Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Appears on NPR’s Newsmakers
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
I think this job comes with an immense amount of difficulty, but that's also because it has an immense amount of possibility within it. When I ran for mayor, we built our campaign around three central promises. We talked about the importance of delivering universal child care, the importance of making buses fast and free, and how we believe that tenants deserve a rent freeze and rent-stabilized housing. I'm proud of the fact that, beyond the universal child care, we also announced just on Sunday that we were going to be speeding up buses for more than a million New Yorkers, because, as you know, we have the slowest buses in America here in New York City. Some of them are riding at an average speed of five miles an hour. We're going to be putting up to six minutes back into New Yorkers' lives from each of these trips. And then when it comes to the Rent Guidelines Board, we had six vacancies on that independent board, and we filled all of them. And we're now looking forward to the decision that they come to. But I share this with all of you to give you a sense of where we are and what animated so many, and how that coupled with just today's announcement of delivering on city-run grocery stores within our first term, it shows people the very things they were told they would be wrong to believe in are in fact the ones that we can deliver on.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think there are many who are feeling it already. You know, I think of a young mother who told me that she wouldn't consider having another child until she heard the news that we were going to save working parents upwards of $20,000 a year with free child care for two-year-olds. I think about even just the cyclist who would come up to me and tell me about the fact that now that we've decriminalized what was previously a criminal summons for cyclists across the city, how it's easier for them to get around [and] be treated the same as they would if they were driving a car. I even just think about the city workers who've been at the heart of so much of this accomplishment and so much of this work, even predating this administration, who, for the first time in a long time, are getting some of that deserved recognition for what they do to keep the city running.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI stand in the same place as I always have. I'm committed to disbanding the Strategic Response Group and decoupling our city's response to protests versus threats of terrorism. What we've seen is the bringing together of these two things when, in fact, they do not need to be conflated. I think part of what you're seeing in our administration is that we want to deliver this in a manner that isn't just checking a box, but in a manner that both upholds the sanctity of the First Amendment, the freedom of expression of protest, and also does so in a manner that keeps New Yorkers safe. And in the same period of time, we have codified the fact that the NYPD will now release body-worn camera footage within 30 days. We have stopped the prior administration's approach of giving criminal summonses to cyclists. We have started to bring back that same commitment that we spoke of, of not only keeping New Yorkers safe, but also delivering justice. We have also established our city's first-ever Office of Community Safety, which will be tasked with delivering the kind of innovative responses to the very crises that have long been pushed aside in New York City politics, whether they be gun violence or the mental health crisis. This is the very work that our city is taking on as an urgent task before it.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWell, I would say that at the end of the day, as the mayor of the city, if there is something that I believe we need to do, then we will do it. And I am proud of the work that my police commissioner has been doing, and we are very much on the same page in the need to deliver both safety and justice to New Yorkers. And to me, it's not a question of if we will do this work, it's a question of when, and wanting to ensure that we do this in a manner that we can look back on weeks, months, years after the fact and say, not only did we do the right thing, but we did it in the right way.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI feel pressure from New Yorkers to deliver for them on their day-to-day needs. If Republicans want to attack a record of making it easier for families to raise their kids in the city, of workers to get paid what they're owed, of New Yorkers to get around the five boroughs, they can feel free to attack that. But what they will find is that the reason so many people across the city and across the country have lost faith in politics is because of that sense that politics has less and less of a relevance to their day-to-day needs. And in fact, one of the most relevant things that we can be doing in our politics today is addressing the material needs of working-class people. That's exactly what we focused on.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI'll be honest with you, I don't let myself think too much about what Republicans seek to portray me as. I think about the fact that the power of an ideology is judged in the worth of its delivery. And delivery, at the end of the day, is every single thing that we want to do. It's why I spoke on Sunday about “pothole politics” as a way we describe the work that we do. Because for a long time, Republicans have sought to describe themselves as being driven by the needs of working people, when in reality, we've seen a chasm in what they've actually delivered for those people. I mean, look at the war in Iran today. We're talking about a federal administration that has spent close to $30 billion killing thousands of people at a time when working-class people across this country cannot afford the bare minimum. And to be told that a city-run grocery store is implausible, but spending more than $500 million a day to kill people in Iran and Lebanon is not only plausible but necessary, it speaks to a broken kind of politics. And what we're showing is that we can put forward not just our principles but also the practical impacts of this work. We can deliver universal child care and change 6,700 catch basins. We can take on bad landlords across the city and start to repave more than 1,000 miles of roadway. We can do all of these things, where we've been told in the past [that] you can only do one.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYes. The war in Iran has had an impact on the economy of this country. And even more than the economy, it's had an impact on the people of this city and across this country. At the core of any war is a dehumanization that takes place. And that dehumanization is not limited to any battlefield. It extends into the lives of people across this country. And I spoke to a young Muslim woman who I had called after seeing the news that she had been thrown to the ground at a subway stop. She told me that the first thing her attacker said to her before he attacked her was, “I wonder how many Iranians we killed today.” That is what we are allowing to take hold in our politics. And it is critically important for all of us to speak up, not just from a position of politics, but frankly, even just from a position of morals.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI'll keep the nature of the conversations with the president between the two of us. What I will tell you is that it is no secret, not my concerns, I would describe it more as a deep opposition to this war, a deep opposition that comes out of a concern for what our politics are incentivizing in this moment, the killing of civilians, as opposed to the uplifting of working-class people across this country.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think everyone saw in the conversation we had in the Oval Office after our first meeting.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI've been quite clear with the president, also with the public of my deep disagreement and opposition to so many of these policies. And I think that one of the few things that we have in common is that we are both New Yorkers and we will both — and I think one part of being a New Yorker is both to be honest and to be direct. And when I'm sitting with the president, we talk about places of potential collaboration, whether it could be working together to deliver more than 12,000 homes, the most homes delivered in a single housing development the city has seen since the early 1970s. But we're also very clear about places of disagreement. And one place that I mentioned to the president was on my views around ICE. I believe that ICE raids are cruel and inhumane. I believe they do nothing to deliver us on the stated intent of public safety. And in the previous meeting that I had with the president, I mentioned that just that morning a Columbia student had been detained by ICE. And I said that this was actually part of a larger pattern of five individuals who had been detained in or around Columbia University. I gave him that list. About 30 minutes after the meeting, he called me and said that he had now made the decision that he was going to release that Columbia student. And to me, it also showcases the importance of continuing to make the case for our city and its people, no matter if you agree or disagree with the person that you're speaking with.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI would say that he's the president and I'm the mayor. And the basis of the relationship comes from those two positions.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think in some ways that's a question for the president. In other ways, I think to be a New Yorker and to be speaking to another New Yorker, there is a commonality that comes with that, where the president himself said that the better the city does, the happier he feels. That's something that I feel the same way. The better the city does, the happier I feel. And so, in those meetings, I seek to always bring up things that are both honest about how we both feel and that would be transformative for the city that we both love. And to New Yorkers, public safety is a prerequisite for the affordability agenda. And then that affordability is something we want to deliver. And we know the number one crisis facing New Yorkers is the housing crisis.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI can't say that I get advice from Bill Ackman. If I had done that, I wouldn't be sitting opposite you as the mayor. But I do speak to a number of business leaders across the city. And while we see that both at a national level there are troubling economic signs and that New York City is obviously part of that national economy, we also look at a local economy that sees the highest demand for Manhattan office space in over a decade, that sees the most amount of venture capital raised in a single quarter since 2021, that sees the highest number of Wall Street bonuses, and also an economy that we know still needs to strengthen so that every New Yorker can feel that strength in their day-to-day life. Because no matter the statistics that I rattle off, I can walk anywhere in this city and I can meet a New Yorker who feels as if their day-to-day needs are even harder to afford today than they were the day before. And so, to that end, we're looking to also build more of an economy that reaches the extent of each part of the five boroughs and one that every New Yorker sees themselves as a part of.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYou know, first, you're absolutely correct to describe this, what we inherited, as difficult. We're talking about initially a $12 billion fiscal deficit that through an immense amount of work and savings and use of our own reserves, we were able to bring down to $5.4 billion. That's still where it stands today. And it is the kind of fiscal deficit the city has not seen for a generation, [which] dwarfs even that of the Great Recession. What makes this distinct, however, unlike the Great Recession, is it's a crisis purely of City government's making, not one of any external factors. It's an inability to budget in an honest way to actually account for the expenses of what is in our city government services. We are looking now for every potential saving and any example of fraud or inefficiency or waste as something to eliminate entirely. Now amidst all of that, we also want to build a city that, in the words of Jamie Dimon, “competes.” Because I agree, we do not have the right to be, it is not something that we inherit to be the greatest city in the world. We have to prove it and earn it every single day. And part of the ways that we do that, I don't think it's necessarily through a government and policy of subsidy and tax breaks. I think it's through a government that delivers the highest quality of public services across the country. I think it's by ensuring that New Yorkers can look at streets that are paved, at potholes that are filled, at a quality of life that has no competition, frankly. And I think a big part of this also that I've heard from many business leaders as well as New Yorkers across the five boroughs is public safety. And that's why it's been such a focus for us, is how do we drive down already record crime to even lower levels such that when businesses are thinking about where they want to open a business, where they want to keep that business, they think of New York City. And we're excited by the fact that not only has JPMorgan Chase opened their new multibillion-dollar headquarters, but also that Amex [American Express] has decided to build a new global headquarters here. The Bank of America has recommitted to a long-term lease with the city. And that when we look at the World Cup coming in now, less than 60 days, that there's a multibillion-dollar economic opportunity that comes with that as well.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, we made the decision coming into office that we would revoke all executive orders that the prior mayor had signed after he was federally indicted. That was a moment at which many New Yorkers started to ask themselves: “What was the motivation of any one executive order?” Was it driven by self-interest, or was it, in fact, being driven by what it should be, which is public interest? And we've also sought to show that we are fully committed in fulfilling what we had spoken about over the course of the campaign to not just keep Jewish New Yorkers safe across the city alongside each and every New Yorker, but also to celebrate and cherish those same New Yorkers. And so, over the course, for example, of Passover, it's been an incredible opportunity for me to attend a number of seders; to host Jewish City Hall officials at our home at Gracie Mansion for a seder; to sit there as staffers look for the Afikomen; to get a better sense of what it means to lead a city with such incredible beauty and breadth of Jewish life across the five boroughs; and also to get a glimpse into the amount of service that so many organizations within the Jewish community are providing, whether it was joining with an organization on an airfield to give out food that they had procured for teachers in the community, or if it was sitting with a Jewish New Yorker looking at Civil War era texts together. It has all been a joy to be able to be the mayor of a city with such a flourishing community that I am so proud to represent. So, we actually have the Office to Combat Antisemitism here at City Hall. And one of their jobs is to not only define that, but frankly to conduct a listening tour to actually bring in the perspectives of Jewish New Yorkers from across the five boroughs.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think that religion is a part of so many New Yorkers' lives. And it also provides a guide for many as to what it looks like to bring a morality into a politics that is often missing. And what I mean by a morality is a belief in the dignity of those who are struggling. And we've seen religion used as a tool to divide, and I've instead seen it across the city as a tool to actually find commonality amongst so many. Because the lessons of many scriptures, they are similar in the empowerment of working people and in the belief that there has to be something more than simply a desire of profit when it comes to delivering for people.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think it is something that is frankly not exclusive to any one administration. We're seeing it within this federal administration. We've also seen it within both political parties in this country. So much of the bigotry that I faced, it was not just in the general election, it was also in the primary election. And the language that was used then was language that was used among and by Democrats within a primary for this position. And we're speaking about a city that has more than a million Muslims that call it home, and yet it's a city where so many are made to feel as if they're guests, as if their belonging is forever in question. And I want this to be a city where every New Yorker, no matter their faith, no matter where they were born, understands that their belonging is never in question.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think that many are waking up to a New York City that is eager for a new era of politics, and one where there is a belief in that most sacred thing, which is what makes all of us New Yorkers. And we define being a New Yorker as anyone who lives here. And we don't seek to bring back that politics that has been almost a part of so much of the discourse across the city, across the country, which is looking for different ways in which to define people such that we can always have those who are excluded.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceIt is much easier for me — my natural disposition is to smile. However, there are things in our politics that are worthy of being pushed back against, and I make sure to make that clear in my own words and my own actions. In as much as there is so much that we're fighting for, I also make it clear what it is that we will fight back against, because what we see is that the kind of bigotry and cruelty that has become endemic in our politics, it's not unique in that so many people across the city face it. What makes that unique sometimes is the willingness to allow it to fester, and it requires the kind of forceful pushback that I think has often been missing.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI do. I think that what we are going to see is a message that Americans across the country are fed up with what politics has come to mean over these last few years. I'm excited by a number of candidates right here in New York City. We have Brad Lander who's running for Congress here in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Claire Valdez running for Congress in Queens and Brooklyn. I think what they show is the very kind of politics that people have been eager to see on the national stage. A politics that understands not only will we push back against the bigotry and cruelty that we've seen in so much of these last few years, but also push for a dignity that too often it seems like we have to look for in the history books of the Democratic Party and not in the present day.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYou never realize how small your one bedroom is until you try and move it into the [even] larger bedroom that we have there. I'll be honest with you. It's pretty nuts to move into a space like this. I don't spend all that much time there. Most of my time, frankly, is here at City Hall and around New York City. I've tried to live life like the same New Yorker that I was before this, because so much of how you see the world is informed by who you're seeing it with and how you're living in that world. If you spend every single day driving around in a tinted window security detail, you will have a very specific view of the city. That's why I'm looking to take the train, to bike around the city, to walk around the city, because that's also how you actually meet other New Yorkers and you break out of the bubble that so many have come to expect of politics where politicians only seem to be spending time with other politicians or the people who donated to make them politicians.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI used to only be about three blocks from Steinway and I definitely miss Steinway. But I can still see it, very far, but it's still there from the lawn. Very welcome. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Appears on NPR’s Newsmakers.