Transcript: Mayor de Blasio, Commissioner Scrivani, Commissioner Silver Deliver Remarks at the Re-Opening of Bushwick Pool in Brooklyn

June 26, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: All right, everybody. It's a really beautiful day here at the Bushwick Pool. And I want to give a lot of credit to Commissioner Mitch Silver. This was a labor of love for him. The Cool Pools initiative – take pools that, for decades, didn't get the love and attention they deserved, make them fun, make them beautiful, upgrade them, make it a place that families want to be. And I just talked to so many of the parents here and they said, what a difference it has made just to have an atmosphere – they said it feels like a resort right here in the middle of Bushwick. That's a beautiful thing. So, today's a really wonderful day as we reopen the pools, bring back New York City. And I want to emphasize opening our pools is another step in our comeback, another step in a recovery for all of us. And being here in Bushwick and you know, this is a community with a lot of public housing around here, a lot of folks who don't have a lot of advantages, pools like this matter. We want to make sure everyone benefits from this recovery.

I also want to talk to you about tomorrow and the days after, because we are really, really concerned about the heat levels that will be afflicting the city starting tomorrow, Sunday, through Wednesday. I'm going to turn to our Emergency Management Commissioner, John Scrivani, and then to Commissioner Mitch Silver. But, let me say up front that all New Yorkers, please take this heat advisory seriously. We're expecting very hot conditions over the next few days. I want everyone to be aware of it, to take the right steps. That means stay indoors if you can stay indoors. Don't spend too much time outside. Stay hydrated, check in on your neighbors, especially anyone vulnerable in your family or in your building who might need a little more help. We can get through this. And the Commissioner – both commissioners will talk about it, we'll have cooling stations available and ways to help people. But the most important thing is for people to be aware, take it seriously, take the steps to protect yourself. It's only four days, but it's going to be a time where we really need people to be careful. So, with that, I want you to hear an update from our Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani.

Commissioner John Scrivani, Emergency Management: Thanks, sir. Good afternoon, everybody. So, starting tomorrow, we're going to have a heat index almost reaching the 95-degree criteria. Okay. Little louder. Sorry. So, starting tomorrow, we're going to have heat indices, almost approaching the 95 degrees, which triggers our cooling center plan. We are going to pull the trigger on it tomorrow, even though we may not get there. But Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we are going to have heat indices of almost a hundred degrees. So, we want to make sure, as the Mayor mentioned, that everybody's taking the correct precautions. If you have to work outside, please try to moderate it, hydrate, as the Mayor said. The most important thing is check on your neighbors that you know may not be able to get out, may not be able to help themselves. So, we have to help each other through this. You can find more information on the cooling centers on 3-1-1, and we can provide those updates and give those locations out through 3-1-1. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. And everyone – and obviously nyc.gov, which would keep saying all the different ways people get information and – why don't remind people how to sign up also if they want to get texts and all.

Commissioner Scrivani: Correct. So, if you want to get additional information on just emergencies and updates in the city, you can register for NotifyNYC. You can do that through nyc.gov. It is really very helpful for us to be able to get information to you quickly. So, please go and encourage folks to sign up and Notify NYC. Thank you.

Mayor: So, we got cooling stations that'll be up. Obviously, we also have our pools and our beaches. That'll be crucial to everyone during this very hot weather. Commissioner Silver has done an outstanding job, bringing our beaches back, bringing our pools back. As you see behind you. This also is going to be one of the last times he appears as our Parks Commissioner, as he prepares to retire from this role after seven-and-a-half great years. I really want to thank you, Mitch. It's great to be with you at a place that epitomizes your vision of making sure that we focus on the less famous parks and the less famous pools and the neighborhoods that need it the most. You've done a lot to bring real equity to our parks efforts, but I know you want to tell people about the pools, the beaches, what to do, what not to do in these next few really hot days.

Commissioner Mitchell Silver, Parks Department: Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. So, schools are closed, and the beaches and pools are open. We're so excited to start this recovery. What is New York City without public pools and beaches? So, our beaches will be open from 10:00AM to 6:00PM all the way beyond Labor Day. And our pools will be open from 11:00AM to 7:00PM. All of our pools will be open. But we want to make sure people have fun, but they remain safe. I want to give a few tips that, always listen to the lifeguards and never go into the water when a lifeguard is not – was not on duty. And even though lifeguards are on-duty, we're encouraging parents and guardians and grandparents, please keep an eye on your child at all times. And so, we just want to – and we also have sunscreen on all of our pools and beaches. So, if you didn't bring it, you want to make sure you're protected from the sun. Make sure you put it on before you go into water and we want you to stay safe. So, have a great summer, have a great time. And remember beaches and pools will be open a week after Labor Day, until September 12th. Thank you all very much.

Mayor: Thank you very much. And let's thank this incredible team. You can see them all out here. The folks at the Parks Department who made this pool beautiful, who are keeping it working for the whole community. Before I take questions, I want to amplify. Mitch said something very important, especially in the very hot weather, I know people are going to be tempted to go into the water at the beaches when the lifeguards are not on-duty, that is dangerous. I know it's tempting. It's not a smart thing to do. Please, everyone, keep each other safe. If someone says, hey, I want to go on the water, it's so hot – only if there's a lifeguard present. And for parents, it is so important, keep your eye on your kids. If your kids are trying to go out and play all day in this kind of heat, make them take breaks, make them stay hydrated. We all have to watch out for each other these next few days, very hot conditions. We need to keep everybody safe. Okay, with that – questions. Yes. From the very elegant chair. Go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner Silver: 16, we did a Cool Pools treatment that you see here. They're all open. There is one that's going to open on Monday. We had an – at Astoria Pool. We had an operator error. So, right now they are lowering the water so they can fix it, and it'll open up on Monday morning. We have one other pool, a mini pool, that is also closed for mechanical issues. All the of the rest of the pools will be open, by Monday people can enjoy all 49 public pools.

Commissioner Silver: [Inaudible] –

Mayor: Got it.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Let's have John – so, you heard about pools and beaches, and those are cooling centers in their own way. Now let's talk about the specific cooling stations. Go ahead, John.

Commissioner Scrivani: Yeah. So, the number of cooling stations will vary depending on what borough you're in and which day we activate. We're still dealing with some of the COVID restrictions of senior centers and libraries are still not open. So, the total number will be on the cooling center finder online, or if you call 3-1-1. But we are working every day with our partners and we're increasing that number every day.

Commissioner Silver: I also want to add that in addition to pools and beaches, we also have over 700 spray features throughout our New York City parks system. So, they're nearby. You can go there, whether you're eight or 80, you can walk through the water play. We also have Cool It! NYC. We have misters in a lot of other parks. So, if you can't get to a pool or the beach, you can go to your local playground and there'll be a water feature you can play in as well and cool off.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: This is just like – it's not a bathing suit, just plain old shorts. That really is an important question.

Commissioner Silver: But it looks cool.

Mayor: I wanted color coordination. I worked –

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Not, not yet. Maybe at some point, not yet.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I did dress for the occasion. I'll give you that. Yes.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Great question. And I'll turn to Mitch. You're exactly right. The restrictions are coming off constantly. In some cases, we have to bring stuff back and it doesn't happen overnight. So, it's not restrictions, it's just reactivating takes a little time, but absolutely in a lot of places people love to go, it's going to be easier than ever now. Go ahead.

Commissioner Silver: So, for the pools, you must have a face covering as you enter the building, in the locker room, in a restroom, but when you're on a pool deck and in the water, a face covering will not be required, but we're still encouraging people to socially distance.

Question: [Inaudible] indoor pools [inaudible] –

Mayor: Indoor pools, do we have the formal –

Commissioner Silver: At this point, we're slowly opening up our recreation centers. But we'll have to get back to you on when we'll be able to open up those indoor pools. That's the next order of business for sure.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: So, the issue there is they are not yet open. They're all coming online in the next few weeks. They're not open, they're not staffed. Normally, if we wanted to use them as cooling centers, it would be very easy to just activate them. Now it depends on the day because some of the libraries are not open on certain days, open on other days. So, that allows us to use them at least some of the days. The Commissioner said, it's going to vary by the day. The weekdays, there will be more cooling centers. But I think in probably a week or two we'll be at a situation where all those things we depended on in the past, the senior centers, libraries will all be back to normal. That's going to help us when we need to use them for cooling centers. Okay. Anybody else?

Question: Any comment on the election?

Mayor: Any comment on the election? Could you be more broad?

[Laughter]

I will just say this, it's encouraging that it – from what we know so far, it looks like New Yorkers really took to this new system of ranked choice voting. We don't have all the details yet. I really want to see how consistently people filled out the whole ballot, you know, all five opportunities to vote in each race. I'm hoping we see real evidence that people took full advantage and empowered themselves by ranking multiple candidates. That's the open question to me, but Election Day went pretty smoothly even with a new system, bluntly more smoothly than a lot of other election days we've had recently. So, I'm encouraged so far. Yes.

Question: Do you agree with Eric Adams' mayoral transition plan with [inaudible] winners and giving them access to commissioners [inaudible] –

Mayor: First of all, let's recognize as we were just talking about, there has to be a full count still in the election. So, the most important thing is everyone, a little patience, which is hard for New Yorkers – a little patience while we get through the count and see who is the winner in each case. We're going to be talking, certainly, to candidates about the future, but as much as we can do some things informally, there's also some other things we can only do when there's a final decision of the people in November. So, we'll be working that through. I don't have a formal plan for that yet, but we'll be working through it. Thanks, every –

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: It's horrible. It's horrible. It's painful. The word coming out now that maybe there were warnings that got ignored is really troubling. And, obviously, this could be really a huge loss of life. So, it's horrible. And my heart goes out to all the families, but especially I know there are New York families right now fearing the worst and we're all just hoping and praying for them. Thank you, everyone.