Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces 2-K Will be Full Day and Full Year
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
And it is now my pleasure to introduce my former colleague, one of the strongest advocates for Brownsville that I've ever had the privilege of meeting, Assemblywoman Latrice Walker.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, a lot of the work that we've been doing over the last few months has not just been to engage parents, but also to engage providers themselves. Requests for information, requests for proposals, getting a better sense of what their needs are, what their capacity is and also looking to expand the traditional pool of those that have contracted with the city. You know, for many years prior to this one, the city had a fixed set of child care vendors that it would work with. Now, we're actually opening that up for the first time in quite some time. I'm just going to invite Emmy to speak to any of the specifics.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I'll say that as a city, we are constantly looking towards a goal of offering full-day, full-year at larger scale across programs, across ages and what we've sought to do over the course of our ninety-nine days that we've been in office is to better meet the needs of New Yorkers. Now, one of the critiques that we heard from New Yorkers around 3-K, something that I used to hear quite a bit from State Senator Brisport, was the inability of the city to meet the need of providing seats closer to families who are looking to enroll their children. We would tell New Yorkers that you could have a seat if you applied, without mentioning that you might live in Bed-Stuy and your seat would be in Astoria. And so, as part of the $1.2 billion that we secured, a critical piece of it was put towards providing an additional 1,000 in the 3-K program to better meet those needs closer to home for [the] parents who are looking to enroll.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, this is covered within the $1.2 billion that we secured from the governor.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI remain deeply committed to disbanding the SRG and to decoupling our response to protest and counterterrorism. And this is a trip of members from both City Hall and NYPD to better study the Columbus model of responding to protests.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I first just want to clarify, there are some who are under the impression that this affects birthday parties or picnics in the parks. It has no such effect. What we're talking about are large-scale events that require permits [and] that require police presence. Now, we are looking forward; we are less than 70 days until the World Cup. It will be an opportunity not just for New Yorkers to enjoy the eight games that will be hosted in partnership with New Jersey, but also for many to come and visit our city for the first time. We want to make sure that our city is fully prepared for every aspect of this summer. And that means taking these kinds of necessary precautions. I can tell you, as a soccer fan myself, I have seen many a time when municipalities are unprepared for the level of excitement, enthusiasm and frankly, even the visits that come out of a tournament like this. We want to make sure that we are anything but that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, these are all active parts of discussions with our partners at the state. We know that budget negotiations will be continuing for the next few weeks. And we're confident of that partnership. We can see it not only here with our governors at the State Senate level and the State Assembly level, but even with the governor as we chart out what it looks like to deliver for our students. And we're encouraged by where we are thus far.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think the challenge that we set out for ourselves was to work as hard and as fast as New Yorkers do. Too often, we've seen New Yorkers regard City Hall as something that is at best uninterested in the struggles of their lives. And we have sought to show an administration that is ambitious, that is unapologetic and that is relentless. And over these ninety-nine days that we've been in office, we've delivered $1.2 billion in funding for a pathway to universal child care. We've secured more than $30 million in settlements with bad landlords who are now being forced to repair more than 6,000 apartments. We've secured more than $9 million in settlements with bad actors, whether they be large-scale corporations or delivery apps delivering close to $100,000 every single day to workers and small businesses. And we've done all of this while also focusing on the little things that New Yorkers often feel are overlooked by City government, filling in more than 100,000 potholes. You know, last night at about midnight, I met a number of our incredible DOT workers who were repaving a road. And that's one part of the more than 1,000 miles of roadway that they will repave. Right after that, I met a number of our incredible hardworking men and women at DEP who were listening to our water main system to identify leaks and breakages to ensure that we're not losing an immense amount of water in the city and that we're providing continually the best drinking water in the world. And before that, at around 11:30 p.m., I met with a number of our EMTs in Queens, and they were telling me about how they've saved more than 300 New Yorkers' lives this year who had the kinds of life-threatening medical incidents that, without that assistance, may have meant the end of their lives. And so, I say all this to say an immense amount of gratitude to the city workers who've made these ninety-nine days possible, the days that came before, the days that will come after. And I think the next deadline that we have, the next marker to me, is probably the World Cup. You know, it is the most watched sporting event in the world. It is not just an opportunity for the city to host eight games in partnership with New Jersey. It's also a multibillion-dollar economic opportunity. And we look forward to what that can generate, not just for those who are coming through Midtown to go through the game. But we want those tourists to come everywhere across the city. We want them to come to Brownsville. We want them to come to every part of the five boroughs, and we're excited to do the work to make that possible.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces 2-K Will be Full Day and Full Year.