually come out and help mentor our kids. That's coming to the Bronx.

So, we have access to Twitter, now X. We also have Instagram. But we have to make the effort to go out and see what is in your community that you could be part of. So, I know we have Google, so just look it up, Community Affairs Officers, they're there, walk into the precinct, look at the booklets. There's a lot for us to do.

Mayor Adams: Who's your, is the older adult person here, commissioner?

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: Yes.

Mayor Adams: Who's your older adult person?

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: Hannah, from the 45.

Mayor Adams: Okay. So, raise your hand here. So, this is an amazing program Commissioner Stewart did. So you don't, when you go to a precinct, you don't have to navigate. You have, you get the information of your older adult liaison and they will help you navigate the entire system.

Also talk about the shower that you do, the baby shower. This is an amazing program, a number of people that you come through. Now remember, he's the Deputy Commissioner of Community Affairs of the Police Department. We're not about just locking folks up, we are about how do you prevent crimes.

And detectives, I mean, Commissioner Stewart came in and changed the whole mindset of what's happening with Community Affairs. Talk about your baby shower program.

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: So, we have to understand, too, that this is not just about arrest, it's about how do we invest in our communities. And every community is different. When I got here, we were doing Bronx baby showers, and my detective who was running it, I said, why don't we take this to every borough?

So, through there, we go to every borough, new mothers, we give them cribs, pampers, whatever they need. We have about 100 vendors that are present at these baby showers. Our last baby shower, we were able to, 6,000, people that we were able to help.

So we were doing this for once...we were doing this once a year, now we're doing it twice a year because you know, we have to make sure that our communities are being taken care of.

And we also have an e‑commerce program I want to touch on, too. I don't know if you know what the e‑commerce is? Okay, so e‑commerce is a program where our community now that we noticed, buyers and sellers. are going online, Facebook and Craigslist and they're purchasing items online. And they're going to locations in the street, in the stores and the supermarkets.

We have a location now in every precinct, every housing precinct and every transit district, it's a sign that's says this is the location, it's monitored 24 hours 7 seven days a week. Now you can tell your kids, because I know a lot of us, I'm in my 60s, that I don't do e‑commerce, but we could pass it down.

It's a location. You don't have to go into the precinct to make an appointment. It's being monitored. So, just go to the location and do the transaction. Because you know what happens? A lot of slick scammers out there.

And if your sons or daughters, or your grandkids, if they meet someone online and they don't want to go to the precinct, maybe they shouldn't be doing that deal, because it's the location for the buyers and the sellers.

And another thing, don't bring cash, use a money app, because a lot of people are making these transactions go and buu computers, $5,000, $3,000 cash. That's a red flag. Okay?

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Good stuff. Good stuff. Good stuff.

How are you?

Question: Good evening, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Good to see you.

Question: Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing members of your administration here to Co-Op City. My name is Rod Saunders. I'm a 46‑year resident here at Co-Op City, shareholder. I'm also a member of the River Bay Board of Directors.

The consensus question that we had for you here was about public safety. Now here the residents of Co-Op City pay somewhere close to $15 million a year for our own public safety officers here, but our public safety officers can't be everywhere.

The 45 Precinct is limited with the number of vehicles that we have here. They would like to see that. But also we have a situation where Co-Op City is an anomaly, because our residents go certainly far outside of our campus, but we also have people coming inside of our campus.

So, into our school, which is over at the [Education Park] we have bridges that come over and our youngsters come over, and the 47 needs to be a little bit more involved with making sure that the kids come safely from that area into our area and the 45 Precinct also needs to look after that.

With the $14 million that we pay, $15 million close to we pay for our public safety, they also have to be responsible because a lot of those kids come into our community and the school safety officers do not accompany them. Therefore our CCPD has to be with them. So, we would like to have more of a presence.

But it also gives me an opportunity to segue into something that was asked before. We don't have the income, as we did certainly pre‑Covid, to have the lobby attendants, to have the garage attendants in our garages. So, in order to stay affordable, we had to make some cuts.

Having said that, sir, we also pay $18 million a year for a water bill. We collect our garbage and we put our garbage in one place so that Department of Sanitation does not have to make 65 trips throughout our community [for] garbage,

What would be wonderful is that if you could give us a multi‑million dollar credit towards CCPD...

...towards our garbage collection, then it might be possible for us to return some of our garage attendants or some of our lobby attendants into the community. But in order to stay affordable, we had to do that. 

So, I realize that you do not have a deputy commissioner in charge of Co-Op City, but in order to make something like that affordable, if you could give us a credit towards some of the things that we do do that the city does not have to pay for, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. You got a whole chorus over here. Yep!

You know, listen, and first of all, I think the tradeoff is brilliant, what you just shared. And Assemblyman Burgess came to me, Shorehaven, I think it is. They had millions of dollars back in water bills, and they were never able to keep up because of the interest. 

And he shared it with me, and I was able to go back to DEP, and we were able to excuse that interest on the water bill so they can get current. And all they said is, listen, we'll pay the bill but we just can't keep paying the interest. And we were able to address it. We were able to look at other areas that were going through the same problem, and I think we did an amnesty program.

Is DEP, who's...? We did an amnesty program, correct? To help others because of the idea that came from him. Now, the idea that you're sharing today, because we have a lot of Co-Op Mitchell‑Lamas like this. And so we could just go back and see, how can we ease some of the financial burden of working class people who are in these places?

I don't have the answer right now, but based on what you shared with me, the team should sit back and look at it and say, okay, we're saving and not having to do these big garbage rounds. We're saving on security. Let's try to find a creative way that we can sort of ease some of the burden.

That is what I will commit to you to do the same way we did with Assemblyman Burgess, we will do the same here. I don't have the answer right now. I can't tell you that we're going to replace $14 million or what have you. But we're going to try to find a way that we can ease some of the burden like we did over at Shorehaven. Okay? Thank you very much.

Question: Good evening, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: And all of the other guests and my fellow shareholders that are here at this meeting. I also am a River Bay Board Director. My name is Leslie Peterson. I'm a River Bay Board Director. I am the current president of the Co-Op City branch of the NAACP. I'm also the president of my building.

So, I do like to get involved with the community and participate, and I always look at Mark Stewart because I actually went to the police academy with several other shareholders here also. But Rod Stewart...Rod Stewart?

[Rod Saunders] is absolutely correct, and we talk about that all the time with our garbage compound and our affordability. But one of the things that we also want to talk about is that oftentimes with Co-Op City and with a lot of other locations with throughout the city, there are unfunded mandates.

And so one of them that's coming up that's going to affect Co-Op City tremendously is Local Law 97, and Local Law 97, certain requirements have to be met within a certain period of time; and if it's not met, then we will be fined and we will be heavily fined.

This is a city within a city, and so basically the things that they want us to accomplish and the things that they want us to do are really almost impossible for us to accomplish without having to raise carrying charges and really making our home no longer affordable.

Mitchell‑Lamas right now are one of your last complexes and forces where you have affordable housing. And so what we recognize is that NYCHA was given a pass on having to pay fines. So, while we understand climate change and the things that need to take place to make our city a better city and eliminate some of the emissions, you know, in the air, we also realize that we cannot afford to pay those fines while we attempt to do and fulfill the requirements that are necessary.

So, we would like for Co-Op City and other Mitchell‑Lamas, really— but mainly I'm talking about Co-Op City to be given that same courtesy where we are not fined as we continue to move forward to accomplish Local Law 97 that we are not fined heavily. Thank you. 

Mayor Adams: No, no, first of all, thank you. Thank you for your question. And do you want to go, okay, good, good, good. Rit really at the last meeting, I think, was it Rochdale when Rit was there? I think it was Rochdale Village where Rit was there, Rit Aggarwala, who's our Commissioner of DEP, because we feel you. 

And sometimes idealism collides with realism, and you know, we make policies without understanding how does it impact real people. You know? And what Rit did with the full understanding of how complicated this is for Co-Op, for Mitchell‑Lamas, et cetera, there's steps we are taking. 

And we took some heavy hits. There was a lot of people that criticized us. But we know real people that have to, that's impacted by Local Law 97. We believe we can find a sweet spot. So, you want to talk about some of the stuff that we're doing? Here you are, you can grab my mic. Rod Stewart.

Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala, Department of Environmental Protection: Sorry to disappoint. Thank you for the question. Local Law 97, for everyone, is the city's effort to make sure that we're decarbonizing and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions from our buildings, which is really, really important for New York City because we're largely already pretty efficient relative to the rest of the United States. 

We live in multi‑family buildings, we take the subway, but you know, we live in smaller spaces, but buildings are a huge source of our greenhouse gas emissions and so without addressing buildings, we don't have a climate strategy. It's critical that buildings are the focus of what we do.

And Local Law 97, over time what it does is requires buildings to reduce their energy emissions until 2050, where we're hoping to reach net zero energy across New York City, across our economy, which are really ambitious goals. But we want to make sure, as the mayor stated, that we're doing everything we can to help people get there.

And so with Local Law 97, one of the resources that we have is the NYC Accelerator. It's a one‑stop shop for any building owner, any building manager to be able to go and understand what are the compliance requirements, what are the resources available, what are the upgrades that I'll have to do at my building, and we'll handhold to walk you through that process.

The good news is Co-Op City is already in compliance according to our projections for this upcoming compliance period that just started in 2024. So, 2024 to 2029, we're seeing there's already compliance in for the benchmarking data that we have.

2030 is coming up and we also have to be in compliance with 2030 targets, which get more strict. And so for that, we're coordinating with the utilities as well as tax incentives, the federal government with grants to make sure that there's a range of resources, particularly for low‑income Co-Op owners and condo owners, which is a unique kind of thing that exists in New York City that we want to make sure we're not burdening those households with being able to do this kind of work.

What we're seeing already is that about 25 percent of buildings already can cover the cost of those renovations from the energy efficiency savings themselves. And so we're working very closely with building owners and the Accelerator Program to make sure we design programs and have all the resources available to get everybody else across the target.

As Rit says, we want your carbon, not your money. It's really important that we work with you to get the energy reductions. That's really our goal.

Mayor Adams: And so what part of what needs to be done, because the Mitchell‑Lamas, the Co-Ops are extremely important. Right now, you're in compliance up to 2030? 2030. So, you need to spend the next couple of years of speaking to your state and local lawmakers to create a pot of money that will help offset the cost to our Mitchell‑Lamas, our Co-Ops, et cetera.

We could, you're a powerful voting block and utilize that voting block to say, they're not going to pick up the entire cost, but every million that's taken off from you having to pay for it is going to go into your coffers and run it. So, there's time to really organize around this issue.

Other folks organize around issues that are specific to them, this is an issue, Local Law 97 and finding funding to assist Co-Ops is something that I think that all of the Mitchell‑Lamas across the city, which is thousands of voters, very strong voting block. They mobilized around several other issues throughout the years.

I think that we need to be allocating money on the state level and the city level to help ease the pain of doing this for working class people who are really on fixed income for the most time. Many of our retirees are here. We need to address that.

Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Mayor, I just also wanted to point out it's not Rod Stewart over there. It's actually Elijah Hutchinson, who's in charge of our city‑wide climate offices. And additionally, there's another important effort that we made this year. We promulgated rules around Local Law 97 enforcement and included in there a clause about good faith effort.

Going back to, we don't want your money, we want your carbon— being able to submit a plan showing that you're using good faith efforts to get there is really valuable, because this is a huge change and the real goal is 2030. That's where the real emissions reductions happen.

So, we want to ensure that we are encouraging, incentivizing and giving people credit when they're doing everything they possibly can as building owners to reduce emissions. So, I want to thank you for your question. Thank you for already your compliance and look forward to working together.

Mayor Adams: Okay. We don't want hurt, we want to help. DM Meera Joshi, she runs 52 mile marathons. 52 miles. I can't even do 52 blocks. 

Question: Good evening, Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Thank you for coming, and it was good to meet all your staff. My name is Francine Jones, and I'm the president of my building association. I've been here since the place opened in 1971, and I raised two daughters here; and at that time, Truman High School had a swimming pool that was open to the community.

We'd like to have that again, because there's so many children that need activities, and that could be a good one. And I've often heard you speak about getting youngsters swimming again or having them learn how to swim so they don't drown. I remember some kids drowned near the East River somewhere.

And I've heard your number of times. So, we would like to get that pool functioning again if it's not. I heard it was repaired, but there are two swimming pools in Truman High School, and one is an Olympic‑sized pool, and we'd like to be able to use that again.

Mayor Adams: Love it. Love it. Is it, Melissa, is it open? What's happening with it?

Aviles‑Ramos: So, it is almost open. We have been doing extensive renovations. We are very proud of this. The pools were inactive since I was a teacher at Truman, I think even before, close to 20 years. And so we're so proud of this administration, how they've really rallied behind us to support this.

Swimming is huge for this community. Superintendent Davis, [Principal Alfano, Principal Sheroy], and this is a huge priority for that campus, they've been working very closely with facilities and it will be opened very soon.

Superintendent Davis, the timeline. I believe it's the next.

Superintendent Fia Davis: Good evening, everybody.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Superintendent Davis: Good evening. Fia Davis, proud Superintendent Bronx High School Districts 8, 10 and 11. Truman is in my cohort. We're already working on the plan, the announcement, the chancellor showing up for kickoff. Expect to hear an announcement this in the spring about both pools at Truman being functioning. So, thank you.

Mayor Adams: You know, you don't have to be an expert, but you can tell she's a diva. 

And so what we need to do is not only should we have it for our children— and thank you for that— but we need to figure out ways of how we can allow, you know, during the weekends, other times for our seniors to use the pool as well.

The governor just made a major announcement with Plus Pools, something that I pushed. So, swimming is crucial, and you know, so that's a great question, and you got the answer. So, we heard you, and we're going to open. Thank you. Thank you for your question.

Question: ...school there. There's a Beacon program at Truman and they would be the ideal people to open it up to the community.

Mayor Adams: Sounds like a plan. How are you, sir?

Question: I'm good. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and your administration. And also, I want to thank Table 9 because out of all the concerns they have, they chose mines. Oh!

Yeah, I love you already. Well, Mr. Mayor, Co-Op City is a beautiful community, but without some areas of concern, we need some improvement. My name is Winston Dinkins. I've been coaching track and field for over 20 years in Co-Op City volunteering. I also coach the high school nearby and I coach middle school.

We have a problem practicing, right? We only have two athletic fields in the Bronx, in this side of the Bronx, one at Pelham Bay in the east side farther down and the another one on the other side of the Bronx, Van Cortland.

Bronx is too large just to have two public athletic fields. It'd be nice if the high schools would open up their gates and allow us in there to practice in the high schools. But we also have city areas where we could build our athletic field.

So, if anything you could do, or your administration to help us to get the kids on the track and off the streets, we appreciate it.

Mayor Adams: Appreciate that. What's the challenges, Melissa, in opening the schools to use the track? What's the challenge to that?

Aviles‑Ramos: So, thank you for that, and thank you for your service for our children. And so as you know, our PSAL program, shameless plug, Truman High School, we have some of the best athletes in the Bronx, just sayin'...

And so our fields, our athletic facilities are always very occupied based on the PSAL schedule. That said, we do open up to the community, especially through our Beacon program and our extended programs.

So, what we should probably do is take this offline and have an extensive conversation with your very involved superintendent and your very involved principals and see what we can make happen, but also taking into account some of the scheduling with PSAL.

Mayor Adams: Yes, because the goal is, we need to use the product all year round and all day round. And you know, you're doing your part of volunteerism, we need to be doing our part and giving you the space to do it. So, let's sit down with Melissa the superintendent and let's figure out how we could find time that the young people can use the space, because you know, you pass by these fields and they're empty.

So if it's the scheduling, that's one thing. But if it's not being willing to open it up and allow folks to use it, that's another conversation. You know? Thank you. Thank you for the work you're doing.

Question: Thank you, Table 10. Good evening, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: I'm great. My name is [Francine Palmer Mullings] and I'm an assistant principal at Harry S. Truman High School. I walk over the bridge and my son is a graduate of MS 181.

We have a serious issue with the scheduling of the buses in our Co-Op City community which encompasses the residents, schools within the educational complex and business owners. Elderly residents are afraid to take a bus after school. CCPD harasses the young people when a crowd is formed when they have to wait for over 30 minutes for a bus.

Mr. Mayor, our question is, how can you make sure that you increase buses such as BX23, BX30, Select 12, Q50, BXM7, BX36, BX28 in order to reduce wait time and prevent security issues which arise from crowding? Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Remember what I was saying earlier about the guy that got divorced and he said you know what, Eric, it's your fault? That's how the buses are and the MTA.

Mayor does not control the MTA. Our state officials control the MTA. But although we don't control the MTA we would like to partner to advocate for you on those bus routes that you're talking about, because the goal is we need a first‑class transportation system. 

And so I'm going to sit down, where's Ydanis? Ydanis, first Dominican to head the DOT. You know, talk to me, Ydanis.

Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, Department of Transportation: More than happy to follow with you and..

Mayor Adams: Young lady's over here.

Rodriguez: Sorry. More than happy to follow with you, like Anthony Perez is also our Bronx borough commissioner, and not necessarily here in for this particular area, as you know, the busses also some of them go through Gun Hill.

So, what we did recently was that we did a major investment improving the bus services along Gun Hill. And more than happy, again, to identify other areas where we can continue building more protected bus lanes so that we can move the buses quickly from this area to their destination.

Mayor Adams: So, why don't you connect with Commissioner Rodriguez and the borough commissioner. Let's look at those bus routes that you're talking about so we can sit down and see what we could do about not only improving the timeliness of it, because sometimes these buses are bottlenecked.

And that is why what the commissioner has been really advocating for is how do we get these bus moving faster so that we can actually give people the service they deserve. All right, commissioner? So, the borough commissioner is going to come over to your table now. How are you, ma'am? Where am I going? Yes.

Commissioner Juanita Holmes, Department of Probation: Hi. I just wanted to chime in for one second. Just with the bus routes, because sometimes the buses are following each other and maybe speaking with the state if they can have them alternate stops during particular times that gets them to the next stop faster so they're not with that bottleneck traveling behind, you know, caravaning behind one another. I know that came up at another meeting and we were discussing that.

Mayor Adams: That's our double parked cars... Thank you for that, commissioner. Double parked cars, folks who are holding up the flow, it really impacts on the delivery of service.

How are you ma'am? Is it on? Pastor Monrose, can you make sure it's on?

Yes, there you are. There you are. 

Question: Good evening, Mayor Adams. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: [Inaudible.] Name. I am privileged to be a River Bay Board Director as well. I serve as assistant treasurer to the River Bay Corporation. I am vice president of my building association. I'm in Building 21 here in Co-Op City since 1971 when I was a little girl. And so that makes me an original Co-Operator and very passionate about this area.

And with regard to this area, we need routine, consistent maintenance, a plan, a routine consistent maintenance plan of the community that borders the Co-Op City property lines.

And what do I mean by that is the medians, water edge along Bartow Avenue leading to Hutchinson River Parkway, several, more than several 311 calls have been made and tickets are open and we don't know what happens. I guess they're opened and then they're closed. And this has happened over and over repeated times. 

So, we need a contact person, someone that we can be in touch with on a regular basis that would help us police this. And you know, the perception and the way you look means everything, and you know, for us to be coming in and seeing you know weeds as tall as beanstalks and garbage and you know, it's just, it sends a bad message. 

People already mistake us for a glorified project, and we are far from that. We are shareholder and we relish that position. We own this. And we want to be treated like shareholders, and we want our land to purvey that message. Can you help us, please? 

Mayor Adams: Thank you for that. 

And I took your comment in the spirit that you meant it, but we are, we believe folks in NYCHA also should have the standard of living that they deserve. And I want to really thank Deputy Mayor Maria Torres‑Springer for what we have done. 

We put NYCHA at one of the top of our housing plan, got NYCHA Trust passed. And for far too many years, those thousands of residents of NYCHA have been treated with not the dignity and respect that they deserve. But specifically dealing with, go ahead, you wanted to... 

Question: Before we finish this, and what you're saying is, of course, is very important, but one of our elder shareholders has had a book for you since you were running before. And if she could give that to you, I would appreciate it. 

Mayor Adams: It has to be less than $50 or they're going to investigate me.

Question: Welcome to Co-Op City, New York City Co-Op City. All right.

This book I'm giving you, it's a gift. My son got it for me. We are history buffs. And I read it when you first became mayor. I said, I got to...

Mayor Adams: Wow. Wow. Wow.

Question: But I didn't send it to you because I said, oh, his panelists are going to read it and he'll… And what happened? You're here tonight. 

Mayor Adams: Love it. Love it.

Question: So, I would just like for the audience, it's 20 Lessons from the 20th Century. And this is very appropriate because you're gearing up to run again, Right? Right? Right? [Applause.] [Laughter.]

So, I just want to read one thing to you. Someone, it says stand out. Someone has to. It is easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without this unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo vanishes.

Mayor Adams: Love it. Love it. Thank you. Really, really kind of you. No, she didn't want my handler to get it.

So, but your question, so now is it the sidewalk? Is it the road? Is it on Co-Op property? What are we talking about?

Question: It is the property surrounding all of our property, the meridians and when you're coming off I‑95 entering Co-Op City, all the surrounding, it's hideous.

Mayor Adams: So, why don't we do this. Commissioner, can we... [crosstalk.] Okay.

Question: The trucks...

Mayor Adams: Are they parked? Are they...okay. So, Commissioner Tisch, who any time she hears about trash, she just get all riled up.

Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Sanitation: So, we're going to come and get your information right away, and we will send people from the Department of Sanitation to look at the property. I don't care whose property it is, first time.

We're going to do a clean; and then from there, we'll figure out, is it private property, is it city property, is it MTA property and we will put in place a maintenance plan. But my chief of staff is going to be in touch with you right now and we'll get it started. 

Mayor Adams: Okay. All right. Appreciate you.

Mayor Adams: His chief of staff is right there.

Question: Oh, okay.

Mayor Adams: How are you, man?

Question: Hangin' in there, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Good to see you. Good to see you.

Question: Good evening. Thank you for coming.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: The name is Alfonso Gonzalez. I'm the chairperson of the board of directors of the Spanish‑American club. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but they picked me to talk.

My wife calls me M&M, I'm always talking, and that stands for motor mouth. But consensus were, you know, worried about, so I just wrote, how can we get our agencies by working together to help our forgotten children, okay? 

Using, okay, school space, pools, centers. I, myself, I grew up with the Boys Club, PAL, okay, and the Children's Aid Society. And that made me, it guided me through my teenage years until I joined the armed forces. It guided me the right way.

I'm afraid for these children. These children have nowhere to go. They're lost. I mean, we have a lot of seniors here. Fine, I've been here 40‑plus years. I have spoken to most of these kids. I live in Building 1.

And by the grace of God, I knew one when they were the Bloods, and I spoke with them. I talked him out of it. And I says, you have a clean record. This gentleman just retired last year from MTA, and he made...

Mayor Adams: Nice. Nice.

Question: Clean life, clean slate. So, anything we can do to help the children, these are our future.

Mayor Adams: Right, right, right.

Question: And I know you love kids.

Mayor Adams: Yes, thank you. And Commissioner Howard, one of the problems that we are facing, social media has hijacked our children. You know, our children live on TikTok, Instagram, their whole lives, everything from depression to the suicidal thoughts to riding on top of subway trains, to you saw what happened the other day with a young man lost his life drag racing.

Go look on social media and see this issue that we're having. We have to stop what social media is doing to our children, using algorithms to really control our children. And Dr. Vasan from Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is going to be talking about some of that stuff. But part of the plan is to hold these social media companies responsible, these platforms responsible.

But Commissioner Howard, you want to go through some stuff that you're doing with our young people?

Commissioner Howard: Sure. Even in Co-Op City, we have a teen center in here, and I can give you information on the teen center that's run by MMCC. One of the things that we've also got to recognize is that the motivated kids are no problem. They're the ones that are going to our community centers, they're the ones that are going to our Beacon programs, they're the ones that are going to our after school program.

The kids that you're talking about, we have to find a way to incentivize them and bring them into the already existing programs that we already have. We do have a lot of our Cure Violence groups that are out here that are working with those kids to make sure that they have employment opportunities.

We have a lot of our community providers that are working with those kids and really on the street to try to engage those kids and get them to understand that you may be out of school, you may be out of work, you may have certain issues, but we have resources that can connect you.

But I agree with you. It's the unmotivated kids that are being led by other influencers that we need to be able to capture and do a better job. But we do have providers. We're doing a lot. The mayor has charged us to do more than enough in our Work, Learn and Grow, our Summer Youth Employment program, our out of school, out of work program.

We have a lot of employment opportunities. We just got to get those kids off the street and get them motivated. And again, our Cure Violence groups are out there. They're having real conversations with those young people to see if we can capture them.

Mayor Adams: We've got to support programs like this brother here that's doing this track. You know, we got to give him the support he needs. Now what did your wife say? Your wife said don't talk all day, didn't she?

Question: We have a bingo hall that's been closed for over 20 years. The bingo hall, that is huge. I fought tooth and nail, I got nowhere, and it's right on Bartow Avenue. That is huge in there. These kids could do wonders in there. You could fit at least 100 kids in there. Easy.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thanks so much.

How are you? Good. How are you, sir?

Question: All right, yourself?

Mayor Adams: Good. Good.

Question: My name is [Alex Ruiz]. I am the president of Co-Op City Little League and Co-Op City Flag Football. Been involved with youth for 23 years.

Mayor Adams: Do you two guys know each other?

Question: We've met previously. My office is right next to his.

Mayor Adams: Okay. Okay. Okay.

Question: I'm also a member of New York City Baseball Advisory Commission. Just got on that last year. And my issue, concern that we have is we have a Parks Department agreement, maintenance and operation agreement between New York City Parks Department and Co-Op City Little League. I'm a Little League that makes less than $15,000 a year and I have over $100,000 in repair. Can't afford it.

I had a meeting the other day with Parks and they referred to an outdated maintenance agreement. This was drawn up in the '80s and it's been expired, well outdated last time it was signed by Co-Op City Little League was 2006. Since then, we have trees, we have lights, we have fencing that's falling down. We need help.

Mayor Adams: Talk to me, Parks. Who do I have from Parks?

First Deputy Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, Parks Department: Hello, can you hear me? Hello, yes, hi. I'm the First Deputy Commissioner of Parks Department. So, we do have quite a number of maintenance agreements that we have throughout the city.

We look forward to being able to work with organizations to be able to direct them as to how to be able to manage those particular maintenance agreements, because they are basically private, almost like a private enterprise in terms of the organizations because no other public entity or other organization can enter there.

But we look forward to being able to speak to you, you know, in a sidebar and see if there's anything else that we can do to be able to facilitate some of these things that you need in your location.

Mayor Adams: So, talk to me for a moment, what's the maintenance agreement? Help me understand.

First Deputy Commissioner Rodriguez: So, the maintenance agreement, there are several organizations that basically like the Pelham Bay Little League, the Co-Op City Little League and other leagues that actually have the jurisdiction over particular locations that they manage themselves independently.

So, they're not, basically, we don't have other entities, we don't have other leagues or other leagues to be able to play on those fields. It is basically just that organization that has teams to be able to operate there.

Mayor Adams: Now is this, so is this Parks property, or...?

First Deputy Commissioner Rodriguez: Yes, it is Parks property, yes sir.

Mayor Adams: Okay. So, this is Parks property, but now you have the exclusive right to use it. Okay, okay, now you know with the crown comes a lot.

Question: Yes, I understand [inaudible] $5,000 to maintain [inaudible] light bulbs that are out [inaudible] night practice there, and it's not just kids from our community, it's kids from outside...

Mayor Adams: Right. No, I got you. First of all, I hear you and I feel you. And there's no way that you're doing the right thing proactively by having those children play on this field, they're not going to be in trouble.

So, we need to figure out that with that exclusive right you have, we need to figure out how do we give him the help he needs so we can fix what you need, come up with a wish list of the items that you need. And Sheena, I don't know if even we can get the mayor's fund to come in and help. So, we're going to help you fix the problem there. So, you keep the kids off the street, I'm going to give you the support you need to keep the kids off the street.

That's what I'm going to do. So, let's figure this out. 

All right? You know, so we got other sources of income and you should put together a little sort of video of your children, just something small, not complicated. And then we need to put you in front of places like the partnership. We should put you in places like the Robin Hood. 

Like there's a lot of money for philanthropic dollars. We need to let people see folks like you and what you're doing and let's get you in front of them and say, listen, y'all talk a good game, come and help this brother, he's keeping these kids. That's how you keep crying down, you know that?

So, let's connect, all right, pastor, let's connect. But we're going to help you get this done. You shouldn't be out on your own on an island. And thank you for what you're doing, okay?

How are you? 

Question: I'm fine, thank you. How are you? 

Mayor Adams: I didn't say how you look. 

Question: All right, all right, better watch yourself there. Watch yourself!

Welcome Mayor Eric E‑Z‑E Adams. And I call you E-Z, because no matter how many daggers are thrown at you, you maintain your cool. Okay? I applaud you for that.

Mayor Adams: Got you. 

Question: I have a short list of dignitaries that are on that list, and you made it, okay?

 We have a few here, too, Captain [Oriano]. I've never saw you lose your cool, either. [Marvin Walton]. [Laughter.] Our executive general manager. Never saw him lose his cool as well.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: My concern is...

Mayor Adams: Yes. 

Question: ...is mental health.

Mayor Adams: Mmm.

Question: We have a lot of residents here, and we also have a lot of people in this city who suffer with mental health issues. I just wanted to know, is there a system in place to help these people, and I mean as far as like, knowing who they are and reaching out to them, making sure they're taking their medication, making sure they're not banging on concrete walls at night like they're doing in my building.

I am the president of the Building 33 Association. I'm Andrea Mayo. I am a retired correction officer. So, I listen to a lot of the issues from the people in my building and also my former job.

Mayor Adams: Right, right, right.

Question: So, if we can help a lot of these people, maybe we wouldn't have the kids running around killing people, shooting people out there in the street, the people going out here, going around here stabbing people in the street, innocent people. You know, there's a lot of issues here.

Mayor Adams: So true. So true. So true. And DOHMH, who...yes, let's talk about some of the stuff. Thank you for that question. It's a real issue, you know. Listen, we all did not come through Covid whole. You know, we may act like it, but you can't lose the number of loved ones we lost and all of a sudden think we've normalized this.

All of us are feeling some type of pain from Covid. And then we were dealing with mental health before that, and then there's a real loneliness issue that's going on, which is really feeding some of the social determinants of health.

This is a real issue. It's going to really take community follow‑up care. And Dr. Vasan, who's our commissioner of Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, he's zeroed in on this whole mental health issue. But can we talk about some of the stuff that we're doing?

Deputy Commissioner Maura Kennelly, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much for your question and the opportunity. Of course, sorry. I think one of the things just, it's really important to break down the stigma. So, I think asking these questions and having the conversation is really important.

I think one of the key things we want everyone in this room to know and for you to share is one three‑digit number, 988, which is a really important resource. It's a crisis response line but you don't have to be in crisis. It's just for anyone who needs any mental health support or you don't know where else to go.

It will connect you with care, with someone to talk to if that's all you need, but also someone to help you identify services for yourself, for someone else you might be concerned about, a family member, a community member. But I think it really is the first key, you know, important step to take in identifying the services that are available in your community.

And I'm going to check to see if Dr. Katz or Eva want to also share anything about what they have.

Mayor Adams: Go ahead, Eva, you and...

Eva Wong, Director, Mayor's Office of Community Mental Health: Hi. I am the Executive Director of Mayor's Office of Community Mental Health, and I think we have heard about concern with youth, and we work very closely with DYCD with Commission Howard really integrating services within community spaces. And of course, work with there are a lot of services within school.

And I think a really important point is how do we really engage with these young people who are not as motivated to be involved in these type of programs. Right?

So, we are looking at stigma. I think young people and our young people in this generation, they're [really] open to talking about mental health, but they are still hesitant to engage with the health system, so to speak, because they have experienced maybe bad experience or they hear about it.

So, we are definitely working on awareness campaigns and also a lot of work talking with young people. I know that the mayor and commissioner have done a lot of listening tour with talking with young people, they raised mental health as their top concerns as well.

So, we are designing ways to really reach out to them so that services actually meet how they want to be supported. So, this effort is really underway and we want to be able to share. And DM Anne is going to add something.

Deputy Mayor Anne Williams‑Isom, Health and Human Services: The only thing I wanted to add was that when we first got into this administration, it was Mayor Adams that said to us that he didn't want to have people who were suffering with mental illness, us to just walk by them.

So, we really focused on that early on, looking at those that may not know that they need care or that they're not taking their medication, and some sometimes need voluntary, confinement, involuntary removals. And so we focused on that. We got a lot of flak for it, but because of that, there's many families and peoples and individuals that we've been able to help.

We also then went into the subways and we, as you said, do we know who these people are? A lot of the workers know these folks that have been here for a long time, and we had a top 50 list that we weren't really able to engage with them. And over 40 percent of that list now, we've been able to connect those people to services and make sure that they get the support that they need.

So, it's been something that he's been focused on from the very beginning. It's an interagency approach, a whole of government approach and a holistic approach. And so we're going to keep on doing that, because this is a very important issue.

Mayor Adams: Yes. It's a real issue. You know, and you saw on DOC, the philosophy was, you know, you know someone that's dealing with severe mental health illness. You take them into the hospital one day, you give them medication, they come out again, and then you wait until they commit a crime.

Now they're on Rikers Island. You know, close to 50 percent of the inmates there are dealing with mental health issues. And we wanted to not just walk passed people, and that was at the heart of what our focus was. And Dr. Vasan has done an amazing job of saying we could do better, everything from using telemedicine, telecommunication, using the app for our young people, to giving people the clubhouse model, giving people care, doing those involuntary removals.

If it's 20 degrees outside, you have no shoes on, your clothing is soiled, you're talking to yourself, you don't know you need care. We have to step up and provide care. And as the deputy mayor said, we took a lot of hits. hits. People were really critical of what we were doing.

But we said we are not going to walk passed fellow New Yorkers knowing they need help. And we're going to continue to expand. But thank you for that.

Wong: Mr. Mayor, I wanted to add just specifically to telehealth in case folks have not gotten to get to know it with Teen Space. So, if you just look up NYC Teen Space, then you will lead you to link. And it's really through an app that 13‑ to 17‑year‑old young people can access this anywhere free of charge.

And there is this, I tested it, and I'm not that age range, of course, but you can go and see the resources that they can go through on their own. So and it also asks for parental consent, and if they don't feel comfortable at that time, they can actually bypass that so that they can talk, get matched directly with a counselor.

And just really, no, risk, right, for them to try something out early before their conditions become worsen. So, I want to encourage folks to...

Mayor Adams: That number is 9..

Wong: 988 and then Teen Space is an app, so you can look up just NYC and leads you. 988 is the crisis line 24/7, yep, and then Teen Space.

Mayor Adams: And people should use it. Use it, you know.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Hello.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Hi. Good evening, Mayor Adams, and all that are in attendance, and to Building 23, hi. I appreciate having the opportunity to share the consensus of our Table 15 quality of life request.

And before I say that, I fully support the NYC Vision Zero Initiative and your efforts to prioritize pedestrian safety, because one of the things that I do know that's very important is that traffic safety is a public safety, and that's something I've heard you say many times.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: So, as part of that, what Table 15 agreed upon has to do with Baychester Avenue. So, Baychester Avenue here in Co-Op City, thank you, we have several schools, we have elementary next to middle school, next to a high school, right?

But what we don't see is a sign that tells drivers to slow down. The cameras are there, but there's no sign saying bring it down to 20 or 15 because you're now hitting a school area.

So, we were hoping that someone on your team could maybe look into installing that sign so that people driving down Baychester Avenue are aware that they are approaching a school zone and that their speed needs to reduce.

The other thing that the team talked about still as it relates to our children and families on Baychester Avenue is surveillance. Again, having the opportunity to identify those vehicles that continue to park their cars where children are not able to freely enter and exit the schools, such as crossing guards as well. So, we were hoping that someone on your team would be able to assist us with that as well. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Tell me about the surveillance, tell me about the cars, what are the cars, what?

Question: Yes. So, we have cars that during certain hours, you can park in an area where the schools are, where the teachers would park. But once school begins, after a certain hour, you're required to move your car.

And it seems as though the concern is that these cars are still there, and so you have different groups that, are supporting the school having to bang on cars or tell people move your car, your car can't stay here. Kids are going around these cars trying to enter and exit the schools. And it also blocks where the school buses have to pull up as well. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: All right. So, Kaz, can you look at that? All right, so Kaz Daughtry... Assistant Commissioner Daughtry is going to connect with that location. Commissioner, can you talk about the sign?

Commissioner Rodriguez: So, one of the directions that we got from Mayor Adams is equity, and he said equity is not a word, equity must be an action. So, one of the things that I got to say, in these two years of being a commissioner, you know, we are investing across the city in your equal resources to improve safety because of the support and the leadership of the mayor.

As the United States has the highest numbers of pedestrian fatality since 1987, we on the other hand in New York City, we have the lowest number of pedestrian fatality for the last 113 years, since New York City starting collecting the data.

So, your support and the support everyone for Vision Zero with the message is slow down, it's critical. You know, and Mayor Adams also together our first, our deputy mayor also, you know, Deputy Mayor Joshi, NYPD, for the first time, New York City is also counting the data of crashes as equal as violence as we look for gun violence. So, we are doing the work.

When it comes to the sign, more than happy to follow with you. Yes, we in New York City, 25 mile per hour is the speed limit. By the way, you know, many of us, we've been getting the ticket, but 65 percent of New Yorkers, after getting the second ticket, they don't get the third one because we changed the way on how we drive.

And yes, 25 miles per hours is the law, but New York City DOT had the power to go down to 20 miles per hour and put the sign around the school. So, together with our Bronx Borough Commissioner Anthony Perez and myself, we will follow you to look any area that we have to install those signs.

Mayor Adams: Okay, so we're going to get the signs up, okay? It's a good idea to tell people to slow down. We fought to get the red light cameras; and because of that, we were able to, the traffic issues where we have those red light cameras have decreased around these schools substantially. 

Commissioner Rodriguez: But we also need the support for you to call your senator and assemblymember, because the red ticket camera will expire this year. So, we're going to be going to Albany to ask not only to renew, but also to expand the location where we can have more those camera in the red lights.

Mayor Adams: Okay? Thank you. Yes.

Question: I wanted to say hi to everyone. And when we talk about traffic safety, right, we just want to remind everyone that when you are approaching a corner to make a right or left turn to bring your speed down to five miles per hour. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: So, listen, so again, you know, Co-Op City has meant so much to us. You have been a stable community, working class people, and you know home ownership for many, many years. And that's why we wanted to come up here, the entire team of just these amazing, committed New Yorkers, wanted to come up here, hear your issues and effectively resolve them.

So, Brother, I'm looking forward to, who's my point person that's going to be communicating? Okay. Okay, so make sure Deputy Mayor Almanzar that's here. We want to make sure that we resolve the issue and other issues.

Thank you so much. Pray for us. Lift us up in thoughts and positive thoughts as we continue to move our city forward. Thank you so much.