Transcript: Mamdani Administration, Rep. Ritchie Torres Announce $2 Million to Expand Free Broadband Internet Access
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good morning, New York City. It is a pleasure to be here in the Bronx to announce the expansion of a program that helps students learn. New Yorkers find jobs, and people of all ages stream Zootopia 2, a film I simply cannot recommend highly enough. I am talking about New York City's Neighborhood Internet program. And I want to thank Congressman Ritchie Torres, who led the fight in Washington to secure additional funding for this program. I also want to thank our deputy mayor, Leila Bozorg. I want to thank our New York City Housing Preservation and Development commissioner, Dina Levy; the president of the New York Public Library, Anthony Marx; the New York City Chief Technology Officer, Lisa Gelobter; Council Member Althea Stevens; Dr. Damyn Kelly; and the team at Lutheran Social Services for hosting us and for all that they do to serve New Yorkers. Today, we are here together to announce $2 million in additional federal funding for a program [that will] provide internet to New Yorkers for free. Because every New Yorker should be able to access the tools that they need to participate, whether in the classroom, whether in the workplace, [or] whether just to keep in touch with their loved ones. This funding builds on the work of the Pilot Neighborhood Internet program, which is funded by the federal Section 8 and will provide 2,200 apartments across 39 buildings of affordable housing with free internet for the next three years. And it will go a long way towards expanding digital equity in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan. Right now, we know that one in five residents of the Bronx lack internet connectivity. We know that in the age that we live in, the internet is a basic necessity to be able to participate in this economy. And this $2 million will provide internet to an additional 2,000 apartments across 50 buildings. Thanks to efforts of New York Housing Preservation and Development and New York Public Library, we will do retrofitting and install rooftop network equipment to bring affordable housing across the Bronx and Upper Manhattan online. The New York Public Library will also provide neighborhood tech help service on-site to support tenants as they get connected. Now, after this initial installation, this tech help will continue to be available nearby at older adult centers, community centers and library branches. Now, the work that we are here together today to speak about is that which builds upon a citywide effort to make sure that every New Yorker has access to the internet that they need. New York City Housing Preservation and Development is already providing $3.25 million in Section 8 funding for the initial pilot. Now, our Office of Technology and Innovation launched the Get Online NYC campaign in April to make it easier for New Yorkers to find free digital resources at more than 450 public computer centers across the city. Now, I've spoken often about [the] government's role in ensuring that each and every New Yorker can live a life of dignity. Today, we speak about the fact that in addition to delivering that by making it easier to afford life in New York City, we also are doing so by now providing internet to thousands more New Yorkers with the tools that they now have to succeed in the modern world. With that being said, I want to pass it over to Congressman Ritchie Torres.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think we've heard from a number of other speakers today about how internet is a requirement to participate in the world today. It is not a nice to have; it is a building block of every single way in which New Yorkers are engaging with the world around them. And I want to first appreciate Council Member Gutiérrez's leadership on this issue. She's been one of the proponents of how the city can actually meet that need. Now, as you said, that is something that was in the works, then the previous administration kind of dismantled it. And now, for us, we're looking at every single step we can take to expand access, while also engaging with the larger realities of that access across the city. Today's announcement is one that is incredibly exciting, because it doubles the access of this program. And initially, when this program was put together, the city wasn't sure if it would be low cost or free. And we're excited to announce that it will be entirely free. And this is not going to be the end of how we are engaging with the question of internet access citywide. I think that's part of the larger conversations we're having about how to go beyond this.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceOn the first one, we'll get back to you on the specifics of that. On the second, I want to make very clear that that work is critically important to our administration, and the Office of Community Safety is our vision for how to take what was previously disparately organized parts of City government, [and bring] them into one work stream within our city work. And that includes not just the efforts that we have to combat domestic violence — to combat gender-based violence — but also tackling the mental health crisis, also tackling the gun violence epidemic, to finally [ensuring] that we could actually approach this with a coherence that it's long been denied.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceLet me first start with the incident as a whole, and then we can get into the specific videos. First and foremost, I want to be very clear that there was no prior coordination or planning between the NYPD and ICE ahead of this incident. NYPD officers were not dispatched to the hospital to participate or facilitate an ICE operation. Rather, they were responding to 911 calls regarding a protest outside of the hospital. And as I've made very clear that our laws leave nothing [and] no room for interpretation about the fact that our NYPD will not participate in civil immigration enforcement. And I've also been very clear about my views on ICE raids as a whole. I think that they are cruel. I think that they are inhumane. I think that they do not serve any interest of public safety. Now, I've seen some of the videos from the incident. I saw a video that you referred to of an officer grabbing a New Yorker and throwing them onto the floor. That is incredibly disturbing, and that is being actively investigated right now. I haven't seen the video of a white shirt with those comments that you just referred to, but I will follow up on that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceFirst, I just want to say thank you just for highlighting this as an issue, and that is a suggestion I'm going to take back to the team right after this press conference. Frankly, what we've seen, and even just this morning, right, we continue to see fires across our city, and wherever there are actions that can be taken to prevent those fires, we are going to do everything within our power to ensure that those are being taken and that New Yorkers understand the consequences of that, whether we're talking about an open door or we're talking about double parking in front of a fire hydrant. There have been a number of times where I've responded to a fire. I've arrived on the scene to meet the incredible first responders that our city has and have been shown the fact that there was a car parked in front of a fire hydrant that then delayed the response to a five-alarm fire. So, absolutely, I will follow up with the team about adding this as part of our public education to what New Yorkers can do in terms of preventing these kinds of fires.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceAbsolutely. I'm wishing strength and recovery to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his loved ones during this difficult time, and I hope that his recovery is steady, and I hope that his family finds peace in one another during this time.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think former Mayor Giuliani is someone that we as New Yorkers know well, and he's been a fixture in our city's politics and public life for so many years, and I know that many New Yorkers are concerned by the reports that he's in critical condition. So, we do keep him and his family in our prayers at this time.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I will begin with your first question, and then we can go to your second question. On the first question, we are very much confident in working with the governor's team that this tax will raise half a billion dollars. I think the comptroller's report said that it could raise half a billion dollars; it could raise other amounts of money. A lot of it comes back to the way in which this tax is administered. And so much of the work of these last few weeks has been on that very question, on how to ensure that this is a tax that is actually being applied in the manner that it was first envisioned. And I'm confident of where it's going to land and its ability to raise that money as part of a larger conversation we're having about ensuring that the city is on firm financial footing after inheriting the largest fiscal deficit we've seen in a generation. Would you mind repeating the second question?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI've spoken with the police commissioner, and I'm always in active conversation with the police commissioner, because this is an issue of immense importance to New Yorkers. I understand why New Yorkers are so concerned and frustrated by this, because what we're seeing are ICE raids across our city where they are detaining New Yorkers. And sometimes it's the detention of a New Yorker; recently it was a delivery worker who had just finished his Grubhub shift. And as soon as he finished delivering that food, he was then detained by armed federal agents without any active warrant. And this is incredibly concerning. It's why I've said time and again that I believe that ICE should be abolished. And I believe that we have to have a response to immigration as a country that has humanity as part of it, as opposed to simply a footnote. And when it comes to our police force, I've been very clear about the fact that there cannot be any work in coordination with ICE and planning with ICE. And there was none of that when it comes to Wyckoff. And there cannot be any assistance in civil immigration enforcement, and there was none of that in what our police force is doing. And we are going to continue to actively examine what our response protocols are when ICE is present to ensure that we're handling these situations appropriately. And we're doing so in a manner that's consistent with our local laws and our values as a city. Thank you all so much.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mamdani Administration, Rep. Ritchie Torres Announce $2 Million to Expand Free Broadband Internet Access.