Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Holds Press Conference to Break Ground on Timbale Terrace
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Thank you, Arturo O'Farrill and the Casa Belongó performers for that incredible performance. Today is a special day. Not only because we were just graced with apparently New York's first ever mayoral mambo, but because today we break ground on Timbale Terrace. A 100 percent affordable housing development that will transform the lives of hundreds of families across East Harlem. It is a privilege to be joined by activists and advocates as well as our partners in both government and the private sector, all of whom work tirelessly to bring this project to life. And I'm especially grateful to our local leaders who have fought for this development since 2017 as part of the East Harlem Neighborhood Plan. I'm proud to be joined here by my Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg; by Lauren Connors, our SVP of Development at HDC; and by our elected officials. We may know him as the current comptroller, but he was also the former Manhattan borough president, Mark Levine. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. Our very own Assembly member, Eddie Gibbs. Council Member Elsie Encarnacion. Council Member Yusef Salaam. The two of us are fasting today for the first day of Ramadan. It's a pleasure to be here together. And our former [City Council] Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito. I acknowledge so many of our leaders here today because we know that this is a day that was fought for for years. For years through multiple administrations. And it is a pleasure to be together at once as we embark on the next stage of this journey. Because when you think about East Harlem, you think about the exceptional art and music that has come out of this community. But that did not happen by accident. It happened because generations of New Yorkers could afford to live here. To afford to live here, is a foundation for [the] lives of joy and creativity. Because too often we think about art and affordability, as if they are two separate concerns, when in fact they are one and the same. Let's talk about Ernest Puente, a foreman at a razor blade factory who lived just blocks from here a hundred years ago. He worked hard and he made enough to afford an apartment where his son, Tito, could bang out rhythms to the pigeons perched on the windowsill. Enough to cover rent and groceries and still send his child to piano lessons down the block. That home right here in East Harlem nurtured one of the greatest musical minds of all time, Tito Puente. El Rey de los Timbales himself. And it proved that when New Yorkers can afford housing, New Yorkers have the stability and space to achieve incredible things. But as the working people of East Harlem know all too well, it has become nearly impossible to find affordable housing in the city that we all love and call home. Today, as we break ground on Timbale Terrace, we are not just paving the way for new units. We are paving the way for a city where housing is plentiful and affordable. Once complete, Timbale Terrace will be a 20-story, 100 percent affordable housing development with 341 new homes. These apartments will be affordable to low and very low-income households. And 97 [apartments] will be set aside for formerly homeless New Yorkers through the NYC 15/15 Program. To further support East Harlem residents with the most need, this development will also be home to wraparound social services focused on health, wellness, education, and employment, providing formerly homeless individuals the structure to help them rebuild their lives. It will also provide a permanent 21,000 square foot home for the Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance Casa Belongó . Whose players have just given us a taste of the music and culture that this center will foster. Timbale Terrace is a testament to the city that we are building together. One where the working people of this neighborhood no longer need to wish the rent was heaven sent in the words of another East Harlem great, Langston Hughes. And today is just the beginning. In the coming weeks and months, you will see more initiatives like this, one as we pursue a housing agenda that balances new production with tenant protections. This morning, my administration took another major step with the announcement of our six appointees to the Rent Guidelines Board. I trust that they will consider all the factors facing the city's rent-stabilized tenants and come to an appropriate decision. Together we are building a city where every person can afford a roof over their head. A city that fights hardest for those who struggle the most. And a city where government does more to lift the burdens of those that it serves. Now with that being said, I would like to call of Mega Group, Emanuel Kokinakis.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Well, I think, first, yes, it has taken many a year, many elected officials, many different administrations. I think for far too long, that has been a reflection of what it looks like when you want to build more housing in New York City, especially when you want to build housing that is affordable to the very New Yorkers who are being priced out of the city that they love. I am thankful, however, that we are in a different moment today. You can see by everyone on this stage, there is a new consensus in this city about the importance of building more housing, about the importance of also intertwining the agendas of affordability and the arts. And we will continue to find obstacles, whether they be procedural obstacles, bureaucratic obstacles. But I can also say, as the mayor of our city, that I am so thankful to have a team around me, led by deputy mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg, who measure themselves on the basis of the work that they do, the outcomes that they produce. And that's exactly what our North Star is going to be in this city.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Thank you for the question, Jeff. So, in December, I was asked about my thoughts on the prior administration's policy. And I said that I thought that that policy was a failure, and I judged it as such because of the outcomes that it resulted in over the course of the measurement of a year that it was in action. On January 5th, soon after coming into office, I made a decision with my team to put a pause on that prior administration's policy as we started to develop our own policy that would generate far better outcomes for the city. And we knew that that is a policy that we would only deliver on once the prolonged Code Blue came to an end. Because as we know, in a Code Blue, the focus should be on getting homeless New Yorkers inside, not on the question of how we respond to structures. And so, the policy that we have developed has a number of important distinctions. The first is unlike in the prior administration, when the NYPD were being tasked with the work of responding to homeless encampments, we have made the decision to actually have this be a responsibility of the Department of Homeless Services, that this be their responsibilities in line with their work. And so, not only will this work be housed in a different agency, [but] the work also itself is far different. And what I mean by that is unlike in the past administration, where much of the interaction with a homeless New Yorker was defined by the first day when you'd provide a notice and the seventh day when you'd initiate a sweep, in our administration, every single day of that time period will be characterized by outreach. Outreach from homeless services workers to homeless New Yorkers. The importance of this, as we saw over the course of this prolonged Code Blue, was that by having relentless outreach each and every day, you are able to connect with homeless New Yorkers for whom their first reaction might be that of skepticism. Their second reaction might be that of wariness, given their prior experiences within the shelter system. But their third, their fourth, their fifth, their sixth reaction may be one of interest in the possibility of shelter services, programming support, supportive housing. And so, that's why, if you see in our preliminary budget, we increased funding for specifically this kind of outreach, so that we would be able to sustain this over the course of those seven days, so that we can actually connect homeless New Yorkers with the services that they require.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Thank you very much. Well, right now I feel parched. But Ramadan is my favorite month of the year. It's a month, and the council member, two of us, are part of what some say may be more than a million Muslims in New York City. And this is a month of reflection. It's a month of solidarity. And it's a month that is so often characterized just by the fact that we are not eating or drinking from sunup to sundown, but it misses what actually drives us through the course of the day, which is a chance to actually reflect. And it is a month also that I look forward to because of what it means for a sense of community. And I can tell you that, for me, there is no better way to start this month, to start our fasts, than to be here together today. Because this is a moment that nourishes the soul. It is a moment that reminds us of what public service can deliver for New Yorkers. And it is a joy to begin our Ramadan together. And I look forward, over the course of this month, as the first mayor to ever be practicing and participating in Ramadan, to have a chance to connect with Muslims across the city, whether they be waking up in the morning for suhoor as they start their jobs, or whether they be working through the night and pausing for one moment to have a date to break their fast. I look forward to meeting them and being there with them. Thank you.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source So, I'll start with the second and then I'll go to the first. I want to be very clear in yesterday's announcement of our preliminary budget. We are required by law to balance the budget. That means we face a $5.4 billion fiscal deficit, a generational fiscal deficit, and have to bring it down to zero. So, what we put forward was what we characterized as actions of last resort. I described them as last resort because we have a broken property tax system in the city. We have one that can barely stand up in court. And my goal is to reform that system to work with partners in state government. We have our Assembly member here, Eddie Gibbs. We have many other Assembly members and senators who have spoken for years about the importance of having a system that is fair. What we are hoping for, what we will spend every day looking towards, is working with Albany to increase taxes on the wealthiest and the most profitable corporations, such that a fiscal crisis is not resolved on the backs of working- and middle-class New Yorkers. And that's what we're going to spend every day working towards because we want to build a city that makes this one where working people can not only live but can also dream. And what that means is we have to work together to ensure that they are not stuck with the bill of a fiscal crisis they had nothing to do with. To your first question on the Rent Guidelines Board. So, I continue to believe that this city is more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants deserve a rent freeze. We cannot respond to a crisis by simply rotating who suffers from it. And of course, I also understand that the RGB is an independent board, and they will consider all of the evidence we are working to lower costs for property owners across the city. As I've said, the question of raising property taxes is that of last resort one that we are deeply hopeful of avoiding. I am confident in the team that we have put together and in the focus that they have on delivering a new set of outcomes. Over the course of the prolonged Code Blue, our administration expedited the opening of additional shelters safe haven sites and started to look towards also the medium- and long-term issues that has plagued our city's response to homelessness. One of those issues also is how to bring supportive housing units that are vacant online. That continues to be a focus for us, because any vacant supportive housing unit is an opportunity for us to connect in New York or with that same unit of housing. Additionally, what is distinct about this approach is that outreach and connection to support services and shelter is the driving motivation throughout all of this. So, whereas previously, a homeless New Yorker might have only two points of interaction with City government. The first day they're served a notice and the seventh day when that notice comes to an end. Our administration will meet those homeless New Yorkers every single day, and we will meet them looking to connect them with shelter looking to connect them with services looking to connect them with a city that wants them to be sheltered and indoors and warm and safe. And that is something that I believe will yield far better results because it hasn't even been the driving directive of these policies before. And what we've seen is in the prolonged Code Blue [was a] directive [that] yielded more than 1400 placements over the course of those weeks. And those are placements that ensured that New Yorkers were safer, that they were warmer, and I had the privilege as the mayor of our city to meet a number of those homeless New Yorkers. The lives that they have had to live, the stories that they can tell you of the struggles they have had to go through. I met a man who had lived in the airport for five months prior to that moment. I met a man for whom he lost his wife. He was heartbroken he had to leave the apartment they had shared for decades. And so, he was there in a warming shelter. And I met so many New Yorkers for whom they are looking for someone to see them for what they are, which is New Yorkers who deserve humanity, who deserve dignity, who deserve a response and an interest in connecting them with the services they should be using. And so that's what our administration is going to do. Thank you very much. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Holds Press Conference to Break Ground on Timbale Terrace.