Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Community Conversation

October 12, 2023

Watch the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xlwh3lil0A

First Deputy Commissioner Valerie Vasquez, Community Affairs Unit: Good evening, Park Slope. I am Valerie Vasquez, the First Deputy Commissioner of the mayor's Community Affairs unit. It brings me great pleasure to stand here in the heart of Brooklyn right here at MS 88. I want to extend our gratitude to Principal Mitchell for graciously opening the doors to us; and most importantly, to every single one of you that are here today. Your presence tonight is a testament to your unwavering dedication to your neighborhood and to the City of New York.

The mayor's ‘Talk with Eric, a Community Conversation Series,’ is rooted in the principle of collaboration: we want to hear from you. And as we transition into this next segment, in the interest of time, we ask that each table ask one consensus question to ask the mayor and his administration. We have cards at the table to record any additional questions you may have. Your concerns are our priority, and we pledge to address every single one within the next 14 days.

In an effort to keep our communication ongoing, we urge you, if you have not already, sign up to HearFromEric. This will allow you to stay informed, be engaged and ensure that communication between you and Mayor Adams is ongoing. Now, allow me to spotlight the dedicated members of the Adams administration who are here with us today:

Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar, Deputy Mayor Anne Williams‑Isom, Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres‑Springer, the Chief of Staff to the First Deputy Mayor, Yume Kitasei, NYPD Commissioner Mark Stewart, DEP Commissioner Rit Agarwal, Department of City Planning Executive Director Edith Hsu-Chen, Department of Probations Commissioner Juanita Holmes, HPD Assistant Commissioner Nicole Simmons, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart, New York City Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue, Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Executive Director Elijah Hutchinson, FDNY Deputy Chief Russell Regan, New York City Emergency Management Assistant Commissioner Ira Tannenbaum, NYCHA Communications Manager [Rumith Munith], DOE First Deputy Commissioner Dan Weisberg, ACS First Deputy Commissioner Winette Saunders, Department of Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo, the Mayor's Office of People with Disabilities Commissioner Christina Curry, Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Manuel Castro, H + H President, Dr. Mitchell Katz, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Chief of Staff Jenna Mandel‑Ricci, Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Youth and Community Development Commissioner Keith Howard, Human Rights Commission Chief of Staff Jose Rios,  Mayor's Office of Community and Mental Health Executive Director Eva Wong, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Assistant Commissioner Carlos Ortiz, Small Business Services Executive Deputy Commissioner Dynishal Gross, the Mayor's Office of Sports, Wellness and Recreation Executive Director Jasmine Ray, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice Director of Outreach Deanna Logan, Department of Homeless Service Commissioner Molly Park, Department for the Aging Executive Deputy Commissioner Ryan Murray, Department of Finance Director Robin Lee, the Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence Deputy Commissioner Anne Patterson.

And again, I myself am Valerie Vasquez, First Deputy Commissioner for the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit. We are also joined by Robert Carroll, your Assemblymember, who will just give a few minutes to give brief remarks.

State Assemblymember Robert Carroll: Good evening. I'm Assemblymember Robert Carroll. Thank you so much, Valerie. I must say I have never been on a larger dais than this before. I want to thank Mayor Adams and his entire administration for coming to Park Slope to talk to all of you about your issues and what's happening in our neighborhood and in our city. It is so important to have that kind of transparency. And I would be remiss if I didn't say I want to thank Mayor Adams for his continued support for early childhood education, especially evidence‑based literacy reforms that our schools so desperately needed. Thank you, Mayor Adams, for all of that hard work.

Vasquez: And now it's my honor to introduce the man who needs no introduction, the 110th mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. It feels good to be back in Park Slope. I represented you as a state senator, and the best job in politics as the borough president. And I'm looking forward to having a real good conversation. And the way we have done this in all of our town halls is that you talk, I shut up and listen: I talk, I ask you to listen.

We want a conversation. We would love to sit down and have a long interaction with everyone that's here, but the possibilities of that is just not possible. So, you all got together at each one of your tables and came up with a topic that's important. A person will stand up and talk and share your thoughts. And if we can't answer your questions, we will get back to you. Every town hall, they have all stated the interaction between the team and getting back to you is something that we do.

Go back to January 1st, 2022. What was happening in this city? Our crime was stranded in the wrong direction, something that I actually stated I was going to fight. I always say the prerequisite to prosperity is public safety. We were having serious gun problems. We were seeing robberies, homicides, shootings. They were all trending in the wrong direction.

We were dealing with just a state of total disorder on our streets where paper plates, people were committing crimes using paper plates and unregistered cars, 3‑wheel motorcycles were moving throughout our city. We were coming out of Covid, there was a level of uncertainty if we were going to keep our schools open. We came in with one message, that the safest place for a child is in the school building, we kept them open. People were telling us, close the schools, close the schools. We were consistent, and parents knew where their children were going to be. We were dealing with a real financial crisis.

Now look at where we are now: 99 percent of our jobs we lost are back. Tourism is back in the city, 56 million tourists last year, 65 million this year. We're seeing a AA bond rate rating in the city. The bond raters increased our bond ratings in the city. 12,000 illegal guns removed off our streets, decrease in five of the seven major crime categories. Homicides are down, shooters are down. We've partnered with our state lawmakers to go after ghost guns.

We've navigated out of Covid. We put together the right team that's here with the level of diversity and the level of understanding government and the compassion that comes with it. I want you to go on our site and look at all of the W's that we have put together in this administration — everything from healthy food in our schools to teaching our children the power of breath work, to going to Rikers Island and dealing with the issues on Rikers Island.

I have been on Rikers Island more than any mayor of the history of this city, visiting inmates, correction officers. Last year on Thanksgiving, I spent it with a young lady who had a baby on Rikers Island to sit down and find out how we could be preventive in what we're doing.

Thanks to Assemblyman Carroll, dyslexia screening in our schools. Thirty percent of our inmates at Rikers Island are dyslexic, 80 percent don't have a high school diploma or equivalency diploma. We have an upstream mindset in this administration.

Our older adults cabinet is really focusing on the pre determinants of health, loneliness and how do we push that back in our senior centers, and how do we go about making it happen. Being proactive in employment, foster care children, paying their college tuition and giving them a stipend; and after graduating, holding on to them for another year so the 600 to 700 that age out every don't slip through the cracks. We knew that was a problem and it was always happening; we are turning that around; and, investing in Fair Futures, giving them life coaches until they're 21 years old.

Our children. Crime over the summer did not follow the normal trend, because what did we do? 100,000 summer youth jobs for our young people, 110,000 children went into our Summer Rising program, school all year round in a safe environment where their parents knew where they were. DYCD did an amazing job. We had several different town halls with young people only, and they gave us what they wanted from our administration.

And so this has been a good run, and we have just gotten started. And I want HPD to share during the conversation how many new units of housing, how many people we put in supportive housing, the records we have, we have broken in the areas of giving people FHEPS vouchers and putting them inside. So, it's a real tangible results.

The things that I ran on, we are doing every day, every day. Do we have more to do? Yes. Is the administration perfect? No, I'm perfectly imperfect, I'll tell you right from the beginning. But we're dedicated. This powerful group of men and women, everyday New Yorkers that look like the City of New York have contributed their life.

Just came back from South America with Commissioner Castro. We were down in Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia watching what is happening on the ground and the migrants and asylum seekers. That's the number one crisis that we're facing, $5 billion this year, $12 billion over the next three years. That money is going to come from somewhere, and we have to really be honest about that. He and I went to the border together to see what was happening in El Paso. On the ground, committed administration, and we want to continue to do the job that we were elected to do.

So, I want to open the floor up, hear your questions, have a dialogue. This is a place of dialogue, this is not a place of protests. If you're here to protest, we're going to show you the door. If you're here to dialogue, we're going to let you do that. But it's respectful for our neighbors so that we can hear from everyone.

So, where am I starting, Lamona? Lamona used to be a transit cop with me when we were rookies back in the days. Yes, she'll turn it on for you. You can have mine. As‑salamu alaykum.

Question: Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for this so very diverse and inclusive of town hall. NYC is the city… Is the capital of the world, 1,800 public schools. We would like to ask you, how are you going to empower our schools infrastructure such as CCs to be part, an effective part of the budget process, to let you know that, for example, right now we are October 12th, and our city‑wide champs program in middle schools for basketball didn't start yet. The funding for our principal is still saying delayed.

To let you know that the art program for middle schools is still telling our principals, delayed. To let you know, that the schools that have registered growth into the enrollment have not yet received their, what is it called, it has a special name. So, to be part of this process to help you.

And there are many other services, for example, I can witness that because of the [inaudible] looming budget cuts and all principals are trembling by October 31st we don't know what's going to happen with our budget in our schools. What is happening, our teachers do not have enrichment like debate, like theater, like just having few hours for math and reading to their students in the afternoon, they're not being paid. They have to do it in lunch time.

So, the kids cannot go to recess, they have to catch that at lunch time. To let you know that this is happening in our public schools, right? And to let you know, I speak Arabic, we have migrants who speak Arabic. They have… They are using Google Translate with their teachers, we do not have services. So, we need all this help, and we need to be able to tell you all this. We need to be part of the budget process. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: My English teacher used to say if you can't do it in one page, you know. I understood you the first sentence, okay? Dan, you want to… Did you hear her question, Dan? Dan is the Deputy Chancellor. Did you hear her question?

First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg, Department of Education: Yes, sir. Yes, sir, I did. There was a number of different questions, but sure, I would say, and ma'am, I want to… 

Mayor Adams: Stand up so she can see you. You're an attractive guy and she wants to see you.

First Deputy Chancellor Weisberg: That's the best compliment I've heard all school year. Ma'am, I'm going to connect with you to make sure I know what school it is so we can expedite the budget situation at your particular school. So, I will get that information from you. We will follow up tomorrow with you and the principal to make sure that there's no delay in funding.

Listen, one of the things we are committed and Chancellor Banks is committed to, and we've talked about this recently, is in these tight budget times what the Mayor has talked about, very often we are just in tight budget times. We're losing federal stimulus. We have the issue with the expense of migrants. That money is going to come from somewhere. We are having to tighten our belts.

This is something we have been talking about for some time, for a couple years, in fact. This is not new news. But it doesn't make it easy. One of things we are committed to do is to engage with our elected officials like [Assemblyman] Carroll to engage with our CECs as we go through these very difficult issues, trade offs about what do we prioritize when we have shrinking budgets. So, I want to talk more with you about that, about how we do that.

One of the things we did proactively, people don't understand about our budget. I get it, we're a huge agency. We've got a $37 billion budget. And when people hear that, they think that's infinity, so you can afford absolutely everything. One of things the chancellor did is he's done a roadshow where he's explained what's in our budget, what are we spending the money on. Most, the vast, vast majority of the dollars go to schools; and if they don't go to schools, they go to things that support schools like busing, and food, and facilities. So, we need to demystify that and we need to partner with you.

The other thing that I want to say is this mayor has put, there's never enough, let me say it right up front, never enough money for all the things we want to do for our kids, including the things you talked about, ma'am. But this mayor has put more money in schools than ever in the history of this city. So, $180 million went in our schools for hold harmless last year. $90 million went to schools, but not just to schools evenly, to schools with students in temporary housing and schools that have a concentration of students who have challenges, they're in foster care, et cetera. So, we are doing everything we can to drive the money to the kids where it's needed, but there's always more to do.

Mayor Adams: And here's something that a lot of people, you know, we don't want to deal with but we have to be honest. Stimulus money is drying up. We put in place under the previous administration permanent programs with temporary dollars. Those dollars are gone. All this money that propped up systems, the money is going away, and now we have to adjust for that with 20,000 new children that are in our school system and the largest number of migrant and asylum seekers that we're now getting are children and families that is going to be absorbed into our system.

So, there's some real cost efficiencies that we're going to have to do that is really frightening when you think about it, but it has to be done. We still have to educate our children. We're still committed to doing so. But there's no joy in seeing this money dried up. And part of the problem we had was the PreK and 3K. We were paying for empty seats in pre-K. and 3-K. We were over bloated. We had more seats than bodies in the seat.

And so the chancellor's office and first deputy mayor and the chief of staff, we had to go and realign this whole system because the system was giving the impression that the program was successful. The concept was successful. The earlier you give a child education the better he or she is. But how this was laid out was incorrectly laid out, and we have to go fix it, and those dollars are going to run out at I think at the end of this year, Dan? The end of this year.

Okay. Next table. So, make sure we get the woman's contact.

Question: Our table question is, housing is obviously an issue, statewide. What are the regulations going on where developers actually providing… I'm sorry. Developers actually contributing to the neighborhoods that they're benefiting from. Also, Housing Connect, a lot of the median income for some of these apartments are $89,000 to $100,000 in order for you to even be able to eligible to apply. The median income for New York City is about $40,000 to $50,000. What is going on to rectify that issue?

Mayor Adams: Okay. HPD and… We're going to turn it over to the Deputy Mayor Maria Torres‑Springer. And while you answer her question, DM, please share with us what we have done around housing.

Deputy Mayor Maria Torres‑Springer, Housing, Economic Development and Workforce: Thank you. Good evening, thank you so much for that question. Clearly, housing and affordable housing is a critical issue not just for the residents of this district but really city wide, and that's why this administration has made historic investments in affordable housing.

So, it starts with what's in the budget. An historic $24 billion that the Mayor has allocated in the capital budget so that we can build as much affordable housing as we need. I'm going to answer your specific questions but just some top lines so we all get a picture of the progress that has been made in the past fiscal year to spur the development of affordable housing.

So, in fiscal year '23, HPD financed 24,000 units of affordable housing, which is close to a 45 percent increase over the year before. But tucked in those numbers are also some records, including the second most number of new construction units, the most number of supported units, the most number of permanent homes for the formerly homeless… 

Mayor Adams: Hold on, let her understand. The most in history.

Deputy Mayor Torres‑Springer: That's right.

Mayor Adams: We need to be clear on that. The most in history, because you didn't say "history," and I want to make they know that.

Deputy Mayor Torres‑Springer: Yes, in history. In history. And to your question about income levels, because it's critically important that the housing that we build, of course, is affordable to New Yorkers across different income tiers, so also in the past fiscal year — and this is the highest percentage in history… The number of homes that are affordable to extremely low income New Yorkers, so that's zero to 30 percent of area median income, that's 5,600 homes. That's the highest in history. 

So, we're really focused on making sure that as developers build across the city including in this district we're getting as much affordable housing as possible across all of the income tiers and we're really making it possible for young people, for seniors, for growing families to make sure they feel like, and the reality is also there that they have a place in the city that they helped build.

Mayor Adams: Can you talk about FHEPS vouchers?

Deputy Mayor Torres‑Springer: Yes. And also, another record is the largest really number of FHEPS vouchers that we've made available so that low income New Yorkers can have permanent affordable housing. So, across those areas we're really focused on making sure the most vulnerable New Yorkers are getting the type of affordable and decent homes that they deserve.

Mayor Adams: And the first time in history we included NYCHA into the housing dollars. We put the most in history in housing including NYCHA, because NYCHA has been ignored for so long. Now, here's what did not happen. You cannot speak to one elected official in this city that states that housing is at a crisis level. We have an inventory problem: we don't have enough units, we have to build more housing.

Our population is increasing, but we don't have enough units. So, we needed...the Governor partnered with us to put in place an aggressive plan to build housing, renew 421a, turn some of our office spaces into housing. We have 138 million square feet of office spaces that's vacant and it's not being used, we can convert it into housing. Raising the FAR. Building more. We got nothing from Albany. Nothing.

We need folks like Assemblyman Carroll that understands it to get the support he needs up there so we can get something out of Albany. Part of our ability to build comes from the state. We're creatures of the state, and we need help from the state. Is Dan here from City Planning? Who’s from City Planning. Talk about all our city wide building… The first time in history we're building… We want to build at the level we're building.

Edith Hsu-Chen, Executive Director, Department of City Planning: Thank you, Mayor. Hi, I'm Edith Hsu‑Chen, executive director of the Department of City Planning. I am very excited to talk to you about the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. It is a major, major zoning initiative, the biggest in history, biggest pro housing zoning initiative. We have a major housing crisis. We have a city wide housing crisis, we need a city wide solution.

So, what we are asking is we are asking for every neighborhood to do its part: low rise, mid rise, high rise, every neighborhood should do its part. If we build a little bit more in every neighborhood, we're not going to have a particular neighborhood shouldering more responsibility than others. We all know the New York City housing crisis has major direct real human consequences. Rent is high, a lot of shabby apartments, landlords have the leverage. We need to fix the equation. We need to increase housing supply.

So, you know, over the past 60 years of zoning, we've created very complicated zoning regulations. We've actually created zoning regulations that aren't allowing us to build the kind of buildings we want to build. So, we're changing that. We are getting zoning out of the way so that we can promote and produce housing throughout the city. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Our zoning regulations, they were racist. They prevented us from building to keep people out of communities. And many of these regulations made no sense. And we're going in, we're reshaping them. Dan and his crew, they have really gone in and we have an aggressive housing plan.

Now, folks on Mondays, they say Eric, we need more housing; and then on Tuesday, don't build it on my block. We can't have it both ways. You know, everyone deserves to live everywhere in the city, and every part of this city should have their proportion of housing. There's a lot more room to build, and we need to be open and allow people to live in every community. Good schools, close to good transportation, close to good medical facilities, close to good, healthy food. That is how we can solve this housing crisis.

Right now the landlords have an upper hand because the stock is so limited. And so to your question directly, we fought hard and got the minimum wage raise. If you're a full‑time employee in McDonald's, if you and your spouse are full‑time employees, you almost price out of affordable housing. So, we need low income, middle income to make sure my teacher, my accountant, my full‑time fast food workers, we got them increases in minimum wage, but if they're doing 8‑hour days and husband and wife, you look at some of this low income, they can't afford to live in it.

So, we need to make sure we have housing for all levels of income so all levels of income can stay in our city. Thank you. Next question.

Question: Thank you so much. Can you explain justifying budget cuts of 15 percent across all agencies as a requirement to support newly arrived families? These families need fully funded public schools. Can you explain what types of solutions are being explored with public and private partnerships?

Mayor Adams: So, I really need the city, we're almost a victim of our success. You know that? Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom, who ran the entire HERRC asylum seeker operation. We're a victim of our success. We had 116,000 people that entered our city, started with Governor Abbott. He primed the pump and now everyone is saying send them to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington. New York City's receiving the bulk of them.

We have to house, clothe, clean their sheets, feed, medical care — everything a person who's dependent on you, we have to do. This year is going to cost us $5 billion. People talk about New York City has $106 billion budget, $76 billion of that is already accounted for. At the beginning of the year, we know $76 billion is off. We have $30 billion that we can figure out how to move around to do the other programs that you're talking about, $30 billion. $5 billion of that $30 billion is gone, so we're down to $25 billion. Now we need another $7 billion when we balance our budget, so we're off $12 billion. 

That money has to come from somewhere. It's almost as though you have a budget for your house in the year and then the roof collapses, you go to your insurance broker that you paid insurance for, they're supposed to pick up the tab. Well, our insurance broker is the federal government, and they're saying to us, we're not picking up the tab. They only gave us a little over $100 million to pay for this.

And they're telling us, your asylum seekers can't work. We have thousands of jobs that are available, and they're saying they can't work. Every asylum seeker we communicated with said, we don't want anything free from New York. We just want to be able to contribute to the city. We want a job. We want to give back.

So, the money that you're talking about coming from schools, parks, sanitation, all of those areas, right now we're sitting down, pulling our hair out...well, I don't have any hair, but we're pulling out, we're stressing over how are we going to go after that $5 billion that we have to, by law, balance our budget. We have a November plan that we have to reconfigure our budget by law. By law I have to find $5 billion out of that $30 billion. It is frightening when you think about it. Frightening.

All of us should be pressuring Washington, D.C., why are you doing this to New York City? This is wrong what's happening to our city, and it's going to be wrong, taxpayers should not be picking up the tab of a national crisis. New York City's taxpayers should not be paying for this. It's going to impact us long term, because when we have to cut these programs, it's going to impact those who need government to finally get out of poverty that we are attempting to do.

So, I'm with you 100 percent, we should not be paying for this. That's why we need to be calling all of our federal lawmakers and fight on behalf of New York City.

Question: What protocols are in place in the event of a natural disaster such as heavy rain or flooding for New York City and New York City public schools? Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. And I want… Who do I have from Office of Emergency Management? Who is here?

Vazquez: Commissioner Ira.

Mayor Adams: First, let's dispel the myth and the excitement of having headlines that this administration was not prepared for the storm. Nothing could be further from the truth. First notification went out 2:45 the day before, Zach Iscol went on and did interviews stating such.

Second, we had a record level of rain. We need to be clear on that. A record level. What was it? Eight inches? Eight inches of rain. Eight inches. Zero deaths. Zero serious physical injuries. Rescued three people from their basement apartments because we already mapped where the basement apartments were, and we communicated with people. Rescued 15 people off our highways where their cars got stuck because they didn't listen as we told them.

So, when you look at what the administration did, we had more rain this time than previously. We went ahead of time to clean out the catch basins. Ahead of time, we did notifications. Ahead of time, we brought the team together to open the command centers. We were prepared.

If the argument was, well, Eric, why you didn't say something earlier in the day? Because I have a team. If I'm the only one that's running this city, we're all in trouble. I have a whole team here, and they all have their assignment. I can't be the quarterback, running back, linebacker, water boy.

Listen, I put together a team, and they all kicked in gear. And so we have real protocols in place. Can you share some of the protocols that we have in place?

Ira Tannenbaum, Assistant Commissioner, Public/Private Initiatives, New York City Emergency Management: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And that's exactly what we do. Under the leadership of City Hall and the mayor, we've put in place plans like the flash flood plan which looks at our consultations with the National Weather Service in advance of a storm, and then we bring together our partners at sister agencies, DEP, Sanitation, Department of Buildings. We hold calls, and we make sure that we can activate these plans in advance so everyone's going out and clearing catch basins, as the mayor said.

We're making notifications. We're using our program, NotifyNYC. I hope everyone in this room has signed up for NotifyNYC to get those messages in advance about the storm that's coming; and when there's an emergency, to stay connected to the city and to the information that we're sending.

But we're working with our partners to make sure that the message is out there, that the work is being done in advance and that we're tracking the storms so that we can make sure that tow truck task force is available in case vehicles get stuck. So, it's really a team effort to make sure, and we're happy and proud to coordinate it.

Mayor Adams: This is what people wanted us to do. They said close the schools. We said no. You know how disruptive it is if you're a store clerk and all of a sudden your baby has to come stay home? It's one thing if you're working from home or if you could afford someone to take care of your child. The average New Yorker, if that child is told all of a sudden that school is closed, you disrupted their entire life, and some of those children are staying home alone by themselves. And then look at the fact that the lunch and breakfasts, those are primary meals for countless numbers of our students.

And so Chancellor Banks did the right call. The safest place for a child is in school, not hanging out with his friend Bey‑Bey somewhere on the street corner. He needs to be in school. We kept the schools open. Children were safe. We made the right call. We made tough calls, but they're the right calls, and they proved to be the right thing to do.

Question: Hi, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: What level of planning is going on to reduce future flooding in the subways, in particular? Because a lot of subways were shut down, and people did not have a way to get back.

Mayor Adams: I'm a former transit cop. And what we have to do is going to take years of Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi and Rit Aggarwala, who's our DEP, and there's some things that they are doing — I'm going to let them explain — but our infrastructure is not built to handle eight inches of rain. It's just not built to do so.

And so we have some aggressive plans that we're doing short term, mid term and long term. We've done some short‑term stuff, we implemented some mid‑term stuff, and then there's long term that we need to get done. We are not handling...we screwed up the environment, and now we have to build for the environment that we messed up and we're leaving our children. So, deputy mayor, can you go into some of this stuff?

Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Sure. And I think, as Commissioner Aggarwala says frequently, the climate crisis is happening at a pace that is much faster than our infrastructure can keep up with it.

So, we really have medium term and long term, because at the end of the day, we have to make New York City a sponge. The amount of rain that we're getting and the unpredictability of it is not going to be taken care of through our current sewer system, and it's impossible to build out a sewer system that takes care of that amount of rain.

Around the world, there's sponge cities popping up. That means taking every square foot of New York City that we possibly can and making it dual use. It's public space, but it's also absorbent. Sometimes you see that in small sections, a small green area. A place where we might have planted a tree, that's a rain garden. We've put out thousands of those in this administration.

Other places, it's like a large lake. Like you see in Staten Island, a very successful bluebelt, built out a lake that is now absorbing the flooding. And we're anxious to get that in every borough. Places like Prospect Park Lake can eventually have dual purpose and be a place for flooding so that the next‑door neighborhood, Church Avenue and along there, can actually get some relief through the lake at Prospect Park being a bluebelt lake, not just a place that we go to enjoy.

So, that's really the crucial theme that we have to make everything have dual purpose in order to combat the climate crisis. Some of it's slow. Some of it's long. All of it takes money. So, we're going after every federal dollar to make sure we can fund it.

And I'd like to just give the mic over to our commissioner of Department of Environmental Protection, if there's anything further you'd like to add about the efforts that your department is doing.

Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala, Department of Environmental Protection: Sure. Thank you, deputy mayor; and thank you, mayor. So building on what the deputy mayor said, beginning last year, we did, as the mayor said, start work at all three levels to think about short term, medium term and long term.

The reality is that changing the city's infrastructure is not even the work of years; it's the work of decades. Right? This is an infrastructure that's been built over 150 years. Rebuilding it for a new climate is going to take a very long time.

We've started as fast as we can. One of the things my agency has been working on over the last year and a half is building a digital model of how the sewers work, because sometimes if you want to solve a flooding problem down here, you have to go upstream because the sewers are all connected, they all flow into one of our 14 wastewater treatment plants.

We've been working on short‑term things, like how people can protect their property. In fact, over the last two years, we've given away more than 5,000 flood barriers so people can protect their property. It's a Band‑Aid. It's not a way to live long term, but it's a way to buy a little time.

And we have a number of hotspots. Last year we put out a map that we identified down to the building, block and lot number, every address in New York City and its likelihood to flood. That is going to start shaping our capital plan so that we are doing the work in the places that need it the most. That's not how it's always been done, but that's what we are working to.

And then specifically, you asked about the subways. The reality is the subways are underground. The water is always going to go down there. And we have been working very closely with the MTA over the last two years learning some of the lessons from Hurricane Ida two years ago.

We now have a protocol. The deputy commissioner mentioned that when a flash flood alert happens, we check critical catch basins. We have 160,000 catch basins across the city, we can't check them all, but we check a couple thousand that are priorities. We've included ones that are known to affect the subways so that we get the most work from our existing infrastructure.

And in fact, I was just today having an e‑mail exchange with the MTA about getting together over the course of next week to do some of the lessons learned to see if there are other places. This is going to be the work of a very long time.

And the final thing I'll point out, with something like the subways, and I think it's akin to what the Mayor just said, just as when we get a blizzard, we know that life can't proceed in the middle of a blizzard. Right? And yet we somehow think that in a massive rainstorm, like we got two weeks ago, everything should function normally.

It's not going to happen, and it's not the way it happens in tropical environments. Right? Those of you who are familiar with the Caribbean or Southeast Asia or places like that, when you get one of those massive rainstorms, everybody stops for a little while.

New York City is moving into the tropics. The federal government, in 2020, identified that New York City is no longer in the temperate climate zone, we are in the subtropical climate zone. That was in 2020. And so we are playing catch‑up with a changing climate, and we're going to have to start adopting some behavioral expectations as well in addition to changing our infrastructure.

Mayor Adams: And the subway system, ma'am, can't handle the water… When we had those large storms, the subway system is built to drain a certain amount of water. It is more than what is prepared to drain. As Rit says, this climate change is moving faster than we've ever imagined.

Now, we're doing some long‑term stuff. Do we have DCAS here? Who is here from DCAS? Okay. We want to roll out some of the stuff, purchasing, turning all of our vehicles into electric fleets. The Department of Education, all of our new buildings that we're building are going to be electric. We're no longer using these coal‑burning or gas‑burning boilers.

So, we are being proactive long term, but because of some of the work we did short term, the water didn't stay around as long as it normally would have — because, remember, we had the eight‑inch storm, then we had another storm. When the ground is saturated, normally the water will stay there but because of some of the short‑term things we're doing, you're seeing the water dissipate faster. But we can't handle the flow of water. The system was never built to handle this much water. Hello.

Question: I just came from a middle school tour, and they were talking about the fact that the smaller schools are, like, getting less kids and the bigger schools are getting more kids to attend there, and so they're having to make a lot of budget cuts to keep the school running. And they don't want to cut the teachers, but when they run out of funding and have to make, like, a lot of budget cuts, what are you going to do about it?

Mayor Adams: Yes. I'm sorry, what's your name?

What is your name?

Question: Sophie.

Mayor Adams: Sophie. Sophie, I'm so glad Dan is here because he has to take that tough question and not me.

So, I thank you. And if you are upset with his answer, blame him, okay? So, Dan… And Sophie, here's another issue that we're having that is just really unfair. We all know that class sizes matter, but we have now been told that we have to do class sizes across the entire city.

And theoretically, it sounds good, but what's happening is that in poorer communities where people don't want to stay in those schools we now have to decrease class sizes in schools where they're not having a problem with enrollment. Like Brooklyn Tech, Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, they're not having a problem with academics. They're not having problems with enrollment. So, we now have to bring down their class sizes.

More people are going to go to those schools, and those schools that are really suffering and hurting, they're going to really have an impact because equality is not equity. You know, if someone gives you and I a suit, that's equal. But if it's both the same size, you don't fit my size suit [laughter] you fit a different size.

Equity is meeting the needs of people where they are, and that's what we want to focus on. I want to make sure the suit you get, fit; the suit I get, I fit. And not say, well, okay, we're being equal. Because it's more than just being equal, we have to be equity. That's what's important. Dan, can you answer her question?

First Deputy Chancellor Weisberg: Yes, sir. Yes, sir, mayor. So, Sophie, did you see some schools you liked on the middle school tour?

Question: Yes.

First Deputy Chancellor Weisberg: You did. One of them is right here, MS 88, with its great principal, Ailene Mitchell. Please give her a hand. It's an amazing school right here.

So, you're very fortunate to live here in a district with some terrific, terrific middle schools. By the way, you've got a great elementary principal — maybe this is your principal right here, Liz Phillips from 321. Please give her a hand as well. Does a great, great job here in Park Slope.

But here's what I would say. And this is, you do tough math at 321 — I know, because I've been in the classrooms here — the more kids you have, the more budget you're going to have; the fewer kids you have, the less budget you're going to have. We do have an issue. The chancellor talks a lot about this. Over the course of the pandemic, and even before the pandemic, we lost 120,000 families — 120,000 kids left the system. That would be one of the biggest school systems in the entire country.

That's a problem. Families voted with their feet. We are turning that around, that's good news. Right? There are more families coming in, things have stabilized. We want to win even more families to come back in so we don't have as many schools that are too small.

This is the reality. Again, students equal dollars. That's not the way we like to think of it, but that's just the economic reality. If the school gets too small, you can't afford our programs. You can't afford PSAL. You can't afford enrichment, debate clubs, et cetera. We've got too many schools that have gotten below critical mass. The superintendents...and we've got a couple of great superintendents here, by the way. Shenean Lindsay is here. Rafael Alvarez. Where's Alvarez? Alvarez in the back, D15.

Sophie, these folks, who are the bosses of the principals, spend a lot of time thinking about how do we give families what they're asking for so more of them choose to be in New York City public schools so we don't have that many small schools that can't afford to do all the things we want to do for our kids. So, we're working on it, but very glad you're in an area where you have some terrific middle schools.

Mayor Adams: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Question: Hi, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: I'm good, thank you. I'm nervous, so.

Mayor Adams: I'm nervous every day. You know that?

Question: I was bolstered by the stories and experiences people at my table shared. I'm a public school parent. I'm going to ask for a clarification on a question that a number of people have asked because I really believe that your values are reflected in your budget.

And we have the most billionaires in the world in our city, and it's really hard to believe that we can't support our schools, our CUNY, our libraries and other public services. We don't need to scapegoat immigrants, we don't need to pit New Yorkers against each other or schools against each other.

And so my question is why are you choosing to cut by 15 percent our schools, our libraries, our CUNY programs and other public services that is going to impact the future of our city? We rise and fall together as a city; we should be able to support these public services.

Mayor Adams: Okay. And so I'm curious, I'm curious when you say scapegoat. And think about this for a moment, New Yorkers. We have a policy in place right now that states, you can come from anywhere on the globe, anywhere on the globe, come to New York City, and we have to pay for your food, shelter, clothing for as long as you want. 7.5 million people left Venezuela, a large portion of them are on their way to New York City. When does it reach a point where it says it's not sustainable?

Now, if the federal government was saying, listen, Eric, we're going to match you and we're going to pick up the tab, then we could say everyone could come here. But when does it reach the point? Is $5 billion not enough? $12 billion? When does it reach a point where taxpayers in New York City should not be funding a national problem?

Now, some people say, well, okay, we've got billionaires. Why don't we just raise the tax on billionaires? Do you know 51 percent of our taxes are paid by 2 percent of New Yorkers? And they are fleeing the city in record numbers. We lose our high‑income earners. We are already… California and New York State are the top tax states in the entire country.

We lose those 2 percenters, that many of them are going to Florida and because of Covid‑19 they're no longer are working in the state, we lose them, we lose our cops. We lose our sanitation workers. We lose our teachers. Money comes from somewhere, folks. The math got to add up.

So, we need to be a safe place, a place where business grows and a place that people want to lead. I don't control increasing taxes like that, it's on the state level. It's not the mayor of the City of New York. The only taxes I control are your property taxes. Should I be raising your property taxes? I'm sorry?

Right. I control property taxes. I control the taxes on that little three‑family house that I have in Bed‑Stuy that paid my son's college tuition because I had tenants. That's what I control.

So, if I raise your taxes because anyone on the globe that wants to come to New York City can stay here forever and the federal government is saying it's on our tab, listen, idealism collides with realism all the time. The realism is, we are out of room. We are out of room. We cannot continue to afford this national problem. If Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico did not absorb some of the people, we would be in some real trouble. We could have another 200,000 to 300,000 people in our city if this flow continues from Venezuela.

All I can do is be honest with you, and then you make the determination on what you want to do. We can't afford this, folks. We can't. And it's not right that we are paying for it. And I'm not pitting one group against the other, because we're taking care of everyone that's here, ma'am. We're taking care of everyone that's here.

And so there's a difference of opinion, because listen, New York City has 8.3 million people, but we have 35 million opinions. So, we're not going to agree on everything, but I have to navigate this city out of this crisis that we're in, and it is a crisis.

Agitator: Community organization wanted to help and you kicked us out of Port Authority.

Mayor Adams: Which one? Which one? Which one? Which one? Wait. First of all, we have one rule. We have one rule. We have one rule. I'm not going to yell at you, and you're not going to yell at me. And if that's...

Agitator: When you're lying, I'm going to yell.

Mayor Adams: Can you… Can you… Can you show this young lady to the door?

Moderator: Table 8.

Agitator: ...talking for the migrants. Community members!

Mayor Adams: Show this young lady to...and go to the next table.

Agitator: Where's the money going? To your friends!

Mayor Adams: Go ahead, ma'am.

Question: Good evening, Mayor Adams, and thank you so much for this forum. I… 

Mayor Adams: Hold on. Pause for a moment. We've reached a point, and I think it came after Donald Trump was president, but we reached a point that we believe if we yell the loudest and if we're as disrespectful as possible that all of a sudden what we say is more important than others. That's just not the reality.

You know, we just feel as though let's just yell at each other, let's just call each other names, let's disrespect each other. That's not how we're going to get things done. You know, this team works countless numbers of hours. Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom has committed her life to helping these migrants and asylum seekers.

It's breaking our hearts that people are placed in these conditions. The coldest day of the year I was in that tent sleeping with migrants. I'm in those migrant centers every day speaking to migrants, late at night, going out and talking to them. So, all these folks who believe that this is lala land, no, New Yorkers, this is for real. And this team has been committed to that every day, all day.

Go Google Los Angeles. Go Google Chicago. Go Google San Francisco. Go Google Portland, Oregon. Go Google. All those mayors are trying hard, but go look at their cities. You have tents and encampments everywhere. Not one family slept on the streets of the City of New York because of what this deputy mayor did and her team. Not one.

Not one. So, I got it. It's emotional. It's emotional. I got it. All that emotion is important. But I have to navigate this city out of this crisis. That's what I have to do, and I'm committed to doing it. I'm sorry, ma'am.

Question: It's okay. Thank you again for this forum, and thank you to your team. After a robust conversation, our question landed on safety that supports the most vulnerable students in New York City, District 75 and other students.

So, our question is, how do we partner with city agencies to support the most vulnerable students within the community — i.e., District 75, in shelters — to either adjust the traffic patterns that are respectable. And just to give context, I'm the proud principal of a District 75 school. Any day I have between 18 to 30 buses that are in the community. So, all we're asking for are equitable crossing guards or additional school safety agents, because it's posing a real safety concern for us and my students with disabilities.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. You know, we had… I'm sorry, what's your name?

Question: Ebony.

Mayor Adams: Ebony? Okay. We had town halls with young people. How many did we do, DYCD? How many? Six. All over the city. And two things that came up with each, each town hall, the top two things: mental health, public safety. They said we want a better relationship with our police, we want our school safety agents, and we want to make sure that we are in a safe environment.

So, all those people who were saying when I was campaigning they're going to move school safety agents out of school, we don't need them in school, I said no, our children said we want our school safety agents. And so, Dan, can we do an analysis because District 75… Equity.

First Deputy Chancellor Weisberg: Yes. Absolutely, mayor. And what we'll do, principal, is let's, you and me, connect up. I want to make sure our borough safety director talks to you tomorrow morning. As you know, our brothers and sisters in NYPD are the ones who deploy school safety agents and crossing guards, and they're doing their best. They don't have enough to serve all the needs, but certainly, as you say, the children that you serve in District 75 should be our first priority, always. Not our last priority.

Mayor Adams: Let us look at it.

First Deputy Chancellor Weisberg: We will make sure to talk to NYPD to do everything we can.

Mayor Adams: Let us look at it, and let's look at the numbers, because we definitely should have them. But now here's a direct impact of the cost of asylum seekers and migrants. We have 11,000 jobs. We had to do a hiring freeze. We can't hire any more. We can't hire any more school safety agents. We can't hire any more crossing guards. We don't have the money. So, when people want to know the direct impact, this is the direct impact.

Question: Thank you so much for having us.

Mayor Adams: Thank you, ma'am.

Question: Our table brought a number of issues. Each of us had different priorities, from expanding special education programs for children with autism to rats and the parade ground and the lack of traffic safety with motorized electric bikes.

But — but — the question, our consensus question is how are we bringing more people into this kind of dialogue with one another, especially people without access to, for instance, the e‑mail chains that brought us here or the language access, people who might really...would benefit from being in dialogue, especially in communities where there may be conflicts about development or conflicts about street safety programs? How can we expand community dialogue like this for people who don't have access?

Mayor Adams: I like that. But you know, I know you told that one question, but I want to talk about rats.

Because many of you may not know it, but I hate rats. And who is here from DSNY? Oh, Tisch. Please tell us, commissioner, what we're doing about this city. We're going to answer your question, but I could not get away from the rats. Let this city know what we're going to do about the cleanliness of this city, which is the theater of rats.

Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Sanitation: Every day New Yorkers leave 44 million pounds of trash on our curbs; and for decades, since the late '60s, that trash has been set out in garbage bags. We know that one‑third of the material in those bags is human food, which, unfortunately, also happens to be rat food. It's like almost 16 million pounds of rat food left on our curbs every single day.

What almost every major city around the world has done over the past 20 years is put that food and their waste in containers: wheelie bins in low‑density areas, big fixed containers on the streets in higher density areas. And New York City hasn't made any progress in those 20 years until this summer, when the mayor started to roll out new rules around how we manage our waste.

So, everything from changing the set‑out time to later in the day so it's not sitting on the streets all day, to when the Department of Sanitation picks it up, rules for restaurants, foodservice businesses, chain stores and soon all businesses to put their trash in containers. And now, for low‑density buildings, rules around using wheelie bins.

The rest of the world is laughing at us that we are having a psychodrama in New York City about the use of a wheelie bin. But if we don't like the rats, then we have to containerize our waste, and that is what we are doing in New York City under this mayor very aggressively.

And the early results of all of these efforts are unbelievable. This year we saw a 20% decrease in rat complaints citywide and a 45 percent decrease in rat complaints in our rat mitigation zones in the higher density areas of the city.

One other thing. The best thing that we can do to go after the rats is what we are doing right now in New York City in bringing organics collection to every residence in this city, all 3.5 million residences, all 8.5 million New Yorkers. I know that Park Slope has had curbside composting for a long time, but the rest of the city has not.

And now we have rolled out weekly curbside composting service to the entire borough of Queens and the entire borough of Brooklyn, making New York City's program the largest curbside composting program in the city. We are moving to the Bronx and Staten Island this spring and then Manhattan in the fall. And then we will have curbside composting for every New Yorker in this city.

And the reason why it is such a good rat mitigation strategy is because we have to get the food out of the black bags. And so, yes, as the mayor said, we have declared war on rats, but more important than declaring war, we are carrying out that war and we are sticking to our guns and moving forward.

Mayor Adams: And we are winning. And the people said it was going to take us five years, we're doing it in two — containerizing our garbage in two years. And just so you know, this is the first time I shared it, but I'm going to share it today with Park Slope. Little boy, I was getting ready to get in my bed, and a big ass rat jumped out. This is when I was a child, and I've been on a war to get back at that rat ever since.

And that is why I hate rats. So, now we're understanding. So, to answer your question about this. Where's Lamona? Lamona does something called Breaking Bread, Building Bonds. We want to do a thousand meetings like this where we have meals with different groups, different ethnicities, 10 people at a minimum at each table, all of them come from a different background, ethnicity, and they do something revolutionary; they talk to each other.

We have had… How many hundreds have we had so far, Lamona? We had a couple hundred.

Lamona Worrell, Assistant Commissioner and Senior Community Advisor, Community Affairs Unit: [Inaudible].

Mayor Adams: 7,000 people. Now they are ambassadors of coexistence. They leave those meetings learning more and more about each other. What is a Sukkot? Why does someone have a Kwanzaa celebration? Why do you wear a turban? Why do you wear a yarmulke, a hijab? People are now sitting down in the room talking. And so we would love for you to be part of that team, host one of the dinners and host these gatherings where we can come together and talk. New Yorkers are not talking to each other enough.

Scooters. Somebody asked about scooters. We have a real problem with scooters in this city. The New York City Police Department and DOT are coming up with a master plan to address scooters. But keep in mind, places like Park Slope, you guys get a lot of deliveries. Those are your folks.

So, we are going to put in place a real plan because we have to clamp down on them. They have been causing accidents where someone lost their life the other day on the highway. So we know there's a scooter problem and we have to get it addressed. Go ahead, ma'am.

Question: I know you're saying there's a scooter problem, but we need to discuss that we cannot criminalize the people on those scooters because these are the people making low wages to get our deliveries to our homes. We need to discuss how we're going to target UberEats, Seamless, GrubHub and all these companies that have created this explosion of mopeds.

And I'm still going to ask my question, Mr. Adams.

Mayor Adams: You've already used up your time. What are you talking about? Listen. No, you're right. The goal is not to criminalize low‑wage employees that are using these scooters. So there's a combination. GrubHub, Uber Eats, all of these cats, they are supplying the demand. And so those of us who order out, we need to hold these app workers responsible.

But everyone still must follow the rules. We're going to do some education. DCWP is going to bring in a lot of our scooter operators to say here are the rules you have to follow because we can't have the wild, wild west. And that's what we have right now, going down one‑way streets, riding on sidewalks.

We had a woman at one of our town halls in Sunset Park, where she was a violinist, and she was paralyzed basically on the right side of her body because she was struck by a scooter. So it's a real issue. We have to bring it under control so that it will not hurt innocent people and we're not going to criminalize people in the process.

Question: Hello. My name is Teresa Davis. We had a lot of questions over here also. So one was that we had issues with on Utica Avenue with...

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry, which avenue?

Question: On Utica Avenue, with the dollar vans selling alcohol beverages out of the vans. But the main question is, how can we get more funding allocated for repairs at NYCHA buildings for youth services and programs and social and vocational services and more funding for our law enforcement to do the work in public housing?

And also, last but least, in Gowanus Houses, we really need some help down there because we have a youth group that has taken over a building, and the tenants are in fear for their life coming in and out of the building. And we have brought this to NYCHA's attention for over a year, and nothing has been done.

Mayor Adams: Okay. So first I'm going to deal with the last part first. Where is DJ? DJ, connect with this sister, and I'm going to come and meet you over at that building, and we will look and find out what's going on because people can't live in fear.

No one should be taking over...we had a building like that in Cooper Houses in Greenpoint where the drug dealers just took over the building, people had to wait on line to get in the building. That cannot happen. So, connect with DJ. Give DJ your information. I'm going to come over. You have it? Okay. Well, I know you are, but I want to know what it is.

So, the funding. Deputy Mayor Maria Torres‑Springer, the money we put into NYCHA funding, NYCHA has a multibillion dollar budget capital deficit. Multibillion dollars. Multibillion dollar capital deficit. Every year people talk about we're going to wait on the federal government.

Those bugles you hear, that's Taps, that's not the cavalry. People are talking about help coming from NYCHA forever. So, what did we do? We went up to Albany. Thanks to folks like your assemblyman, we were able to get the NYCHA Land Trust passed. It's a real win. And we have a project in Chelsea which I think is going to be the answer for NYCHA. It's infill building where the tenants in the old buildings are now going to move into the new buildings when they're built.

Zero displacement. They move into the new modern buildings when they're built and then tear down the old building, build that out and move another building into that building, with zero displacement. New modern living instead of going in, constantly putting a Band‑Aid on a cancerous sore. Those buildings in NYCHA are beyond repair in too many of the locations, and people should not be living in substandard housing the way they're doing.

There's never been any real solutions for NYCHA. The federal government has ignored NYCHA, and they're not coming to save NYCHA. We have to save ourselves, and that is what we're planning on doing. Okay. Where am I?

Vazquez: Nine.

Mayor Adams: How are you, sir?

Question: Good evening, Mayor Adams. Thank you for tonight.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: So, at our table, we have representation from four different public school buildings. And our main concern, we're pretty much similar, number one, it has to do with the quality of life and safety outside our school building. For example, some of the items have already been addressed.

We have many mopeds, bicycles and bicycling that they really are going really fast; and In fact, just two weeks ago I had one of my students who got hit by one of the mopeds. Fortunately, it wasn't a serious injury, but this situation seems to be very consistent and it seems like we have no way to stop it, to enforce the bike lane safety.

And another very common concern is we have garbage issues that result from people who do loitering during non school hours, overnight hours. So, it seems like this issue has been pretty consistent in different parts of Park Slope. And this is our common questions over here.

Mayor Adams: You said garbage, explain the garbage issues again? What happened? People come and hang out overnight?

Question: People hang out around the school building overnight hours; and when morning comes, custodial staff, school staff arrive, they find themselves they have garbage here and there, which becomes pretty frustrating. Fortunately, our custodian staffs are very cooperative and they've been doing a great job cleaning, but it seems like this problem is not going away.

Mayor Adams: So, it's a combination… First of all, Commissioner Tisch, but we'll also look at the local police precinct to go, during the midnight tours, to go and see who's loitering there, what's taking place. Let's get an analysis of it. So, if you can share with the team what schools we're talking about, and if it's all the schools that are being impacted, we need to take a look at that.

But we agree with your bikes and moped...but you said bikes and mopeds. Sometimes people don't believe...I'm a biker and people don't believe that bikes sometimes can be just as reckless as cars. So, I'm glad you said bikes and mopeds, because everyone must follow the rules. Just because you're on a bike doesn't mean that you can just speed through the streets and do whatever you want. We all must follow the rules.

But we're with you. We need to get this under control. I heard the same concern in Washington Heights. I heard it in the Bronx. I heard it in Queens. Everyone is now talking about the crisis on how our streets are being organized with bikes, mopeds, scooters, all of these different forms of transportation. So, I hear you loud and clear, and the Police Department and DOT, they're coming up with a plan for it. Thank you. How are you, ma'am?

Question: Hi. Thank you for coming. I just got nominated because a lot of our questions were already asked, so I just scribbled something, and I think we're in agreement. And it goes to what Principal Chan was mentioning there about safety in general. It feels a lot different than pre‑Covid. It feels like subway safety is a real concern.

I know a lot of people on my team refuse to take the subway anymore, so now they're taking their cars, which presents another issue. And this is no way disrespectful to the NYPD, but we miss the presence. I like seeing their cars. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel comfortable.

And just a general feeling of, I can break the rules now, I'm going to blow that red light. Scooters on sidewalks. I don't want to criminalize them, but I don't want them on the sidewalks. And just a feeling that rules are being broken and it's okay and that's the life we're going to live now post‑Covid.

And robberies, I know this week we've heard about three of our schools had robberies. It might have even been this one. Yes, it was this one. Sorry. And I'm just going to read back what you said, everyone must follow the rules. But it just feels like that that's not happening. And then the people that are following the rules kind of feel like, well, why am I following the rules anymore.

Mayor Adams: I'm so glad you raised that. I hope everyone heard what you were saying. First of all, there's this transition period from us going from how we felt to how we're feeling. How we felt is different from how we're feeling.

Zeroing in on the subway system. No one was on the trains January 1st, 2022. We're now capping out at four million riders. Our customer satisfactory surveys are clear that people are feeling better on the subway system. Crime in our subway system is at record levels in decrease.

I stated when I first came in office, in three months I was going to remove all the encampments off our subway system. People were sleeping on the stairs, encampments. We have no encampments on the subway system; in fact, you don't see encampments in the city anymore. And when we find them, we immediately map them, send out Social Services, Department of Sanitation, the police, everyone comes together to give the person the service they need. Look around our city; you don't see that disorder that we had.

Crime in the city is going down. You can't hide the bodies. Homicides are down. Shootings are down. Five of our major seven categories are down. People are back on the streets enjoying their city again. Do we have more to go? You're darn right, because I'm never going to be satisfied until we go down to 1913 levels.

But we are moving in the right direction. Keechant Sewell, the former police commissioner, started it. Eddie Caban is continuing it. We are being real proactive in how we're doing it. But by you talking about it is so important because everyone says, because I believe we should not be living in a state of disorder, everyone says, Eric is just mayor po‑po, he just wants to lock everyone up.

No, I want people to stop breaking rules. You know, respect your neighbors. And we've reached a point that people believe you can do whatever you want ‑‑ so what if I inject myself with drugs sitting on your porch? I don't have to answer. So what if I just want to just play my music loud as hell in front of your house? We just reached the point where people felt they can do whatever they wanted to do.

I don't believe that, and that is how a city of this diversity and different thoughts and different groups, let's just follow the rules, and then we don't have to worry about is someone having an upper hand over another place. We're eroding the quality of life in our city.

Roosevelt Avenue, we identified 57 brothels — 57 brothels — and we had elected officials saying, don't bother them, leave them alone. They're only working girls. No, we're going to support them to get them the services they need, but we're going to go after the johns who are actually participating in sex trafficking. The city must follow rules, and that is what I believe. And hearing you say it makes me understand that I'm on the right direction and the right way to be.

Vazquez: Mayor, Inspector Taylor has a comment regarding Table 11.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Inspector Kevin Taylor, Commanding Officer, School Safety Division, Police Department: So, bottom line, in regards to school safety and stuff like that. We have our deployments out there, if there's any issues in that sense. I'm the commanding officer of school safety. I'm in charge of all school [inaudible]. If there's any issues like that, I want to make sure we address it.

The mayor has made sure that we have enough school safety agents out there. We'll redeploy and look at anything we need to take care of. We took out two firearms the other day at the school, we prevented live shootings in that case. We put our hands out and our hats off to school safety agents. Thank you very much.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Well said. Two firearms, two firearms in the school. Two firearms in the school, and one of those firearms was because a mother, a mother informed us. You know, so there's a role that parents must play, and a mother informed us, and we were able to find two firearms doing reverse screening in the schools.

We had no shootings in our schools buildings. None. We've dealt with individuals carrying firearms around the school. We've been extremely proactive. Our children must be safe in our school buildings. That's the top priority for us. And we have more to do, but we are darned sure making sure that the schools are safe. How are you, principal? Are you principal, superintendent now? I mean, I don't even know your role anymore.

Question: Hi. My name is Laura Scott, and I'm the principal of P.S. 10, which is right across the street from Ms. Mitchell's school. How are you?

Mayor Adams: Quite well.

Question: So, mine is around safety also. But first I want to start by complimenting the police officers and the safety officers from Precinct 72, the 72nd precinct, but we need to do more.

So, my question is when will we be able to lock our doors? When will we be able to buzz people in, visitors in? When will we have cameras that we can monitor the comings and goings of our visitors; and, when can we have those cameras also to help facilitate finding intruders that are in our buildings?

Mayor Adams: Okay, Dan? Now keep in mind, you know I'm a believer in technology. When I started out my career, I was a computer programmer, so I'm big on technology. No one was even thinking about this technology until we did it. Dan, where are we with this, and explain the technology?

First Deputy Chancellor Weisberg: Yes, so we have, under the Mayor's leadership, and somebody said your values follow your dollars. The mayor invested over $70 million capital dollars to make sure all of our schools have the door‑locking technology.

So, we identified technology, which allows, essentially it's almost like a Ring camera. So, after the kids are in, in the morning, after drop‑off, doors will be locked. The school safety agent will have a monitor where they can see whoever comes up to the door, rings the bell, asks for entry. Obviously, if it's a parent, anybody else that needs to come in, they'll be buzzed in right away. If somebody wants to do harm, they will be locked out.

So, the timing. We have already installed in about 100‑plus school buildings. We are, for obvious reasons, prioritizing our littlest folks first, so elementary schools – by the end of the school year, mayor, we'll have this technology in all of our elementary schools. And then for the rest of the year, we will get to our middle and high schools. But this technology will be in all of our schools very, very shortly.

Mayor Adams: So, we're with you, principal. We believe that it's extremely dangerous. We see the school shootings taking place all over the country. We believe you should control who is entering your school building.

And hats off to the chancellor. We brought in a couple of vendors. We found a good vendor, has a good product. You can see visual, person presses the bell, you see their face, and you can determine if you're going to let them in or not. It's a real win, and I think it's a real step forward for safety in our schools.

How are you, ma'am?

Question: Good. Good evening. My name is Elicia Howard. I am the president of the 78th Precinct Community Council. I'm a Prospect Heights/Park Slope native. Went to P.S. 321, so I grew up here.

So, my concern and issue is a long‑standing one, which a few people I see, Robert Carroll, we've had a conversation regarding the mess and the chaos that is around the Barclays Center around traffic. So, the traffic, as I'm sure everyone here has witnessed, is insane because of all the influx of individuals who have moved into the city and specifically into that neighborhood. The infrastructure right now cannot withstand the amount of people who are living there, which results in more cars, chaos . It's just not a pleasant place to be.

A few members of the neighborhood have been loud and has gotten the attention of DOT and has convinced DOT that open streets is the way to go to make the streets safer. So, it's been a narrative around bikes needing to have safety and them being...the victims and being hit by cars, which they're saying there's too many cars so people should ride bikes. That is not the answer to the problem, it's only making the problem worse.

If anyone's familiar with that area, Underhill and Vanderbilt are the streets that they're closing down, which ultimately pushes traffic on Sixth Avenue, which is where 78th precinct is, where the firehouse is. The firefighters, they are saying it's slowing down response times.

It just doesn't make sense, and I can't believe it's gotten this far. And DOT hasn't done much about it. So, it's really like what is the mayor's office doing to help with this issue?

Mayor Adams: Just had this conversation today. A bunch of people started yelling at me, you know, I'm anti‑bikes, I'm anti, anti. I said, listen, you've got to listen to the community; you can't just do whatever you want. I just spoke to the commissioner today about this. I don't know what Underhill looks like [laughter] you know, and we can have both. But we just had this conversation. I need to have you just travel around with me every time somebody protests me on bikes and stuff like that. Come on, commissioner, answer this sister's question.

Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, Department of Transportation: First of all, we have spoke before, and mayor sat in the meeting, and definitely we're going back to meet with you and all the residents in the area. Mayor has been speaking very clear. And this is a new thing that we are doing at DOT. In that particular area, we're going to be doing door by door, contacting with residents in that neighborhood.

We do recognize that New York City has changed. As the mayor has said, like, we at DOT, together with Parks, we are responsible to manage almost like 50 percent of the lines. On the DOT, it's 27 percent. So, we had to plan for all the sector that competes all day. It's not Amazon, it's not FedEx, it's not UPS. It's about we who place...80 percent New Yorkers place one order per week, and 22 percent place an order… 

Place four times an order every week. So, we had to plan for that sector.

We also had to recognize last year we had 200 million bike trips in our city. Every day we have 550,000. So, we also had to plan for that group. Now we also have to plan, I should say, for the residents of the neighborhood. What we are doing right now, I'm doing a commissioner in your borough. And I have a person that is dedicated to go to those communities that in the past they were not invited to the table.

As the mayor said, under his direction, Deputy Mayor Joshi and I, we are creating that space that before DOT go and this is the plan that is taking place, first it's going to be grassroots oriented. They're going to be listening to the community, knowing that we can create space for everyone: for the cyclist community, for the residence communities, for those who have cars, for everyone.

Mayor Adams: And to his credit, he has — he being the commissioner — he understands how community involvement is crucial. What has been done is people have been historically coming to communities and saying, this is what we're doing, instead of taking the time, engaging people and saying, listen, what do you want for your community?

Because not all communities want the same thing, and it is wrong to go through long‑standing residents and all of a sudden state how you're going to change the landscape of their community without them having real input. And the commissioner has been open to sit down and figure it out, because he's a grassroots organizer. That's who he has been, and that's why he's the right person for the position. But I was yelled at...

Question: It's a problem.

Mayor Adams: I know it is a problem. I'm with you.

Question: And we've talked to DOT and it's not [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: I'm with you. I'm with you. And I'm a biker. I'm a biker. But we can reshape our city with input for everybody. We can't dictate; we have to communicate. Go ahead, pastor.

Question: Good evening.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Good. As we've already discussed tonight, we are in a climate crisis.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: As someone on your team said, it's out ahead of us. And we've talked about mitigation and how we can address the impacts, but the only real way we can stop the planet from warming is by reducing emissions.

For New York City, 70 percent of our carbon emissions come from buildings. In 2019, Local Law 97 was passed, and it required that buildings of over 25,000 square feet to meet new energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions by 2024. So, we gave them five years to do this.

In September, you proposed new rules that would delay the law and enable a massive buyout loophole in the form of renewable energy credits, which is really a false solution. Renewable energy credits does not mean addressing the problem. So, how can we feel that you are serious about addressing the climate crisis when you're weakening laws that we fought hard to address the root cause of the climate crisis and are essential to really calming this crisis down?

Mayor Adams: I'm glad you said "we" because I'm part of that "we." I've been an advocate a long time. And the difference...and I'm going to let Rit answer the question directly, but the difference between me and others, I leave nothing on the table.

Like, no one wants to really deal with our overconsumption of beef, how it's destroying our rainforests in the Amazon, and we have changed the purchasing, our food purchasing dollars in partner with London to look at what's the impact of our beef production and our meat production in this country and globally on how it impacts an environment.

When I sit down with environmentalists and I start talking about how we need to look at what we're doing with our food consumption, the amount of greenhouse gasses it produced, no one wants to have that conversation. I have the complete conversation.

But Rit, can we talk about what we're doing with the greenhouse gasses from buildings in addition to electrifying our school buildings and in addition to electrifying our car fleet, in addition to the battery storages that we're doing, in addition to the solar panels that we're doing? But let's hear the concern that was raised.

Commissioner Aggarwala: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And yes, of course, there is no question that buildings are our largest source of carbon emissions in New York City and that we can't slow down this climate crisis unless we address that. From the beginning, Mayor Adams has been clear that we are going to implement Local Law 97. And I will say I take issue with your characterization of the plan that we put out in September.

We do not see it as a weakening at all. The law that was passed in 2019, first of all, did not include anything about how buildings are actually going to find a way to comply. It was merely a mandate. We estimate — and we've done this work over the last year and a half, of what buildings will face — there are some buildings for which it's going to be relatively easy to comply with the law. There are some buildings for which it is going to be extraordinarily expensive.

And of the 15,000 buildings that between now and 2030 will have to invest between $12 and $15 billion to comply with this law, of that 15,000, 3,000 are co‑ops and condos that are not luxury buildings perhaps in parts of this area of Brooklyn or on the Upper East Side, they are buildings in Flushing, on the Grand Concourse in Bensonhurst, in places where they are low and middle income co‑ops and condos. We have got to craft an approach to implementing this law that deals with the realities of those buildings as well as the skyscrapers in Midtown. And that's what we have done.

There are a couple of components where I think your interpretation of what we proposed is incomplete. First of all, you characterized a two‑year delay. That is not at all what we have proposed. What we have proposed is that buildings that are in violation of their Local Law 97 targets, which kick in next year...so, if you think about what was going on during the pandemic, yes, in theory they had four years to get the work done. It's not actually five years because it was the end of 2019 that the law was passed and it takes place the beginning, on January 1st of 2024. So, they had four years, of which a couple of those years were in the pandemic.

If a building is out of compliance in 2024, let me tell you, it is far out of compliance for 2030; and in fact, the carbon benefits of buildings meeting their 2030 targets are five times as big as the benefit to the planet of buildings meeting their 2024 target.

So, what we said is, hey, a building that's out of compliance in 2024 and is going to start paying fines in 2025 – because there's a year lag there — what we would rather do, instead of just hitting them with a fine and then hoping that they come into compliance for 2030, which isn't going to happen, we said let's make a deal with them.

Let's work to give them two years where we would withhold their fees, their fines, as long as, number one, they come into compliance with their 2024 targets within two years — so it's a two‑year grace period — but they also have to enter into a legally binding agreement where the Department of Buildings, led by my colleague here, will be able to monitor their annual progress between 2025 and 2030 to meet their 2030 targets.

And if they miss the milestones that they agreed to, if they don't raise the financing, if they don't issue the RFP, if they don't hire the contractors, if they don't pull the permits, we can actually go back and fine them for what they would have owed in 2024.

And so what we are trying to do is use these buildings that are out of compliance to oversee their compliance with the far more important target of 2030. Anybody who has managed a project, anybody who has been a teacher or a parent knows just telling somebody what the punishment is and hoping they meet the target is not a good management strategy. What we are doing is trying to manage ahead of the compliance target to reach that really important target of 2030.

The other thing that I will say — and you characterized a loophole — I do not actually think renewable energy credits are a very big loophole. First of all, any building that chooses to embrace this glide path approach I was just describing, they cannot use Renewable Energy Credits, because if you're going to buy a REC, you don't need the extra time to come into compliance. The reality is we think most buildings that are out of compliance will take that deal, and we want them to.

But the other thing about renewable energy credits is that the state's targets for decarbonizing our electricity sector are in danger. I'll say that again: the state's targets for decarbonizing our energy system is in danger. Just today, the State Public Service Commission turned down a request from the developers of all of the offshore wind and all of the renewable power that we've got contracted in New York State because the developers came and said, prices have gone up over the last three years since we entered into those contracts, and if you don't give us more money, we're going to pull out.

So, as of today, the state's targets are in grave question, and a renewable energy credit is actually a financial contribution willingly to pay for clean energy, and that money goes to finance those projects. There are two things I'll point out: one, if the economics don't work, we're not going to be able to decarbonize the electricity sector.

The other thing is the way the law is written, it's not just any credit. You can't go and buy… Say, oh, I bought a couple of hours of wind power from California and now I've done my job for Local Law 97. The rules are very restrictive for what is eligible. It has to be a new project, and it has to be directly connected to New York City.

The reality is there are no renewable energy credits that qualify until at least 2027, and today's decision of the Public Service Commission means there may not be any until 2030. But I'll tell you, that's really bad news, because what that means is that New York state is going to fall behind on decarbonizing the electricity system that we all rely on.

So, I don't think it's a big loophole. I think Renewable Energy Credits are not bad. We have very carefully managed what is eligible, and we think that it's keeping with the spirit of the law. And in fact, what you've characterized as a two‑year delay, I disagree. It is a smart management strategy to reach the big goal of deep decarbonization in 2030.

Mayor Adams: And one thing I would like… C'mon, c'mon, you can give him a hand. I told you.

I told you this team is smart. You know, and one thing, you know, I keep saying idealism collides with realism. If you are a small 50‑unit co‑op, you're on a fixed budget. Having a plan that fails to take into account these co‑ops, folks can lose their buildings. We have to be smart on how we execute. A one‑size‑fits‑all is not always. Idealism collides with realism. I see this every day.

And when I go out and I speak to these co‑ops in Crown Heights, in Prospects Heights, and I sit down with their small boards, they're on a fixed income, they're still trying to figure out how they're going to pay to fix the roofs, how they're going to do all the other things, if we don't have a plan to take them over the hump, we're going to lose working‑class, middle‑class people in the city. And we can't do that. We can't. That can't happen.

And I know a lot of people don't recall or don't think about it, but we lost two years of our lives. We were locked up for two years. For two years of our lives, we didn't even believe we could ever go outside again. So, to be smart enough and say, listen, let's give you back those two years that you lost, but at the same time hold you accountable that if you try to play some game we can come back and fine you anyway, that's smart decision.

And that's what Rit and his team did, and it was a smart decision. We're not trying to find the loophole. This is what I fought for in the state senate. This is what I fought for in the borough president, and this is what I'm continuing to fight for now. How many more tables do we have? Sister, we'll finish up with you. Yes, go ahead.

Question: Mr. Mayor, it's really a pleasure to be finally be face to face with you, because I'm in an organization that's been trying to have a meeting with you for going on for almost three years.

Mayor Adams: I've been mayor for only 20 months.

Question: Well we started talking to you about this issue when you were running for office. And when you were running for office, you said that switching the 250,000 municipal worker retirees and all future city workers when they retire to a Medicare disadvantage plan from the healthcare that we now have, which is Medicare plus Medigap, switching that, you said, was a bait and switch. And when you got into office, and we thought, boy, if he gets into office, he's going to make sure that we don't get stuck with Medicare Advantage.

And now here we are. We've had two lawsuits against the city paid for with our own $25 and $50 coming out of our pensions and Social Security to hire the lawyers, and we're facing the city lawyers who are being paid for with city tax dollars. So, the city is fighting its own retirees.

You want to keep good workers in this city. Well, one of the things that makes somebody join DC 37 — which is what my family's union is — or the UFT, because you've got lots and lots of teachers in this room today, or the sanitation workers or the police or the firefighters, what makes them join? One of the things that they rely on, since the wages are not fabulous for a lot of us, is the benefits, and one of the things that we know is when we retire we're going to have decent healthcare.

Medicare Advantage right now is costing the federal government something like $147 billion in fraudulent claims. We could fund Medicare for all with that money. But instead Medicare disadvantage, which is private, for‑profit companies with CEOs earning $21 million a year, that system of Medicare Advantage is bleeding Medicare dry. It's going to affect every single person in this room when they retire because there will be no Medicare.

And what would be so much better is if you, Mr. Mayor, would join together with Robert Carroll and the people in the New York State Assembly and fight for New York Healthcare Act, which would cover everybody, all the migrants, all the people who are under 65, all the people who are over 65, all the union people, all the non‑union people. It would cover their healthcare. It would be real healthcare, not this healthcare for the market.

We are the only country, the only country that has this kind of disastrous healthcare system. Medicare disadvantage means people die. And the people who are going to be most impacted by this, the city workers, the former city workers who are going to be most impacted are women, people of color and the very elderly because they retired on small pensions, low wages.

Those of us who can afford to, we will have to buy our own Medicare if we have to, and that's a lot of city workers will do that. But people who are working as crossing guards or security guards at the Brooklyn Museum, you want more crossing guards, lifeguards, these people — our household — cannot afford to pay for these benefits.

Mayor Adams: So, a couple things. One… 

Question: And one more thing I'd like to add… 

Mayor Adams: Come on, sister, we… 

Question: One more very short point.

Mayor Adams: Can I answer your question? We've got you. We've got you. First, the healthcare that was just expressed is my healthcare. I'm a retired police officer. That's the same healthcare.

DC 37 — hear me — Garrido supports what we want to do. You represent the largest municipal union in this city. UFT President Michael Mulgrew supports what we are going to do. Teamsters support what we're going to do. People who are elected to represent their membership support what we're going to do.

The healthcare system in our country is broken and it's a mess. It's a mess, and it can bankrupt our entire country. And when you do an analysis of what we're doing, we are spending right now close to a billion dollars a month until we satisfy this healthcare crisis that we are facing.

So, I agree with you 100 percent. We have a broken healthcare system; in fact, we have a sick care system: we wait until you get sick, and then we put you on medication for the rest of your life and people are profiting from it. We need to change this healthcare system. You don't get any disagreement with you from me.

But what the union presidents that represent the membership have all come to the table and agreed on, we can't go back and say that they're going to hurt their membership when they represent the membership. These are the heads of the union — DC 37, UFT, the Teamsters — all of them have come together to work out this plan that we're doing.

It's not an easy fix when you have a broken healthcare system that we have. But this is my healthcare. When I go back into my retirement healthcare system, this is my healthcare, and I'm not going to harm my own healthcare.

So, very emotional crisis around it. I know all the crises. I've heard from all of you. I heard over and over with it, but your union leadership has put this plan together. Go ahead, ma'am, before I leave. Go ahead. Because I've got three more events tonight.

Question: I have a question, there's been a lot of talk about [inaudible] using a lot of electric cars, things of that nature, but no one has ever discussed anything about how the electricity grid is going to be expanded, especially with continuing to build additional high‑rises and things of that nature.

And if many of you do not know, a lot of times the electricity is cut from MTA, which causes delays, especially during the summer when there's air conditioning and things of that nature running; and even though we have the cooling centers, that still affects our quality of life. And if we're continuously, continuously building all these high‑rises, the electricity grid is not expanding. How is that being compensated for?

Mayor Adams: Okay, that's over my head. You know, I don't control MTA, and I don't even know the answer to that. You lost me from the series of it. Listen, you don't build what you can't give electricity to. National Grid, Con Edison, whatever name they go by now, they take all that into factor before they allow a new building to go online.

Listen, folks, thank you so much. Good to be back in Park Slope. Appreciate you.