Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Holds Press Conference to Provide Winter Weather Updates
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good morning, New York. Yesterday, the storm that our city had spent days preparing for finally arrived. Snow fell across the five boroughs, temperatures dropped, winds gusted. The forecasts were largely accurate. Nearly a foot of snow accumulated in parts of our city. And yet today, our city is up and running, thanks to the plans we put in place and the countless city workers who delivered on them. The strength of our response is a testament to all of those who put in long shifts, clearing snow from our parks, keeping our public transit running, and responding to emergencies. Over 5,000 sanitation workers traversed our 6,000 miles of roadway multiple times, using 2,500 pieces of equipment to plow snow, pour brine, and dispense tens of millions of pounds of salt. Every street in this city was plowed. Nearly 19 tons of anti-icing solution were applied to the East River bridges by our DOT crews. The city tow truck task force, which helped our 53 motorists yesterday and today, didn't just help keep roads clear across the five boroughs. They freed trapped motorists, escorted plows, and ensured ambulances could get to those in need. These are our fellow New Yorkers, who do immense work that is often unseen and unrecognized. They keep our city running no matter the challenge before them. They deserve immense credit and immense gratitude, to which they would respond, I'm sure, that they were only doing their jobs. New York was prepared, and New York weathered the storm. I want to commend the leaders who are here with me today, those who are still hard at work at our emergency operation centers, and every agency that communicated and coordinated effectively across government to serve this city. And I [also] want to commend the countless everyday New Yorkers who did their part to help our city stay on its feet. The neighbors who shoveled snow off their stoop and then did the same for the stoop next door. The business owners who salted the whole block. The young people who brought supplies to the elderly couple upstairs. We prepared for this storm together and we rode this storm out together. Now, while the worst is behind us, there is still more to be done as we clear the snow and restore our city. Our top priority remains ensuring that every New Yorker can remain safe and warm throughout this prolonged cold period. Enhanced Code Blue protocols have been in place since Friday night and empowered our outreach teams to make 170 placements in shelters, safe havens, stabilization beds, drop-in centers, and hospitals over the weekend. The vast majority of these placements were to shelters. Just because the storm has passed does not mean that the danger to homeless New Yorkers has passed. Outreach teams are only intensifying their efforts today to connect vulnerable New Yorkers to shelter. This is an all-hands-on-deck effort. And I continue to ask New Yorkers to call 311, which will route these calls to 911 as it is a Code Blue, whenever they see someone who may require assistance. I also want to ask New Yorkers to continue to stay off the roads as much as possible for another day, as [the] DSNY crew continue to plow our streets. A hazardous travel advisory remains in effect. As we announced yesterday, today is a virtual learning day for our students, with exceptions for high school students and schools serving only grades six through 12 that are observing a previously scheduled professional development day. All after-school programs, adult education, and school-based programming have been canceled. As of 9:15 a.m. this morning, we have over 400,000 parent, student, and staff log-ons. Again, as a reminder, high school students and grades six through eight students co-located with high school students, had a previously scheduled day off for professional development, so our decision to go remote impacts a portion of our school system, about 500,000 students who are scheduled to be in school on Monday. I did visit a classroom this morning remotely, alongside the chancellor, and reiterated my offer to students that they could pelt me in the face with a snowball. They were very excited about that and asked for a time and place. I said, “You can find me anywhere in New York City.” There remain some interruptions to service. Alternate side parking is suspended today and will also be suspended tomorrow. Payment at parking meters will remain in effect. The Staten Island Ferry is continuing to run on a modified schedule every 20 minutes. And I [also] want to ask New Yorkers to be patient with garbage collection, as DSNY prioritizes snow removal in the immediate short term. But our city is steadily coming back online. Lift suspension of Citi Bike service has been lifted. The New York City Ferry is running once again and operating at 90 percent capacity. Buses and subways are also running normally, though I would encourage New Yorkers to budget some extra time on their commutes. Our goal is for all services to be fully restored by tomorrow, with all streets cleared, students back at school in person, and our city back to normal, albeit with a lot of snow piled up. I am grateful to all the New Yorkers who heeded our guidance to stay inside and to practice caution, and to every person who contributed to the citywide effort that allowed us to endure this storm successfully. Please continue to monitor the cold temperatures that we are expecting over this coming week and to look out for one another. As always, New York, stay warm, stay prepared, stay safe. Thank you very much. And now, our chancellor, Kamar Samuels. Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels, New York City Public Schools: Hello, good morning. So, this morning, I not only logged on with the mayor to a class where we read The Snowy Day, I also logged on with my own daughter before I left home. And so, I was pleased to announce that both times we were able to log on like most of the rest of the city to our classrooms. Things have gone very well this morning, it was a smooth start to the day. Students were able to log into their virtual classroom quickly and get right into their school day. Schools and families who've been having any issues, can call 718-935-5100. I've known that number forever, even as a principal. And so, we also have 8,000 staff who are on the ground spreading salt, deploying plows and shoveling to make sure that tomorrow we will be ready for school. And I tell all those people, thank you so much for your work. Thank you so much for your support. We have also opened ten high schools across the city as warming shelters for families, for people looking for shelter, and we have school safety agents deployed in all of those situations. New Yorkers, your schools are a part of the city's ecosystem. We remain connected today, and we will continue to remain connected. And our schools will be ready for opening when the weather permits. Thank you very much.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, this fire, frankly, the two fires that we saw over the weekend, and this fire that you're asking about specifically, it was a tragedy. And my heart, and for all of us up here, goes out to the family of the deceased. The FDNY was at the scene of that fire about five minutes after the call was placed. The fire was under control within about 80 minutes. And right now, FDNY is conducting a full investigation, as they do. The preliminary cause that's been shared with us at this point is that of electrical wiring. And our city agencies were on the scene alongside FDNY, including DOB and HPD, to serve residents. And I spoke to Council Member Sanchez directly yesterday evening, and we remained in close coordination to ensure that every single affected resident was given transportation to a hotel. And what I will say just broadly is, and Commissioner Iscol spoke about this in his own remarks, but a number of the times where we've seen each other have been at five-alarm fires. We've seen each other at a number of the worst moments for New Yorkers. And on Saturday, I was at the first fire that occurred in the Bronx over the weekend. And when I met with the woman in whose home that fire began, and she leaned in for a hug, and I embraced her, I could still smell the ash on her clothing. And this fire, it consumes people's lives. People lost, in some cases, New Yorkers lost their lives. In far more cases, New Yorkers lost their pets. They lost their belongings. They lost the things that really give them a sense of self. And I'm very thankful, frankly, for our partners in the Council, as well as for our city agencies, and our partners with the American Red Cross. Because what I've seen so often, is that it is a moment of loss, of devastation, and it's at that very moment where people need help the most, and I'm proud of the work that people are doing.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI'll answer the second question first, and then I'm going to pass it over to our Deputy Mayor Kerson for the first question. First and foremost, I send my deepest condolences to the families and the loved ones of those New Yorkers that lost their lives. Any loss of life is truly a tragedy, and that's why we're continuing to urge New Yorkers to get to a safe and warm location, and also if they see anyone who is in need of assistance to call 311, because as we are under a Code Blue, those calls to 311 are then rerouted to calls to 911. Now, what it means to be in a Code Blue, which continues today and will continue this week, is that shelters have relaxed their intake policies, whereas typically you might have to go through a set of paperwork or processes, have to go to one shelter to go to another. What we are seeing for Code Blue is that no one is turned away from these kinds of shelters, and that is a large reason why we're seeing the successful placement of more than 170 New Yorkers into a wide variety of places, the vast majority being shelters. I also just want to say a deep note of gratitude to our city workers, especially at the Department of Homeless Services, who have been conducting outreach to homeless New Yorkers every two hours across the city. And what we are seeing that this is also a reminder that if anyone sees someone out in the cold, call that number, connect them with services. We don't want New Yorkers to be out there.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceAnd I'll just say before we go to the next thing, this is also an opportunity for New Yorkers to help others in need. This morning, when we asked students what they were going to do, a number of them spoke about snow angels, spoke about throwing snowballs, and there were also a number of students who spoke about helping their parents with shoveling. And I think that, you know, yesterday as we were heading back from our press conference, I saw there was about an 85-year-old woman in Astoria who was struggling to shovel, and a very young neighbor of hers came over and started to help her, and then we helped together. And that's the kind of city that we also love and know. [Crosstalk.]
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWell, I think one of the key things that I've learned is just the immense amount of work that city workers have been putting in. Most of our attention when it comes to a storm like this is when the snow is falling. But the only way that you can actually respond to the level of snowfall we saw is if you're prepared for it. Yesterday, the first snowfall hit Staten Island at 5 a.m. Sanitation trucks were out salting across the city at 5:10 a.m. That's only possible because they made the decision. And I really want to say also thank you to our commissioner for increasing staffing of our 12-hour shifts, first to 2,000 sanitation workers per 12-hour shift, and then to 2,500 sanitation workers per 12-hour shift. And yesterday when I went [out] at 6 a.m. to welcome a number of the sanitation workers who were coming back from a shift, who were about to go on to another shift for the shift change, what I saw also were the men and women of this city who so often are not recognized in the work that we're talking about. Our City government's ability to meet this moment, it is in part because of the leadership of everyone up here, and it is also in large part, frankly, because of the work of the men and women whose names most New Yorkers will never know, whose work they will never see. And I also think the other thing I'd say is for all that's said about our city, that we are always in a hurry, that we are brash, that we are rude, what I think sometimes gets missed is just how much New Yorkers care for each other. And yesterday as I went through the city, I saw so many New Yorkers who were just lending a helping hand to people whose names they didn't know, whose stories they didn't know, but all they knew about them was that they too were New Yorkers, they too deserved a helping hand.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThat people care a lot if I don't wear a hat. And I will tell you, I was brushing it off and then towards the end of the day, my hair started to freeze and I put on a NYCEM beanie and I was much warmer. So I appreciate the feedback. I will take it moving forward.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYou know, I think I'll answer the second question, then I'll pass it over for the first. I think this is part and parcel of any fast-moving situation, that we always want to share with New Yorkers what we know at the time. And so, at this time, what we know is that a number of those seven New Yorkers who lost their lives had interactions with our shelter system in the past. It is still too early to share a broader diagnosis or a cause of death. However, as you've said, and I think as many New Yorkers know, this kind of cold, we haven't seen this kind of cold for eight years, and it is debilitating. Yesterday, we were driving over the Triborough, I think it was, and as we were driving, I saw a man who had pulled over his car. We stopped, I went out, and he had tried to avoid a car that had made a sudden stop and in doing so had skidded over to the side of the bridge. And he came out, and he told me – he was telling me what happened. We were calling TBTA, we were looking to get a tow truck for him. I called his boss, [and] I said, “Please give him a few more hours before he can get there.” He’s a security guard. The boss didn't believe that it was me. We went back and forth. He finally believed it. And I looked over at this man, and he was wearing a jacket, and I [told] him, “You should zip up your jacket. It's very cold.” He said, “My zipper is broken.” And the reason I share this with you is that there are many New Yorkers who are having to go through these kinds of conditions without everything that they need. And too often, they're made to feel as if it's their responsibility. And I want to make [it] very clear from our City government that actually we view your problems as our problems. We want to be there to help you. And what I've seen city workers do in providing that kind of warmth, you know, on Saturday morning when I went to the warming center after we saw that fire in the Bronx, and I was there alongside Speaker Heastie and State Senator Jamaal Bailey and Council Member Kevin Riley, was that New Yorkers were at a loss of what could happen next. This was before the worst of the storm was to hit. What could they do? And it was through kindness, the service of city workers and also the American Red Cross that they were finding a moment to get a sense of themselves. So I'll pass it over for your first question. You're very welcome.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceNo, we actually put him in his car and gave him hand warmers [and] got the heat back up.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think the work of these incredible city outreach workers is both of their own planning, where they know where they have to go to actually find and meet and make the case to homeless New Yorkers, but also it's in response to New Yorkers calls to 311. And that's why it's so helpful is that I know there are so many New Yorkers who see someone out in this kind of cold and know what we all know, which is that no one should be out in this kind of cold. And when they make that phone call, that also informs where the outreach workers are going. So it has to be proactive. [We] cannot wait for homeless New Yorkers to come to us. We have to go out there and make the case directly. And I think that the 170 placements, as you said, it's not only a testament to the outreach work that's being done, it's also a glimpse into the far larger number of conversations that are being had. And then when it comes to involuntary commitment, I think as was said, this is a last resort. However, it is a resort when it is of a medical danger to a New Yorker to stay out there.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYou know, I think first I would say the census of homeless New Yorkers, especially in a moment of this kind of cold, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it has been over these last few days. However, there is a HOPE count coming up this week where we will get a more accurate number of how many New Yorkers are homeless here across our city. For me, this is a moment where the city can show itself as a government that can meet the needs of New Yorkers and also one that has to listen to New Yorkers. Because, Marcia, you know, you had flagged in the past that you'd spoken to a homeless New Yorker who didn't want to go to a shelter because they didn't think that they would be offered a single bed on their own. And so part of our outreach has also been how do we ensure we're offering a wide variety of options for a New Yorker to come in? Because the most important thing is to get that New Yorker off the street, get them into the warmth. I can tell you that the cold, we pride ourselves on being tough in the city, but after eight years of not facing this kind of cold, we might be numb to what it actually means for people. And the other thing, I would just say, is the dangers are not just in the conditions, but also how we respond to the conditions. So for those who are shoveling and who have been shoveling, we remind you to give yourself multiple passes at that snow, not to try to get it all done in one go. The FDNY has also shared with us, you know, in the past there have been medical emergencies as a result of not taking the correct approach with snow shoveling. And don't find your form from the way that I do it.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThank you, Marcia. That was also because of you having flagged that. I appreciate that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThat is our hope. And that's what we're planning for right now. We will share as soon as we get to the definitive. I will tell you that, you know, yesterday began early, but frankly, that's the time it began for many New Yorkers who are working hard, right? I was out of the house, I think, before 5 a.m. We headed out to the shift change. And then from there at the shift change, we went to Central Park, where we saw a number of other workers who were hard at work shoveling. From there, we went to a press conference. And then from there, we drove through a number of neighborhoods just on our way back to just keep an eye out. [There] was one instance where somebody was trying to get their car out. We all got a shovel, helped them out. There was another where somebody at a NYCHA development was trying to get their car in. And we met them at the beginning of the parking lot. They had an entire bed of snow. It was an uncle and his three nephews, with one shovel. And so we got to work and helped them in. We drove into Queens. You know, we met a man whose tires were far too low, and he was not able to drive through the street. So we shoveled, we got him out. And then we were about to call Sanitation, and then there they were. There were two plow trucks that were just right there coming in at the perfect time. We went through Astoria, and this is all on the way back to Gracie, and that's where we saw this 85-year-old woman who was trying to shovel. There was a 20-something-year-old young woman who was helping her. We started to help her. There were a whole number of situations that we saw. But I think at the heart of it was just – yesterday was a glimpse into what city workers do every single day. And truly, the depth of my appreciation – I don't know if I can fully communicate it – because they are doing the impossible. They are doing the incredible. And for them, it's the ordinary. And that's just a testament to the incredible people we have here and the leadership that also leads them every single day. Thank you.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI will leave it to New Yorkers to give me a grade. I will, however, say that I am incredibly impressed and appreciative of the work of the city workers, both their leadership here and all of them who are out there across New York City. I think that for so many New Yorkers, for all of the conversation about politics, really what they want to know is, can you meet their basic needs? And I think what city workers showed yesterday is that we can. And it's only possible if you take time in advance to prepare for something like this. And so when I look at these commissioners, when I look at the heads of these agencies and departments, what I also see are not what they did, frankly, on Sunday or even on Saturday, but frankly, what they were doing on Thursday and Wednesday. The calls that they were having, the plan that they were having, procuring additional salt for the city just in case. We had to be ready for every eventuality. We were talking about a wide spectrum of possibility of snowfall. And I wanted to make sure that if anything, we were over-prepared and we were over-communicating to New Yorkers, because what we did not want to have happen was that a New Yorker would go about their day on Sunday without knowing that this would be the coldest weather they'd seen in eight years. Without knowing that this would be the largest snowfall we'd seen in years. We wanted every New Yorker to know that. And I'm also appreciative of those that are working behind the scenes. I've had a few opportunities to meet them, but even the incredible men and women who run Notify NYC. More than a million New Yorkers [have] signed up to a texting system, which you can also join by texting NOTIFYNYC to 692-692. And when you do so, you get updates that can even be localized to your zip code. And that helps New Yorkers stay abreast. And I'd also just frankly say thank you to the press corps, because oftentimes the questions that you're asking are amplifying the concerns of everyday New Yorkers. And so that helps bring it to the attention of [the] City government. We want our government to be a responsive one, we want it to be an excellent one and an efficient one. And about your first question. I think that the difficulty we have, frankly, is that it is still too early to attribute the cause of death, and therefore, it's too early to tie it to the storm specifically. But as soon as we have those autopsy results, which we anticipate at some time soon, we will be able to answer both that question and the earlier questions.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSome of them, yes, had an interaction with the shelter system.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo I think this is part of what the chancellor had shared earlier, which is that right now, there are hundreds of DOE employees who are also supplementing the work of DSNY, as well as many other city agencies and departments, in clearing the snow right outside of schools to make sure that it is safe for students to actually return. I think that's just, to be clear, that's what drives all of our decisions, is safety. That's why we made the decision for today to be remote, because the conditions were so hazardous that we didn't want there to be so many more New Yorkers who were out having to come to school. We're going to be sharing that decision with New Yorkers soon, around tomorrow and the days to come. However, what I will say is that our hope is to ensure that we return to in-person learning.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceCan you say the last part one more time? Do you have any tips and advice?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think the first thing I would say is to call 311 immediately. The city wants to know if you are facing any kind of an outage of this kind. It is also our job to help you respond to this. And yesterday, when we had an emergency briefing, we also had representatives from Con Ed there as well, because it is critical for us to not just work as a whole-of-city-government approach, but frankly, an approach that encompasses everything that affects New Yorkers' lives. They're affected by state government decisions, City government decisions, by private companies' decisions, and so we want to actually have that cohered. So the number one thing would be, call 311 if you're facing an outage. The city wants to know. The city wants to help. And the other thing I would just say, I've spoken a lot about safety in the context of staying inside, staying warm, avoiding unnecessary travel. I would also say in a moment of immense cold, to be mindful with space heaters, that you do not leave them running unattended, and that you also do not have them operating within three feet of something that is flammable.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceNot yet. A number of the kids this morning were very excited about it. So I feel like it could occur at some point today. Just on my toes.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI am not personally in touch with Mr. Daughtry. And I have not seen the footage myself of this show. I can tell you, however, that we're continuing a preexisting Law Department policy on their action that they're taking. Okay. Thank you all so 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 Provide Winter Weather Updates.