Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces Completion of Weeksville Restoration, Preserving One of the Nation’s Oldest Free Black Communities
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good morning, everyone. It is truly a pleasure to be here, and I want to say thank you so much for your introductory remarks. Before we speak about the Weeksville Heritage Center, I want to share a few words about my recent visit to the White House. Yesterday, I did something that I am truly reluctant to do. I left New York City. I traveled down to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Trump in the Oval Office. I have said time and again that our city faces an immense affordability crisis. It is felt by residents here in Weeksville, across Brooklyn, and across the five boroughs of the city that we all love and call home. And it is felt whenever New Yorkers try to find a place to live, go grocery shopping, put their kids in childcare, or even take public transit. Addressing this crisis was the focus of my meeting with the president. I proposed working together to build more than 12,000 new homes in our city, which would be the single largest housing development New York City has seen since 1973. The president was interested in the idea, and I look forward to the ensuing conversations about how to build more housing in a city that doesn't have enough of it. We also discussed the immigration cases I know are front of mind for so many New Yorkers. I shared my concern with the president about ICE's detention of Columbia student, Elmina Aghayeva yesterday morning, as well as the detention of four additional New Yorkers in relation to the university, Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, Yunseo Chung, and Leqaa Kordia. I ask that their cases be dropped. I'm grateful that shortly after our meeting, the president called me to inform me that Elmina would be imminently released, and indeed, she was. Now, I want to speak about the reason that we are together today, the Weeksville Heritage Center. What a gift, truly, it is to be here with all of you. Thank you to the string quartet. If we can have another round of applause for the incredible performance, truly. For beginning this event on such a celebratory note, and my deepest gratitude as well goes to Dr. Raymond Codrington and the staff of the Weeksville Heritage Center for preserving historic Weeksville's remarkable legacy for all of us. I am struck by the way that this center honors the past while existing firmly in the present and charting a course for our future. Whether it's yoga classes or movie screenings, you have created a space for both Black joy and Black memory. And I want to say thank you as well to Afua Atta-Mensah, the chief equity officer of New York City from our administration here with us. Thank you to my former colleague, Assemblywoman Latrice Walker. [I] also [want to] say thank you to the DDC team members [who] worked so hard on this project. That's right, they should get their props. I want to say thank you to Woon Lam, to Suzanne Lee Kim, Alexandra Ramos, Anthony Saxon Joseph. I also want to say thank you to the capital team at the Department of Cultural Affairs with a special, special shout-out to Victor Meteor, who shepherded this project from the start. And to say thank you to our outgoing commissioner, Laurie Cumbo. I'm also told that Commissioner Cumbo's mother may be in the audience as well. So, we want to say thank you to you as well, ma'am. And at some point, we may be joined by the Deputy Brooklyn Borough President, Kim Council. Now today, we mark the completion of the renovation of the Hunterfly Road Houses, where Black New Yorkers gathered, organized, and raised their families long before the Civil War led to emancipation. Just 11 years after New York State outlawed slavery, [a] stevedore, James Weeks bought two lots here in 1838. At the time, New York had a law that stated all white men were entitled to vote, but that Black men had to own $250 worth of property to do the same. James Weeks built his own home, and then he built and sold homes to other Black people, to recently freed slaves along the eastern seaboard. And in that way, he created a community of voting Black landowners. By 1855, Weeksville was home to more than 500 free Black New Yorkers, sustained by their own shops, schools, nursing home, orphanage, newspapers, and churches. Weeksville was a sanctuary, as we heard before — a sanctuary of safety, of dignity, of opportunity, in the face of injustice and systemic racism. It was the physical embodiment of Black resilience and resourcefulness, a place where Black New Yorkers not only had the vision to imagine something greater, but the determination to also build it for themselves. In this center, we see reflected the countless choices that led to the haven that was Weeksville. It was a choice for James Weeks to build the community that would become a sanctuary for escaped slaves, to publicize the fact of Weeksville in the South. Because of that action, 30 percent of this community, of its residents, were Southern born. It was a choice to make the Freedman's Torchlight a newspaper that not only delivered the news of the day, but taught Weeksville's recently freed residents the alphabet and doled out educational material on how to live on your own. It was a choice to ensure the idea of a safe haven was built into Weeksville's very DNA, so that years after its founding, Black New Yorkers again sought safety there from the 1863 New York City draft riots. All of these choices allowed Weeksville to become a home for the city's abolitionists, a place where radical thinkers could exchange ideas. Here too was the birthplace of Dr. McKinney Steward, the first female Black New Yorker to earn a medical degree. And yet, the story of Weeksville’s greatness is also a story of greatness that came to a premature end. Its cemetery was dug up to make way for Eastern Parkway, its identity as a hub of Black sanctuary forgotten. I am thankful for the work of James Hurley, who rediscovered this site in 1968, and for Joan Maynard, who led efforts to preserve Weeksville's history. It is because of them, as well as many others, that New Yorkers and City Hall can look to Weeksville as a guide as we work to build a city where every New Yorker can afford a dignified life. To deliver that city will not only require the same level of thoughtfulness that James Weeks and others led with nearly two centuries ago. It will also demand the same willingness to put working New Yorkers first. Now, you know that I speak often about the importance of taxing the rich and ensuring the wealthiest New Yorkers and most profitable corporations pay their fair share. In response, I often hear about an imagined exodus such a policy choice would prompt. After I share the fact that our city is home to more millionaires today than we were when the state raised taxes on millionaires in 2021, I then ask about the exodus that we're already facing. Over the past two decades, more than 200,000 Black New Yorkers have left our city. Because childcare costs have become too prohibitive, rent too unaffordable [and] buses too slow. That is a very real, very tangible exodus, and it is measured in storefronts that sit shuttered, in neighborhoods that feel hollower than before, in schools with fewer students in their classrooms. We can and will do more to ensure that New York stays home to all those who want to call it as such. Like the leaders of Weeksville, we now look to them as an example for how City Hall can use the fullest extent of our power to improve Black New Yorkers' lives across this city. Over the coming weeks and months and years, we will make universal childcare a reality for every family in this city. We will protect homeowners by taking on deed theft while breaking new ground on affordable housing across our city. And yes, we will also make the slowest buses in the United States of America fast and free. As we reflect upon the urgency of this work, I'm reminded of an exhibit that is currently on display here, “In Search of Sugarcane,” by LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs. It tells the story of a Black woman's slow displacement from her Harlem apartment, preserving her mementos and memories at an altar, and in that way, keeping them alive, creating a space of what she calls sacred time. Standing in the exhibit, you feel the profound loss of displacement as well as her refusal to be erased. It is a story that is all too familiar to many Black New Yorkers. My friends, as we celebrate this incredible day, and as we celebrate Black History Month here, let us also recommit ourselves to ensuring that Black history can continue to be written in our city. And may the memory of Weeksville light our way. Thank you very much. And with that being said, it is my pleasure to introduce Afua Atta-Mensah. Afua Atta-Mensah, Chief Equity Officer and Commissioner, Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Thank you to the team here at Weeksville. Thank you to the elected officials who have joined us this morning. And of course, hello Brooklyn. My name is Afua Atta-Mensah, and I'm New York City's chief equity officer and commissioner of NYC's Office of Equity and Racial Justice. It is an absolute honor to be joined here today in celebrating the restoration of the Hunterfly Road Houses. We're standing where Black New Yorkers built homes, churches, schools, businesses and civic institutions. They built a thriving town, a place where Black families can live with dignity, organize for progress, and shape their own futures. But history is not only about what is built. It is also about what is buried. By the turn of the 20th century, development pressures surrounded and swallowed up Weeksville. Its presence faded from public memory. Yet, in the 1970s, several of its iconic houses were rediscovered, and community leaders fought to protect them. Because of that advocacy, we are here today. Not just to look at preserved buildings, but to stand inside a recovered legacy. Weeksville is not only an essential part of Brooklyn's Black history. As was said before, it is an essential part of American history. It reminds us that people have always had to create refuge when the law and the powerful made life unsafe. That truth is not distant. It calls us right now to protect dignity, belonging, and the right to live without fear. Cultural preservation must be central to equitable development. When we invest in places like Weeksville, we are investing in identity, in education and in community power. Today's celebration is also part of broader work to advance racial and gender equity citywide. Preserving Weeksville is equity in action. It is a recognition that Black history is not a footnote –– it is foundational. It is a commitment to telling the truth about who built this city and ensuring that those communities can continue to thrive here. I encourage everyone to tour this remarkable historic site, to learn about its residents and to engage with the dynamic programming happening here today. The spirit of self-determination that defined Weeksville's founding still lives on within these walls. This restoration safeguards more than historic homes. It preserves a story of resilience, freedom, and possibility. A story that continues to shape and inspire New York City's future. Thank you, and it is my pleasure to introduce Assembly Member Latrice Walker.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceIt was a productive meeting in the sense that after our first meeting in the Oval Office, one of the topics of conversation that we focused on was housing. Housing not only because it was the foremost, and continues to be, the foremost crisis in New York City, but also because it's a place of immense interest in this moment across the political spectrum. And I knew that leaving that meeting, it was my responsibility to return with tangible proposals for what a partnership could look like in building exactly that in New York City. I'd stood with the president looking at a portrait of FDR the last time I was in the Oval Office, and I had shared the fact that [for] who I believe to be the greatest mayor in New York City history, Fiorello La Guardia, so much of his success was tied to his partnership with the federal government, and how that could continue to be a model in the years to come. And so in working with my team, we sought to answer the question of what could it look like to bring that kind of partnership back to New York City at a scale that's needed to address this crisis. And so, we put forward a proposal to build more housing in a single project than the city has seen since 1973. More housing than you would get combining Hudson Yards and Battery Park City together. And not just housing, but also parks, also childcare, also hospitals — an entire new neighborhood. And I was heartened by the fact that the president was interested in this proposal, and I anticipate it will be the subject of conversations to continue.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo this meeting took place in part of a larger context of the last meeting that I had with the president, where we left that meeting knowing that we would continue to be in conversation and to have meetings, always bringing it back to how we can serve this city. And I've said that time and again that I will speak to anyone to ensure that we can advance the agenda of keeping New Yorkers in New York. And the focus of the conversation came back to what it would look like to partner with the city to create this scale of housing, what it would look like to create the largest rail deck in the world, larger than that of Paris, than that of Hong Kong. We spoke about the detention of the Columbia student that morning, and I shared my concerns as part of my longstanding belief that ICE raids are not only cruel, they also do nothing to advance the cause of public safety. And I care very deeply about public safety in our city, and we have continued to focus on delivering exactly that. And I shared with the president that I thought that these continued detentions — as well as cases of those who are out of detention but face the prospect of having to be forced back into detention — do nothing to advance that cause, and I asked for those cases to be dropped.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceAll I can tell you is what happened, which is that I shared directly with the President a list of names of Columbia students and those who've also been detained because of their activity on Columbia’s campus, and that these actions do nothing to advance the cause of public safety. And I asked that these cases be dropped, and the President said that he would look into it. Soon after the meeting, I received a phone call from the President saying that he was going to imminently release her. A few of them are Columbia students. One of them was detained on the basis of her being present on Columbia’s campus at a protest.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, the president shared his interest in the proposal, and I am encouraged by the fact that we will continue to talk about this proposal. It is going to be a long process. We are speaking about an idea that had its first beginnings in the sixties and seventies and eighties. It's a long-standing proposal. The reason to focus on this one specifically is in a city where we know that land is so precious and so finite, here lies an opportunity to create more of it by creating the largest rail deck the world has ever seen. And then on top of that rail deck, building more housing than we've seen since the construction of co-op houses and Co-op City. And that presents within it an opportunity to deal with a housing crisis where right now we know there are far too few homes in New York City, even for those who already call New York City home, let alone for those who want to join us in this city. He said that he was interested and that the conversation would continue.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWe've had a few conversations across elected officials, labor [and] organizers. Those conversations will continue because this is a long-standing project that will also require a long-standing commitment, and we're just at the very beginning of it. And I broached this with the President because of the fact that this is one of the busiest rail yards in the entire — on the entire continent, frankly, and the city cannot build on these rail yards without the approval and direction of the federal government. It will also require the federal government shifting a few policies as it pertains to bond caps and risk sharing, all of which are impossible for the city to do on its own.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I said over the course of the campaign that I will always be honest and direct with New Yorkers about my views. The president and I have many disagreements, which we share publicly and we share privately. And I also said on that same campaign trail that I would be willing to work with anyone, no matter disagreements, so long as it was to the benefit of the city that we love. That is what it comes back to. Every conversation has to be advancing the agenda of working New Yorkers. And when we think about 12,000 new homes for working and middle-class New Yorkers, we see the possibility of so many more people being able to put roots down here in this city. And this was a meeting that was scheduled as part of following conversations from the prior meeting, which was in November. There was always a sense that that would continue. As you know, it's not the first meeting I've had with the president. It won't be the last. And we will also continue to advocate for anything and everything that can help New Yorkers continue to remain in New York. Thanks. I think this came in the aftermath of the prior meeting. I would say that — finalizing the dates, I'm not sure exactly when it was, but it's just part of a longstanding conversation.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYou know, I will say first and foremost that I believe that our police officers should be treated with respect. They are at the heart of delivering exactly that public safety that I was speaking about earlier. And they've also been at the heart of responding to the city's first blizzard since 2016, because police officers were not just out there continuing to do the jobs that they always do, but they also have a tow truck task force, which is one that was chiefly responsible for digging New Yorkers' cars out of the snow, of digging out ambulances, MTA buses [and] keeping the city moving in that manner. And for that work and everything that they do, I'm deeply appreciative. And what I've said in regards to the snowball fight is that it's a snowball fight that got out of hand, and I don't really have much more to say to it.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I'll say that I’m incredibly appreciative of the governor’s partnership for advancing the needs of our city, and she also stepped in. The last time around we saw providing additional funding in SNAP benefits to ensure that so many New Yorkers would be able to continue to put food on the table. I actually recall during Veterans’ Day, I sat with a number of veterans, and one pulled me aside to say that that infusion from the governor was critical in him being able to continue to eat that week. And so, I think what the governor has done in the past has been truly significant and helpful, and I am confident in HRA, and I also know that the tasks in front of HRA and city agencies only continue to increase. I always believe in their ability to meet the moment, but also our city administration’s commitment to helping them in doing so. And the names that we spoke about specifically were the ones in the context around students who were being detained on or around campus. However, it was within a conversation where I made clear and will always make clear that ICE raids, at large, are ones that are cruel and do nothing to advance public safety.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think that the president was interested in the idea of working together to build 12,000 homes, and that this was a long-standing idea that has not yet come to fruition. And within that lies an opportunity to deliver a new scale of development in this city, and one that resolves — starts to resolve an issue that you will find on the [tip] of the tongue of any New Yorker across this city, which is housing and how New Yorkers can afford to live in this city. And also, a critical part of this proposal is that half of the homes would be Mitchell-Lama homes, which have been considered time and again by so many, including by the president, as being critical to the stability of middle-class New Yorkers and their ability to call New York City home.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI don't know the specifics on the second question. I can tell you on the first is that — I appreciate the work of my police commissioner, Commissioner Tisch, who has been doing the work to ensure that we're delivering public safety. That's work that we do in tandem. That's work that we do also by being in constant communication with each other. And I think what New Yorkers are focused on is, are they safe in the city that they call home? And that's the work that she's leading on.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think this will take many, many years. However, we are not daunted by the length of the project. We also know that it's one that has been decades in the making. And so many of us, we aspire to help to build a city that can build in the same manner that it used to. You know, earlier we were thanking a number of elected officials and one of them is State Senator Zellnor Myrie. And I recall he would share again and again that the Empire State Building was built in 13 months. Today, that sounds as if it is an idea of fantasy. And it is critically important that we do not fear the scale of these kinds of projects or think that they are impossible to deliver on. We actually have to do everything we can to bring them to fulfillment.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI can't give you the specifics of when exactly we'll meet again. I will tell you, however, that as the mayor of our city, I will always look to keep an open line of communication with the president of our country and to do so always with the interests of New Yorkers in mind. And that means making clear where there is disagreement, making clear where there is prospect for partnership, and always at the core of it asking, how can we make it easier for New Yorkers to live in the most expensive city in the United States of America? How can we make it easier for them to live here, for them to be safe here, and for them to dream here? Thank you so much. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces Completion of Weeksville Restoration, Preserving One of the Nation’s Oldest Free Black Communities.