Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Delivers Remarks at 116th Precinct Topping Off Ceremony

August 22, 2022

Lieutenant Jack Conway, Police Department: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the topping-out ceremony of the future 116 Precinct. Before we do the actual ceremony, we're going to have a couple of our elected officials and some of the executives from the Police Department come up and speak, and then we're going to go over and sign the beam and then it's going to be placed in, which will complete the topping-out. So without further delay, I'm going to introduce our first speaker of the day from the Department of Design and Construction, Commissioner Tom Foley. Tom.

Commissioner Thomas Foley, Department of Design and Construction: Wow, I have a couple of fans out there, right? As I expressed to the borough president earlier today, he's making engineering and architecture really cool because of the support that we have from borough president Donovan Richards here in Queens. But it is a great day here, topping-out ceremony at the 116th precinct. Again, my name is Tom Foley. I'm the commissioner at the Department of Design and Construction and lead an amazing team of 1,200 professionals. We have over a 25 year relationship with our colleagues at NYPD. Everything from… we've been working with them extremely closely, have great collaboration. We had worked with them over on the Police Academy. We currently completed a beautiful and new academy, and we're also working with them up in the Bronx at the 40th Precinct. Here at 116th, 33,000 square feet. Beautiful new building with community center that remains on time and on budget.

Commissioner Foley: Thank you Mr. Arscott. And it's not by mistake when these things happen and they're happening more often. This is what we expect. This is what we demand upon ourselves for expediting capital projects within the City of New York. We have a great responsibility placed upon our team and we readily accept it. This project, a lot of the efforts that we're making are incorporated into our just released DDC blueprint. It really is a framework for improving capital project delivery in the City of New York. And make no mistake, there's huge challenges, but we're up to the task. This project by Dattner Architects was designed a year ahead of schedule. We were literally here a year ago, putting shovels into almost a created sandbox. I don't think we have to pay a change order for that, but either way. But it shows you the power of partnerships. Of working with Cinalta, our builder. With Tectonic, our engineering team out here and Jacobs. And to completing the work.

Commissioner Foley: I feel like I'm at the U.S. Open like a couple years ago before they rediverted it. Anyway, but it really shows the efforts that we are collectively making in order to improve capital delivery in the city. One of the things that we've incorporated onto this project that's now being standard, or several things, is an extra work allowance. Basically what had happened here was there was unforeseen ground conditions that would've delayed the project at least one year. We had registered contingency funding. I know it's not sexy, but we had registered contingency funding in order to allow the contractor to continue working while we negotiate, obviously, the unexpected condition. We also have contract incentives for them to complete this project ahead of schedule. And we look forward to paying this over to Cinalta. Because as soon as we can provide this service, this building, this community center, this Precinct back to the community, to the PD, then we've done our job. So we're really looking forward to this.

Commissioner Foley: As I mentioned, this remains on schedule, on budget, and we have our onsite presence here to ensure that that gets done. I'd just like to point out a couple of our DDCers that are in the house. During our design phase, we had Lucy Wong that was really leading the effort with Dattner.

Commissioner Foley: She's still obviously committed to the project, stops out here on her own time. And during construction, we have Kevin Arscott and Anthony Pittelli who are doing a fantastic job. And I would be remiss without the leadership that has been shown here under First Deputy Commissioner Eric McFarland, Deputy Commissioner Sal Cali, and our new Associate Commissioner Judy Wong — Judith Bernard. I'm getting all my Judy's mixed up today. But Judy's yes. So without further ado, I'm going to hand this back over, but thank you all. And we look forward to being out here early 2024 for our completion and where we're going to open up the doors right behind me into this beautiful new, $100 million precinct. Thank you.

Lieutenant Conway: Thank you, Commissioner Foley. It is now my honor to introduce Assemblyman Clyde Vanel.

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Lieutenant Conway: Thank you, Assemblyman Vanel. It is now my honor to introduce to Queens Borough President, Donovan Richards.

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Lieutenant Conway: Thank you, Borough President Richards. It is now my pleasure to introduce Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers.

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Lieutenant Conway: Thank you Council Member Brooks-Powers. It is now my honor to introduce the Commanding Officer of Patrol Borough Queens South Assistant Chief Kevin Williams.

Chief Kevin Williams, Police Department: Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for coming. I'm excited to be here at the future home of the 116th precinct. Today's topping-out ceremony brings us one step closer to the opening of the 116th Precinct. This precinct is the physical evidence of the New York City Police Department's commitment to the residents of Rosedale, Laurelton, Springfield Garden, and Floral Park. The 116th Precinct will allow for a more rapid police response, and as equally as important, the 116 Precinct, with its community meeting room, will improve community police engagement. I want to personally thank those who long advocated for the construction of this precinct and I look forward to walking through these doors with you in 2024. Thank you and have a great day.

Lieutenant Conway: Thank you, Chief Williams. It is now my honor to introduce the First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban.

First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban, Police Department: Hello everyone. On behalf of the Police Commissioner I am honored to join all of you here for this exciting ceremony. Today, we take a major step toward the completion of the new 116 Street Precinct. It has been said, so many people have fought for this precinct over the years. The need for a new precinct in Southeast Queens has been going on for decades. And today we are one step closer to fulfilling that need. And of course we are all excited at the progress being made of the construction of the building, but it's what comes next that will have a huge impact. I look forward to the day when this brick and mortar comes to life.

Deputy Commissioner Caban: When the hum of your NYPD officers going about their work can be felt in the community. When the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods see the police, not just during crisis, but as neighbors and also as partners in the vital work of public safety. That day is fast approaching and I just want to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make it so. Finally to the NYPD officers who join us, thank you for all you do. Your hard work is appreciated and does not go unnoticed. It is now my honor to turn it over to our mayor, the honorable Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, Commissioner Caban, and all our partnerships that we have here, our councilwoman, our borough president, as well as our assemblymen and our Council persons. I have two Council persons who are here. But this is our investment in public safety and justice. You could have both. This precinct is a location that many of our electives have fought for and they was receiving mixed messages and uncertainty. It was about the quality of life. Many people don't fully appreciate how the elected officials in this part of Queens, Southeast Queens — how the homeowners, the everyday people here — they want to be safe and they want quality policing. And they want to make sure the men and women who are providing that safety have a location that is state of the art to make sure that they can carry out their jobs and function. This was an easy lift when it came down to this community. I say this over and over again, everyone that talks about this abandoned Police Department and police officers ask them if we take the cops off your block, do you want us to start there? And you get the same thing of resounding no. And this community understands it. They understand that we can get the quality we want and make sure that we have the justice we deserve.

Mayor Adams: And so I think our electeds in this community, the civic groups, and our contractors who are here — you're building a precinct. You're building the bedrock of our public safety. Is a place where men and women can go to and start their days out on patrol or even out on patrol. I know what it was like to be in a precinct that was dilapidated, falling apart, didn't have the basic necessities that our police officers deserve. And that is not going to happen here. So hurray to these leaders, hurray to people who came together and made this happen. This took years in the making, but you're part of an administration that lives by three letters, GSD, "Get Stuff Done", and we got it done. Thank you very much.

Lieutenant Conway: At this time I invite all our elected officials over to the beam to sign it please.

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