Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces New Appointments to Lead Key City Agencies
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good morning, everyone. Before we begin, I wanted to first give an update on the life-threatening cold that this city has been enduring for days. Yesterday, I shared that the city has placed 170 homeless New Yorkers off the streets and into transitional housing like shelters, safe havens, and stabilized beds. I can also share today that since January 19th, the city has made nearly 500 of those placements. But at least 10 New Yorkers have tragically lost their lives after being found outdoors. We don't yet know whether every case will be ruled hypothermia, but we need every New Yorker to be on alert, looking out for their neighbors. The city remains in Code Blue, which means that we are intensifying outreach, that we are conducting round-the-clock checks, and have loosened traditional shelter intake procedures to accommodate as many New Yorkers as possible. 311 calls are being rerouted to 911, so help gets there faster. And we are immensely grateful for the 911 operators, who serve as the connective tissue of our emergency operations. But Code Blue alone is not enough in a cold this severe, this rare. To remind New Yorkers, this is the coldest weather conditions that we have experienced in this city for eight years. And that is why we are executing new, additional emergency protocols to enhance our efforts. We are sending out requests to send staff out every few hours to canvass nearby blocks and engage anyone who needs assistance. This would be from our shelter partners, as well as asking faith-based organizations to assist in some of those outreach efforts. We are also partnering with advocates and volunteers like Street Homeless Advocacy Project (SHAP) to conduct extra shifts this week in high-need areas. We have also asked hospitals to limit overnight discharges to ensure that people who have nowhere to go are kept indoors. We have opened up 10 new warming shelters since Friday. Last night, we opened an additional seven H + H health centers across all five boroughs. Additionally, above the existing warming buses that we have already put into operation, we have added 10 new warming buses at key locations across the city. We are also expanding overnight outreach from city workers with paid overtime so that our city can continue to get homeless New Yorkers inside. And we are expanding the hours of eight S.H.O.W. vans to make sure we can bring people indoors during late and early hours, including using their vans for transport and for temporary shelter. We are working with the state, finally, to redirect mental health teams to focus on life-saving street and subway outreach. And for any additional information on the location of these new warming centers or on the resources that I have mentioned, please do call 311. When the cold is this deadly, we need to meet the moment and leave no stone unturned. That is why the annual HOPE count has also been postponed during this current emergency. Outreach workers should be focused on bringing New Yorkers inside, not on data collection. Here is the bottom line, New York City. Extreme weather is not a personal failure, but it is a public responsibility. If we have the resources to act, we have the obligation to act. And we are mobilizing every resource at our disposal to ensure that New Yorkers are brought indoors during this potentially lethal weather event. We will also make sure we remain upfront and transparent with our city, just as we have over the past week. Please stay indoors when you are able to, stay inside, and stay warm. Now for today's announcement. Over the past 27 days, City Hall has sought to govern in a way that mirrors the way the people of this city live their lives, with a hunger to innovate and tackle every problem that lies in our path, and by putting in the work. I am proud of the work that we have done over these first three and a half weeks, and today we are together to announce the next batch of appointments to our City government, three New Yorkers who will help us deepen that very work. First, I am delighted to announce that Sharun Goodwin will serve as the commissioner of the Department of Probation. I can hardly think of anyone more prepared to assume this responsibility, or more experienced in the important work that the DOP leads each day. Sharun has dedicated 37 years of service to the DOP. She began as an intern in 1986, and rose to serve as deputy commissioner for Adult Operations before retiring in 2024. Along the way, she served as a probation officer, a court liaison officer, a trainer, the Queens County Adult Operations Branch chief, and an assistant commissioner for both Bronx County Adult Operations and citywide community engagement. She has worked in all five boroughs, a badge of honor that few in this city wear. And I want New Yorkers like Sharun, who have a proven record of achievement and a deep passion for service, to stand at the front of this administration. I am grateful to her for returning to public service from retirement, and I'm very much looking forward to working with her to make the DOP a force for justice and lasting change in New Yorkers' lives. Next, I am very excited to announce that Yume Kitasei will serve as the commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. DCAS is one of the most quietly influential parts of City government, a department with the remit of ensuring that government works well, and that agencies across our city can function at their full potential. As commissioner, Yume will oversee the work of recruiting and training city employees, the greenest municipal fleet in the nation, 55 public buildings, and lowering our city's carbon emissions. Yume is the perfect person to lead DCAS. Not only is she a City Hall veteran, having previously served as the chief of staff to the first deputy mayor and the deputy mayor for Operations, she has also worked across countless levels of City government. Like many New Yorkers, Yume contains multitudes. She is also an accomplished novelist. And while this brings me no pleasure to announce, Yume has achieved something I never could. She was successfully admitted to Stuyvesant High School. I am also thrilled to name Lisa Garcia as our commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. In that role, I will turn to Lisa to lead some of the most important work that City Hall does on behalf of New Yorkers. Protecting them each day from pollution, leading stormwater management, overseeing our wastewater collection efforts, and managing our city's water supply. Every day, New Yorkers drink more than 1 billion gallons of drinking water. What we rely on to survive, to go about our days, to lead healthy lives. The person responsible for stewarding that supply must be someone with the experience needed to meet the seriousness of this role. Lisa is that leader, with a long record of pursuing environmental justice and protecting public health. Most recently, she was appointed by President Biden to serve as the administrator of EPA's Region 2, which includes New York, where she managed a staff of over 1,000, oversaw $1 billion in funding, and led initiatives that lowered pollution and improved air and water quality. Each of these New Yorkers share a common commitment to service, a desire to place the city and its needs before their own, and a real ambition to deepen what New Yorkers expect from their government. I am grateful to them for joining our administration, and very much look forward to working together with them to deliver a new era for New York. Thank you very much. And now, Commissioner Goodwin.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source And I'll just say, before our new commissioner steps up, that I will demand the world of our new commissioner. I also will give her a little bit of time [in] settling in with some of the questions. But if there's anything you want to add.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I'll give her at least a few full days on the job before having to get back to you on that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I think I can just say kind of broadly, one of the things that I really appreciated about our new commissioner and also her remarks is that the service that DEP will provide will be equitable. For too long, New Yorkers have had to ask themselves if based on their zip code or their neighborhood, they're going to experience City government any differently. And one of the things that we've been asking everyone that we've been interviewing, and especially that came up in our own DEP conversations, is how do we ensure the service is the same no matter where you are. So, for someone who lives in Greenpoint, they can look forward to the same kind of service as anyone else across the city.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source We're going to be going through that as soon as our new commissioner gets into the job.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I can actually just add a few things to this. When we speak about having a new era in city politics, it is also a desire to earn New Yorker's trust and faith about the decisions that are being made within City government. And part of the driving force in our decision to announce Ms. Goodwin here as one of the leaders in our City government is that she is going to lead with a commitment not only to justice, not only to public safety, but also to fairness, and also looking to deliver efficiency and excellence. That is going to be a hallmark of her work [and] it's going to be a hallmark of DOP. And I think for too long, New Yorkers have had to ask themselves about the decisions that are being made, whether they have more to do with who someone knows, when someone worked with someone. We want New Yorkers to look at the work that's being done and see it for what it is, which is the work, not who's doing it and why they got that job.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I'm going to allow the commissioner to focus on the days ahead. I'm happy to take additional questions, though.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source You know, I think it's as the commissioner has said, if a New Yorker is a danger to themselves or to others, then that's the driving force of that decision. I think also, as she said, this is a last resort. Our first method of outreach is to communicate to homeless New Yorkers across the five boroughs as to the options that they have. We are, however, not going to leave someone out in the cold if they're a danger to themselves or to others.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I think, frankly, what we looked at is the continued forecast that we're seeing, where the snow may have subsided in terms of the snowfall. The cold is not subsiding. It is continuing. And what we're seeing is that the most emergency measures that our city has taken historically, it is still something that is in need to catch up to this extended cold period. So, I think it's not just about resting on the laurels of a Code Blue. We have to find every tool at our disposal. And one thing that I'm appreciative about our team is that they have continued to push to look both inwards and outwards as to resources that can be used, always asking ourselves what can connect more New Yorkers with services. And I also do want to say thank you to New Yorkers directly, because for New Yorkers across the five boroughs who have called 311 that has then been rerouted to 911, that has helped us to supplement our outreach efforts. Because they have also been the eyes and ears of our City government to ensure that we are not leaving New Yorkers out in the cold. I know you had another question.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I think we can get back to you on that question.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source So, I think that we are constantly asking ourselves what more this city can do to meet the needs of New Yorkers. I'm going to have our Deputy Mayor Kerson, who I think is right over here, to just step up to that second question.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces New Appointments to Lead Key City Agencies.