Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Announces Fast-Charging EV Hubs in All 5 Boroughs

September 21, 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, Michael, thank you very much. I really appreciate that you are helping your fellow New Yorkers to know what an extraordinary thing it is to have an electric vehicle. Michael is the first person in the world to ever teach me to plug in an electric vehicle to its fuel source, and that is about as easy as it gets. It’s significantly easier than pumping gas at the pump. But Michael, you obviously believe fully in the value of electric vehicles and what they can do for our environment, and I’m glad this is going to make it easier for you and your family to find a charging station to have that time back that you’re putting in now getting to the right place. 

We want to make it easy. And I appreciate Michael, and so many other New Yorkers who are turning to electric vehicles. We want to make this easier and a better experience for all of them, and make electric vehicles a lot more common in this city. 

So, I want to tell you today about this announcement, but I’ve got to upfront talk about the situation that’s occurring down in the Caribbean, because this is on the minds of so many people and we all have to get ready to respond to it. Just talked to one of my colleagues whose father is in Puerto Rico, and she expressed her fear for her own family and the sheer sense of the unknown. This is, we believe, the biggest storm to ever hit Puerto Rico, a place that we feel so close to as New Yorkers – 700,000 New Yorkers of Puerto Rican decent right here – and we feel that Puerto Rico is really a part of us. And right now, what I’m hearing is almost the entire island is without electricity, the effects of the storm are just beginning to be understood and the flooding is vast. So, we know this is a crisis that’s going to afflict Puerto Rico for today, but also for weeks and weeks, and probably months and months to come, and we have to be there for Puerto Rico. 

We also know other parts of the Caribbean have been hit so hard – I want to particularly note the U.S. Virgin Islands, which has just gone through hell – Irma first, and now the effects of Maria. These are our fellow Americans as well, and they’re going to need a lot of help too. So – a lot of people who are suffering right now because of unprecedented storms. And look, it’s pertinent to what we’re talking about today. These storms are occurring because of global warming. We have never seen this kind of frequency and intensity. We have eyes to see – we know global warming is contributing greatly to this crisis, and it’s a reminder of everything we have to do to address climate change everywhere to try to stop this horrible cycle of destruction. 

For so many New Yorkers right now, they are waiting in agony for information about their loved ones in Puerto Rico. And it’s 3.5 million people, almost all of whom have a connection to New York City, and it must be very, very painful for every single one of them not knowing what’s going on with their loved ones. We want the 3.5 million people of Puerto Rico to know that 8.5 million New Yorkers will stand by them and we will be with them in the days and weeks ahead. We already have a team in Puerto Rico of our first responders who were there in response to Irma and stayed. We have another team ready to go that will literally fly and soon as FEMA gives the orders that it’s safe to land in Puerto Rico and begin their work. We’re working very closely with FEMA and officials on the ground in Puerto Rico to make sure that our assets will be deployed quickly. We’ll send personnel. We’ll send supplies. And I know New Yorkers are looking for every conceivable way to help, and we’ll be providing that information in the coming hours and days about all the ways that New Yorkers can help people in Puerto Rico and in other parts of the Caribbean that were so hard hit. 

It would be bad enough just seeing what’s going on in the Caribbean. Obviously, our hearts go out to the people of Mexico who are going through this horrible earthquake. They’re digging out from a shocking disaster as well right now. And for all of us, they’re our neighbors in this hemisphere. But also for almost a quarter-million New Yorkers, Mexico is their homeland and, again – so many New Yorkers of Mexican decent feeling a great deal of fear and confusion right now about what’s happening to their loved ones too. 

So, we’re going to provide all the help we can as a city with a particular focus on Puerto Rico. Everyone knows what Puerto Rico has been through in the last few years. We know that their infrastructure is in very poor shape and their government’s financial situation is deeply troubled. We particularly have to focus on helping Puerto Rico there – they need our help in a particular way. And again, we’ll have more to say on that in the coming days and on the ways that New Yorkers can help. And all the people of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, and Mexico, will be in our thoughts and prayers. 

Just a few words in Spanish on this point –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, I bring us back to what we’re here to talk about. And I wish the two were not directly linked, but they are. The hurricane that hit the Caribbean, what happened in Florida, what happened in Texas, what happened in years previous in this city with Sandy – it’s all clearly linked together, it’s all a result of Climate Change. We are vulnerable and we’re vulnerable because of mistakes that humanity has made that have to be corrected. This is nothing less than an existential threat and every person, every city, every state, every nation have to be a part of the solution. 

So, the City declared our adherence to the 80 percent emission reduction goal by 2050. That was before President Trump decided to take the United States out of the Paris agreement. After that, our sense of urgency increased. We committed to a new goal to reduce emissions – our proportionate share of emissions – to achieve the higher standard of global warming level of no more than 1.5 degrees celsius. We will be announcing a series of steps. A few days back, we announced the new plan mandating for the first time ever that buildings address emissions in a very bold way. This is a next step in a plan – what we’re doing to expand the availability of electric vehicle charging stations, because electric vehicles are an important part of the solution. There will be other parts of the plan coming forward as well based on the original 90 days we gave all departments to recalibrate to that higher goal in the Paris Agreement. 

We said very clearly, buildings are the number-one challenge in New York City, but vehicles are also a very important issue to address. And electric vehicles are game-changers. It’s striking how much better they are. I mean, fewer carbon emissions, the fact that you have right here a vehicle right before our very eyes – looks like any other vehicle – gets charged and then emits nothing is an amazing, amazing statement. 

Once upon a time, electric vehicles were considered somewhat exotic and out of the reach of everyday people. Now, there are models under $30,000, and the price continues to go down. The easier we make it for electric vehicles, the more manufacturers will build and the more the price will go down, and when you have an electric vehicle it means big savings for the driver, big savings for the family – an average $400 saved for every 10,000 miles driven in an electric vehicle versus a gas vehicle. 

For New Yorkers who need to have a car, choose to have a car, this is an important day because it makes the point – if you need a car, then it’s time to recognize the future is electric. This is the indicator of the shape of things to come. So, as you’re thinking ahead, look to purchase an electric car. It’s a smart move for your family, for your bottom line, and it’s a great, great move for the environment. 

And we’re going to change the game ourselves by increasing the number of charging stations rapidly. We’re committing to installing 50 fast-charging hubs in this city by 2020. So, 50 hubs that will be fully accessibly to the public with the latest technology that allows a fast charge and is convenient for drivers. We will start with a major hub in each borough by the end of next year. The hubs we’ll put in for each borough will have 20 charging stations each. So, 20 of these exact stations you see over here per hub. So, we’ll be putting in 100 hubs overall by the end of next year – and overall for the city, 50 fast-charging hubs. 

We believe this is how we help lead the way in this city – by making this technology more and more available to every-day New Yorkers. Now, in a fast-charging hub with one of these stations it takes about 30 minutes to charge a car. The previous models took up to eight hours. So, there are a number of charging stations around this city that provide that eight-hour recharge, but it’s not shocking to know for a lot of drivers it doesn’t work so well for them. 

At this point in New York City, there’s only about 16 stations – 16 units, like that there, that provide fast charging and are open to the public in any way shape or form. By the end of next year, there will be 100 more that we will put in. And then when we put in the 50 hubs, they’ll be different sizes depending on the area of need. And I want to emphasize – I'm going to come over to this map for a moment – pointing to [inaudible]. These are not the final locations, but these are the most likely places for the buildout of the 50 stations. Some of those – 50 hubs, I’m sorry – 50 hubs. Some of those hubs will have as few as four stations, depending on the amount of need – up to as many as 20 stations per hub. So, when we get to 2020, we will take today’s 16 available all over the city and turn it into hundreds and hundreds more. This is going to change the calculus for drivers and make this a much better option. 

So, here’s what we hope will result – two years ago in this city, less than one percent of cars were electric – less than one percent. Based on this announcement and other measures, our goal is to have at least 20 percent of all new vehicles in New York City be electric by 2025 – a huge difference this will make in terms of our environment. 

I want to emphasize upfront, the goal is to reduce emissions, the goal is to save the earth and to make electric vehicles more viable for more New Yorkers. Here’s what’s not the goal – we do not aim to have more cars on our streets. We want that those people who must have a car and make that choice – more and more turn to electric. But for every-day New Yorkers, we want to keep making it easier and easier to turn to mass transit as the first choice. So, when you look at the locations, in many cases, there are areas that are particularly car-dependent, because we know as much as we keep trying to expand mass transit, it’s not getting to every part of the city as much as we want. There are some parts of the city where you really need a car more than others. We want in those areas particularly to make it much easier to go with an electric car. The goal is to keep building out mass transit at the same time. So, we are continuing to build the NYC Ferry system, the Select Bus Service routes will continue to grow, Citi Bike will continue to expand, Light Rail will start for the first time, and all of that has immense expansion capacity as we make this more and more a city of mass transit. But where there are cars, we want them to be electric cars to the maximum extent possible. 

I also will say that we hope we can do more and more to make mass transit work better. All those things the city is sponsoring and, as you all know, I very much believe a millionaire’s tax would be a game changer in terms of sustaining the MTA’s mass transit options as well. 

So, look, we have a chance in this city, once again, to make an [inaudible] impact. It’s not just we’re 8.5 million people and when we do something better, the earth feels it, and it helps the earth – it’s also that when we set a new trend, a lot of other places in the world pay attention and it helps move the standard everywhere, and that’s what we seek to do to really make a change as we fight global warming on all fronts. 

Just a few words summarizing in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, I want to turn to a couple of real experts on what this means and the impact it’ll have, and one who’s been a partner in so many of our efforts to address climate change in this city, and she’s been a great leader for years – the President of the New York League of Conservation Voters Marcia Bystryn. 

[…]

Mayor: Thank you very much, thank you Brad.

[Applause]

Okay, we’re going to take questions on this announcement. And then will take questions on other topics. Yes sir?

Question: Plus that’s a really cool sculpture and nothing else. It would appear that wind generation is part of powering sourcing this charging station. Will there be a renewable component at the other charging stations around the city?

Mayor: Excellent question. I want Dan or Mark, who’s got it? [Inaudible] just a cool sculpture or not.

Mark Chambers: It is cool, it is not a sculpture. It is a vertical wind turbine. It is part of this system, in terms of providing power for these charging stations, along with the 324 KW, Kilowatt – solar panels above the roof canopy here of the parking.

Mayor: And is that typical of the designs to come?

Mark Chambers: So this is not a typical design. But it is something that makes it much more efficient.

Question: So you don’t necessarily see a [inaudible] component at these charging stations?

Mark Chambers: Not necessarily.

Mayor: Okay, yes Grace.

Question: Are there plans to add more electric cars to the city’s vehicle fleet?

Mayor: Yep.

Question: And do you detail them, just for your own you know, SUV’s that you travel with, any plans to go electric?

Mayor: So my SUV now is a hybrid. I would love to get it to electric. That’s something we’ll have to decide with the NYPD. And I think it’s a bigger question around police vehicles and emergency vehicles. What specific functions work for our electric vehicles? What might require a gas powered vehicles or hybrids? That’s a decisions we’ll certainly make with the NYPD. My goal and I’ve stated it already as part of the One NYC Plan. Is that we will be moving to an all-electric car fleet for the city with the exception again of situations where emergency vehicles or first responder vehicles that may need to be other options. But for everyday cars being used by city employees, those will move to all electric over the coming years. Other questions on this, yes?

Question: Just knowing how fights have broken out over outlets, people looking to charge their phone. Can anyone speak to sort of the, what happens since there is such a scarcity of these charging locations around the city? Does everyone behave? Do people –

Mayor: The culture of electric charging stations. Well you’re an expert, why don’t you speak. You actually experienced it. Are there fist fights at the electric charging stations?

Question: Has anyone ever unplugged your car?

Michael Chan: Yes it does happen where some people park at charging station and leave their car overnight. That’s definitely something that’s frowned upon by electric car owners.

Mayor: Yep.

Michael: They’ve – everyone talks about slashing tires and breaking windows. But yeah definitely there is a some good practices that must be adopted by all car owners, whether you’re an electric owner or non-electric owner. 

Mayor: Well done.

Kat Fisher: I’d also just like to make the point that it’s often – charging on the street is needed absolutely. But for the majority of driving that people do and the cars that are out now with the range that they have. We can overestimate the need for charging. Many people who can charge at home or have high range vehicles don’t need the same amount of charging. So we do need more charging absolutely. But for me, the car that I drive – all my daily driving can usually be taken care of on a signal charge that I get at home. It does depend on one of the things we have to solve is charging for multi-unit dwellings, which I hope the State is working on. And we’re looking to California and other places for how to do that. But on street charging is needed absolutely, but we also – many cars have the range now that they don’t need to charge in-between, especially if you’re a city driver.

Mayor: I think the central point; it’s a good real life question about New York City. I think the central point is that you know, an eight hour charge unfortunately temps some people to do what exactly what Michael said. A half hour charge is something that people can do. Stay by their vehicle in a much more reasonable way. You know, you’re talking now again from going to 16 stations that are available around the city. But are not what we’re talking about, what we’re talking is hubs that are well publicized open to all 24/7. Again, the first set of them 20 stations, 20 of those individual stations at each hub, only 30 minutes per car. So I think that’s going to really allow for a much smoother situation for people seeking a charge. Then as we build out to the 50 hubs all over the city, I think it’ll address the issue even more. Willie?

Question: [Inaudible] question?

Mayor: What?

Question: [Inaudible]?

Mayor: Sure.

Question: You said just now that this is not thing less than an existential threat. That every person in every state and every city to be a part of the solution.

Mayor: Yep.

Question: Last week I asked you about the housing [inaudible] in Brooklyn –

Mayor: Yes.

Question: When you [inaudible] to make them more energy efficient. You said [inaudible] later. [Inaudible].

Mayor: I will make sure you do, I did not personally follow up on that. And I don’t remember we’ve had contractors do different work. And I can get to you again; forgive me because I don’t have it at my fingertips. But I know we’ve had different equipment installed that was an improvement in terms of energy conservation. So we will double down and get to that answer.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I will find out, I’ll work with Eric, but certainly in the next few days. Go ahead.

Question: What’s the anticipated loss for the [inaudible]?

Mayor: So the initial and I’ll start and Mark will join me. You’ll help me talk it through. So on the initial set of five hubs, 20 charging stations per hub, which is the biggest we anticipate of doing. We anticipate that to be a $10 million expense.  The future ones are going to cost less, because they’re not going to have – we think the vast majority of cases are not going to have that many stations per hub. Again, we will start with four stations per hub and some maybe bigger. And we’re going to be working with Con Ed and in certain cases Con Ed will defray the cost. So the initial cost 10 million. We’ll get you a build out cost, as we go along. But we think it’s going to be more modest per hub as we go along. Other questions, Willie?

Question: [Inaudible] don’t forget. The Department of Buildings records show that you know, that one of your buildings [inaudible] boiler, and water heater in 2010, either of those [inaudible] certified –

Mayor: I have to find out; I’m just not intimate with. Chirlane did a lot of that work with contractors. I got to find out for you. Questions on this announcement, before we go to other topics, on this announcement going once, going twice, other topics.

Mara?

Question: Mr. Mayor, your Republican opponent Nicole Malliotakis, just held a press conference earlier today in which she criticized your approach to the homelessness crisis, and she said she would divert the money being spent to build 90 new shelters towards permanent housing instead. She also seemed to say that she could get homeless individuals out of hotels sooner than 2023. Do you want to comment on that?

Mayor: I have not seen what the Assemblymember put out. I can speak to my plan. We’ve had a major emphasis on stopping people from becoming homeless to begin with – with rental subsidies and with the anti-eviction legal services. That is now going to be greatly strengthened by the excellent new law passed by the council, the Right to Counsel law. We think proactive approach to keeping people from ever ending up in shelters is the number one thing that matters. But we’ve also had a lot of success getting people from shelter to better housing – 64,000 people over now over four years have been moved out of a shelter and to better, affordable housing.

That doesn’t mean I’m satisfied. I’m not. I’m very, very clear this is a tough battle, a long battle. We have to keep doing better. I have to keep doing better. There’s no two ways about it, but we have certainly shown that we know how to stop people from ever ending up homeless in large numbers, and we’ve been able to move people from shelter to better housing in large numbers. I would disagree with any plan that suggests we shouldn’t focus on getting out of hotels and clusters via creating new shelter capacity because I think it wouldn’t be realistic to say that we’re going to get out of all the clusters, and we’re going to get out of all the hotels without having additional shelter capacity. The affordable housing we’re building, of course, is going to a wide range of new Yorkers, but as I said for 64,000 people we’ve been about to get them help and get them better housing, but in the meantime there’s a really substantial number of people who need shelter. If you get out of the hotels and you get out of the clusters, and you don’t have an alternative, you’re going to end up with a lot more people on the street and no one wants that. So I would just disagree with that assumption.

Question: Follow up?

Mayor: Please.

Question: The Assemblymember was asked about a poll, and maybe you want to comment on this poll that came out yesterday showing you up 47 percentage points ahead in the polls against Ms. Malliotakis. Do you have any – I guess, Ms. Malliotakis actually said that her internal polls suggested that she was – the race was much closer. Do you think the polls are right on?

Mayor: Mara, I have a real newsflash for you here. Get ready. I have not seen Assemblymember Malliotakis internal polling. So I really don’t know what she’s seeing. I feel very confident in everything we’re seeing, and look, I don’t hang on each poll. You’ve been here at many a press conference when I’ve had a good day in the polls and a bad day in the polls. I don’t get lost in it. I feel very good about the primary result and the support I’ve received from my fellow democrats. I feel good about what our campaign is doing and saying. It’s a very vigorous campaign, we’re reaching every part of the city. But there’s more work to do so for the next seven weeks we’re going to run a very, very intensive campaign. And I feel good about the course we’re on, but you know I never respond to any individual poll.

Councilmember Brad Lander: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Please?

Councilmember Lander: I know you’ve been asked about shelters in Park Slope when you were not in Park Slope, and since you’ve been asked about homelessness when you’re in Park Slope I want to say one word about it. There are two hotels just a few blocks down on 3rd Avenue that now house homeless individuals. We support – and the community board actually had a meeting the Department of Homeless Services came to in June – having one of those 90 shelters cited here is part of the effort to not have the hotels, which are not the right place for those individuals to be housed. And yes of course we want more permanent and affordable housing. That’s why we’re looking at the rezoning, but that’s something we’ve got to have here. And if we don’t build out that new shelter capacity we’re not going to wind up with those individuals out of the shelters and cluster sites, and DHS came out and had a good meeting with Community Board Six to talk about siting it, and –

Mayor: Thank you, Brad because it’s very important point. This is my home district and this is a district that will be adding shelter capacity as part of our plan to balance shelter capacity consistent with the number of people in shelter from each borough and each Community Board.

Question: Mayor as you know from time to time on a regular basis large groups of bike riders take to the street – they call them ride outs. There was one this weekend. Sixteen young people were arrested for unruly conduct, and at one point a large group of them broke off and actually shut down the Cross Bronx. They actually went onto the expressway. What’s your level of concern about these ride outs and shouldn’t the police have done more to keep them off the highway?

Mayor: Well, they’re not acceptable. Let me make that clear so anyone thinking of participating in such a thing – they’re not acceptable. The NYPD will respond vigorously, and there will be real consequences, and a number of those people were arrested. There’s obviously not a very common thing in this city, thank God, but I think they’re not a common thing in large measure because we’ve made very clear we won’t tolerate it. So NYPD quickly addressed that situation and has been very vigorous not only in terms of bike riders but also folks with motorcycles and off road vehicles who have acted illegally. I remember very vividly Commissioner Bratton sent a powerful message to that constituency by crushing a number of their confiscated vehicles. So no, we don’t take it lightly, and it has not been a widespread trend because the NYPD has been so vigorous about it.

Yes, go ahead?

Question: One other question, if I may. The New York Times is reporting this afternoon that there was a rush to open the Second Avenue Subway in order to meet Governor Cuomo’s deadline. The safety inspections have not been completed nine months later. It’s still operating under a temporary fire construction permit. Crews have to be placed along the track to make sure there are no fires because the equipment that would detect them is not fully certified. What is your level of concern about this?

Mayor: Look, I don’t know all the details. I defer to our Fire Department to address this, and if there is any particular concern I want to make sure everyone is safe obviously, and that’s a joint obligation we would have in case of anything that might cause a fire. That’s something we would take very seriously, and obviously I’m sure the MTA takes very seriously. So I’ll have to have my folks follow up, but the ultimate word on that should be the FDNY.

Jillian?

Question: Mayor, can you tell me what the minimum wage of New York is without looking at any notes?

Mayor: $11 unless you are a company of 10 or fewer employees in which case it is the very, very different number of $10.50.

Question: Did you bring notes on that to today’s press conference?

Mayor: I study it all day long. I’ve memorized the minimum wage chart all the time.

Question: Veronica van der Pool who is one of your appointees to the MTA published an editorial just yesterday,  you may not have read it, but –

Mayor: I have not.

Question: – do not always read things. [Inaudible] argued that on a daily basis more people take the subway into Manhattan. Wealthier people take their cars ergo congestion pricing is progressive. You’re arguing that it’s regressive and makes no sense. Cutting down on congestion in Manhattan would reduce emissions, and it’s time for you to come out behind it.

Mayor: I just disagree. Look, she’s been a great member of the MTA board, and we believe in democracy around here, so she certainly has a right to her opinion even when we disagree. No, I know a regressive tax when I see one. There are a lot of working class people, even low income people, and there are reasons they have to go to Manhattan, and they are paying the exact same tax as someone who makes a million dollars. Look with income tax we’re very clear about gradiating according to the level of wealth. To me, the fact that this, at least the proposal we’ve seen in the past – I remind everyone we have not seen a proposal for congestion pricing, and I would just urge you guys, you might want to ask for that proposal because you ask about it all the time except it does not exist. We literally have not seen a proposal from Albany for congestion pricing, but if you’re talking about what we’ve seen in the past I think it’s regressive, and it puts a particular burden on the people of Brooklyn and Queens, and I think I’ve said that a whole lot of times. I still feel that.

Grace?

Question: I believe the City sent 17 or some number of FDNY, NYPD officials down to Puerto Rico. I wonder if they arrived before the storm hit, if you’ve gotten any reports back. And for you, do you have any plans or are you considering visiting yourself to sort of survey the damage or make a show of New York’s support?

Mayor: I do not have a plan at this moment. We obviously want to understand what’s happened and what would be most helpful. There’s a group that’s down there that was from the previous group with Irma. Some came back but some stayed. I believe it’s give or take 10 that are still there. The group going down is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 or 20-plus. We can get you the exact number, and they are literally ready and waiting for the instruction from FEMA to be able to move. And we’re going to coordinate with FEMA and with the governor of Puerto Rico and the mayor of San Juan and others to make sure that we provide everything we can. And we also want to facilitate all the help that people are ready to volunteer, and we want to do everything we can to help that. So we’ll have more to say on that in the coming days.

Question: Can you give us an update on the Flushing crash. What [inaudible] who was driving [inaudible] killed [inaudible] MTA. Finally, can you tell us what the city [inaudible] at that specific intersection that [inaudible] to prevent [inaudible]?

Mayor: That, so the initial information – I want to just emphasize, obviously there has not been a full investigation. The intersection is one that has not been one of our biggest problem areas. Obviously, Northern Boulevard in general has gotten a lot of attention under Vision Zero. That particular intersection hasn’t been one our bigger problems, but we’re certainly are looking to see if there is anything we need to do there. You have all seen the video by now. It is not even close, it is tragic. I don’t know, we’ll never know why [inaudible] whether the driver had fallen asleep, whether he was under the influence of something. But it just had nothing to do with any way normal people drive, and from the reports we’ve heard over 60 miles an hour. Clearly the bus was going slowly and carefully in a turn as you could possibly imagine. Look, I feel what’s going on here is an industry that is really unfair to its workers and exploitative and forces workers to work unusually long hours without additional benefits. I mean, it’s one thing if people get, you know time and half or get other incentives so they could actually make a decent living and therefore hopefully work limited hours. But in this industry apparently you have no option in some of these private companies to make any additional income. So you just have to try and get every hour you can, even into the point tragically where people maybe are taking too many risks. I don’t think this company wasn’t reasonable at all. I mean we here – and again it’s initial. But the guy was not even properly licensed. It’s horrible and you know, I am not expert enough about the federal regulations, and the state regulations related to the bus companies. But I think there is a need for some kind of crackdown here because this should never have happened.

Question: Can the City do anything? And do you think the City should do anything?

Mayor: I don’t know the answer. We are certainly looking at whatever our options are. I mean typically something like a private bus company that does interstate trips and it falls under you know a combination of federal and state regulation. We will look at it for sure. But from what I can see it’s an exploitative industry that needs to be arraigned in. Yeah?

Question: Yes or no question. Have you ever taken a nap in City Hall in your time as Mayor and if so how many times have you [inaudible]?

Mayor: You my friend are – I’ve told you before. I understand the agenda of your newspaper which makes you different from the others around you. You all are playing out an agenda. I am not participating, it’s a ridiculous question.

Question: It’s a yes or no question.

Mayor: I’m not going to answer you, it’s a ridiculous question.

Question: Mr. Mayor it seems like there is finally a deal in the City Council on the [inaudible] safety. I wanted to just get your comments on that in general but also [inaudible] to respond to some of the criticism from the real estate industry that says that this bill is going to negatively impact immigrant workers and cut them out of a lot of these jobs.

Mayor: I don’t understand that, I mean on your first question Gloria. Just as I was coming here, the report I got from my colleagues was we were very close to a final plan. I think some details are still being worked out. But definitely very, very close. And there has been a great effort with council to get to a final plan. You know I mentioned last week that the real estate industry was over reacting on our mandate on building emissions, and I think was mischaracterizing the mandate. I think they’re’ doing again in this case. Because the notion of having a minimum standard of training for people working in a construction site, that’s hardly radical. And the number that was as I understand it or on the verge of being agreed upon is not an onerous one. And it’s about you know, basic safety. And look I’ve been very pained by these horrible accidents and the people who were lost and the families who have lost a loved one. Its not right, they have to do something different by definition. What’s more getting at the root of the problem then to provide the training. So I think like many things it will end up being a perfectly livable plan when it’s finalized.

Question: Just a follow up on [inaudible] congestion pricing. I’m just curious what you would – I mean wouldn’t that argument mean that every single toll in New York City is also a regressive tax. And if so, are you going to look to change the tolling structure.

Mayor: No, the tolling, the tolling structure was based on building bridges, building roads. Maintaining them in a way that was upfront in the equation. But, this again, this one falls on people from Brooklyn and Queens in a particular way. I’ve never seen a plan that address that squarely, and unlike something where you say. We’re going to build a bridge, we’re going to build a road and there is going to be a toll from the beginning. This is adding something in to the equation on bridges that have been there for a century or more. So, I just don’t think tis apples to apples. And again, the most important point I could make to you is. I could respond better, if there was a plan to respond to. I’ve only seen the plans of the past. Maybe there will be a new plan that looks different. But based on the plans of the past, I stand by my position.

Question: The last time I asked you about this, [inaudible] are coming from Brooklyn to a hospital in Manhattan. What would you say to someone who lives on Staten Island and doesn’t have a public hospital and have to drive to Brooklyn to get one. And in doing so would have to pay for the Verrazano Bridge?

Mayor: Look the situation in Staten Island we’ve talked about before. We are trying to address what has been a historic inequity in terms of providing more city support for health on Staten Island. The Vanderbilt clinic is a real example of that. So my answer would be, I want to solve that problem. And I’ll look at it through the question of tolls, I look at it through the question of we have to do more and more to creative health care equity for Staten Island. So is there anything else, yes?

Question: Regarding reporting on –
Mayor: Regarding what?

Question: Regarding reporting on four [inaudible] by ICE down in Brooklyn –

Mayor: You’ve got to just pump a little.

Question: Sure, regarding reports of the four men who were detained in front the Brooklyn Criminal Court last week. What would you say to immigrants going to court facing [inaudible] charges? Is it safe to go to court?

Mayor: Look, I do not know about that incident. I’ve been very clear that we have pushed the state and all those who run the court system to more aggressively address this issue with ICE and create some of the same boundaries and limitations we have with city buildings and city property. I can also say as a matter of fact these incidents have been very limited so far. So people – my goal for New York City is that folks who are here, who are New Yorkers where undocumented or not can fully participate in the life of the city. Go to school, have their kids go to school, go to public hospitals, go talk to the police when they need the police. We’ve got to make sure that that continues including in our court system. My – to answer your question, is I would say to people there have been very few instances where ICE went in to the court buildings. We’re all working to end that practice overall. People should keep participating in the court system.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I just had a report last week about nine Health & Hospital doctors who were told they were going to get laid off. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot of people. But the union has to go [inaudible] really worried that this is the sign of what’s to come, given the Health & Hospitals finances. Can you just talk about that a little bit? And do you expect to announce anything to address that issue anytime soon.

Mayor: I am very confident and confident with the no layoff plan, when it comes to our unionized employees. I don’t know all the details of these nine doctors. My understanding is that they are being given other assignments in our system. So it’s not – we’ve said very openly. No layoffs, but yes there will be trichinae, there will be reassignment, there will retraining for some employees going to other work sites, other type work. So I don’t not think it was a layoff in the traditional sense I think we were offering them other types of work. But we are going to talk to the union. I think very highly of that union. And I want to make sure we’re all communicating. But our policy hasn’t changed.

Question: Mr. Mayor is there any plan that you could support a charge [inaudible] a fee to enter central Manhattan, or any plan that does that you’re not going to support?

Mayor: So I don’t deal with theoreticals, the only plans I’ve only seen precisely – two plans ever. Michael Bloomberg’s plan from almost a decade ago, and the move New York plan from four years ago, five years ago. I have not seen any other plan. If someone presents me a different plan, I’ll look it and I’ll come back with an answer. But I am not going to do theoreticals. Let’s get that right now again. There is no plan on the table from Albany and it would be interesting to see if they have one.

Question: [Inaudible]?

Mayor: Again, I have spoken to that one before also. I have a set of priorities I’m working to address a whole host of issues. This to me what we’re doing here today is a way of fighting global warming. What we did last week with the buildings – I am focusing on the things that I think are the highest impact, the most immediate and that are fair. We are going to look at a whole host of other things we can do overtime. But the city government can’t do everything simultaneously. Obviously any plan would have to be approved by Albany. If they are already creating a plan, great, just bring it in the open so we could all talk about. 

Thanks everyone.