Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Older Adult Town Hall

November 28, 2023

Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, Department for the Aging: Every meeting that the mayor has with his cabinet, his commissioner and his agencies, the thing that we always leave with is get stuff done. Stop talking about it. What are the solutions, the problems? We all know what they are, what are the solutions? So, get stuff done.

And some people substitute another word for the stuff, but it is really about moving stuff forward and making sure that we are in service to the City of New York. We really love that video. Did you enjoy that video? Is there any recommendations you want to give us on that video? Come in, anything? No feedback on the video? Cool. That's great. That means it made its message. Thank you very much.

How many of you belong to the Bay Eden Center? All right. I heard from one of your participants that this is the best center and then he starts telling me all the other centers that he loves in the… So obviously.

Yes. And he said that Michelle and Karen were fabulous. So, what other centers are here?

Audience Member: YMCA.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Say that again?

Audience Member: YMCA.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Oh, YMCA. Okay, great. Good. Thank you for being here. That's quite a trek. Any other programs present here?

Audience Member: R.A.I.N..

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: R.A.I.N.. Which R.A.I.N.? R.A.I.N.'s got several of them.

Audience Member: Bartow.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Bartow. Okay. Know that one well.

Audience Member: Einstein.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Which one?

Female Speaker: Einstein.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Einstein. Oh, JASA Einstein. Okay, that's cool.

Audience Member: Co-Op.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Co-Op. All right. I love Co-Op. Which one?

Female Speaker: Throggs Neck.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Throggs Neck. Got it. JASA Throggs Neck? Okay, got it, got it. Good. Good, good, good. Any other ones? Borough President Gibson has gone to all of them several times. Trust me. She's always telling me what I need to do. And we also have, and I always respond, and we also have also visits. Jamaal also visits. Assemblymen also visits many of the centers. So, we're very fortunate that we have strong advocates here, and there he is. I have the honor of welcoming… 

Mayor Eric Adams: Good to be here in the BX, as the borough president always states and the amazing, amazing county leader and Senator Brother Bailey, thank you. And I want to thank the whole team for coming out. This is number what?

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Five

Mayor Adams: Number five of our senior town halls, older adult town halls that we are doing. We want to hear directly from you. And so I want to turn it over and open some questions, but I want to, number one, as I try to do with all the town halls and number one issue that's impacting us right now is a large number of migrant and asylum seekers that we are experiencing. I want to dispel the misnomer that you are hearing over and over again.

One, the number of people who are coming into the city. Every time we go to the town hall, people say, okay, why don't you just stop the flow in? I can't. It's against the law. I don't have the authority to do that. The federal government can do that. I don't. They say, well, who has deportation authority? I don't have that.

I cannot compel people to leave the city. That's only the federal government has that authority to do that. I don't have it in the City of New York. People say that we are giving more to migrant and asylum seekers than we are giving to long-term New Yorkers. That is not true. Their benefits that are for long-term New Yorkers that migrants and asylum seekers are not allowed to get based on law and policies.

And when you go to the Humanitarian Relief Centers, you'll see firsthand, you're looking at basic supplies, outside restroom and shower facilities. So, no one is given anything greater than those long-term taxpayers that are here.

And lastly, the migrants and asylum. They want to work. That's what they're asking. We have thousands of jobs. They want to fill those jobs. They want to be able to provide for themselves. The federal government is not allowing them to work.

With processing, I think we process about 16,000 thus far, work authorizations, but they are not allowed to work. And that is really, really the number one issue that we're asking. So, we're asking for the federal government to do what we call a decompression strategy to allow the whole country to absorb this and not just a small number of cities.

We think it's wrong for taxpayers to do so. Here in New York, it is costing us $5 billion this fiscal year, $7 billion in January, a total of $12 billion. This is wrong to the asylum seekers. It is wrong to you and I, it is wrong for the city to be going through this. This was dropped in our lap. We've been asking for help for over a year now and where our voices are not being heard in Washington, D.C. I need you to really add your voice to this because New York should not be going through this.

And we've been extremely successful in this city with a real partnership with your senator, with the borough president, crime has decreased. We want to thank our law enforcement officers who are here, a decrease in our five of seven major crime categories.

We have more private sector jobs in the history of this city in New York right now. And we're going to give you the whole list of the successes we've had in the 23 months. 23 months we've been in office and the success that we've had decreasing homicide, decreasing shootings, thousands of guns removed off our streets, real housing initiative that we've been extremely successful. We have some folks here from HPD. We have put more people using FHEPS vouchers than the history of the program, just to name a few things that we have done.

And so I also want to deal with some of the hot button issues because I like to be a straight talk in New Yorker. There was an allegation made against me by someone 30-something years ago. I don't know who the woman is.

I don't know who it is. And people who know me, they know how I live my life. I'm a protector. I spent 22 years in the Police Department. The allegation did not happen. It is not true. And I don't even know what the allegation is, to be honest with you. It is not who I am and people who know me, they know how I live my life.

And the second thing is the investigation with the Justice Department. Based on the actions I took with the Turkish embassy, I reached out to the fire department as the borough president and I asked the fire commissioner to look into what was holding the permit process for the embassy.

That was my extent of my inquiry to find out what we all do. I don't think there's an elected in the city, if you call us and ask us that you're having a problem with your apartment or your building permit, there are things we do. We call to find out from the agencies.

And so we're going to cooperate with any inquiry that's made. We're going to vigorously defend ourselves against that allegation that just did not happen. I believe in the law that was passed, but I believe it should be used and not abused. And I believe that if you use it, it could properly give justice to people, but it should not be abused.

So, I just want to touch on those top line issues because I don't like being in the room when you have a pink elephant in the room and folks act like they don't see it. I see the pink elephants and I like to talk about them one-on-one and be very clear so you can hear directly from me as the mayor of the City of New York. And so now I'll open the floor and we'll get your questions going, okay?

Audience Member: Welcome to the Boogie Down Bronx.

Mayor Adams: Is it your birthday?

Audience Member: Yes.

Mayor Adams: Happy birthday to you.

Audience Member: Welcome to the Boogie Down Bronx, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: Thank you

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Table one.

Mayor Adams: Oh wait, I'm sorry. These last magnetic cars that DJ is handing out, this is for emergencies. When you have it at home, it was something that we used. Please, if you want to fill it out, if there's ever an emergency you have at your home, an EMS or NYPD has to attend. It has all your basic information; your name, your emergency contact, if you allergic to something, what medicine you take, who's your doctor's name, et cetera.

This way, during the time of emergency, you don't have to run around and try to figure out all of these basic questions. And it's very helpful for the police in EMS. So, if you want take one for you and your spouse, you can put it on your fridge. It's a magnetic magnet on the back and this way that information will be right there readily available for you, okay?

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Great.

Mayor Adams: Okay, we'll open up some questions.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Table number one.

Mayor Adams: Hold on. You guys want to say hello to your folks?

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: I should. Sure.

Mayor Adams: Thank you

State Senator Jamaal Bailey: Mr. Mayor, we appreciate you coming down. You know who I am. I hope. I hope I come here enough. I'm your state senator.

I just want to say thank you. Happy holidays. So, hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Have a great Hanukkah, have a happy Festivus if you're a Seinfeld fan, Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Día de Los Reyes, Happy Kwanzaa and anything else we may imagine.

I just want you to continue to be safe, happy and grateful for what we have. We have great leadership from our executive on out. Our mayor has been leading us in a positive direction.

And when you think about results and getting things done, I want you to think about in 23 months the things that we've been able to do in this city. So, we should make sure we give our great mayor a round of applause because he's been doing a great job.

Giving greetings on behalf of Speaker Heastie, who is in Nashville for a legislative conference, and Councilmember Kevin Riley was holding a hearing. He's the committee chair of the zoning and franchisees, he may try to stop by. I just want to make sure I gave greetings on their behalf. And second, but definitely greater, our great borough president.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson: Hey, everyone, good afternoon, Bay Eden. Good afternoon to all of you, whether you represent Baychester, Eden Wall, Co-op City, the Throggs Neck, you represent the Boogie Down Bronx.

Thank you for being here today for this town hall. Thank you to our Mayor Eric Adams and his entire administration. He always says and it is true, Mayor Adams is a five borough mayor, and the Bronx is a part of the revitalization of this city.

When you looked at the video, when you heard about the job growth, the fact that our city is back, we are expanding opportunities of housing, home ownership, we are creating pathways for young people. We're supporting older adults. We are doing exactly what we have been called to do.

And in this moment, while we recognize the incredible progress, we also know that challenges remain. That is why the work of this administration, elected officials, community partners, many of our faith and community leaders, all of our city agencies is so critically important.

This is the holiday season in which we are reminded that we are blessed to be a blessing to others. So, this is a chance for us to give back, to make sure that as we climb, we lift. There are so many families out there that don't see the work that we're doing, they don't think it has an impact, but ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you it does have an impact. It does make a difference.

So, today's town hall is an opportunity for all of us to engage, to come together as neighbors, family members, friends, because guess what? We have much in common. We want the same things. Safe streets, clean streets, great jobs. We want quality housing. We want everything that New Yorkers should be afforded.

And by working together, working with our mayor and his entire administration, guess what ladies and gentlemen? We will get things done. So an official bienvenidos a todos, welcome to each and every one of you, and we look forward to today's town hall. Gracias, alcalde Adams.

State Senator Bailey: I forgot to say happy Boxing Day. My Caribbean [inaudible] gets mad if I don't say happy Boxing Day.

Mayor Adams: Okay, first table on the side.

Question: Welcome to Bay Eden and thank you for coming.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: Our first question is, are you proposing budget cuts that will directly affect senior centers throughout the city?

Mayor Adams: You want to talk about that?

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: As you know, as the mayor has been talking and it's been widely recognized that we have some severe budget challenges, mayor just talked about that we've been..as a wonderful asylum city and the right to shelter city, we've been housing over a hundred thousand people now. 60,000 are on a regular basis. That costs money. And so that means that all agencies have had to face a peg, a budget cut.

Was this something that we wanted to have? Absolutely not. I can tell you that at New York City Aging, we are looking at everything possible so that we do not cut older adult clubs at this time.

I can't talk to you about the future and what that brings, but we are also making sure that we do not impact home delivered meals and we're looking at transportation and home care with the same commitment to preserve as much as we can this year.

But I will not. I'm a woman of my word as the mayor knows that and he's a man of his word. We cannot make that commitment for any years forward unless we get some support from other authorities.

Mayor Adams: So, there were areas, to answer your question, there were areas we made whole like home delivered meals. We made sure that we did not and it wasn't… We did not do just a cut across the board. We looked at cash assistant programs and other programs we looked at and say, how do we minimize it? That was our concern.

But I want everyone to understand the circumstances we're in. We have about $106 billion budget. Out of that $106 billion, $76-something billion is locked in. There's nothing we can do about it. You have to spend pace union salaries and else.

So, that $30-something billion is what we have to find $12 billion out of. It's almost as like if you're a homeowner and you have your budget for the year and your roof caves in, you have to take it from somewhere. You want to go to your insurance company and say, my roof cage, then I've been paying my insurance all this time. Fix this with my insurance payment.

Our insurance payment was supposed to be Washington, D.C. Instead of giving us what we need to do this asylum crisis is just the opposite. They're not doing that as though they defunded New York City and it's coming from somewhere.

We didn't want to hold up a police class. My budget wanted to invest in seniors, invest in youth programs, invest in public safety. We are in a predicament, we have to balance the budget for two years by law.

That's why in November, we had to come back with this November plan to say, we don't have enough that's coming in to pay our bills. And that is why we had to do this. We hate this exercise and it has been a very painful exercise for all of my commissioners. But the law requires that we balance our budget for two years and we have a $12 billion hole and the $30-something billion that we can balance it with.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Next question. Right here.

Question: Good afternoon, sir.

Mayor Adams: Good afternoon.

God bless you and everyone here and your families and happy holidays and healthy and prosperous new Year. My question is making decisions on community safety. I'm on the advisory board with my friends here at JASA Einstein Co-Op City.

We had, over the summer, a temporary police unit in the parking lot behind Bay Plaza. I found it very effective, but is as though we woke up one morning, it was there. It was there for a little while before the end of the summer. It was not there anymore. The whole unit seemed to be disbanded.

I'd like to know why and what was the purpose of having it there? Okay. And was it effective? Was it research done? Was it effective? And if not, the lines of communication of having something like that in the community need to be open a little more. Thank you Mr. Mayor.

So, we have Commissioner Stewart here from Community affairs and he has several initiatives. Also introduce your older adults, liaison.

Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart, Community Affairs, Police Department: Hello. Hello. Hello. You hear me? Okay, good. It's a pleasure to be here, and I'm very passionate about the older, aging. Commissioner Vázquez and myself, we did something incredible that the Police Department has never done in years. We have a community affairs officer in each precinct, each housing precinct and each transit district that whatever problems that you have, that's the place that you go to, our community affairs officer, they're there just for you.

Now, I heard about the 47 and the cops that were assigned there, I think they got pulled away because I think we did something with the summer program, but I'm sure that they will be back. It's in talks now and I'll follow up. We'll get your information and I'll follow up with that. But they'll be back. Yes.

Another program that we also work on, to call two of my supervisors up. This is Lieutenant Bodden, believe me, she is such a strong person with our older aging and the work that she has done. And this is Sergeant Kelly, another strong representative of Community Affairs Bureau and Police Department.

We have put together and made strives with our older aging. Listen, I got my AARP card about six years ago. I know where I'm going, so I got to make sure that we do it right. So, when we look back, I have a mother, she's 86, my father, he transitioned about a year ago, two years ago. And I remember watching my father looking at my mother and the state of mind and they need help. And I [inaudible] the Police Department, we didn't have anyone in the precinct to help our older aging. It was impossible. Commissioner, we did it in six months. So, this is a place for you to go. But we also do other things too.

Sergeant Kelly's going to talk about the scam alerts that he has set up in the Bronx and Lieutenant Bowden's going to talk about all the other activities that we do with the older aging. And I know, probably, you don't do e-commerce.

I don't know if you know what e-commerce is, but e-commerce in simple forms is that when you go online, there's a buyer and there's a seller. So, the seller could be selling a computer, selling sneakers and they pick a location where they could go for transaction.

It's a little dangerous. So, what we did, we have an e-commerce station in every precinct, every housing precinct and transit that's being monitored by a camera and the police department. So, if you want to do a transaction, you go right to the police department, you don't need an appointment, just go. There's a big sign and there's a camera there. You don't have to come inside the precinct.

And if somebody doesn't want to meet you at the precinct, that's the deal you might not want to get involved with. If somebody wants to meet you in a park or they want to meet you in some dark alley, you might not want to do that. So, that's some of the things that we are doing to be proactive on the Police Department. But I'm going to let Sergeant Kelly talk about the scams.

Sergeant Kevin Kelly, Police Department: Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Hey, everybody. I'm Sergeant Kevin Kelly from the NYPD Crime Prevention Division. Thank you for having us sitting at a table with you. Many of the officers are from the crime prevention division. So, anything that I say to you today, you can just get their name and number and reach out to them or you could come seek me and I'll give you that information as well.

So, what we do is we study the crimes and recent scams that are affecting our community and we come up with campaigns where we come out and we educate you on what the crime is, what the scam is and then what we recommend you do to remove the opportunity from that crime or scam happening to you. So, by raise of hands, how many people have heard of the jewelry scam? So, here's a campaign right here, I'm going to educate you.

So, there's a crew of thieves that are going around and they invite you over to their car usually and they tell you a story. Usually it's fabricated, it's fake or they use some sort of deception techniques. And the next thing you know, they have your necklace or your jewelry off of you and a fake or costume jewelry replacing it and they drive away and they made off with your jewelry. All right?

So, what we recommend is make sure when you're out in the streets, keep that jewelry out of sight, keep it under… Now, it's easy because it's the winter we're all wearing jackets and long sleeve clothing. Try to keep those necklaces hidden and rings hidden when you're out there.

How many people have heard of the ATM scam? All right. If you're approached by anybody in an ATM vestibule, by the way, if you're going to use the ATM, we recommend you using the ATMs within the bank inside the vestibule. If you're going to use that ATM, anybody ever approaches you within that ATM, just be aware that it may be some sort of deception scam where they're trying to remove your card from either your bag, your pocket or… 

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: The man has to go, so… 

Sergeant Kelly: Oh, very good.

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: But listen. But tell the location we're going to… The locations that… Awareness at.

Police Department Sergeant Kelly: Oh, okay. So, we have locations in each precinct and you all have a precinct representative at your table and they have all set up older adult events in your precinct this week or next week. So, we're going to get you that individual attention.

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: They're going to be in all the precincts in the Bronx in the next week or so.

Mayor Adams: What we're going to do is, I want to make sure while I'm here that you get the questions that you want. Are they sitting at the table? The older adults precinct personnel. Every precinct has an older adult liaison. That's what… Commissioner Stewart, are they here? What precincts are here? Who's here? Who's the oldest adult liaison here?

Okay, stand up so they can see you. Stand up so they can see you. Okay. So, every precinct has an older adult liaison. So, if there's an issue, you go to the precincts and they're going to help you navigate. You don't have to go there and try to figure it out on your own. Thanks a lot. Thank you. So, that was something that Commissioner Stewart did and it's very powerful. It's used a lot. You don't have to go and try to figure out on your own. You contact them and they're going to assist you where's needed. Let's go to the next table.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Over here. Table three.

Mayor Adams: Hold on one moment. We'll come back to you.

Question: So, the question for my table is, how can the Police Department do a better job of being more present in the community and how they could do a better job of their response times?

Mayor Adams: Commissioner?

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: Yes, that's a good question. Now, when we talk about response times, you got to understand that the police department, that they get calls on jobs 24/7. So, one job they might be caught up on, it's going to take them a while to get to the next job, but they do not slack jobs. If a call is coming out, they'll respond quickly.

I think what we're trying to get back to is being more visible because you might not see a police officer or a police officer in your site, but police are all over the place. If you ever see if an incident happened, you might see three or four cars come out at the same time. So, just because you don't see them, that don't means that they're not there.

And what we're trying to do in community affairs we're trying to get back to is the blue shirt, they don't work for me, they work with me and I always tell them that. But the vision I have is to putting them back in our communities so you can see them to say, good morning, how you doing? They have to be visible to you. So, we're trying to start that up. Well, it started up already. I hope that you do see them out there. Do you see them? Do you see them?

Question: Years ago.

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: Visible? Years ago.

Question: Years ago.

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: Oh, we'll get back to you because you're a precinct. I'll make sure that they'll be there. Okay? Thank you.

Mayor Adams: And that's part of the park and ride. That's probably the office is going up doing patrol, parking their cars, walking the street. Again, we want guys back on the beach. But as the commissioner stated, there's a lot of guys out there that are in plain clothes. That's part of our assignment. Our plain clothes guys made an important arrest this morning in the Bronx where someone had an AK47 on routine patrol.

So, you don't only see uniform, there are many officers out there doing the undercover assignment as well. Next table. Yes, ma'am.

Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Welcome to the Bronx, and your team. I'm just concerned about the police visibility as you were saying in the school era, after school, because recently my nephew walking to a home from Cardinal Spellman, he was attacked with BB gun by a shooter passerby. And I feel that more police present or visibility in the area could avert it and I'd like to see something, some more police present in the area after school, especially the high schools.

Mayor Adams: Yes, no, so true. And there was a big push during the campaign of taking school safety agents out of schools and removing police as part of public safety. And I said, that's not going to happen if a mayor, I believe in just the opposite. I'm with you.

We should have those school safety officers and police officers where needed based on what the stats, where we having a higher number of problems. What we did with the chancellor and the police commissioner, we have every principal meeting on a regular basis with the precinct personnel. Every principal and every borough commander sitting down talking, they used to not even know each other.

We do it on a regular basis and when that principal believes they need some form of fortification or some more assistance, they're able to speak directly with that precinct commander so they could get the support that they need. We've changed the entire dialogue on how our precinct commanders and our principals are now in close proximity. They have each other's cell number. They communicate on a regular basis. I think it's important for our school system public safety.

We're not going to forget you. We're going to come back to you. We want to make sure we get the tables first. Okay? Yes.

Question: Good day, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: I'm just helping the senior citizens with their question. As a senior citizen, public transportation is very important to us, especially the bus service. Generally, they are great. However, sometimes we encounter bus drivers that are rude, that closes the door on us or that they don't kneel the bus when they park too far away from the curb. How is the city addressing these issues in regards to working with us seniors?

Mayor Adams: That's a great question. And what's great about these town halls is that I'm able to clear up what is within my power, what's in other power. I do not control the MTA, I get all the complaints, but I do not control the MTA. The MTA is controlled by the governor's office in the state, not the City of New York doing so.

But common courtesy is crucial and you should not have to go through that. And there's a process that if someone is discourteous or disrespectful to you, you could take down a number of the bus and you can report that person. Don't let it go ignored because if they were disrespectful to you, then they would be disrespectful to someone else.

So, all you have to do is take… Many of us have a phone, you take a picture of the bus number, every bus has a number attached to it, and if you have the driver, you could take a picture of the driver and you should file a complaint if the person was disrespectful and discourteous to you. You should not accept not getting the service you deserve. The bus should kneel, the bus should allow you to get time to get on the bus and the person should speak with you in a respectful manner that you deserve.

So, document those complaints and make the complaint. Don't think that you make a complaint, it's not going to be resolved. It will be resolved and particularly if more than one person is making that same complaint.

Question: Hello, good afternoon.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: I'm good, thank you. And it's nice to see all your representatives here. So, when I send my letters out, I'm putting a face to a letter.

My question is, under the Bronx, my whole life and I've seen businesses open, I'm into entrepreneurship, of course. What are we going to do about the illegal car washes that pull up in front of people's houses, they hook up to the water supply, we pay taxes and they're using the water. Sometimes they're out there 12, one o'clock in the morning, nobody's getting a car wash at that time.

We see one car getting a car wash for the whole day. What are they actually doing the rest of the time? That's a cash business. Where is this cash going and where is it coming from? What are they doing with it?

I see them sitting in a chair waiting for a car to come by. One may not come for the whole day or if there's 10 or 12 car washes, everybody's getting one car. What are they doing with this money? They're not paying taxes. They're using our water. They leave garbage on the corner.

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: No, great question. Who we have from the precinct personnel?

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: I have never heard of that in my life. Car washer, the streets? Okay, please, please, please, please. Listen, we're going to straighten this out today. Please. Every community affairs officer that's at the table, please give the information where this is happening so we can speak to the commanding officers to straighten this out. I never heard of it.

I live in the Bronx and I never heard of it. Every community affairs officer, please, at the table, get the information, get the addresses where this is happening and we will address it, I guarantee you.

Mayor Adams: All right.

Deputy Commissioner Stewart: Well, it could be two agencies, but we'll address it and make sure it's taken care of.

Mayor Adams: Yes. Okay. Yes. So, you heard it from the deputy commissioner. If there's a specific area where the problem is connect with the community affairs. They're here now. They're hearing this directly from him. And it's not just a consumer affairs issue. We correct conditions. Police Department's job is to correct the condition, not just kick it down the road. Okay? Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: And guests. I would like to know what the city is doing to regulate all the mopeds that is on the street. I don't know if you see even in the front, they just ride up and they throw down those mopeds and there’s seniors passing over here and they lay down and I think, for instance, it's like an inconvenience to have them just toss down in the street. So, what is your intention or what is your plan or if you have a plan of doing something about the mopeds?

Mayor Adams: So, we have yet to do an older adult or a town hall that this issue does not come up. Our streets have been converted in the last few years, probably the last two, three years. Really during Covid, people started doing home deliveries. People have started using these mopeds, scooters, mini bikes, motorcycles, the whole gamut.

So, the police commissioner has put together a team that goes after these illegal… Many of them are illegal, no license plate. They get in an accident, you can't get to any insurance. We have removed thousands off the streets, thousands. And we are continuing to do a well executed plan to go after those illegal bikes.

And we're asking those who get home deliveries to make sure that whatever you order your food from, that the individuals who are doing these deliveries are follow and complying with the rules and regulations of using our city streets. So, there needs to be a re-imagination of how to allow these mopeds and other alternate use of transportation to be used, micro mobility they talk about, to be used correctly because it's out of control now and we're bringing out under control. But trust me, there's been some substantial enforcement. We have removed thousands off our street that are illegally used.

Question: Do this company that operate these mopeds… 

Mayor Adams: You're talking to the mic. Say it again.

Question: Do they have insurance? Because I've seen a lot of them like damaged cars and stuff and there is no repercussions to them because they run off and you don't even know who owned these mop mopeds. So, is it going to be like a long-term things with the city or does the city have a contract with this company that they can operate these mopeds and not pay a fee? Or is it on the taxpayers for when they do the damage?

Mayor Adams: Well, it is a combination. People who are using them is a combination. Some are coming from delivery services, some are just illegal mopeds being used. That is what we are focusing on. And there was a law that passed that people who ride on delivery services are supposed to wear a vest with a number on the back of them. We are moving to enforce that law to make sure it's complied with because we're with you and we hear that every town hall, a lot of the older adults are saying it's almost challenging to walk down the streets.

They're driving up and down the street, going down wrong ways, one way. We're on it, police commissioner is on top of it with DOT and DCWP, a combined effort to regain control of the safety of our streets. Thank you for that question.

Question: Thank you, sir.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Thanks for coming. You have a very difficult job, but you're doing a very good job.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you very much.

Question: You've had a lot on you, things that other mayors didn't have. But I have a question that is from the thousands of New York City retirees. Why is the city managing our Medicare? We don't want Aetna. And every time we win in the courts, you appeal. Managed Care is not good. I've worked with Managed Care and they can deny patients that need care.

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: It's all good. But that’s important question? And your health insurance. It's all good. Your health insurance is my health insurance. I'm a retired city worker.

And just like I'm probably only, I have to look to see what other mayor in history was a civil servant and went through the system. I'm a blue collar mayor and your concerns are my concern. My pension is a concern. My healthcare is a concern. We have the same concerns.

We're dealing with a fiscal cliff on our healthcare. We're dealing with a fiscal cliff that's questioned us an unbelievable amount. And here was my goal that I told the team, here was my goal that I told the team, no, we don't want to hit folks with a large copay. That was my number one goal. We don't want to hit folks with a large copay of having people doing this large copay to offset the course.

And so we sat down with the unions, we sat down with the reps and say, how do we figure this out? And we're still in the process of trying to figure it out. We're still in the process of trying to figure this out. So, I notice it's an issue that we're all feeling, but the cost of healthcare has skyrocketed through the roof, through the roof.

And so what we're trying to do, we're trying to tell the private hospitals why you go to H + H for a procedure that will cost $1,300 than you go to a private hospital and it costs $7,000? So, we're trying to get that under control because if we don't, our healthcare system is going to bankrupt our city, and that is what we are fighting against. So, I hear you loud and clear. I'm not trying to take away your healthcare because it's my healthcare. It's the same healthcare. Give her the mic.

Question: I did contact tracing back in the days we didn't have cars, phones, computers. We were out in the street with the drugs, all kind of buildings. Come on, we were all promised this. And I've worked too with Managed Care as a private home care agency for home care.

I have patients coming out of the operating room. I promised them a nurse the next day to help the family change the dressing and the insurance like Aetna did not cover. They waited for days and nobody to change their dressing. Managed Care is not good. It's not. I've worked over 50 years in the healthcare.

Mayor Adams: Okay, if you worked over 50 years in the healthcare, then you understand what the cost of healthcare is doing to our city. If anyone who works in healthcare would tell you the course of healthcare has ballooned to a level that is no longer manageable and we need to figure out how do we reign in the control.

Question: But not the retirees who were promised something.

Mayor Adams: I'm one of them.

Question: Oh, yes. Okay. And we worked hard and we deserve it and we should have it. Take it from somewhere else. It's my understanding that that part of the budget is minuscule.

Mayor Adams: No, sister. No, it's to the contrary. Even with your unions, one of our largest costs that everyone is being impacted is the healthcare, the healthcare. The healthcare has gotten out of control. The cost of medicine, the cost of procedures, the cost of visiting a doctor, it has reached a point that is out of control and we have to figure out how to reign it in. And one way of doing it is to have transparency in pricing, because our private hospitals should not be charging so much more than the public hospitals are charging. But this is a real crisis we have in our healthcare. But thank you for your question. Yes. How are you, ma'am?

Question: Mayor Adams… 

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry. Hold on for one moment. Yes, yes. My brother Councilman Riley is in the house. Give him a hand.

We'll let him close out. Yes, ma'am.

Question: Mayor Adams, it is good to see you in person.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: It shows that you care about our community to be here in person. My question is, we are aware that there are programs available for the youth in our community, but is there any way we can spread awareness for these programs, especially for people who do not have access to internet? Thank you.

Mayor Adams: For our older adults or young people?

Question: For the youth.

Mayor Adams: Okay, for the youth. We're not even from DYCD here. Come on. You can stand up. We have done more for young people with this administration in partnership with the state and city and the history of the city. 100,000 summer youth jobs, never done before. People were asking for it for the longest. We were able to do it.

110,000 Summer Rising programs, full school for our young people throughout the entire year being in school so parents had them in a safe environment, that was never done before. Investing in foster care children, they were aging out. We are now paying their college tuition and giving them a stipend so that they can get the support that they need so they don't slip through the cracks.

We have really leaned into our young people because we believe in preventive and not reactionary. But you want to talk about some of this stuff we're doing? Introduce yourself.

Assistant Commissioner Ebony Jordan-Wilson, Department of Youth and Community Development: Yes. All right. Hi, I'm Ebony Jordan-Wilson, Assistant Commissioner of Community Development at DYCD. So, most of you all know about SYEP as the mayor just spoke about. DYCD has services from kindergarten all the way through seniors, older New Yorkers as well.

As far as getting the word out, so we are actively getting the word out all over the city for all of our programs. So, New York City Public Schools is one of our biggest partners. We have one of the largest afterschool systems in the country. And so that is for our elementary school students as well as middle school. We have high school programs.

So, we have a website, discoverDYCD, where each of you and right after this, my colleague in the back will make sure everyone gets the actual website. And you can go on there, put in a zip code, put in an address, put in an age group, whether you're looking for employment for a young person, whether you're looking for older adult program. And so the website is Discover DYCD. We'll make sure everyone gets it.

And also we need all of you continue to spread the word. DYCD has programs we serve at least the entire city, thousands and thousands of young people. But we do have programs that are actively recruiting and looking for young people. So, we also need your help spreading the word. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: And we need to get that information out because far too many young people are not aware of it. So, that website is just for that shared with the young people in your family shared on Sundays when you do your announcements in the church, we need to get it out to our young people because far too many of them are not aware of all of these programs that we have available to them.

Question: Good afternoon.

Mayor Adams: How are you doing?

Question: I'm fine, sir. How are you doing?

Mayor Adams: Good.

Question: Great. I'm speaking on behalf of my members here. Okay. The question here is affordable housing for older adults. Some of these individuals here living in homes, they want to be able to sell their home and move into a senior housing and want your question around that?

Mayor Adams: Yes. We have HPD. Yes, yes. And we have a very aggressive plan on housing. The governor and I partnered together. We have a moonshot plan of building 500,000 units of housing, older adults, veterans, they're at the top of our list of building the housing, but our aggressive plan of what we want to do, you want to go into some of this stuff?

Rosa Kelly, Executive Director, Government Affairs, Department of Housing Preservation and Development: Hi, good afternoon. I'm Rosa Kelly from HPD. So, I completely understand, and I want to say that HPD, affordable housing, all of our housing is for older adults if they want it. But we do have specific programs available for new construction. It's called the Senior Affordable Rental Apartments Program. This is for developers who want to build buildings that are accessible for folks who have mobility issues, that has community spaces for folks to gather and that is designed so that older adults can live comfortably, safely and in a community that meets their needs.

That is not it though. We also have preservation programs for existing housing. Property owners can finance with HPD and in exchange, they will agree to affordable restrictions. And anybody who's living in those buildings will request aging in place upgrades.

That means grab bars in your bathroom, that means handles that are easy to move up and down, other upgrades that make your lives more comfortable, your housing more safe. And as always, the affordability is built into the restrictions as a part of the agreement with the city and HPD. So, those are the two main ways that we construct and build new affordable housing for seniors, and we preserve existing housing for older adults who want to stay and thrive and live comfortable, safe lives in the housing they already own. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: And it's so important. And that's what we want to partner with our amazing senator, Senator Bailey and all of our partners up in Albany. We have to build more. The big problem that we're having, we have an inventory problem. A lot of people walking around with vouchers and can't find an apartment because we have to build more.

We have not kept pace with the population. We need to build more housing and we need to get the authorization to do so. Some of that authorization is going to come from Albany, some is going to come from the city council, so that we can build more housing. That's the number one thing we have to do.

Question: Good afternoon.

Mayor Adams: Good afternoon. How are you? Good.

Question: First of all, I'd like to say thank you for coming. I remember when you first campaigned for mayor you said you like to start small and grow into it. Well, there's a small thing that's happening in the Bronx. We have a lot of cars. We have lines on the streets so that people can cross the street, but they don't stay behind the line. They don't stop at the stop signs, and there are not enough stop signs.

I've seen people cross the street and almost get hit by a car that's coming at full speed through a red light. Like we said, we need more police officers out there so they can see this, and if there is a police officer out there, why aren't they stopping these people? They just… I've seen police officers in cars and they just ride past them.

You know, I mean, he didn't stop at the stop sign. He didn't stop at the line so the person could cross the street, and they don't do anything. So, we need some help. We need either more stop signs, I don't know if that's going to help the problem. But we need somebody out there watching, you know.

Mayor Adams: Well said. Two, you know, it was just a tragic incident we saw yesterday. Last night, three‑year‑old child was killed and the driver took off. You know, distracted driving and reckless driving like speeding are the two culprits that we are experiencing. We lost a young child, seven‑year‑old child in my old precinct, Fort Greene area and appears as though it may have been a distracted driver.

We have increased our enforcement substantially to zero in on those habitual drivers that are problematic on the road. And it's not every driver. A lot of people follow the rules, they stop at the stop sign, they do what's supposed to be done.

But there's a small number of repeated offenders that we need to get off the road. And, you know, we need to partner with our Albany lawmakers to go about, if you have one or two of the same type of infractions, we need to take that license from you. If you have reckless drivers on the road, and we have really zeroed in.

Ever since my days as a state senator I've pushed for safer streets not only from gun violence but from vehicle crashes. There are too many reckless drivers on the road, and that is who we are zeroing in on. And our numbers of enforcement, they have increased.

But no officer should watch someone run a red light, run the stop sign and not take action. That should not happen. and if you if you do identify that happening, just as I said with the bus, there's a number on the side of that car. You should report what you witnessed, because that cannot happen. Thank you. Yes.

Bronx Borough Commissioner Anthony Perez, Department of Transportation: Hi. Anthony Perez. I'm the Bronx borough commissioner of DOT. On top of everything that the mayor just mentioned, you know, what we try to do is be smart about the way that we design our streets. So, we talk about, you mentioned the lines, the crosswalks. Pedestrian safety is the utmost important priority for us, so we look at different tools that we can combine together.

That includes speed cameras, that includes red light cameras, that includes additional measures to make it safer to cross the street. For example, the mayor just announced yesterday a new commitment to put 1,000 new daylighting of intersections. What that means is you clear out where your turns are so that the driver when they're coming up they can see when someone's crossing the street more easily and it prevents more accidents.

So, we look at crash data, we look at all the information we hear from community boards, from BIDs, from our elected officials. And every intersection is different. If there's a particular inspection that you know of that you unsafe and that needs more attention, please reach out to our office. I can get your information after this meeting, and we can take a look and do a study it and do whatever we can to make that safer for you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Yes, ma'am, how are you? Yes. 

Question: …On the education. You are cutting in the education department and the children are already behind. How are you going to cut it and the children are behind? And these children are our future. How could they be our future if they're not educated and don't have the education they need to compete?

And as a retired educator, you cut… That means we're going into our pocket buying things, try to fulfill what we are not getting in the classroom. As for myself, I have spent a fortune for my class, for my children. And you're going to… And it's going to be cut?

Mayor Adams: So, let me say this. What we are not cutting in education is anything that would impact what is taking place in the classroom. We're not cutting anything that would impact what's taking place in the classroom.

Now, did we tell the Department of Education you need to find efficiencies without impacting the classroom? We are not taking anything out of the classroom that those teachers will have to make sure that they can educate the children. We're not doing that.

Question: [Inaudible].

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry?

Question: As an educator myself, we had… I know I have spent a fortune and so many of my other colleagues has spent a fortune making up for things that we didn't have or the school couldn't give… 

Mayor Adams: And I got that, sister, I know you may not realize it but when you were in the classroom teaching, I wasn't the mayor, you know?

You know, so yes, it has been many years that things were done incorrectly, and that's why we're in trying to make sure they're done correctly. And so I'm not sure when you left the school system, but I'm sure it was not in 2021 when I got elected.

Question: Well, yes, I did leave in 2021. And I spent a fortune…

Mayor Adams: And I agree with you.

Question: But [inaudible] sympathize what I was not… 

Mayor Adams: And I agree with… 

Question: And a whole lot of other, my colleagues, have spent a fortune.

Mayor Adams: And I agree with you. I don't disagree with you. I really need everyone to understand this. There's no joy in having to go through this exercise of saying this is how much money you have. This is how much money you have. This is how much money it takes to run the city. It has to balance.

All of us know what it is to balance our annual budget. It has to balance. The money that we have must match the money that it costs to run the city. If someone gives us an additional cost of billions of dollars, we have to find the money from somewhere.

And there's not one place that we take it from that people are saying this is a good place to take it from. There's not one place. I don't care where you go. If it's the libraries that have to close on Sundays, if it's looking at what do we do in our summer youth programs. There's no place that people have stood up and said, hey, Eric, take the money from here. No matter where you take you from it's painful taking from.

So, the roof caves in and you have to sit down down with your children and say, listen, we may not have any light or gas. We may have to eat such and such every day. We may not be able to buy clothing. If your budget is impacted at this level. you are going to feel pain.

I said this over and over again, folks, we're going to feel pain. And it's wrong for us to feel this pain, because this is not our issue, this is a national issue that has been dropped in our lap. Yes, ma'am.

Question: Hello.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Fine, thank you. I'm Maxine. Why does it take the [inaudible] on the street to repair?

Mayor Adams: The lights on the streets?

Question: Yes.

Mayor Adams: It should be repaired as soon as you put in that 311 complaint. You know, do you have a location where the light is not repaired?

Question: [Inaudible.]

[Crosstalk.]

Question: Hello, sir.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Doing good. Let me clarify.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: The question was, after making a 311 complaint, it takes months to have street lights repaired.

Mayor Adams: Got it. Got it. Okay. Okay.

Question: So the question is, why does it takes so long?

Mayor Adams: It should not. It should not.

Question: Thank you.

Mayor Adams: And the 311 system is a great system that former Mayor Bloomberg put into place and it should be operationalized. And we have been doing a lot of callbacks. What we've been doing, we've been calling back and asking, how was your complaint handled? Was it handled properly? What can we do to make sure the service is better.

And you're going to see the 311 system go through an evolution, because it should not take months to repair it. The system was too disjointed, and we want to make sure we operationalize it better, because I heard that complaint even as borough president.

Thank you. Yes ma'am.

Question: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: I am a member of this center… 

Mayor Adams: Talk into the mic. You got it.

Question: I am a member of Bay Eden. I'm 91 years old.

Mayor Adams: All right!

Question: And I would like clarity, our table would like clarity on the question of stop and frisk. We asked at the table and no one seems to know: has it been reinstated or not?

Mayor Adams: Okay. It's called stop, question and frisk. Stop, question and frisk. It never went away. It never went away. What was done, at one time, it was used as a quota. Police officers were told you had to do a certain number every night, which was wrong. Instead of allowing the police officers to use their police experience to say, when should I apply this?

So, if you called the police and say someone is sitting on my stoop and I saw them put a gun in their waistband, the police should have the right to stop that person, question that person; and if it's needed, to frisk them. He may stop the person and say, I got a call that you put a gun in your waistband. The person may pull out an identification saying I'm a police officer, I'm a correction officer, I'm something else. That's the end of it.

But you've got to maintain the right for an officer to do a preliminary investigation to determine if a crime has taken place or about to take place. But it can't be abused. It was abused for many years. The numbers that used to be carried out, they have dropped substantially. And so it never went away, we just used it legally now and not illegal.

Question: Thank you so much for clarifying that and also for clarifying many of the things we've seen on TV about you.

Mayor Adams: Yes. Yes.

Question: All right. Thank you so much.

Mayor Adams: I'm on my way to a wake. I want to thank the team that's here. You know, show them some love. And I want to close with our councilman, Councilman Riley.

City Councilmember Kevin Riley: Let's give it up for our mayor, everybody. Let's give it for our mayor, 12th District. So, as the mayor stated, a lot of the questions that you guys had today he was able to address and answer. Just for clarification, if you do receive a 311 service request number, please reach out to my office, Senator Bailey's office or Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie's office with those numbers so we can follow up.

I see everyone's trying to get to the mayor, so I'll cut this short. Everyone be safe. Stay beautiful and continue to take care of your community. Thank you, everyone.