Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at City Club of Chicago

March 3, 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, everyone.

It's such an honor to be with you and I want to thank Jay and Ed for their leadership. Let's give them a big round of applause for all they do.

[Applause]

While I'm acknowledging I just want to thank all of the public servants here – the elected officials and those who work in City government and all parts of government. Thank you for all you do. I heard one of my fellow mayors is in the room from Evanston, correct?

Audience: Yeah.

Mayor: My sister, I say – nothing better than hanging out with a fellow mayor –

[Laughter]

And I want to do a special thank you to your Congresswoman, Robin Kelly.

[Applause]

She mentioned to me that my wife, Chirlane, will be meeting with her and other members of Congress next week because of the work my wife is doing to create an actual mental health system for the City of New York – an accessible and available mental health system.

[Applause]

That underlies, as everyone in this room knows, if you address mental health effectively and early you reduce homelessness, you reduce crime, you improve educational outcomes, you name it. So, we're very excited about what's happening in New York City and I want to thank the Congresswoman for helping to build the dialogue nationally.

The reason I'm dwelling on her is that I hope Chicago recognizes New York City's contribution to Chicago because Congresswoman Kelly, born and bred in Harlem –

[Laughter]

And bringing all those New York spirit and values here to Chicago. Thank you.

[Applause]

Don't say we never gave you anything.

[Laughter]

I want to thank everyone who's a part of the City Club and I did my research, and it strikes me that the City Club was founded by good people dealing with a lot of problems facing this city. Every one of our cities has had challenges over the years and, you know, back 100 years ago there was a lot that had to be addressed that wasn't being addressed by the political system so citizens got together to create a forum to raise these issues to the fore and create some momentum for reform. And that work continues to this day.

So, I want to thank everyone who's a part of it because it's a very noble tradition. I can say of every city in this country – we're dealing with problems rooted in history. We're dealing with problems that don't always present easy or perfect solutions but we need engaged active people to keep pushing us in the right direction. We need that accountability. We need those voices of reform so I just want to thank everyone here for being a part of this incredible tradition.

Let me talk to you about what we're doing in New York City. I want to talk about it – filled with pride but I want to talk about it from a position of humility as well because anything that we're doing is a hard fought gain and anyone who's worked in government will tell you when we figure out a solution or part of a solution, when we make progress it's never overnight, it's never easy, and it has to be sustained. And so I'm very happy to say there's some good things happening in New York City, some things we want to build on but I don't say it without the recognition of how tough it is to get some of these things done.

But I also want to talk to you in the context of what's happening in our country and I will be nonpartisan.

[Laughter]

I'm struggling but I will be nonpartisan. I don't want to get your tax status in trouble or anything like that but I want to talk about what's happening in New York City and other cities – Chicago and cities all over the country – and how it juxtaposes some of the values and the messages and the policy starting to emanate from Washington in the era of Donald Trump and I can do that in a high road manner.

I think the way to think about it is, first of all, there was an election and it's very easy to take an election and overstate what it means. I think there's been honestly a tendency, a lot of people who didn't like the outcome, to see it as more than it was. I'm not denying the outcome, although I'd sure like to know a lot more about who was involved in our election who might come from a country starting with the letter “R” but that's not what I'm talking about.

There was an outcome in the Electoral College. There was an outcome in the popular vote. There was a huge skew. It's nothing we've ever experienced before. That puts us in uncharted territory as a nation. It also puts in clear perspective the fact that our founding fathers, a long time ago, decided they did not want to put all power in Washington D.C. and this is a conversation and a reality that's been addressed for almost a quarter of a millennium in the United States of America. Where does power reside?

One thing we know definitionally, it does not all reside in Washington D.C. That's how it was set up. A huge amount of decision-making devolves to states and localities.

After the election I had a lot of people in my city very upset, very fearful who, I don't blame them, they went to the fall position of feeling like all of the center of gravity had shifted to Washington, and everything that they have stood for, our city had stood for was somehow nullified. And I understand that shock, I understand that emotion but I said to people, "Pause and look at reality. The federal government doesn't police our streets. The federal government doesn't teach our children through schools. The federal government doesn't run our public hospitals –” I could go on – “they don't pick up our garbage.”

We, at the local level, not only do those things and provide those services, we make those decisions. We set those policies. The federal government funds things, that's true, although a hell of a lot less than they used to. The federal government sets some policies that are very important and I'm not saying that something high impact didn't happen. I understand the weight of what has happened but I'm also saying let's keep our perspective. A single election doesn't change the soul of America, especially a divided election. And it doesn't change the values of each locality – who we are, what we stand for, what we will do and the power we have to do it. I think it's taken people months, and I don't blame them, but it's taken them months to start to actually see the full contours.

I preface with that to say we at the local level, whether it's New York City or Chicago or anywhere else, first of all, we are more masters of our own destiny than a lot of the current discourse acknowledges.

Second of all we have a common destiny. Cities all across American share, by and large, some very straight forward values, and we are already working in common cause but this moment in history is going to bind us together. It's going to cause us to work ever more closely.

What are those shared values? You see them, go to pretty much any large city and even a lot of medium sized cities in this country and you'll see them. There's a spirit of inclusion and a value placed on inclusion in every sense.

In our cities, we don't want to see overly stratified societies, whether you're talking about economics or demographics. In our cities we respect people of all faiths. In fact, we prize the notion of interfaith cooperation.

Our cities are more and more the economic engines of the entire nation. By the way, that was much less true 50 years ago. As the world has evolved, as technology's evolved, as globalization has occurred, cities have become more central. And at the same time cities have become places that are more and more appealing – notwithstanding our challenges – more and more appealing to creative people, talented people, entrepreneurial people. We've seen it.

You go back in time 50 years ago this day – cities around this nation were experiencing disinvestment, a lot of populations leaving. People didn't have a lot of faith in their futures in many cases. It's been a long, hard journey but it's unmistakable. Go any place in this country, it's unmistakable that our cities are now increasingly magnets for talent and wellsprings of economic activity, and the places where we have tremendous opportunity to grow, build our economy, build our nation.

If you have inclusive, multicultural, tolerant places that attract talent and build up talent of their own and they're working, and they are the foundation of the modern economy and the future of the country you'd think, "Okay, that's great. We have a great model. We have a working model. We have work to do. We have problems to solve but we have a working model."

But what's the message we're hearing from Washington? A very dire one that puts cities in an entirely different light. I don't care if you're talking about New York or Chicago or any other city. The broad brush is an invocation of words like inner city as a negative, a picture of cities as chaotic and violent and somehow disconnected from mainstream American values, and what could be farther from the truth? Because we're now the keepers of American values. We are the flame. We're the beacon.

The country, I always remind people of this when you hear talk of religious registries or anything else divisive, this is literally a country that was created – didn't exist, wasn't a group of people who'd been here for centuries and centuries, and eventually turned into a country – no.

People came from different parts of the world, put their heads together, decided they would take a path to independence, and then figured out a concept for the country. One of those concepts, I mentioned a moment ago, was that power wouldn't reside all in the national government but another concept was a strict and intense respect for all faiths because the people who founded the country came from different faiths. A lot of them came from a history of religious persecution that they had to overcome or escape. And they wrote every conceivable guarantee into our foundational documents that faith would be protected regardless of what that faith was that people who did not subscribe to a particular faith would have just as much respect.

It built up a concept that proceeded to work more and more over generation after generation. Obviously, simultaneously, just as our roots were with a certain type of immigrant, wave after wave of immigrants came from new places each time but continued to build who we were.

And so, a nation of immigrants, a nation of people with different faiths, a nation built on tolerance, a nation built on inclusion, not perfect by any stretch. We could all have a very good conversation about the times our country did not live up to its ideals and those were real and they hang in the air still and they affect us still but if you take, again, a quarter-of-millennium of history, almost 250 years now, you see a steady path of progress that tracks from those original values, and brings you right to 2017 where some of those values are now being debated again and America's going through, maybe an identity crisis is too strong of a word but America is trying to sort out its identity at this very moment.

I subscribe that all you got to do is look to our cities and you already have a lot of the answer because we are what America will be, not that it will be a perfectly urban nation. I'm not suggesting that. I'm not saying that's the best outcome. I'm saying our values are the values of America in one part in its origins and another part, where we're going. There's no question in my mind.

Inclusive societies work. We can see it all around the globe. When you're inclusive – an open inclusive tolerant society is what sustains talent, creativity, entrepreneurship. It also helps to create social cohesion.

I'll take you back to New York. We had decades of challenges and rifts between different communities. We're never – I'm not going to for a moment say New York was some kind of nirvana. We were a place of great energy and creativity and success in many ways but we had plenty of rifts that had to be overcome. We had real issues between our communities and our police that had to be overcome. It's taken painstaking work and there's a lot more to do but it's also clear that we found a way to make steady progress. It's clear that progress led to more social cohesion.

I always say when I'm in New York City, we are not perfectly harmonious but I also note that if you want to see a vision of the world to come just step on a subway car in New York City. Seriously, I would urge you all. I imagine a lot of you have but the next time you do just look around. You will be able to – in a single subway car – you will see probably every major faith on the Earth represented – all the races and ethnicities. You'll see people who've been part of the American fabric for, and their families, hundreds of years and you'll see people who got here months ago, all in the same subway car. And unlike many parts of the world where if you put people of different faiths and backgrounds together there will be immediate conflict, on that subway car everyone just goes about their business in our own special New York City way –

[Laughter]

Which means you could literally have a three-ring circus in the middle of the car and no one would look up from their paper or –

[Laughter]

But talk about live and let live, right?

I mean, it's commonplace for us but there's a certain beauty to it, too, and it is the shape of things to come because who wants to live in a world of conflict or division or intolerance?

We've worked hard at it. It has to be earned every day. That's something I also try and suggest to those who are trying to find their way after November 8th. One thing I feel strongly, democracy – no one said democracy was a one-time deal, a one shot where you got it, and if it works perfectly and you just have to sit back and maybe show up at the polls every few years.

Democracy is a earned thing. It has to be recreated and refined and improved literally generation by generation. Sometimes there are threats to it. Sometimes there are ugly moments.

I'm reminded there are people who later became very prominent in our society but who went through the stain on our nation that was the McCarthy period. And there was a time – a few years in our country – where the rules of democracy were starting to crumble. Freedom of speech was starting to crumble. Constitution was being slowly but surely undermined but then good people stood up one by one, put it on the line, took some risks, and literally in the course of years reversed that painful moment, put us back on a course of openness and tolerance.

So, the notion of a democracy strained is not a new idea. Guess what? We're the inheritors, all of us, everyone in this room. We're the inheritors, now. We have to make sense of it. We have to earn it. We have to fight for it.

Now, regardless of where you stand politically, I would argue that January 21st was so powerfully notable not because of what side you're on but because so many people engaged and saw an election, and then an inauguration as something that meant something to them personally and they had to do something about.

I believe that was a healthy sign. And I believe that suggests a much more engaged democratic process going forward and one probably long overdue for lots of reasons. I'm excited about what comes next even though I'm not belittling the challenge. I run a city of eight-and-a-half million people. We are intensely dependent on federal support in so many areas just like Chicago – in housing, in education, mass transit. I understand the dangers in the next federal budget and the ones thereafter but that does not make me hopeless because I see something changing in the underlying political dynamic because I see people engaging and feeling like now it’s time to have an ownership stake and that makes me hopeful. Maybe not for this year or next year but it makes me hopeful up ahead.

In the meantime – and I'll just finish with a couple of quick points and be happy to take questions – in the meantime the question is what do we do at the local level? I believe we have to lead by example because we see this counter model that I guarantee you ultimately will not work. A divisive model will not work. A model of degrading or denying the importance of cities won't work. Model that doesn't invest in our people won't work. It just won't. We are providing a counter model in every city in America. We have to keep building that model. We have to perfect our own experiment. We have to show we can get it done. We have to be beacons. And so in New York City, for example, when I was elected we knew there was a set of challenges we have to address and we had to do bold things to address them.

We knew our school system wasn't working well enough, we have a long way to go but we knew that full-day, pre-K for all our kids would make a huge difference – number one agenda item I had when I ran for mayor, we've managed to do it. I came into office – 20,000 kids were getting full-day pre-K. Today in New York City – 70,000 kids are getting full-day pre-K.

[Applause]

I mentioned before mental health. We knew we needed to take what is – no one has ever seen anything like an actual healthcare system that addresses mental health coherently anywhere in this country. We had to try and create something from whole cloth and we would do it. We knew we had to address an increasingly unaffordable city with a huge affordable housing program which we're doing. We knew we had to bring police and community back together and show that that could actually reduce crime, which it has. We’ve had to do all these things and we had to address what was affecting our social fabric, too, growing income inequality and a sense that people didn't have opportunity.

We've now begun, not only to increase jobs but to make sure jobs were getting to people in every neighborhood, that training for good jobs was getting to people who never got it before. I don’t want – I appreciate every kind of job. Don't get me wrong. There's no mayor in the world doesn't want a job whether it's a minimum wage job or a high-paying job, we like jobs. But what I'm trying to do, especially for folks who haven't had as much opportunity, is get them trained for jobs in our technology sector or our life sciences sector or our film and TV sector, the places that inherently are good paying and offer a long-time career.

That gets at another crucial part of social fabric, giving people opportunities so they feel bought-in. Another thing that makes for a healthy democracy is when people feel there's economic opportunity for them and their family. They become stakeholders. They don't feel that they're watching from some sideline and never going to be called into a game. We've tried consistently to, both in word and deed, show people New York City that we want that inclusive society economically as well.

I'll conclude by saying – I thank you for all you do for this city, one of America's greatest cities. I want to congratulate you for your prowess in the field of baseball.

[Laughter]

I want to tell you that on another very important measure, the jury is still out as who has the best hotdog.

Unknown: It's super dog!

[Laughter]

Mayor: Wait a second. Don't bust in here.

[Laughter]

I was just at Portillo's which I commend strongly. I think Nathan's can give them quite a run for their money but it's all good. We love each other.

But, seriously, I want to thank you all for what you do. I want to tell you that it is in Chicago, it is in New York, it is in the cities of America that we will define the America to be. That is a privilege. That's not a burden. That's a privilege and we should all rise to the occasion together. Thank you.

Edward H. Mazur, City Club of Chicago Program Moderator: The Mayor of New York brought his own water – East River.

Mayor: No, East River would not be good.

[Laughter]

Mazur: Thank you very much. We'd like to just take a second to recognize the Mayor of Oak Park, one of our western suburbs.

Mayor: There you go.

Mazur: There he is. Anan Abu-Taleb – boy, put that on a button. That'll be interesting. Okay.

We have more questions here so I hope you're not going anywhere this afternoon.

Mayor: Let’s go.

Mazur: Very first question deals with mental health awareness.

Can you share any outcomes from your extraordinary campaign that both you and your wife have spearheaded in New York?

Mayor: Yes, thank you. Yeah, I can tell you immediately and I'll be quick about it. Every school in New York City now either has a full-time mental health professional in the building or the principal can call in mental health professionals when they need them and have them available. Huge impact.

[Applause]

A second example I want to give, this one sort of – you dream of something, you never know how it goes until you do it and this one actually worked. My wife believed we needed a new kind of hotline that would actually see through what people were going through.

So now in New York City anyone can call 1-8-8-8-N-Y-C-Well. You get a trained counselor – 24-7, you get a trained counselor. It does not matter what your challenge is. It could be anxiety. It could be depression. It could be something more serious. Counselor works with you, determines with you what you need. You may need an appointment with a psychiatrist. You may need peer counseling, whatever it is. They make the appointment with you on the line and then they follow up to make sure it's working. That's already happening.

[Applause]

Thank you.

Mazur: Okay. Keep those answers very short and brief.

Mayor: [Inaudible]

[Laughter]

Mayor: That was very subtle.

[Laughter]

Mazur: Great. This is from Gail Morris, City Club member with Jenner & Block, the Harlem Children's Zone. Could its success be replicated in Chicago? What would it take to be a success here?

Mayor: I think it's a commendable operation. I think it is not necessarily replicable, even within the context of New York City. It has received tremendous corporate support and that's well and good and done great work. I think in terms of a scalable model I would argue we are trying to make our traditional public schools work a lot better with things like early childhood education, and much greater emphasis on early literacy, and things up ahead like advanced placement courses for all of our high schools, not just the rarefied few, and computer science education throughout. I think its the big structural changes to traditional public schools that are more valuable, even though I admire that model. I think it's the bigger reforms that will get us a lot farther.

[Applause]

Mazur: Thank you. This is from Denise McGowan, Tracy City Club member. What do you consider New York City's biggest but least appreciated or reported success?

Mayor: Well, well. How much time do you have? That is a wonderful question. Look, I think the social fabric piece I mentioned before. It's ironic when people relatively speaking get along. That doesn't get attention. The absence of conflict doesn't make news. Good news doesn't travel far. I think and I'll use an example and I'm amazed it didn't get more attention. Crown Heights Brooklyn 25 years ago, a horrible riot, really left a painful scar not only on that community, on the whole city. Community members, local people decided something different had to happen. A long standing African-American community, a growing Caribbean community, Orthodox Jewish community – they actually spent a lot of time starting to know each other in ways they hadn't before. A group of committed leaders said if anything else starts to be a problem we are going to get together and stop it together and they proceeded to do that. If you go to Crown Heights, Brooklyn today you can see living, breathing harmony between those communities.

[Applause]

Mazur: Thank you. We have a couple of questions all in the same general area dealing with crime and violence. Basically, it appears that New York has a much lower than Chicago rate of crime, violence, murders. Why do you think that is the case and if you were to sit down with our mayor and his advisors, what might you suggest to them?

Mayor: Well, I did sit down with Mayor Emanuel earlier today. I have tremendous respect for him and I've said that the challenges Chicago face is, in my view –
Rahm Emanuel's the only person with the strength to address these issues and every city has to figure out its own path and every city has to make major changes. We had to make a huge number of changes over a quarter century to achieve some of what we did. I would also say it is abundantly clear that Chicago is not being treated fairly by the federal government. It is not being given the opportunity to address the problems because of the errors of states around you. Let's break this down. If the states immediately bordering you unfortunately have such lax gun laws of guns flowing here freely. That's a huge problem for this city.

[Applause]

And, I think in terms of the federal government, look, I'll be very blunt. I am sick of President Trump denigrating Chicago and, again, it's become his surrogate. But, what he thinks about all cities and I don't get it because he's a born and bred New Yorker. It's not like he hasn't lived in an urban area. It's just very painful stereotyping of cities and particularly painful stereotyping of Chicago and it's not constructive. What would be constructive? Provide the support for Chicago to hire more police officers. That would actually be constructive.

[Applause]

And, I'll tell you why I say that. And I want to be very clear.
I'm a progressive. I'm a democrat. We got to neighborhood policing in New York City: a very bold vision started by Commissioner Bill Bratton, built out by Commissioner Jimmy O'Neil. That vision is about police and community becoming partners at an organic level; police officers walking a beat in a small part of a neighborhood; police officers giving their cell phone number and their email address to residents so they can have a constant dialog; residents informing police officers of things before they happen so they can be stopped. That is a deeply different approach than has been taken by police historically around the country over the last few decades, but takes a lot of personnel to do it – to really dig down deep to the grassroots. So if President Trump wants to help provide the resources to allow this city to go farther – but stray tweets in the middle of the night are not stopping crime.

[Applause]

Mazur: Thank you. This is from Hardik Bhatt, the governor's informational officer, former director of the City of Chicago. He wants to know what is it about Chicago, now you know Nathan's tried to come here but they failed – You probably weren't aware of that.

Mayor: You'll just let that hang in the air.

Mazur: We have the 2016 World Champions Chicago Cubs, the two time Stanley Cup Champion Black Hawks and even those Bulls are better than your Knicks. What is it about Chicago that makes you wish New York had it?

Mayor: I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that's called leading the witness. I had been expecting a few more championship parades during my tenure so, yes, you guys are on a nice run there. I commend you. I don't know all the historical facts. I believe the Cubs have waited a little while for that championship.

[Laughter]

But, I would say this. One thing I do love about this city, and I think this again, something to be proud of in all cities, you have personality. You have character. You have life. You have history. You have culture. This is why, again, why are people flocking to the cities from every part of the country and from all over the world? Because, they want community and they want local color and they want something special and unique. And this is one of the places in the country that is most endowed with that culture and that personality so I commend you for that.

[Applause]

Mazur: Thank you. This is from Brian Bernadoni with the Illinois Association of Realtors. Our prospects of tax reform include getting rid of property tax deductions. How would New York prepare for this de facto tax hike for New York citizens?

Mayor: We're very concerned. I've actually addressed this issue directly to President Trump and Secretary Mnuchin. A lot of cities around the country have local income tax, other taxes. Obviously, the tax deductions that are available for local income tax are crucial to allow cities to do all they do. The tax deductions for charitable donations are crucial. So many things hang in the balance the ability of cities to provide tax-exempt municipal bonds which funds so much of the work we do on infrastructure, all those things may be hanging in the balance. And, I had this conversation directly with the President and reminded him of how destructive that kind of change to the tax code could be.

I don't want to predict outcomes at all. I think we're an exceedingly gray environment and I think that there's a huge difference between some of the things the President has suggested he might do versus what will actually happen, or the ways that some of his plans seem to change with regularity. That's another interesting current and then there's the difference between the President and the Congress, where there are real differences of values and approaches including the difference between the House and the Senate. So this is a wide open dynamic.

I can tell you this much. Every city in the country should band together and business communities, labor, philanthropic communities should band together to put up a united front on any effort at tax reform that would fundamentally undermine the economies of America's cities [inaudible]. That we have to understand that that nice phrase tax reform could be a dagger aimed at the heart of America's cities and therefore would undermine America's economy. We have to understand. We have to understand if tax exempt bonds were no longer tax exempt it would undermine the infrastructure that allows us to create and maintain jobs. And, I believe if we put it in those terms, we can stop the things that would really hold us back from happening, but we've got to make it vivid to the members of Congress if they're voting for the wrong kind of tax reform, they're voting against jobs. As simple as that.

[Applause]

Mazur: I saw Congresswoman Kelly taking copious notes. Okay.

Mayor: She's okay.

Mazur: She's terrific. Anyhow, next question is from Christian Anderson. It's about rent control and its eventual disappearance in New York City. Could you comment on that?
Mayor: I don't think there's going to be an eventual disappearance. We have rent control, we have rent stabilization – two variations on the same concept of regulation of rent levels. The reason New York City remains at all economically diverse, with all the good that comes with it, as I mentioned, all that creativity, entrepreneurship, all that drive, people coming from every part of the country, every part of the world to create something that is prosperous and strong – the availability of affordable housing has been prerequisite. And, whatever you think about rent regulation theoretically, I can tell you what it's meant for people. It has meant that working class and middle class people could actually afford to live in New York City and build our economy.
We did not turn into an even more stratified city or one large gated community. We remain a place, still, that's truly economically diverse. Now, we have a lot of work to do to protect that, but I think this is an example of the right kind of government regulation because it allowed people to live and work in the city that many of them helped to build and their forbearers as New Yorkers helped to build. And also, as with everything else in the world, when people have some money in their pocket because they can afford their housing then they spend that money in the local economy and that's another reason why we have such a strong local economy in New York City right now.

Mazur: This is from City Club member Jack Lavin. How do you think the City of Chicago would benefit if it had a public advocate like New York City?

Mayor: I don't know enough about the structure here. I can only tell you what I experienced when I was public advocate. I think checks and balances are healthy. I think oversight is healthy. Public advocate in New York City doesn't have the kind of charter granted power to stop the executive branch from doing things. It is a bully pulpit, an ombudsman role. You can take action through the City Council, working in coalition with the City Council. There's different pieces of the role, but what is truly valuable is a healthy check and balance, another citywide official who provides perspective, brings up voices of the grassroots as to what's actually happening on the ground, how government is actually working or not working on people's behalf. That, I found to be very healthy.

I don't know the situation here. I can't comment on whether that would be helpful or not in Chicago. I can tell you that the history of New York City government has shown that even though oversight can be challenging at time, and I'm talking about as chief executive of New York City being overseen by more different entities and levels of government I can count at this point. It can be challenging, but it often helps you play the game better. Often it's a challenge that makes us tighten up our work and deal with contradictions and problems that should've been dealt with in the past and especially if it's something rooted to the grassroots. There's always a problem on the big scale of government. It's a very big city. New York's a very big city. Hearing what's happening at the grassroots and making sure we're adjusting constantly for the reality of grassroots, that's always a challenge at this level of play with this kind of speed and intensity. That kind of office done right can help a government do that.

Mazur: Okay, thank you. This is from Tom McElroy, City Club member. He wants to know how much does it cost your citizens in New York to maintain two presidential residences and will you ask the president to help defray some of the costs?

Mayor: What's that name again?

Mazur: McElroy.

Mayor: Tom, Tom.

Mazur: Very popular here in Chicago.

Mayor: Tom, Tom had to bring up the sore spot, huh? I come to your town, I compliment your hotdogs. Now this. So, okay. This is the state of play. It is, for a period from Election Night and I want to give full credit to the NYPD. The NYPD is one of the only entities, unlike the major networks and a lot of people in politics, the NYPD said, "You know what, this election could go either way so we're going to be ready." And, I cannot tell a lie. Interesting fact – the last time both presidential candidates, Democrat and Republican, held their victory celebrations or their post-election celebrations in New York City simultaneously was 1944, Wendell Willkie versus Franklin Roosevelt. Okay? So, it's not like we have a lot of experience having two in town at the same time.

And guess what – 2016, very different security environment so extraordinarily elaborate work had to be done by NYPD and Secret Service. They were at different hotels before the celebrations and they're going to celebrations and the motorcades were moving around. Then I'm at the planning meeting. They're going through all that. It's very elaborate, it's very intense, unprecedented and one of the chiefs says, "And then if it's this election result, Secretary Clinton will go to Chappaqua, et cetera, and if it's that election result then here's what we deploy to Trump Tower." I listen to him for a moment and I thought, "Wow, you guys are thorough." I was like, "Okay, plan B's always a good thing in life." But, I cannot tell a lie. It's like a week before the election and I thought, "You go guys, that's good. Be ready for everything." And lo and behold, they were really smart to be ready for everything because the second it was declared there was a full NYPD presence at a location that became instantaneously one of the most sensitive in all of America.

From Election Day to inauguration $24 million, felt like a billion, $24 million because of an extraordinarily intense presence that has to be kept, while simultaneously moving one of our busiest intersections in New York City, keeping it moving. We did not get anywhere near the reimbursement originally. There's another round coming up. I believe that more and more members of Congress recognize this is and absolutely unprecedented situation and now Florida and New Jersey also are dealing with challenges with Mar a Lago and with the golf resort in Jersey. So I am hopeful, I'm knocking wood, I am hopeful that the sheer logic here, that all three states deserve support for the exceptional expenses and that New York City is facing, the NYPD are facing a level of expense that no one's ever seen anything like before. I am hopeful some justice will be served and we'll get a lot of that money back.

[Applause]

Mazur: Thank you. We have a couple of questions left. This is from David Hoffman with Castle Wood Homes. On the other side of the Mar a Lago and the Trump Towers and that, she's very interested in affordable housing. How would you suggest big cities create affordable housing for the residents who need it to stay in the city?

Mayor: That's why we have rent regulation. As I said, that's a blessing. We have a very strong public housing authority, although wildly disinvested in for decades. We have literally a public housing authority that houses 400,000 people and has $18 billion in unmet capital needs so that's a massive challenge. But at least we have housing for 400,000 people who need it and we have this very robust rent regulation system that reaches between two and two and a half million New Yorkers. What we're doing now, which I'm excited about, is we've launched the largest affordable housing creation plan in the history of New York City. It's going to reach half a million people when we're done. It is 60 percent preserving affordable housing in place through subsidy, 40 percent building new.

One of the things that's going to allow us to build new, and I strongly recommend it to cities all over the country, we passed a law called Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. Very simply says when the City grants the right to a developer to build, wherever a land use action or rezoning is needed, we have a requirement of affordable housing being created as part of the package. There are two models, a 25 percent of all apartments or 30 percent of all apartments depending on income levels being reached so if you provide affordable housing for proportionally lower income folks you do 25 percent for more working class, middle class you do 30 percent. But, it is now mandating it because the affordable housing crisis is such in New York City and many cities around the country that if we don't systemically require affordable housing creation and development we will never get where we need to be and granted the private sector can build and build well and build quickly.

The government has to make sure that there's always a share for the people in the process because we know a rezoning or land use action will certainly be very profitable for the vast majority of developers so we ask something back in the process. We think this model, which our real estate community obviously had some differences with, but also recognized could be done fairly. We think this model's going to provide a big piece of the affordable housing we create.

[Applause]

Mazur: Thank you. I keep wanting to pull down the microphone, but I realize –
Okay. We have a governor in Illinois and Mayor Emanuel, at times they seem to have differences of opinion about the present and the future and your –

Mayor: That was beautifully said.

Mazur: Thank you.

Mayor: Very diplomatic. Wow.

Mazur: Your relationship with Governor Cuomo in New York State and yourself, we've been following in our newspapers and over the media. Would you comment on how one deals with a governor who seems to have some differences of opinion?

Mayor: Fascinating question. I would say I also wanted to add a third interesting point which is your city is such a big piece of your state and our city is such a big piece of our state. New York City is 43 percent of the population of New York State. We contribute by far the most of any part of the state to the state budget. We are the economic engine for the state and that's not said with any disrespect for the other parts of the state. I think we actually have to see ourselves as all wearing the same uniform and helping each other, but we like fairness. When we're pushing half of the population of the state we'd like to be treated fairly. I need someone to give me the fun fact. What percentage is Chicago's population of the total population of Illinois?

Unknown: 25.

Mayor: 25-ish?

Unknown: Yeah.

Mayor: Okay. Either way you slice it, obviously a huge, huge part of the state and I assume you also provide a disproportionate of the revenues to your state government and you are disproportionately the economic engine. What I say is there's a natural tension between governors and mayors. You can point to some great examples of very positive governor/ mayor relationships over history, but I wouldn't say it's the norm. I think there's a natural tension. I would like to believe that governors recognize more and more that their cities are so central in every way and find a way to be more cooperative. I don't know your governor personally. I know him only be reputation. I have some concerns. I think I can say this much without knowing the facts. I feel solidarity with Rahm, because it's very tough to run a city and you'd like a governor, the novel idea, a governor to call up and say, "What can we do to ease the burden and make things work better?" Obviously that's not what he's experiencing.

I would argue strategically, simple point, long time ago one of my mentors was deputy mayor under David Dinkins when I worked for David Dinkins and his name was Bill Lynch. And he would often tell us younger staffers the phrase, "God bless the child who's got his own." And I think that is, it's a variation on what I said to my remarks. I don't think we should curse the darkness of a state government doesn't always help us or a federal government doesn't always help us. One, we should be the best we can be with what we have and use all of our tools and all of our creativity and then form common cause with like-minded people. In this case, certainly on the national level cities of America are bonding together to achieve certain outcomes in Washington. I think it might be tougher in the context of Illinois, but I think Chicago has a lot going for it, continuing to build upon that and continuing to build strength. That's the model we've worked on and not wish for some things that we know are not coming, but do the most we can with what we have.

[Applause]

Mazur: Let's give the mayor a big hand. City Club thanks you for coming. We just have two short items of business. By the way, you have an election coming up in a few weeks.

Mayor: There's an election, primary in September, general in November.

Mazur: We're nonpartisan, but we wish anybody who comes here good luck.

Mayor: I like that. Thank you everyone. Thank you.

Mazur: We have a drawing every meeting, we award a prize. This is special. We have the Mayor of New York so it could be a trip to Fire Island, Ellis Island, Rego Park.

[Laughter]

By the way, how many people here were born or raised in New York City? Someone wanted me to ask that question. The Congresswoman, a few others. Okay, we're glad to have you. Mayor, do you want to pick out a card?

Mayor: For ethical reasons, I'm looking away.

[Laughter]

Mayor: I got it.

Mazur: Okay.

Mayor: Very shiny card.

Mazur: A thick card, must be in the private sector.

[Laughter]

Okay. Don Davis with the Browner group. Don, where are you? Good luck. Your prize is a Maggiano's gift certificate.

Unknown: That ain't bad.

Mazur: Absolutely. One last item. Don't forget your water.

Mayor: I see that. Thank you.

Mazur: Your staff –
A one-year complimentary membership to the City Club so any time you're in town-

Mayor: I'm in.

Mazur: We want you to come here and I bet you don't have this in New York. This is the City Club mug. Often imitated, but never duplicated. Enjoy.

Mayor: Thank you so much. I'm impressed.

[Applause]