[MUSIC PLAYING]
“No one in this race for mayor
has the experience that I do.
No one else has
sat side by side
in the situation
room with Dr. Fauci.
No one else has led this
city back from Sandy.
No one else has led a
$4 trillion federal budget.
This city has given
me everything.
And in its moment of crisis,
I want to help
to lead this city back.”
“The next mayor will inherit
an economy devastated
by the pandemic.
What is the first thing you
would do to help
New York City recover?”
“Well, the first thing we have
to do is make sure every New Yorker
and everyone around the
world knows that New York
is the safest city in the world.
I would make sure everyone
can walk into a restaurant,
everyone can walk
into a theater,
with an app on their phone
that lets them know that it’s
a safe place to be and
that the restaurant,
or the theater, or
wherever it might be,
knows that that person
has been vaccinated.
There’s nothing wrong with
New York that can’t be solved
by what’s right with New York.
We should get our artists, our
musicians, our restaurants,
filling our vacant
storefronts,
filling our public spaces,
and make sure every New Yorker
and the world knows that
we’re alive, and fun,
and the city to be in again.
If I were mayor now, I
would extend the eviction
moratorium until the
pandemic is behind us
and all of the aid,
the nearly $50 billion
in rental assistance that
I worked with Congress
and the Biden
administration to create,
had the time to get
into the hands of folks
who need it most.
And that will take
months after the end
of the pandemic.”
“What is the most important
police reform you would
pursue as mayor?”
“We need to do three things in
this city to end the epidemic
of violence against Black and
brown New Yorkers and to make
every New Yorker feel
respected and safe.
We need to reform
policing by creating
real transparency,
real accountability,
weeding out the bad apples.
But we also need to reduce
what we’re asking the police
to do.
They’re asked to be
mental health experts with
our homeless and in so
many other situations.
Instead, what we should
do is reduce those roles
and focus them on guns
and violent crime.
Reducing the flow of
illegal guns into our city
is one of the most
important things
that we can do
to end violence.
We need to reinvest
in our communities
to break the cycle
of incarceration.
When I was housing
commissioner in this city,
I took housing and gave it to
folks coming out of Rikers.
And the results
were remarkable.
A year later, 95% of those
folks were stably housed,
getting back to work,
and hadn’t reoffended.
It was so successful that
effort’s been replicated
in 40 cities
around the country.
Absolutely, New
York City has a role
in addressing systemic racism.
That’s why I’ve put equity
at the center of my campaign.
I’d be the first mayor ever
to have a chief equity officer
reporting directly to me with
responsibility to look over
every single agency.
It’s why I’ve put 15-minute
neighborhoods at the center
of my campaign, to make sure
that every single New Yorker
is able to get everything they
need for opportunity within
15 minutes of
their front door.
And it’s why I’ve created
the equity bonds idea
for New York.
What’s an equity bond?
Well, every child
born in this city
gets $1,000 put in an account.
And every year,
depending on their income
another up to $2,000, so that
a child born into poverty
would graduate high
school with almost $50,000
in an account to go to
college, to buy a home,
to start a business.
It’s the wealth gap across
races that, in this city,
that drives inequality
more than anything else.
And equity bonds
would end that.”
“Since voters can rank
up to five candidates
on the ballot, who would you
pick as your second choice?”
“Oh, you are going to
do this one, aren’t you?
I’m still getting to know
the other candidates,
just like New Yorkers are.
But if I had to
answer today, I
would say my second choice
would be Maya Wiley.
I’ve worked on civil rights
issues my whole career.
And I have real respect for
the work that Maya’s done
to make this a fairer
city and country.
The single most
important thing
the next mayor can do to make
up for educational losses
from the pandemic is to
ensure that we are investing
everything we can in
our kids, particularly
in the schools that
have been left behind.
I would do that by creating
an education recovery corps,
bringing more social workers
and emotional and social
supports to our
schools, and creating
a public-private
grant program that
would invest in the
schools that have
been left behind the most.
I have a really
innovative idea.
Let’s ask our young
people, our CUNY students,
our recent graduates who
are thinking about becoming
teachers, let’s put
them to work right now,
side by side with
our teachers,
helping our kids catch
up educationally,
but also socially
and emotionally.
I’m certainly not seeking
Governor Cuomo’s endorsement,
and I wouldn’t accept it.
I’ve been clear that
I believe the brave,
courageous women who
have come forward.
And enough is enough.
It’s time for Governor Cuomo
to resign and allow our city
and our state to move forward
in the midst of the
crises we’re facing.”
“Do you think we should
move towards
a car-free Manhattan?”
“I don’t know that we’ll ever
get to a completely car-free
Manhattan, especially if
we can ensure that electric
vehicles are everywhere, that
we have charging stations,
and that we don’t have
cars that pollute our city.
But I do think we have to make
sure that we put people first
in Manhattan and every
other part of the city.
I would make sure that as
we’re implementing congestion
pricing and other ways
to bring in revenue,
that we’re investing
more in our subways,
in our public transportation,
in exchange for more control
over the M.T.A.,
more board seats,
more say in the priorities
that ought to be serving
our new Yorkers.
The second thing
I would do is,
based on my 15-minute
neighborhood proposal,
ensuring that every
community has access
to public transportation.
For some communities,
that means the subways.
For others, it would mean real
bus rapid transit that allows
them to move quickly through
the city because we’ve
prioritized the signals and
allowed a bus driver to never
wait at a red light.
We can be the leading city in
the world on transportation
with the right leadership.
I voted for Joe Biden.
We had a lot of
great candidates,
many who I’ve worked
with for years,
but there’s nobody I
worked more closely with.
And I agreed with Joe
Biden that this was a fight
for the soul of our nation.”
“What’s your favorite New
York City restaurant?”
“This is like picking
between your children.
But if I had to pick one
favorite New York City
restaurant, I would have
to say Grimaldi’s Pizza,
even though it’s
no longer open,
because every Sunday when
my boys were growing up,
we’d get a pizza,
sit on our stoop,
and hang out with
our neighbors.”
“Favorite bagel order?”
“Onion bagel, scallion
cream cheese, lox, tomatoes,
and red onions.”
“Favorite New York City park?”
“Brooklyn Bridge Park because
my wife helped design it.”
“Favorite sports team?”
“The New York Yankees.
After more than 20 years
of having a Red Sox fan
as mayor, it is time to have
a Yankees fan in city hall.”
“Favorite Broadway show?”
“Little known fact, when
I was in high school,
we did a performance of
‘Oliver’ at the Shubert Theater.
And I will never
forget that moment.”
“Did you play Oliver?”
“Of course not.
I was in the chorus.”
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
