Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Holds Press Conference to Make Worker Protection Announcement With DCWP Commissioner Levine
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
I think first and foremost, I'd say that today is one announcement that is part of a larger vision that we have in our administration, and also at DCWP specifically, of how we can ensure that dignity is accorded to each and every New Yorker. And when we're talking about delivery workers, we're taking about people who are putting themselves through the worst kind of conditions. The moments where we are telling New Yorkers that they should be staying home, oftentimes the ones who are keeping them fed are these delivery workers who don't have that ability to do the same thing. And so yes, we are going to look not only at ensuring that delivery workers are receiving the tips that they used to receive — prior to attempted tricks with design interface redesigns — and also beyond that at every single tool at our disposal. Commissioner, I'm not sure if there's anything you'd want to add.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, in my six months of being the mayor, I've had the privilege of appointing a dozen qualified judges from a range of backgrounds, including Jewish judges. And I want to be clear that any suggestion that the composition of the advisory committee was motivated by religion is false. And when it comes to, in that same letter, there was a point around Mr. Leventhal and his appointment, as to why it was not considered. I want to be very clear that we decided not to move forward with his appointment because of the fact that he served on Ghislaine Maxwell's legal defense team and collected legal fees as such. And as much as possible we thought it best to avoid any association between the committee that would be appointing judges and the Epstein world, especially given how much of a loss of faith it has created for many New Yorkers and Americans generally in our legal and our political system.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI did not ask for the religion of each of the person that was put forward. As you know, as the mayor and our administration, we put forward about half of those nominees. The other half were put forward by other entities. And the thing that matters most to me is that in the judges that have been appointed and reappointed, that they do reflect that diversity of New York City, and that diversity includes Jewish New Yorkers and we’ve seen that with the appointments thus far.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think the suggestion that there would be any decision-making motivated by religion — it does bother me. This is a city that is beautiful because of the breadth of diversity of those who call it home. And that includes the Jewish community across the five boroughs. And when it comes to the proposal of a lawyer being someone that would be on that committee, when we find out that they served on Ghislaine Maxwell's legal defense team, that was a moment of concern. I think, as I've said in these six months, I've had the opportunity to appoint and reappoint about a dozen judges. In those appointments and reappointments, there have been Jewish judges that have been appointed and reappointed, and that will continue because of a mere fact that that is a reflection of what this city looks like.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI am more interested in what the station would be able to deliver to New Yorkers than what we call that station. I think that we speak about our city as a world-class city, and we know that in order to earn that description, we have to be able provide world-class service at every single juncture, and there is still much to be done when it comes to ensuring that's the case when New Yorkers experience Penn Station. To your first question. My thoughts at this time, first and foremost, are with the family of that teenager. We're talking about a 17-year-old New Yorker who is now dead. And that is something that we should all mourn when we see that a family will have to live with that tragedy hovering over their lives for not just weeks or months, but, frankly, years and decades to come. And when it comes to safety, it has to be the paramount decision-making framework for us whenever it comes to our streetscape. I've long said, and I continue to believe, that we cannot have a hierarchy of safety on the basis of what mode of transit you use. You should be just as safe whether you're driving a car, walking, riding a bike, getting on a bus or getting on the train. And our focus has by and large been on the question of infrastructure to ensure that that safety is delivered because we know that oftentimes the absence or the presence of infrastructure is the determinative factor when it comes to what happened this morning. That's something that I'm going to follow up on for more details about.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think it is — that is part of it. I also think that when it goes into the question of illegal e-bikes, there is also a conversation to be had both at the city level and at the state level about what kind of legislative avenues we can take to ensure that only the safest methods of transit and the ones that are legally permissible are the ones that are actually being used across New York City.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I'll answer the first question and then pass it over to our commissioner for additional details. What I would say is that the Department of Finance identified homes that may be subject to the surcharge. As we know, this is a surcharge on non-primary residences that are worth more than $5 million. And as required by the law, the Department of Finance sent informational resources to homeowners to ensure that they understood the tax [and] that they understood the options before them and also, if they did not believe it to apply to them, that they had the time in order to be able to appeal.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo first, I just want to ask you, when you say, “on the list,” are you speaking about the property tax roll or receiving the letter?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I just want to — for the sake of clarity — establish a few things. The first is, and the reason for establishing this is some of them have been conflated. The first is that just like localities from Nassau to Albany, we publish property tax rolls in accordance with the law, as the city has done twice a year for years, frankly, if not decades and centuries. And the tax property role that was posted last week is a reflection of all properties across New York City, not a reflection of those specifically that the pied-� -terre tax will be levied upon. And that is an important distinction because as you've heard from the commissioner, the pied-� -terre tax is something that will be levied upon non-primary residences that are worth more than $5 million. When it comes to the recently passed law, there was a requirement to publish this role once again before the implementation of this surcharge. Now, to the other point. We [also] made the decision to invest in the hiring of dozens of additional civil servants at both [the] Department of Finance and at OATH to ensure that there is work also being done from within City government to establish any of the points of tension that there may be in the assessments of this. What we have heard when we're having this conversation around the pied-� -terre, it's not just the question of properties that are worth more than $5 million of non-primary residents. We also have some New Yorkers who have made the decision to register their property as a trust or as an LLC. And part of the point of this outreach from the Department of Finance is to ascertain whether or not that reflects a primary residence or not. And one of the reasons that this is being done now is to ensure that New York has [the] requisite time before the implementation of the surcharge. They have until next March to be able to go back and forth with the department to ensure that this has an accurate reflection of that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceJust to be clear, what happened this morning was an illegal e-bike, as Liz said?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think that I only want to be clear about it just because of — first, our focus on what happened this morning, [and] second, when it comes to anything that we can do to ensure that New Yorkers are safe, that is always something we will consider. Our concerns as it pertained to facial recognition with age verification for e-bike use from Citi Bike was all of the different kind of data that would be collected by these kinds of companies and the inability for those companies to provide the requisite commitments as to how they would protect all of that data. This is something that is especially pertinent at a time when we've seen data leaks at various levels of government. We wanted to make sure that our kids are not being subject to that for something that we are not yet able to prove a clear connection when it comes to safety, like this morning.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThe survey is one part of how we are going to assess the different ways in which we can better deliver efficiency and excellence. And one of the reasons that we sent out this survey to city workers is we believe: Who knows the city's functioning better than those who work every single day to make it possible? And so, some of the findings we anticipate will be the kinds of particular things that only a worker could know if they've been working on it for years, if not decades. Other things might also gesture to a need to reframe the way in which we approach any one of the larger topics that the city does work in. When it comes to the savings plan, we are speaking about a 2.5 percent set of savings that we are putting forward as our goal. And what's important about doing so now is that we're also giving agencies and departments the time to reflect on it, as opposed to having this conversation only within the context of the budget process itself.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWe can get back to you on the specific number. What I do know is that it is a very small fraction of the property rolls that we have put forward thus far.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceNo, we are committed to ensuring that this is a tax only levied upon those Whose second homes are worth more than $5 million, and the reason that we wanted to conduct outreach months in advance of when the tax would be levied would be to ensure that that exact premise would be fulfilled.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think as I've shared, what we did is following through with the law as it stands and it's what localities do across the state and it is also what the city has done. And we also know that when we do that, sometimes there are many people for whom it might be their first time in engaging with what the city is delivering on an annual basis. And part of the reason that we wanted to make sure that the letters were being sent out was also to ensure that any New Yorker who would have any questions about this would have the requisite time and the requisite staff that they could connect with to ensure that the final process would reflect that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think we're always going to do everything that we can to ensure that we're communicating clearly to New Yorkers and I think that what we found thus far is when it comes to these letters being sent out, it is anyone that the city believes may be subject to the surcharge and now the work will begin to ensure if someone has registered their property in a trust or they've registered their properties in an LLC and they are in fact the primary residence holder there, that that is something that is communicated with the city. We've put the investment and we're putting in the time now to ensure that come next year, this tax is only levied on those who are non-primary residences that are worth more than $5 million. Thank you all 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 Make Worker Protection Announcement With DCWP Commissioner Levine.