Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Fixes the Winner of Mayor's Municipal Madness
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Can we have another round of applause for the incredible Gems. Wow. We may have to call you guys to keep being part of these press conferences. It's going to be very hard to not have that. It is a lovely way to wrap up the competition of these past few weeks and to celebrate our first 100 days in office as we lead this city. Now, I want to announce today, the winning team of our inaugural municipal madness, DSNY. We want to congratulate you. As a part of more than 20,000 votes from New Yorkers across the five boroughs, we are here to announce that the winning fix was to clean up illegal dumping right here, in Soundview. And it is a remarkable team, not only here in the Bronx from DSNY, and we have our incredible men and women from DSNY who are here with us, but frankly, citywide. And now we know that they showed some real skill in this tournament, well-coached, well-staffed, even better cheerleaders. And we know that though DSNY may have won this competition, frankly, the real winners are New Yorkers. Because every single task on this bracket, no matter whether it was in the first round or the semis or the final, these are tasks that will actually be fixed. And so, we want to commend all of the other teams for the effort they put in this season. They dug deep, they parked the bus, there was an impressive performance all around. And with that, I want to acknowledge some of whom we have here with us today, city workers of not just DSNY, but DOT and Parks. We can give them a round of applause. They work around the clock for fixes. There's no off-season for these workers. Once again, the cheerleaders of the Bronx Gems, who now have me. They have me as well as Scrappy, the mascot, as lifelong fans. And I also want to give a shout-out to the Thomas Jefferson Girls Varsity Basketball team, who I got to see play, and now we all get the chance to see win. Now, before we talk about illegal dumping, I do want to recap some of the incredible run of results that got us to this point. Over the past 100 days, we have showcased a new kind of approach to governing in our city. Pothole politics. Delivering public goods coupled with public excellence. No problem too big, no task too small. Because New Yorkers cannot trust City Hall to deliver on something as transformative as universal childcare if they don't see City Hall delivering on the smallest problems in their lives. And what we're looking at in these incredible agencies are teams that have done exactly that. They fixed bridge bumps. They've upgraded catch basins. They've taken down sidewalk sheds. They've fixed water fountains, painted crosswalks and installed waste bins. And it always comes back to a team effort. Something that, frankly, whether we're talking about DOT or Parks or DSNY, has [been] practiced every single day. So today, we want to celebrate our winner of this bracket, commissioner, or should I say Coach Anderson, and Team DSNY picking up the ball to clean up illegal dumping right here in Soundview. It's going to be a full-court press. I'm thrilled that I was chosen for the starting lineup of today's task in front of us. I'm only going to be able to stay for the first quarter. But I want to say thank you to the hardworking men and women of DSNY who are here with us, who will ensure that this whole area will be cleaned by the end of the day. Now, before we get into that, I do want to hear a little bit from our competitors themselves, just as we're analyzing the game that we had. Coach Flynn, you had the fewest opportunities for a victory with just two fixes on the bracket. Did you think the DOT could have pulled off an upset here?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source We really appreciate that. Another long-suffering Mets fan with us here. Now, Coach Shimamura, on the other hand, we saw Parks had 11 fixes on the board, still came up just short. Coach, talk to me. How are you feeling right now?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source All right. And now, for the champions, DSNY and Coach Anderson, was this your Goldilocks moment?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Alright, that is the show, New York City. It is now time for us to get down to work to start to clean up Soundview. Let’s get it done. Thank you all so much for being here.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source You know, I think every single day, it's an opportunity for us to meet the needs of New Yorkers. And what we've seen over the course of this 100 days is that New York City wants to see a City government that is able to meet the biggest needs and the smallest needs. And when we're looking at all of the fixes that were put forward, these are the kinds of things that for far too long, people have felt have been overlooked by our politics. We want to make it clear that just as we're focused on speeding up the slowest buses in America, we are also focused on bringing an end to illegal dumping across the city. And in completing the first 100 days, we now know that in less than 70 days, we're going to be welcoming the most watched sporting event in the world. The World Cup will be coming to New York City and New Jersey. We'll be hosting eight games. We'll be seeing a multibillion-dollar economic opportunity for our city, as well as memories that should last a lifetime. And what I'm so excited by is having a team here that is not just looking to ensure that this is going to be an incredible time for New Yorkers who already live here, but also for the many who will come to experience our city for the first time. And we're hard at work to ensure that they actually get to see the breadth and the beauty of this city as a whole, as opposed to just going to the places that they might have heard about from where they're from.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source So, agencies had put forward the fixes that they'd seen the highest demand for and that are also indicative of the engagement of New Yorkers across a wide variety of platforms.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source That we are committed to fulfilling the promise we made to New Yorkers, to transforming the most expensive city in the United States of America into one that working-class New Yorkers can afford. And we're committed to doing that all across New York City. I'm frankly so excited to be here in the Bronx because I know that for too many Bronxites, they feel as if the further they are away from City Hall, the less that they're thought about in City Hall. And we're here to show that whether our focus is on quality of life or it's on transformative new social programs like universal child care for two-year-olds, we're going to be delivering that for the people of the Bronx. And the people of every single borough.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source So, what I'll say is that the Rent Guidelines Board is an independent entity. I know they're putting forward their studies. They're also an entity that encourages public participation from tenants and landlords. And they'll be putting up those dates. We encourage New Yorkers to be a part of that because we want every perspective to be considered. And I'll tell you from our perspective, when we think about rising costs, we think about them for every New Yorker. That includes tenants. That includes landlords. And looking at what the different ways [are] in which [the] City government can deliver that, [and] we also trust the Rent Guidelines Board to consider that in all of their decisions
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I would just say that I'm proud of the work that our team did in inheriting a report that had been significantly diluted by the prior administration, strengthening it, and following through on our promise to release it before the end of the first hundred days. We are very much looking forward to the public comment period that we're in right now to hear from New Yorkers about the report. When it comes to the state budget, we are encouraged by the nature of those conversations. And we're hopeful that we'll see those conversations come to a place of a finalized agreement in the next few weeks before we head into our executive budget.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source So, I take any allegations of misconduct incredibly seriously. I'm not going to be weighing in on any ongoing investigation. However, New Yorkers should rest assured that there is an investigation.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source You know, I've always said, first and foremost, deep recognition for the incredible work of EMTs across the city. I had the privilege just a few nights ago around midnight to meet a number of those EMTs. And they were working shifts from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. These are New Yorkers who are out there at all hours of the day saving people's lives. They told me that over the course of this year they'd saved hundreds of New Yorkers’ lives that otherwise we would have lost. And we can never overstate the importance of that work. And we also want to make sure that they're safe when they do this work. I've said time and again that whenever there is a call that comes into emergency services with the threat of violence, a police officer should and would be present for that. And we'll always look at all of the policies and procedures to ensure that EMT workers don't have to worry about their safety. Thank you all.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Fixes the Winner of Mayor's Municipal Madness.